Official Thread for posting daily FE updates

[diamondlarry]

I seem to remember having a sticky brake caliper on a Eagle stationwagon. If I remember right, it was the piston that was sticking.

[rh77]

I just had the same sticky brake problem in the 'Teg -- enough to replace it immediately.

The Project 2-weeks ago.

I'm not sure how long they've been using it (if at all) in your areas, but this is the first year the KC Metro has been using the liquid "Super-Salt" road treatment during bitter cold, ice, and snow. Many people in the area are reporting premature damage to such items as exhaust systems and brakes.

But I thought all of that was over-with.

Wednesday: High of 72F, high humidity, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes (a funnel cloud was spotted 5 miles SW of here)

Today: 28F, Snow, and windy.

Gotta love the plains.

RH77

[diamondlarry]

Originally Posted by rh77

Wednesday: High of 72F, high humidity, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes (a funnel cloud was spotted 5 miles SW of here)

Today: 28F, Snow, and windy.

Gotta love the plains.

RH77

Around here, we have Lake Michigan lake-effect weather.

[kickflipjr]

Today my friend bought gas for his 1999 4-cylinder grand am. He figured out that his gas mileage came to 19.x mpg. He is a total lead foot. I just thought I should share this information.

[usedgeo]

Originally Posted by usedgeo

I did an ABAB experiment on the same 8.5 mile loop trying to drive identically. The average speeds ranged from 29-31 mph. The difference between the average mpg's is 18.75 mpg giving an increase of 43%.

Nothing will be really confirmed until more distance passes and I have to fill up and check the calibration again on the Scangauge.

If someone else was writing this I would not believe it either.

Just want to wrap this up. I filled up and got 45.5 mpg. Not bad but the Scangauge was showing 59. The IAT resister fooled me and the scangauge but not much more. I hooked the IAT sensor back up.

I have to go back to the fundamentals now. I can make over 50 on the test loop with P&G and EOC

Ernie

[JanGeo]

Originally Posted by kickflipjr

Today my friend bought gas for his 1999 4-cylinder grand am. He figured out that his gas mileage came to 19.x mpg. He is a total lead foot. I just thought I should share this information.

YEAH have a story like that - friend had a CL3.0 V6 small car (forgot the make) and thought she was getting 39mpg when I connected the SGI to it she found out she was getting 19 taking it really easy. So she went out and bought the 2005 used Prius . . . now she gets 38-42mpg HA HA she can't drive - I took it out and got 67mpg with it.

[Peakster]

I was getting a bit pissed with the lousy FE my Scanguage was telling me for my next fill (not looking pretty) and I decided to do a test when the car was fully warmed up tonight:

Temperature: 7*F
Winds: NE 12mph
fAI: 15*F
fWT: 182*F
2 miles going west @ 35mph w/ cruise: 65.4mpg
2 miles going east @ 35mph w/ cruise: 50.7mpg

That's pretty sad considering I got 70+mpg going the same speed on the same highway 2 weeks earlier. Maybe my wheel bearings are in need of being lubricated again? Now we know why my gaslog is all over the chart.

[DRW]

I didn't expect this tank to go as well as it did. My driving style has been relatively normal for the past week. Or perhaps FE driving style is becoming second nature? I guess I did a little more drafting than normal, and the weather has been nicer around here. Still, I was suprised to find the tank only took 12.289 gallons for 509.7 miles. 41.48 mpg! My second best tank!

My mpg meter showed me something that I didn't expect one day- I got better FE in a traffic jam than I did when driving steadily on an open freeway. HUH? I thought about it and noticed this particular traffic jam never came to a complete stop. We kept rolling around 20mph and above. I was able to begin coasting in neutral far enough in advance so I didn't have to use the brakes very much. When I needed to scrub off more speed I'd put the car in the highest gear that would activate coasting fuel cut without scrubbing off too much speed. I think I'm getting better at gaging other cars speed and distance so I know when to begin coasting so I don't have to brake. When accellerating I'd use the highest gear, shift at low rpm, and accellerate at a rate that would let a gap open up in front of me so I'd have a buffer when traffic slowed again. I guess I managed it very well! I'm almost looking forward to traffic jams again.

I'm also using pulse and glide more effectively. There aren't too many opporitunities for P+G since my commute is crowded and mostly flat, but I have a better feel for it now and it's improved my FE slightly.

[rh77]

That's Torque Convertin' Business (TCB) After realizing that the throttle/transmission cable wasn't tight enough to lock-up the TC, and spending 5 minutes to tighten it, I've already realized at least 2 MPG City mileage from a cold start on a short trip.

I'm excited to see what the highway brings today (about a 50-mile trip). With all of the diagnoses to try to fix this problem in the past year or more, the simplest was the correct one (OK Murphy, you can stop laughing now). It just burns me up that I've been missing out on 800 RPM avg, and closer to 1000 most times because of this simple thing.

But it needs tweaking. It shifts really hard and the TC acts odd, trying to engage early. I know, it would probably be a great way to grenade the tranny, but a new manual conversion isn't in the budget right now -- so it has to last.

Back to the garage, but progress has been made!

RH77

[jwxr7]

Just filled up today with a record tank @ 57.05 mpg . The first half of that was closer to 60 mpg but went downhill on the last half due to poor driving conditions . Still can't complain too much. I will see a 60 mpg tank someday soon .