New member but old ecodriver

[northstar2k]

I've been on this site before but decided to join today after looking more closely at it. A great source of help and info. I have been attempting to squeeze every inch out of every fuel molecule since 1997. That year I bought a 1994 Chrysler LHS with a driver Information center. What fun it was understanding how it worked and how I could use it to work for me. I learned how to get the most out of that car. Chicago to home and 30.0 mpg pulling into the driveway, driving at 65-70 nearly the entire way. Those downhills in PA were sweet! Every car I have had since then have had DIC's. I wouldn't know what to do without one.

I presently drive a (don't pre-judge me!) '00 Cadillac Seville SLS with the Northstar 275 HP engine and 122k miles. I drive 27.3 miles each way to school and average just over 30mpg over some hilly terrain. My best one way trip is 34.8. When I tell people, they think I am looney, but it is true and I have the records to prove it.

I look forward to having fun and learning new things here.

[cfg83]

northstar2k -

Welcome to EM! Having the feed-back makes all the difference, doesn't it?

CarloSW2

[MetroMPG]

Hi, Northstar

I can believe you get 30 mpg from that Caddy v8 because I've done it myself, with only mild/moderate hypermiling. (31 US mpg highway, actually. 21 mpg in exclusively sub/urban driving with lots of lights etc.) This was in my grandpa's car - a '94 Seville, I think.

Welcome to the site.

[groar]

Originally Posted by northstar2k

I've been on this site before but decided to join today after looking more closely at it. A great source of help and info. I have been attempting to squeeze every inch out of every fuel molecule since 1997.

Please tel us what are your top rules that permit you to save the more gallons.

Is there rules you discovered only after several years and you couldn't stop to follow now ?

Thanks in advance,

Denis.

[northstar2k]

I live in a mountainous region, nothing real high, highest around me 2300', but I try to use them for maximum advantage. One thing I do is once I leave my house, I have a 2.5 mile stretch that is mostly downhill. I leave the drive, get up to speed quickly the coast over a smal hill before the down. At two different points the down is a little steeper and I put it in neutral, not to save fuel but to increase my coasting speed. I never coast more than 10 seconds, because coasting in an automatic for long stretches cannot be good for it. This allows me to coast and keep my speed up. With a cold engine I get close to 40 for that 2.5 mile stretch and a warm engine nets me close to 50. I have also found that when you accelerate to speed, if you let up off the accelerator for 2-3 seconds your instant reading will go to high 30 low 40 and then gently (very gently) press on the accelerator and keep your speed. I find that I can actully increase my speed this way and keep the instant reading near 40. It's a matter of pedal pressure and how you train yourself to keep it smooth and gentle. Thoughts?

[Johnny Mullet]

Nice to have you here to share with us!

[cfg83]

northstar2k -

Originally Posted by northstar2k

I live in a mountainous region, nothing real high, highest around me 2300', but I try to use them for maximum advantage. One thing I do is once I leave my house, I have a 2.5 mile stretch that is mostly downhill. I leave the drive, get up to speed quickly the coast over a smal hill before the down. At two different points the down is a little steeper and I put it in neutral, not to save fuel but to increase my coasting speed. I never coast more than 10 seconds, because coasting in an automatic for long stretches cannot be good for it. This allows me to coast and keep my speed up. With a cold engine I get close to 40 for that 2.5 mile stretch and a warm engine nets me close to 50. I have also found that when you accelerate to speed, if you let up off the accelerator for 2-3 seconds your instant reading will go to high 30 low 40 and then gently (very gently) press on the accelerator and keep your speed. I find that I can actully increase my speed this way and keep the instant reading near 40. It's a matter of pedal pressure and how you train yourself to keep it smooth and gentle. Thoughts?

This sounds very similar to stuff I try to do. What is *very* vindicating is that I think your DIC must be telling you "the truth" because it's gotta be calculating off the fuel injector pulse width (right?!?!?!). The feather-foot is truly the way to go.

