Project "Save the Flea!" Winter beater: 2007 Civic 1.8L, 5-speed

[MetroMPG]

5.6 is decent!

And 10C is not chilly I'll gladly trade you 10C for what we have this morning!

[xavi]

that was?

Here normal temperature is bettween 5 to 15 Cº Winter, and 14 to 28 Cº Summer.
A few days in a year from -3 to 4 winter, and 30 to 35Cº Summer is also possible...

Thinking of an engine block heater, but:
1 - the weather here is not so cold. Snow is a reason for us to party and stop working, cause it comes once every 5-10 years or so...
2 - my car sleeps on an underground garage, that usual is 8 Cº above outside temperature on winter, and 8 under in summer... when it's hot outside, it makes me want to go to the garage to sleep a while!
3 - Since it is the all building's garage, doesn't have power plug in it so could't plug a block heater...

So will pass... but still I notice a big change in mpg from summer to winter time, like 15% more in winter!

[Xist]

I live in Arizona and I enjoy 40ºC, which is 10ºC.

[MetroMPG]

Went snowboarding today (first of the season -- one lift open!) with my brother & nephew, first "big" trip for the Civic.

And I spotted a Mitsu Mirage in the parking lot...



With the Civic loaded up with 3 guys and their gear, we covered roughly 10% city, 45% freeway (~100 km/h), 45% rural roads (~70-80 km/h), keeping close to the speed limits (a little over, a little under, depending on traffic). Mostly with cruise control on.

Trip average speed was 40 mph / 64 km/h (per ScanGauge, includes time spent sitting still), max speed of 80 mph / 128 km/h. Briefly... Don't ask!

Engine off coasts where practical (mostly approaching stops/turns).

Weather: windy (gusts to ~40 km/h), temperature -2 to +2C, roads dry or damp. Traffic light to moderate.

Results: 44.3 MPG US = 5.3 L/100 km = 53 MPG Imp.

44.3 is decent, I suppose. It's 30% better than the car's 34 mpg EPA highway rating. But it's no Firefly!

Needs a tail cone.

---

Eco cam indicator: I left the voltmeter attached for the drive and confirmed what I suspected: it's in eco mode almost all the time. There are very few hills on the highway around here that are steep enough to switch back to the regular/power lobes once at cruising speed, even with cruise control on.

[Daox]

So, it only switches off the eco cam when there is a higher demand for power?

[MetroMPG]

Not ALL the time, but close to it for highway driving. The eco-cam profile is active under light load in 3rd to 5th gear in these conditions.

[MetroMPG]

I went out this morning to try to gather some MPG data with the eco cam profile on vs. off, but it didn't work out.

My plan was to simply unplug the electrical connector to the VTEC actuator to disable it for the comparison runs.

I realized it would probably set a check-engine light (it did), but I didn't expect it would also cause the cruise control to stop working. Disappointing! I just didn't feel like having to keep an eagle eye on the RPM to keep my speed dead steady for as-good-as-possible testing.

However...

On the two runs I did, I noticed the difference in MAP values on the ScanGauge. At 70 km/h (44 mph) on a level road, I saw values of roughly 7.2 - 7.8 with the eco cam profile active vs. 5.4 - 5.8 with the connector pulled.

[xavi]

made a few highway miles this weekend and subscribe your words...
speed up a litle to see the top speed in eco cam, and at 3500 in 6th gear I went 138 kmh.
we have to start uphill with eco on and it will stay on most hills.
but if we change speed with cruise or activate it when on a small hill it deactivates.

Metrompg, tell me: knowing what we already know about this i-vtec, when you DWL on rural roads wich LOD you use and wich rpm you shift?

[MetroMPG]

Honestly, I rarely ever shift out of top gear once I get there on the open road.

[xavi]

well, I live in a small town at a valley with a river in the middle, so most roads aren't flat... still there are some...
when going uphill and downhill I try to take best momentum downhill to overtake next uphill...
On flat roads, I DWL, but didn't find the best LOD acceleration and best shift point...

Considering the pumping loses reduction, and eco cam operation of our engine, you think is best to pull fast/high load to get to cruising speed sooner, or to pull with low load? shifting at 2k? 2.5k rpms?
On this trip you made, in city and rural roads, how did you do it?

Also I have monitor MAP values, but seems the variation you saw can happen with or without eco cam activation...
I still think best way is IGN that usually is above 35 with eco cam on, and the higher value I saw for my 98 octane petrol is 47-48 IGN...
Saw LOD as high as 67-70 with eco cam on, but to engage it need to be way low...
TPS on the other hand seems useless...

thank you and sorry if I am being a bit as"#$
Can't find a lot of R18 owners that hypermiles!