Hypermiling In Sl

[sharky]

Just thought we should have a thread for all those interested in saving fuel & getting more mileage. Especially techniques we can use in Sri Lanka & not stuff right off the web. Personal experience will be most valued.

Tips on - Engine tuning, driving techniques, what engine oils, air filters, engine mods etc etc.

So let's start posting everyone!

[charitha19]

hmmm... check tire pressure regulararly.. keep under 2500 when ever possible... keep the foot off the gas where ever possible.. when u gain momentum u can let the car move on its own for a while untill u reach a certain speed.. but should not let it go too slow as u have to shift to a lower gear to gain power again and that eats all the savings again..

some people do this extremly well... shifiting to neutral... but u have to be careful when doing that in high speeds...

[virensti]

hmm interesting topic, well I'm just an ameteur to this, but, Yeah as Charitha says checking tyre pressure constantly, hmm more than keeping it on neutral, I say keeping it on gear and letting it coast alot. i.e cruise from 4th gear at about 50 km/h all the way to about 20 km/h (just before the engine stalls) and then neutral it. Shifting at about 2000 RPM (I know its not possible in some cars, but cars like the vios 2000 RPM shifting is easy) very very light foot on the throttle, braking as little as possible, shifting to top gear as soon as possible, dont stay on 4th or 3rd for along time, overtaking is definitly a no-no !hmm what else? oh yeah NO A/C! lol (not going to happen unless your in nuwaraeliya) no shutters open, no huge unnecessary spoilers NO HUGE EXHAUSTS (all you civic blasters out there! god man katukurunda is softer! lol) engine oil well synthetic is the best, no doubt about it, oh and air filters well I strongly reccomend K&N one fully worth the money but if not people PLEASE change your airfilters at least every other service ! (I say every service) Honda reccomend new airfilters after every 15 k ! they just blow air and think ahh its all clean!! mutts! lol and yeah thats about it I guess. oh btw people with the huge sri lanka flags on your cars, in traffic its fine, but when you go up to cruising speeds, those flags do cause drag, and that means more fuel being burnt, oh and final critical fact, WEIGHT ! if you have a gas cylinder in your car TAKE IT OUT! if you have some heavy unnecessary paraphenialia in your car, TAKE IT OUT! Weight is a big big fact in fuel economy. oh and tyres, bigger tyres will give you more handling and stability, but it comes with a big price on fuel! oh and irridium spark plugs supposed to help with fuel economy.? please confirm guys and yeah constantly making sure your cars gotten an EFI tune up or even a carburator clean up/tune up. big help in fuel. oh and one more thing, people who got manual gear cars, in traffic dont rev up to about 2000-2500 RPM to move your car a couple of feet forward. this just burns fuel like hell. practice getting the clutch balance to be able to move the car forward at about 1200-1400 RPM! hmmm thats all I can think of off the hat..

guys please correct me if I've said anything wrong V

Edited June 1, 2009 by virensti

[Rebel]

Hi all. Did some reading on a few sites and tried a bit myself.

My FB15 AT went from 7.5 - 8 avg to 9.1 and 9.6 last 2 fill ups. So yeah there's something to it.

Things I've adopted.

1. Accelerate softly.

2. Allow to shift up but cruise/hold RPM below 1.5K or at least 2K.

3. OD on

4. Step off the gas if you gonna be stopping for traffic, color lights etc within coasting distance. The actual distance you coast depends on your initial speed. I've found that beginning to coast once you've hot 70kmph means you carry some distance before friction brings you to a stop. Actually switched off my engine a couple of times!

5. Accelerate moderately.

6. Try to overtake on the way down a slope.

7. Switch off the engine if I pull up just as the lights turn red(actually sometimes I switch off and then coast to a stop if I see the red light.

Well them's a few. My car hasn't been tuned in a while so I'm loosing quite a bit right there. Given that, I think 9.5 is pretty decent for a 1999 FB15 AT. So basically I've disciplined by driving without fixing the car! Have scheduled a tune up within the next 10 days though and gone see what I get after that

[GearHead]

watch top gear Season 4 epi1

[JadeyBlitzen]

watch top gear Season 4 epi1

stuff i learned from that and a few of my own

1. maintain momentum. don't drive like a madman weaving in and out of traffic. drive at a reasonable speed planning your moves well in advance.if the guy in front of you is slowing down ahead of you safely switch lanes. and keep a good distance so that you might not have to slow down as vigorously (or not slow down at all) as you might if the cars in front of you slow down for a brief moment.

