What is the preferred engine load?
 

I am confused as to whether the number is varied compared to what car you drive?

I used to drive a 1996 saab 900 and my friend had told me that when accelerating the preferred engine load is between 70-80. This seemed to make sense and the scangauge would give me reasonable results according to how hard I pushed the pedal.

Unfortunately the saab has been put out of commission and I have a car that's getting me through insurance limbo, it's a 2000 chevy malibu. I went from 4 cyl turbo 2.0 liter(saab) to 6 cyl 3.1 liter and I seem to be getting very different readouts for engine load. I have to really push the pedal to the metal to get the scangauge to read 70-80. I was wondering if this number varied according to car type or if I'm possibly missing out on something. I'm getting reasonable read outs for my mpg, avg, and mph, but it almost seems like something is wrong. I was going 45 and my engine load was at 20, that just didn't seem right to me.

Thought and comments are appreciated still new to this whole hypermiling thing potentially looking at a 4 cyl 2003 hyundai tiburon, it will be kind of nice in the fall because of where I'm going to school will consist of a majority of country road driving with a 55 mph speed limit. Thanks for the help guys.

Not sure in your case, but I know with my 3.2 I accelerate at about 40-50% load. And being an automatic, that keeps the rpms under 2500. 20% load while cruising is normal

My insight likes to lug the engine to 80% before it revs or changed cvt ratio and in sport mode only lugs the engine to 60% according to the SG2.

Of course it uses the VTEC to delay closing of the intake valves on the compression stroke to lessen pumping losses, but it feels like you got a vacuum leak. :turtle:

In manual mode it will let you do what you want in regards to load up to redline or near idle, otherwise it goes up or down a predefined ratio of the 7 it gives you. :thumbup:

check the tps reading. there might be a dead spot.

Read up on BSFC maps, that will help clear some things up.

As far as whether the load will vary with different vehicles, the answer is yes. This post should explain things:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/259916-post42.html

With my Mustang, I generally accelerate at 80-90% load and shift at 1500-2500 RPM, depending on conditions. My results have been satisfactory from my point of view. YMMV.

Do not let them GIVE you this car!!!!! You will never see an end to the problems! I've known several people who've owned said model, including my Mom... IMO get something else!

Thanks for the responses, I'm not so ready to do all the calculations Diesel Dave, because the car is short term like less than a month. I was just curious. I might look into a bad tps for my dad, as it's his car. I'm using it while he's away. More than likely I'll just ask about it. I was reading up and the acceleration did seem a little off, but honestly I think that's in my head I've been so used to driving only one car.

As for the Tiburon, I've been reading very mixed reviews about the car, I tend to hear a lot of bad things about the manual versions more than the automatics. I would be kind of getting a good deal on it but I'd have to immediately do work on it which in the long run didn't seem like something I'd want to do. It would be $3000 at 70k miles. 4 cyl. automatic. but there's something wrong with driver side wheel, a bearing I can't remember exactly. It also needs a new catalytic converter. I'm just not sure what to look for versus what I can afford. I have to wait and see how much I get for this claim on my saab.

The total repairs looked like it would be $4000-$5000 and the car's not worth that so I think I'm going to get however much they think the car's worth.

I'd take a sec and think about this "deal"... I had a 2001 tibi, with the 2L 4speed Auto. at 70k what you think about the wheel bearing is most likely correct! the passenger side will need to be replaced a couple months down the road as well its about $300 for each if they are the same Bearing-in Hub assembly... The 2L in the 2003+ models is the same BETA(2) engine thats in the 2001. basically its the same everywhere else except the body. I had electrical issues not even a year after i got mine, HID headlights didnt even work, short somewhere, they would cut off around 3k rpms, The transmission is sloppy to lug a 2800lb car around, Parts can be stripped from an 97+ Elentra for parts if needed but the engine is really only good once its BUILT for performance. the tolerances arent fantastic as is, and it lacks in almost everything with that AT... after 110k mi, my headgasket blew. after spending $3k in almost redoing my entire drivetrain.. no ricer here either

With my Malibu, I accellerate as hard as I can, without reving over 2500 or so. Can't get engine load via SG much over 40-50. The auto tranny just won't let us load the engine, can't with Stratus either.

Gas hard, let off at 2-2500 rpm to get it to shift, on gas as hard as possible without making it downshift, repeat until in reaching desired speed.

The 4-cylinder Tibby with the auto is a pig. The auto has incredible drivetrain losses and saps a lot of power out of the motor.

I use a vacuum gauge in my saturn. Every acceleration event is between 1900-2400 RPM (the meat of the torque curve for the engine) at a vacuum reading of 2-3 inHG. With P&G and EOC, and a 55mph cruise speed, I average 48mpg in my saturn.

Agreed. I've heard bad things about these cars as well. I've had a few friends with the 2.7 V6 however and as someone into performance cars i must say for the size of the motor they're really not bad and i've never seen any of my friends have problems with these. This is not the case with the newer 06 & up I4's though no complaints heard about those.

Either way back to the original idea i believe the engine load not only depends on the car but nowadays you must take induction into the matter too ie. Turbo/supercharged It really depends on your vehicle for example for my two babies
04 CLK55 Cabrio. I prefer 40-45% throttle around town
76 El Camino, 55-60%

well it doesn't matter so much now, the saab had a turbo so I was wondering about that for a while but it's out of commission now. I now drive a honda accord that's 4 cyl so the whole 70-80% load makes sense again. It seems a bit slow to me but I was driving a 6 cyl malibu for a couple of weeks which load was being displayed oddly. And as I said before that I had the saab which was also 4 cyl but it had a turbo and 25 more horses. I am getting the best mpg in the honda and it's just a nice car period. I hope I'll be driving it for years to come.