The Winter Rant Thread (and support group)
 

Please disregard if you live in a temperate climate. :)

After experiencing the past month of abysmal FE, I hereby declare this thread as a repository for those wintry blues, and a support group for those suffering from SFD (Seasonal FE Disorder).

Hi. My name is Rick, and I'm averaging 25.4 mpg this tank. :(

The first 100 miles of the tank looked great: about 30F and low 40's FE. Then it hit. +8F, cold start, 52 miles. 33 mpg isn't so bad, right?

Then it hits. 4-inches of snow. Not a lot, but enough to throw the entire city into mass hysteria!

Morning commute: Averaging 15 mph for 30 miles on the highway is good for 22 mpg. Yay. :turtle: The bad kind of turtle folks...

Evening commute: It looks good! The roads still stink, but traffic is moving nicely. Oh no! An ambulance... fire truck... Nooooooooooooo! Some #$%# in a Hummer spun out and created a movie-grade pile up. Well, nothing else to do with the next hour but listen to the radio, then pulse-n-slide. 23.7 MPG over 60-some miles today.

Tomorrow's another day, but I have to fill. Likely the worst tank in the last 3 years.

So, bring your tired drivers, your huddled mass transit dreamers. For life, Liberty, and the pursuit of FE...

RH77

I'm done with winter. I love snow, I hate the cold... and there's an imbalance. Lots of cold, no snow.. just bad drivers.

And I loathe mass transit, as I used to use the bus every day. It took 40 mins to go a 15 minute drive away, and I had to change buses and ride another 15-20 minutes to my actual stop, which was only another 3 miles. It sucked. And it was dirty. Always so dirty.

And it was cold. At least the cold kept the smell from getting too bad.

*whack to the face* Sorry... winter is bad.

I haven't filled my car in nearly two weeks... I'm still debating whether to even keep it.

Rick -

[cue world's smallest violin ...]

I've been getting stinky tanks too, but I have no excuse in LA. I think it's the combo of cold, some wet, and XMas traffic. I just switched from 87 to 89 Octance on the (remote) chance it will give me a boost (it's cheap!).

[/end cue]

What is snow? Do you mean shaved ice?

CarloSW2

I filled up on Monday night...it snowed on Tuesday night...great way to start a tank.

Thankfully I only have a 4 mile commute...which resulted in a 17.5 mpg tank on the Scanguage this morning. Trip to PA next week...highway driving will hopefully save this tank...barring snowstorm (which is a predicted 6" for Sunday).

Hi, I'm Martin, and I fell back into abysmal FE. I was clean for almost a year, was pretty proud of it, but now I just don't see the end of the tunnel...

The world isn't helping me either. I was back at my dealer last week, and while I was not looking, he bled my tires back down to 30 psi. As if it was not bad enough.

That's just harsh man :p. The traffic was indeed very LA-like, and I thought, "It must stink to have this year 'round". The biggest difference this time around was the lack of road treatment. The slow lane had snow plowed into it, 8+ inches of snow. That meant that the air dam was scooping up snow. Bad for FE, but an impromptu grille block for those 35 mph high-speed run-ups.

I too switched to higher-octane this tank. The highly calibrated butt-dyno noted that low-RPM power is up considerably since the timing is at full advance. It's just getting those IATs up or else it's for naught. There's a crazy scheme going on under the hood, with aluminum foil, to trap heat and direct it to the intake. It seems to work if headwinds aren't higher than 20-30 mph.

Same here -- snow/ice all week. I'm going to stretch the tank to another round-trip today in hopes I don't get that "red line" on my latest entry on the fuel log graph.

Best of luck -- hopefully the road trip will even-out your tank. :thumbup:

Martin- welcome to 'group'. I'm sure your extended season isn't easy. Any tips or coping techniques? Argh, why can't people leave people's tire pressures alone!

Hang in there, it will get warmer... sometime...

-Rick

Wow, and it's not even officially winter yet. Astronomically, I mean.

Hi, I'm Terry, and I'm getting pre-ecomodder mileage. :(

Winter cost me my spot in the Ultimate Ecomodder Fuel Economy Challenge.

*sniff*

I really, really, really HATE cold weather. And snow. Other than that, winter is great. :rolleyes:

Yesterday I popped in a CD and rock-n-rolled all the way home at 50 mph over snow-clogged back country roads. Passed a couple cars going 30. Saw a horse and buggy going the other way disappear in my plume of snow. ABS engaged at every stop sign. Some people engage in extreme sports for their adrenaline rush. I drive fast in the snow.

RH77; "pulse and slide" ! Now that's funny right there. :p

Hi, I'm Jeff, and I'm feeling the hurt. I was hoping to have a decent tank this round, something in the 26 MPG range. Then:

Wife's car battery died, and she drove my car.
MPGuino test run caused major fuel dump.
Jumping wife's car caused me to sit and idle more than once.
Alternator testing = more idling. Need new alternator.
Colder.
Rain.
Snow/Ice.
Passengers.


I'm feeling I'll be lucky to get 21.

This probably falls under the "You Know You're An Ecomodder If" thread but since we're ranting about winter, snow and cold temps...

