new to EOC

[homeworkhome53]

I have started doing some eco on my daily drive. I have eoc'd 13 miles on a 53 mile run. I wonder if I'm just blowing fuel through the engine. I pull it out of gear at the top of hill and sometimes on the flat and coast, kill the engine with the key then turn it back to on and coast and pop the clutch at about 20, starts easy. Coast from 45-35 down to 20. Then I check the miles on the scangauge with the Odometer. I can get 8 miles on the way in, more downhill. About 5 on the way home.. I did it some on the last 2 days of my last tank and saw improvement, so decided to try a whole tank. I have very little traffic so it is usually no problem with other vehicles. I have thought of leaving the key off until just ready to start again thinking this would shut down the fuel pump, but it also kills the odometer , but I already know the exact miles, so no problems, Any suggestions. I have basically replaced coasting engine on with eoc and added some flat country eoc.

homeworkhome53

[Daox]

Definitly turn the ignition back on once the engine has idled down. If you don't your airbag computer doesn't recognize your actually moving and won't deploy in the event of an accident. EOC (combined with pulse and glide) is a very common technique with more advanced hypermilers and is probably one of the main tools in seeing that really high mileage. Keep it up and your mileage will definitly show it.

[larrydag]

1. Remember safety first. As Daox said make sure you turn the key back to ON position so the computer engages again. Another safety tip, especially if coasting to a stoplight, is to remember that you only have 2-3 pumps on your brakes before you lose pressure. There are ways to compensate by adding a bigger vacuum resevoir.

2. Practice first. Try in less traffic areas and get the hang of it. Maybe even try in an empty parking lot to get the timing down. Then as you get the rhythm you can try in heavier traffic conditions. I recommend doing stop lights first then trying to do hills or flats.

3. Stoplight knowledge. Learn to judge the signals of a stoplight. Understand the patterns and timing. You can use the crosswalk signals to gauge when to turn your ignition back on. If you can't see the stoplight than look at few cars in front and wait to see when their brakelights cut off as they start moving again. I always try to be a couple cars from the intersection to give me time to startup and go.

4. Startup. I personally don't like to startup my engine if I'm still coasting above 20 MPH. I'm not sure if it hurts mechanically but it seems to be a good rule of thumb for me.

[Gregte]

Have any of you measured the difference in fuel mileage between shutting the engine off at stop lights or not shutting it off?

I have a 10 LED display in my vehicle that shows the relative amount of fuel being delivered to the engine at all times. I did the math, and made some educated guesses, and concluded that my vehicle is using about 1/5 the fuel at idle that is uses at 50 mph, normal driving.

Doing a little more math says that if I shut off my engine for 1 minute (average stop light) 10 times a day I will save about $1 a week if gas is $4/gal.

I weigh the $1/week against the presumed wear and tear on the starter as well as the inconvenience of re-starting the engine and possible safety concerns and I can't get too excited about it.

Again, have any of you measured the difference in fuel mileage between shutting the engine off at stop lights or not shutting it off?

EDIT: A small mistake in my earlier math. It would take me three and a half weeks to save $4 gas. This would be $1.14 per week. This is assuming (I did rough calculations) that my car would burn 1 gallon in 3.5 hours idling.

If your car burns twice that much in an hour of idling you would save $2.28/week assuming 10 one minute stoplights per day.

[Johnny Mullet]

I don't use the EOC method myself because it's too flat around here and too much traffic to do so. If I go on a trip out of town, I may test it out.

[reformed]

Don't worry about the ignition being on while you EOC for fear of wasting fuel, with the ignition on and the engine off, your injectors won't fire so you're not wasting any fuel. Like the others you definitely want to turn the ignition right back on about a second or two after you shut it off. I usually wait at least 1 second or maybe close to 2 just to make sure the engine isn't still spinning, so it won't sputter back to life unintentionally after I turn the ignition back on .

[homeworkhome53]

That what I wanted know. Is raw gas being injected into the cylinders while the engine is off but the ignition is on. The gas seems to be going a long ways but I'm stiil a few day from filling the tank up. This morning I drove 60.4 miles on the odometer and with eoc the scangauge read 45.6 miles. If gas is not being wasted through the cylinders this should be an outstanding tank. I'm still under half a tank on the gauge and 236.7 miles on the odom. I will post the results. I have very little traffic to contend with and some nice long coasts. I think this is the only way I'm going to break 50mpg. I have turned it back on too soon and it struggled back to life. Now I do a five count before turning back to on and that seems to be about right.

homeworkhome53

[sickpuppy318]

be carful about the sudden steering boost if you bump start while turning a little. as the engine lights you could oversteer.

[homeworkhome53]

Ditto, I no longer bump start in a turn.

homeworkhome53

[homeworkhome53]

I thought I might crack that invisible wall, 50mpg, but I'm still working on it, 48.32mpg.

homeworkhome53