Official Thread for posting daily FE updates

[diamondlarry]

I had a relatively average day but I just capped it off with a new personal best for a segment. This morning's trip to the wife's work was 36.4. From there to my work was 56.4. This afternoon's trip back to pick up the wife was 61.7 and from there to my mom's house 11.8 miles away was 58.4. I just got back from taking my daughter to her youth group at church and managed a 60.3 on the way there. On the way home though, I pulled off a 76.8. It is a 5.32 mile trip according to Google Earth. The SG only reported 5.1. Looks like I need to do some tweaking. If my calculations are correct, this would have been 80.1 on the SG. Oh, the average speed for this segment was 25 mph.

[smartzuuk]

Originally Posted by diamondlarry

On the way home though, I pulled off a 76.8. It is a 5.32 mile trip according to Google Earth. The SG only reported 5.1. Looks like I need to do some tweaking.

IMO, a handheld GPS is the only reliable way to calibrate the scanguage, by verifying the speed, and therefore the distance travelled.

(Of course, the two are inter-related, and to calibrate my unit, I just went for a long trip (in kms) with Scanguage at zero, and then adjusted to make up the differnce... using the distance of the GPS trip versus the Scanguage trip... I found that to be better than going by speed alone.)

[MetroMPG]

Nice work Larry!

[diamondlarry]

It also helped that the temps got into the mid 60's today.

[Compaq888]

It looks like the moderate load on accelaration is helping. It gets me to my desired 35-40mph better. I shift into 5th at 30mph now but then it's a dog. i don't want to wind out 4th too much.

I'm thinking of winding out 4th till 35mph which is about 1900rpm and then shift into 5th and barely touch the throttle.

What do you think guys???

Or should I wind out 4th till 30mph(1600rpm) and shift into 5th and creep up in 5th to 35-40mph???

[cfg83]

Hello -

NEW personal best today on the way to work. Here's the info :

MPG : 53.8
Route : 10 West -> 710 South -> 105 West -> 405 South -> Exit Freeway
Miles : 27.7
MPH Avg: 45
MPH Max : 65
Net Elevation Change : ~210 feet drop
Weather : 78 degrees F, clear, 15% Humidity, 27 degrees F Dew Point
Time : ~9:30 AM to ~10:10 AM, ~40 minutes

I just slaughtered my previous best of 48.5. It has to be Pulse and Glide (the mild kind with engine idling). It wasn't a perfect run, but it was very very good. I barely ever braked and I didn't have to stop on the 710 -> 105 transition.



CarloSW2

EDIT : I programmed my ScanGauge Gas Tank today and thay may have had something to do with it. I use the car's odometer and the gas fillups to maintain my overall MPG stats, so I didn't care about the gas tank settings of the ScanGauge. I may have been closer to 50 MPG the whole time and not have known.

[diamondlarry]

Originally Posted by cfg83

Hello -

NEW personal best today on the way to work. Here's the info :

MPG : 53.8
Route : 10 West -> 710 South -> 105 West -> 405 South -> Exit Freeway
Miles : 27.7
MPH Avg: 45
MPH Max : 65
Net Elevation Change : ~210 feet drop
Weather : 78 degrees F, clear, 15% Humidity, 27 degrees F Dew Point
Time : ~9:30 AM to ~10:10 AM, ~40 minutes

I just slaughtered my previous best of 48.5. It has to be Pulse and Glide (the mild kind with engine idling). It wasn't a perfect run, but it was very very good. I barely ever braked and I didn't have to stop on the 710 -> 105 transition.



CarloSW2

P&G is your friend! I don't know how much opportunity you have to do some all-out P&G(engine-off), but imagine how much higher it could get.
This morning started out around 52 degrees. The trip to my wife's work was 33.2 due to no FAS so the car would warm up. From there to my work was 60.6. By this afternoon, the temperature had dropped to 43 and the trip to pick up my wife came in at 58.4. There was also a 5-10 mph headwind. On the way home, the mileage was 56.2 probably due in part to the tailwind.