2. use your brakes as little as possible. let the engine slow you down. braking late and switching to neutral are some stupid myths. when u take ur foot of the throttle the throttle valve will close and the engine will stop using fuel (on modern efi engines that is). whereas if you switch to neutral the engine will have to use some fuel to keep it idling. plus it will use more brake force thus wearing out ur pads and discs. and slowing down as late as possible is a load of rubbish. it only means u spend more time on the throttle before you come to a stop and wearing out the brakes even faster. again keep a good distance and let your car slow down on an appropriate gear using very little brakes.

3. shift gears as early as you can but not so early that all the strain goes straight to the clutch. once you reach a very suitable speed for the road you are on maintain it.

4. allow the ecu of the car to change its parameters to suit your driving style. if you drive slowly all the time it'll switch to a map that allows most of the torque to be available in low revs. this is mostly true for automatics. but if you've been caning it and then expect it to be good on fuel by driving slowly for the next 5 or 6 miles think again.

5. tire pressure should be optimal and any unnecessary add ons like roof racks oughta be removed. and try not to drive with windows open and use the air conditioning only when it feels a bit warm. and switch it off when its cold enough. and remove any unnecessary stuff lying around in your car. heck i've even removed my back seats saves 32 kilos

6. check compression, change oil regularly and the engine and rest of the body clean and shiny. a dirty car with a bad paint finish will produce enough skin friction to cancel out coupla horsepower at speed. and a dirty engine will dissipate heat badly making it less efficient

7. dont fear bolt on parts as more power means less time spent accelerating and less revs to get it up to speed. if you want power and economy go for CAFs and 4-2-1 headers. lightweight wheels help too.

i'll add some more later

[Saturn]

hmm.. aside from the obvious stuff.. some things that worked for me:

1. Pulse and glide - for long drives/good roads: accelerate up a bit, then switch to neutral and coast. (unless you are going downhil in which case it makes more sense to engage a gear I guess

2. keeping tires inflated well..

3. conserving momentum

4. coasting on neutral where possible/sensible

5. anticipating blocks up ahead and easing off gas in advance - i.e. when i know a light is going to change i don't bother racing to it

disadvantages are mainly people overtaking to race to the light

6. Ensuring the engine is running as efficiently as possible (not easy in my old clunker but I try!)

[Devinda_Z]

this is all well n good , but its rather hard to manage much of this in stop start rush hour traffic where its almsot essential to stay bumper to bumper just to get to ones destination without having everyone else cut across you over try to drive over/through you

[K3Z]

Go to work early...

And work till late...

You'll be avoiding lot of traffic...

And few plus points from the company as a bonus... ;-)

[Devinda_Z]

Go to work early...

And work till late...

You'll be avoiding lot of traffic...

And few plus points from the company as a bonus... ;-)

or one could avoid going to work at all and save ones self the hassle of bothering to hypermile at all

[xXx]

braking late and switching to neutral are some stupid myths. when u take ur foot of the throttle the throttle valve will close and the engine will stop using fuel (on modern efi engines that is). whereas if you switch to neutral the engine will have to use some fuel to keep it idling.

Pulse and glide - for long drives/good roads: accelerate up a bit, then switch to neutral and coast. (unless you are going downhil in which case it makes more sense to engage a gear I guess

two contradictory views on switching to neutral. can any of the tech gurus be kind enough to clarify this for me. i'm sure it'll be very helpful for others as well.

[GearHead]

two contradictory views on switching to neutral. can any of the tech gurus be kind enough to clarify this for me. i'm sure it'll be very helpful for others as well.

go ahead with what jadeyBlitzen has mentioned in his post..

[Watchman]

JB is talking of a scenario where you need to stop the car whereas saturn is talking of a scenario where you cruise at a cnstant speed, so i dont think its comparable with each other.

[Rebel]

JB is talking of a scenario where you need to stop the car whereas saturn is talking of a scenario where you cruise at a cnstant speed, so i dont think its comparable with each other.

In pulse and glide - read somewhere that coasting on N has a positive effect on fuel consumption. But how would it be if I were to just take my foot off the gas? Does the fuel consumption just quit or does it still work cos the engine RPM has to match the speed right?

[JadeyBlitzen]

In pulse and glide - read somewhere that coasting on N has a positive effect on fuel consumption. But how would it be if I were to just take my foot off the gas? Does the fuel consumption just quit or does it still work cos the engine RPM has to match the speed right?

as i said. the throttle valve will close and the spark plugs stop igniting. if there's any fuel thats going to be dumped into the engine its going to be what was already left to be sprayed by the injectors that was summoned during any immediate hard acceleration that took place before the closure. if there's any fuel being dumped continously into the engine even after taking your foot of the throttle it will be apparent on a standard car with a flame kit. it just doesn't happen

[Rebel]

as i said. the throttle valve will close and the spark plugs stop igniting. if there's any fuel thats going to be dumped into the engine its going to be what was already left to be sprayed by the injectors that was summoned during any immediate hard acceleration that took place before the closure. if there's any fuel being dumped continously into the engine even after taking your foot of the throttle it will be apparent on a standard car with a flame kit. it just doesn't happen

Thanks Jadey.

