Team Honda Thread

[cbaber]

I started trying to pulse and glide on my daily commute, and so far have had fantastic results. Previously I was driving 60 mph on my commutes with pumped up tires and no lean burn. That averaged about 45 mpg over the last few tanks.

Halfway through this current tank I replaced my dying battery with a spare battery I had laying around. I couldn't EOC before due to the dying battery, but this new(er) battery allows me to pulse and glide at night without a problem. My first 50 mile commute home gave me 56 mpg indicated on the Scangauge (calibrated). The next day to work I got 52 mpg (A/C on). Back home 54 mpg. Today on my drive to work 55.5 mpg.

This tank will hopefully average out at 50 mpg, my highest yet tank yet! I need to wire up a kill switch, improve my technique, and complete my alternator delete and I am hoping to jump into the 60 mpg range.

[PaleMelanesian]

Fantastic results!

But... you may find the Scangauge calibration needs more adjustment for P&G driving than steady speed. I find it reads higher vs reality when p&g'ing, by a couple percent.

[MetroMPG]

I found the same thing with the overoptimistic SG in my Firefly when using lots of P&G. Pale, what fuel offset value are you using? Mine was around 7 or 8% if memory serves.

[PaleMelanesian]

13%. I was about the same with the Civic. A couple percent of that is from E10 fuel, some is from the SG being naturally optimistic, and some from p&g.

[cbaber]

I can usually tell roughly my mpg of a tank by when I need to fillup. Last night I got in my car after work and at 430 miles my gas gauge was at the point where I knew I couldn't safely drive the 50 miles home. So I filled up, getting 46 mpg. I knew before I filled up it wasn't going to be as high as my SG was indicating.

I'm kind of puzzled. I'll continue to do P&G for this current tank and report back. What doesn't help is a potential vacuum leak, which could be the culprit. I cleaned out my EGR passages last weekend and I suspect the old EGR gasket plate is leaking. The first drive after cleaning it wouldn't idle. Ran fine with throttle, but wouldn't idle. By the next commute the computer had sorted itself and allowed the car to idle roughly. I had to drive it to work, but I did order a new gasket and seals for the injector which I will be installing this morning.

[sheepdog 44]

So I drove from western MA on the mountains all the way Boston at sea level on the highway. 55mph the whole way for 150 miles. Windows rolled up, no ac, no wipers, right mirror deleted, grill block. And i got 80mpg for the trip!

80mpg! The best i had before for that trip was 62mpg going the speed limit. My car is an automatic, so the difference is primarily a result of the lower aerodynamic drag at 55mph. Another factor is steep uphills, which makes going the speed limit against gravity so much worse.

Driving slower for a longer time was less stressful, physically and mentally. However, my habit of driving with the windows up and no ac for the 3 hour 20 minute trip in 80 degree weather, left me exhausted! I would do it again, in fact i did on the way home.

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice in my experiment!

.....................

Now with this in mind, let me tell you for a fact that the Prius that passes you on the highway going 75+mph uphill is getting 35mpg or less on a tank. Don't feel jealous of them! I sat in a Prius in Boston, and the FCD said 37mpg.

Later i was navigating for another 1st gen on an mpg rally in a small town, and we were puttering along in neutral at 28mph. We got passed by an unrelated local Prius with a plate that said "180MPG," Liar! More like 18.0mpg. Cause my driver got 112mpg for the rally.

Moral of the story, it's not what you have, it's how you use it!

[California98Civic]

++

[California98Civic]

76.2 mpg on a 127 mile round trip into the foothills and back. Lots of climbing headed east, and then lots of headwind coming back west. Car is running well, except for annoying oil leak (I think from oil pan gasket).

[PaleMelanesian]

Wow. That is fantastic! There is no way the Fit could do that. Any kind of highway distance and I'm down in the 50's. High or low 50's depending on how hard I work. That shows 2 things:

1. How good Honda made that car.
2. How much better you've made it.

Good work.

[RedDevil]

Unbelievable?
You are right.

I don't claim MPG by the in-board computer. The way to do it is (calibrated) distance versus fuel tanked, as indicated by the pump.
If the pump gauge is right.

As luck will have it I found one that is not. Went to it over 100 km after the warning light went on, 30 km after the calculated remaining range went to 0. I dared go no further. It was almost running on empty.

The Insight has a 40 liter tank and my biggest fill to date was over 38 liter. I was expecting something in that region. But it was brimmed after just 30 liter!

This makes me feel bad.
I worry about the people who run the station (one of the few around here that is still manned). I needed to tell them about it.
I could not find the stations email adress or phone number (the one I found was discontinued) so I wrote their distribution company this:

Originally Posted by me

Pump no. 2 in Gouda indicates less than it should...!

At the Argos tankstation in the Burgemeester van Reenensingel in Gouda the pump no 2 shows for less liters than it yields.
This afternoon I filled up my almost dry 40 liter tank with Blue One 95. But after just 30 liter (indicated) it was completely filled...!
While fueling the digits seem to roll slow while the fuel flows at full speed.

I'm deeply worried for the proprietors of this manned station; they could easily lose tens of thousands of Euro's because of this.

By telling you I might miss out on hundreds of euro's worth in profit. I would appreciate it if my honesty gets rewarded royally
Meanwhile I will check out regularly whether the pump has been fixed, at least until it is.

With kind regards,
Red Devil

Another unique day went by...