HAI Experiment

[Philip1]

I wonder if my milage will be higher if I remove the 250 pounds or so of extra wheels tires and tools.

[theholycow]

I wouldn't expect much, but 250 pounds in a 3100 pound Saturn might do the job. Saturns seem particularly sensitive to some things like that, weight might be one of them.

[Philip1]

Originally Posted by theholycow

I wouldn't expect much, but 250 pounds in a 3100 pound Saturn might do the job. Saturns seem particularly sensitive to some things like that, weight might be one of them.

I'm actually less concerned about the weight and more about the alignment the rear of this car toes out dramatically when the suspension is loaded so ditch the weight and the toe goes back to 0˚ regaining coasting ability.

[Philip1]

my car is a GM built between 1989 and 2006 therefore it is a speed density system partially. My computer uses the Map signal for idle but not for run. What it does for situations above idle, it abandons the MAP sensor and uses TPS and the O2 (which happens to be a wide band). I only know this because I have close ties to some tuning companies that have studied this computer to exhaustion. When I can afford it I will buy the software to switch on the lean burn program in my computer. It's true my Ecotec was designed with lean burn in mind I have no idea how the program for this will affect milage but I imagine it will be significant.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Can you read your inlet air temp?

[Jay2TheRescue]

If you don't have a scangauge a great way to read the intake air temp is to use a wireless outdoor thermometer. Drop the outdoor transmitter in the air cleaner box and you can read the intake air temp from inside the car.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

How high do cheapo outdoor temp sensors usually read anyway?

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by maximilian

How high do cheapo outdoor temp sensors usually read anyway?

I dropped one behind the radiator in my truck and I've read as high as 150 - 160. Surely on the back of the package it should say what the range of use is.

[theholycow]

Changing weather over the course of a couple weeks would make it difficult to compare IAT even if he had IAT readings from last week (which he does not). There's also other uncontrollable conditions, like traffic. And then there's subconscious driving differences caused by non-blind testing which affect both experiments in this thread. Finally, as with every other experiment that's been done or linked in this debate, each is only regarding one specific car; at most, it can prove or disprove that it will affect that one model.

I don't think anyone here has the resources and ability to produce short-term test results to put an end to this debate. It would require at least single-blind testing with a bunch of cars (a few of each model, and a bunch of different models) on a specified test track or dyno. Anything less than that and anyone here can easily and reasonably disregard the test.

Even better would be double-blind testing with a statistically significant quantity of cars of varied models, done by a lab that does EPA fuel economy testing for manufacturers using the same procedures.

Long-term results are harder to refute.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Originally Posted by theholycow

as with every other experiment that's been done or linked in this debate, each is only regarding one specific car; at most, it can prove or disprove that it will affect that one model.

Long-term results are harder to refute.

I guess the best we could aspire to would be a database of long term results, by make and model. If I made an online Google spreadsheet (not a DB but probably good enough), would anybody use it? If so, I'd appreciate suggestions as to the best way to organize it.