[cfg83]

diamondlarry -

Originally Posted by diamondlarry

P&G is your friend! I don't know how much opportunity you have to do some all-out P&G(engine-off), but imagine how much higher it could get.
This morning started out around 52 degrees. The trip to my wife's work was 33.2 due to no FAS so the car would warm up. From there to my work was 60.6. By this afternoon, the temperature had dropped to 43 and the trip to pick up my wife came in at 58.4. There was also a 5-10 mph headwind. On the way home, the mileage was 56.2 probably due in part to the tailwind.

I have always admired your Saturn MPG. I think you have the harder time right now because of the weather and winter gas. I have surmised that LA probably keeps the same gas blend all year long, so I am in great shape to maintain my MPG over the winter.

The traffic context makes engine off very dicey. Someday maybe I'll make the run on a holiday when everyone is at home and the freeway is empty.

I think another factor is that I never programmed the ScanGauge Gas Tank Size before (I am about to edit the post to say so). I use the car's odometer and the gas fillups to maintain my overall MPG stats, so I didn't care about the gas tank setting of the ScanGauge in the past. I may have been closer to 50 MPG the whole time and not have known.

Still, it's a great day!!!

CarloSW2

[diamondlarry]

I just got back from filling my tank; it was bugging me about the SG calibration and whether or not it was right and I couldn't wait. The SG said I used 4.7 gallons and had computed 50.8 mpg. My car's odometer registered 238.4 and has been found to be accurate according to Google Earth. The actual numbers were: 4.603 gallons used for an mpg of 51.792 mpg. On the way home from the station, I managed a 76.8 mpg segment.

[cfg83]

Hello -

NEW personal best today on the way to work. Here's the info :

MPG : 56.4 (old best was 53.8, so a 4.83% increase)
Route : 10 West -> 710 South -> 105 West -> 405 South -> Exit Freeway
Miles : 26.9
MPH Avg: 46
MPH Max : 65
RPM Max : 2738
Gallons : 0.5
IAT Reading : Hot Air Intake led to Input Air Temp readings of 130 to 140 degrees F.

Net Elevation Change : ~210 feet drop

Weather : 84.5 degrees F, clear, 12.5% Humidity, 27.5 degrees F Dew Point
Time : ~10:30 AM to ~11:00 AM, ~30 minutes

Recent Car Changes : Reduced tire pressure from 40 PSI to 37 PSI cold (need new tires soon, trying to increase traction for rain later in week). Hydrogen Booster NOT running because I want to make sure that a new hydrogen delivery line will not come loose or melt in the engine bay. I disabled my DRLs (Daytime Running Lights), which reduces my daytime electrical load by up to 10 Amps max (Saturn DRLs are the hi beams).

Question : Could reducing PSI increase my stated MPG? I can't get my head around this. Lower PSI implies smaller tires, which implies more revs per mile, which implies ... ?!?!?

Hypothesis : IMO two things led to this, the weather and the traffic. A nice hot/dry summery day and just the right flow to the traffic. An almost empty freeway is actually worse for MPG because you get more people "pushing" you to go faster than you want. Going South on the 710 probably helps me to get "drafting for free" in the sense that I am surrounded by trucks going to Long Beach Harbor. I don't make an attempt to draft, but when I don't time my pulse right, I can end up maybe 2 car lengths behind a truck for a short period of time before I lose enough MPH to fall back.

PS - I was listening to a Violent Femmes tape that I got in a Thrift shop for $2. Could that have something to do with it?

CarloSW2

Originally Posted by cfg83

Hello -

NEW personal best today on the way to work. Here's the info :

MPG : 53.8
Route : 10 West -> 710 South -> 105 West -> 405 South -> Exit Freeway
Miles : 27.7
MPH Avg: 45
MPH Max : 65
Net Elevation Change : ~210 feet drop
Weather : 78 degrees F, clear, 15% Humidity, 27 degrees F Dew Point
Time : ~9:30 AM to ~10:10 AM, ~40 minutes

... snip ...