[xXx]

let me get this straight, if you just want to glide shift to neutral if you want to gradually slow down the car to a halt stay on an appropriate gear. correct????

one more question on the pulse and glide thing, when gliding when should you start to accelerate again or break the gliding process? i.e. say you hit 50kmph and decided to glide when should you engage the gas paddle again???

[JadeyBlitzen]

let me get this straight, if you just want to glide shift to neutral if you want to gradually slow down the car to a halt stay on an appropriate gear. correct????

one more question on the pulse and glide thing, when gliding when should you start to accelerate again or break the gliding process? i.e. say you hit 50kmph and decided to glide when should you engage the gas paddle again???

if you consider the principle of conservation of energy the entire pulse glide thing helping fuel economy is untrue. the argument is this. if you drive on the same gear at the same speed the engine is only working against any gradients of the road surface and various types of friction generated during operation (for example drag force of the air, friction in various moving parts of the drivetrain) and the work of actually keeping the engine running at a constant speed. but if you select neutral all the friction forces will immediately slow you down. so you'll be losing a few km/hs and you'll have to accelerate back to the original speed again. which means the engine not only has to work against the said forces, but also that of hurling all that mass to the desired speed which in plain english would mean that the engine would have burn a lot more fuel than it would have had it been running at a constant speed. sure you might say all that wastage will at least even out cos you were in neutral just a while ago. but when you were in neutral your engine was still running while the car was being slowed down. and this was energy (fuel) that wasnt used to keep the car moving but to simply keep the engine from stalling. so in theory you may have ended up using more fuel than you would have if you were driving at a constant speed.

[Car Maniac]

or one could avoid going to work at all and save ones self the hassle of bothering to hypermile at all

Good One from Dev as usual. :angry-smiley-048: :angry-smiley-048: The best option of all.

[xXx]

if you consider the principle of conservation of energy the entire pulse glide thing helping fuel economy is untrue. the argument is this. if you drive on the same gear at the same speed the engine is only working against any gradients of the road surface and various types of friction generated during operation (for example drag force of the air, friction in various moving parts of the drivetrain) and the work of actually keeping the engine running at a constant speed. but if you select neutral all the friction forces will immediately slow you down. so you'll be losing a few km/hs and you'll have to accelerate back to the original speed again. which means the engine not only has to work against the said forces, but also that of hurling all that mass to the desired speed which in plain english would mean that the engine would have burn a lot more fuel than it would have had it been running at a constant speed. sure you might say all that wastage will at least even out cos you were in neutral just a while ago. but when you were in neutral your engine was still running while the car was being slowed down. and this was energy (fuel) that wasnt used to keep the car moving but to simply keep the engine from stalling. so in theory you may have ended up using more fuel than you would have if you were driving at a constant speed.

JB thank you for the explanation though you confused me even more. when you got bit of free time would you (or any other kind gentlemen) mind explaining to me how to carry out this pulse and glide thing properly

[JadeyBlitzen]

JB thank you for the explanation though you confused me even more. when you got bit of free time would you (or any other kind gentlemen) mind explaining to me how to carry out this pulse and glide thing properly

actually my point is don't do it. just drive at a constant speed as much as you can cos thats the best way to save fuel. pulse and glide will require you to keep accelerating back to the desired speed again. which means you'll be a using a bit more fuel.

[GuruG]

as i said. the throttle valve will close and the spark plugs stop igniting.

U sure abt this?

From what i have seen, the sparks should ignite all the time when the engine is on. Even when u take ur foot off from the gas paddle the engine should maintain its idle. To do this it requires air, fuel n spark. Also at idle, throttle body will not close fully but will remain slightly open to supply required air flow.

Please correct me if i'm wrong.

[JadeyBlitzen]

U sure abt this?

From what i have seen, the sparks should ignite all the time when the engine is on. Even when u take ur foot off from the gas paddle the engine should maintain its idle. To do this it requires air, fuel n spark. Also at idle, throttle body will not close fully but will remain slightly open to supply required air flow.

Please correct me if i'm wrong.

afaik the engine is just freewheeling till it reaches the idle point. but even if your theory is right is right i doubt it still uses any more fuel than it does on idle. plus it helps slow the car down which means less strain on the brakes. the reason why i disagree with this is cos unlike for instance a diesel pump efi engines are intelligent and doesnt really depend on the engine speed to decide the amount of fuel that needs to be pumped in even when you take your foot of the throttle.

i think its better if someone can explain the mechanics behind this or if someone tries out the 2 methods back to back