CarloSW2

[groar]

Originally Posted by northstar2k

I have also found that when you accelerate to speed, if you let up off the accelerator for 2-3 seconds your instant reading will go to high 30 low 40 and then gently (very gently) press on the accelerator and keep your speed. I find that I can actully increase my speed this way and keep the instant reading near 40. It's a matter of pedal pressure and how you train yourself to keep it smooth and gentle. Thoughts?

Thanks for your reply.

One of my first rules was to release the accelerator until I loose a little speed. Loosing a few percentage of speed while saving 10% of gas/CO2 is efficient
Another important rule was to use engine brake as much as possible, my cars doing DFCO.
After several rules, all were based upon the same philosophy : accept to loose a few percentage of time to save tens of percent of gas.

As I'm only a learner, I'm only saving about 20% compare to my previous mileage. I have to confess that I'm often in an hurry, and I'm rapidly forgetting to calm down to save gas/CO2

But one of the rules which saved me more gas/CO2 is to find the best road & schedule to avoid traffic. This permitted me to save gas/CO2 and time

My wife who is trying to do the same since a few weeks said me that she does prefer to drive this way and we concluded the same thing : you're now more relax at the end of the trip than at the beginning, which can't be the case when you use the time saved on the road, if any, to try to relax.

Denis.

[cfg83]

groar -

Originally Posted by groar

Thanks for your reply.

One of my first rules was to release the accelerator until I loose a little speed. Loosing a few percentage of speed while saving 10% of gas/CO2 is efficient
Another important rule was to use engine brake as much as possible, my cars doing DFCO.
After several rules, all were based upon the same philosophy : accept to loose a few percentage of time to save tens of percent of gas.

As I'm only a learner, I'm only saving about 20% compare to my previous mileage. I have to confess that I'm often in an hurry, and I'm rapidly forgetting to calm down to save gas/CO2

But one of the rules which saved me more gas/CO2 is to find the best road & schedule to avoid traffic. This permitted me to save gas/CO2 and time

My wife who is trying to do the same since a few weeks said me that she does prefer to drive this way and we concluded the same thing : you're now more relax at the end of the trip than at the beginning, which can't be the case when you use the time saved on the road, if any, to try to relax.

Denis.

I agree. I am lucky because my boss allows me to drive "off-peak". I get to work later and leave later, but I avoid the traffic. Driving slower is less stressful for me also. When I am forced to drive fast, I am usually in very crowded traffic. It is crazy because when I am in faster traffic, the space between the cars is also smaller, so reaction times are smaller.

CarloSW2

[northstar2k]

Guys,

Thanks for the welcome. And also thanks for the back-up with what I am doing. It's great to know that I am on the right track and that others do the very similiar things and get great results.

CarloSW2 -- Less stress! how cool! It is absolutely true. The only time I feel stress at all is when some knucklehead destroys my momentum by doing something stupid, and we all know that there are plenty of them. Yes my DIC is giving my the correct info. The last two days I have been experimenting with gear selection on both up and down hills. I find that the one hill I travel on, when I go up the dic reads 13 in overdrive until momentum dies and speed slows then it downshifts and I go to 11. If I manually shift to 2nd (yes, thats right, 2nd) I get 13 even though the engine runs about 8-900 rpms faster. My suspicion is that with my engine, it has more HP at higher rpms and therefore runs easier and therefore more efficiently. Downhill I notice that the dic reads maximum if I am in OD or all the way in second. This verifies that the injectors are shutting down the fuel supply when the car is coasting. I'm going to follow this up with a bit more documentation.

Denis - We are definitely on the same page, and what we are doing really works. The more we drive and experiment the more ways we find to squeeze a few more inches out of each ounce. Today I got 29.5 on a 57.7 mile loop of combined highway (70%) and town (30%) and I got in no ones way. You don't have to crawl to get great results you just need to train yourself to be consistant with the things you know work.

Later -- Conner