While driving home last night in the snow I popped the car in neutral as I approached an overpass because there was a 50 foot patch of clean, snow-less paved road protected by the bridge overpass above and I wanted to squeeze every last inch of possible coasting out of my commute. Needless to say when I hit the snow as I came out from under the bridge overpass...it drained my mph down to 15mph and sapped my coast. Like Superman with Kryptonite underpants...I was powerless.

My light comes on at 610-625km into the tank... this time it was only 520... hold me... its so cold...

Weve gotten at least 3 feet of snow so far and its not even winter yet. Nearby Gaylord they say has gotten 50 inches, a third of its normal yearly snowfall already. Clear roads, even highways, are a joke in these parts and every year they announce theyre going to cut back some more. Last year they decided to not plow on weekends and most of the area was stranded one whole weekend when we got a good storm. Thankfully it was an off-weekend for my daughter. I can keep improving when I go downstate, but around here Im always pushing snow and its tough to get even 25 mpg. When there is a clear road it is just a polished sheet of ice so I end up going through the snow anyway to stay on the road. Many stop signs are on hills and blind intersections, and if you do a legal complete stop you might not get going again very easily. Just watch for headlights and keep going if you can. Its been about zero degrees and high winds the last few days. Last weekend took another hit with freezing rain and I got stuck in the ex's folks driveway because the base gave out (they obviously dont plow very well), and when I got out I had no hope of making it up the hill so I had to take these back roads that were a skating rink and almost didnt it make it out. Ive got Winterforce tires too. Around here you dont get a snow day. Youve expected to make it through whatever mother nature dishes out.

This is affectionately referred to as a "stoptional maneuver" around here.

I used to do this out of my driveway when I lived in the MH park, b/c of the steep hill you had to start on.. I found it very wearing on my clutch, and didn't like it, so at night, or early in the morning, as I was coming to the intersection, I'd slow down to first gear speeds, and turn my headlights off for a brief instant, just long enough to see if there were any headlights near the intersection. If I saw no other lights, accelerate and go.

Obviously, this didn't work during the day, so during the day, you just slowed down and looked as you came up on the intersection slowly, you could see to the left, and there was 35FT at the intersection itself, b/c my driveway widened from the normal 24FT of a back road, to ~35FT at the top, so you had plenty of room to move around if necessary to get the best angle to see to the right and be able to pull out safely without stopping.

On many of the back roads around here, I often do this, when there is a plain sight through/around the intersection, and it's obvious that no one is around. (Field on either side.) Although I don't find it necessary to flash my lights anymore, since I never go to that park.

I've been stopped ONCE for using this maneuver. I responded to the officer with an explanation of exactly how much energy it takes to start a 3000lb car from a dead stop, vs accelerating from 5-10mph. He let me go with a "warning". He basically told me to keep doing it, but not to make it blatant.

My name's Craig and I love winter. Guess I'm past the denial phase. Snow makes me go faster, and spin the tires faster, regardless of direction. Sideways is a plus. Currently haven't filled up since the snow came, but I'm estimating 15-16mpg instead of 20mpg thanks to my over-exuberance of testing the tires' capabilities from key-on to key-off.

I love winter. Only time I can do burnouts without ruining my tires or transmission.

Hi,

Aerodynamics are of increased importance in the winter. On another thread, Aerohead gave very credible numbers showing a 5.8% increase in aero drag from 60F down to 30F, IIRC.

NeilBlanchard,
I was going to raise that point. While I can't be bothered to crunch numbers, air density does figure into calculating drag, and air density does go up as temp goes down. So it stands to reason.

On the plus side, my car made itself a partial grille block...
http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/r...o/Image034.jpg

We've had a bit over 2 feet of snow so far... both cars are completely buried, so I'm driving the Ranger. Interestingly enough, even though I drove a good 40 miles in snow, all in 4WD and some with chains, and the rest of the tank in heavy rain, I averaged 18.7 mpg. Previously, I averaged 15 mpg, and the absolute best tank was 16.5. I recently had the badly slipping transmission rebuilt, so maybe it was sapping all that extra energy. (It seemed to have more, ahem, pickup, after the rebuild as well.)

You know it's snowy when.....

A yardstick isn't long enough to measure the snow, so you have to pull out a 4' drywall square.
http://gallery.me.com/benhdvideoguy/...C_0619/web.jpg
http://gallery.me.com/benhdvideoguy/...C_0583/web.jpg

It takes 3 hours to shovel the driveway.

You lose your wife in the snow.
http://gallery.me.com/benhdvideoguy/...C_0591/web.jpg
Snowmobiles get stuck in your yard.
http://gallery.me.com/benhdvideoguy/...C_0598/web.jpg
It takes 3 hours to shovel the driveway.

You bend your shovel handle.
http://gallery.me.com/benhdvideoguy/...C_0577/web.jpg

All of these things actually happened today. Except the shovel. That's the ergonomic one.

excessive tire spinning can still ruin your transmission :P

Oh the joys of life in the north
 

And you are OUT of electric car range!

Time to start work on the bio-diesel serial hybrid! :thumbup:

Hook it to the S-10 and come on down.
Then we'll run an extension cord from the garage so she can feed all night.
Take it to the beach and scare the dickens out of the tourists.
Which leads me to one of my favorite bumper stickers

"If it's Tourist Season, Why can't we shoot 'em?"

Bring it to the
"Second Annual Geo-Palooza"
held in Ashtabula Ohio

That's a lot closer for you.
S.

now I'm whining