Got my Scangauge-pretty eye opening

[monroe74]

Originally Posted by bkrell

I'm not sure what any of the last few posts have to do with this thread.

The thread started out being about smart ways to get up a hill, so it's not surprising that there's been some discussion about smart ways to get down a hill. There are lots of threads that suffer worse subject-creep than that.

Originally Posted by R.I.D.E.

I had one hijacked also

If you're claiming that comments about engine braking amount to hijacking the thread, then the one who hijacked the thread is you. That subject was first raised by you (http://www.gassavers.org/showpost.ph...&postcount=27). No one responded to what you said about engine braking, so you mentioned that subject again (http://www.gassavers.org/showpost.ph...&postcount=38). Then someone finally responded, and raised a fair criticism of the point you made.

I guess those comments of yours should have contained a warning, more-or-less like this: 'if you disagree with the point I'm making about this tangent, I'm going to accuse you of hijacking the thread, even though it was my idea to raise this tangent.'

But at least you're consistent in your use of the word "hijacked," because your other complaint about an allegedly hijacked thread (http://www.gassavers.org/showthread.php?t=7400) was really a reaction to the same phenomenon: someone disagreed with you.

That's something that happens from time-to-time on public forums, but it's usually not called 'hijacking.' It's usually called 'disagreement.'

[bkrell]

groan....I think I'll just go back to lurking....

[monroe74]

Originally Posted by bkrell

groan....I think I'll just go back to lurking....

When you throw this sort of party you can't know in advance who's going to show up or how they're going to treat each other. Sometimes you get unexpected and unwanted results. It's an experiment, kind of like messing with FE. The fact that you're taking a risk goes with the territory.

Speaking of lurkers, I think some folks tune in because they actually like watching this happen. It's like watching a car race and hoping for a crash.

[slurp812]

Open/closed loop has to do with how the ECU is controlling the fuel mixture. Open loop = rich. Also its not using the O2 sensor. This happens in a few cases. WOT (wide open throttle), sometimes before the motor is warmed up, and when the ECU is in limp mode. For FE we always want this to be closed loop.

[monroe74]

Originally Posted by slurp812

Open/closed loop has to do with how the ECU is controlling the fuel mixture. Open loop = rich. Also its not using the O2 sensor. This happens in a few cases. WOT (wide open throttle), sometimes before the motor is warmed up, and when the ECU is in limp mode. For FE we always want this to be closed loop.

Good point. On cars without a wideband O2 sensor (i.e., most cars other than the VX and HX), I think the optimal throttle setting is the largest setting that doesn't trigger open loop (and you should also be using the lowest possible gear, to keep revs low). I think that throttle setting is typically about 70%. The SG is very helpful in this regard, because it provides a nice simple way to monitor if you're in open loop.

This is a similar concept to driving an automatic, where the optimal throttle setting is the largest setting that doesn't trigger a downshift. And I think as a general rule, if you're not triggering a downshift, then you're not inducing open loop.

With a wideband sensor, I think even WOT doesn't trigger open loop, although I'm not positive. It would be great if someone with an HX and a Scangauge could confirm this.