my pulse and glide findings

[theholycow]

Indeed, it does include unwanted engine braking. Unfortunately, P&G just doesn't work for me and my car on the highway -- as evidenced by a 1.2mpg increase by doing P&DFCO on the highway instead of P&G. It certainly ought to work for a lot of other people with other cars.

[monroe74]

I understand. Every car is different, and P&G is definitely more of a challenge on the highway, for multiple reasons. And your good results speak for themselves.

[1993CivicVX]

Originally Posted by DRW

It takes a while to really learn P+G. I'd reccomend that you keep trying for another tank or two and try to improve your technique. With some practice you should be able to recognize gliding opporitunities further ahead of time, and be able to glide longer distances.

Don't forget to use terrain variance to your favor. Don't glide up the hill, glide down it! Treat the uphills as pulses and the downhills as glide opportunities.

[worldskycat]

I am still in the learning process on P&G but I can report that I have taken my MPG from 31 to 37 so far (working on my 3rd tank and covering exactly the same route). I drive 49 miles one way to work and all on a busy two lane highway so it is a challenge to do but worth it.

[Ford Man]

I am teaching my 17 year old son to P&G. The tank before he started he got 29mpg, on his last fill up it was 35.16. (2002 Ford Escort 2.0L Automatic w/overdrive) I have been riding with him some and trying to tell him when to accelerate and when to coast. He tried to tell ME it would not help fuel efficiency. He is now a firm believer in what OLD DAD tells him. Don't give up keep trying for a while. Another thing to do is when coming to a red light brake a little bit if neccesary and slow yourself down trying to keep the car rolling until the light turns green and the other cars in front of you start moving. AVOID complete stops if at all possible they are GAS GUZZLERS.

[dosco]

Originally Posted by Ford Man

Another thing to do is when coming to a red light brake a little bit if neccesary and slow yourself down trying to keep the car rolling until the light turns green and the other cars in front of you start moving. AVOID complete stops if at all possible they are GAS GUZZLERS.

And in an automatic, shift into lower gears to engage the DFCO when coming to a stop.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by dosco

And in an automatic, shift into lower gears to engage the DFCO when coming to a stop.

You'll want to confirm just how your DFCO works before you engage in this practice. In my pickup it actually costs far more gas to do that than it does to put it in neutral as I approach a red light. Take a look at my thread about fuel rate measurements:
http://www.gassavers.org/showthread.php?t=7581
In my truck, DFCO is useless except if you can engine brake for a long time. When coasting in gear with your foot off the gas, it uses much more fuel than at idle speed; and it takes 6 to 10 seconds for DFCO to kick in. So, if I can coast in gear for 20 seconds it's likely to be worhtwhile, but if I can only do it for 10 seconds it's far better to do so in neutral even if I'm going to use the brakes to stop.

[Hateful]

Originally Posted by Ford Man

I am teaching my 17 year old son to P&G. The tank before he started he got 29mpg, on his last fill up it was 35.16. (2002 Ford Escort 2.0L Automatic w/overdrive) I have been riding with him some and trying to tell him when to accelerate and when to coast. He tried to tell ME it would not help fuel efficiency. He is now a firm believer in what OLD DAD tells him.

Smart move; have him going for high mileage instead of speed.

[dosco]

Originally Posted by theholycow

You'll want to confirm just how your DFCO works before you engage in this practice. In my pickup it actually costs far more gas to do that than it does to put it in neutral as I approach a red light. Take a look at my thread about fuel rate measurements:
http://www.gassavers.org/showthread.php?t=7581
In my truck, DFCO is useless except if you can engine brake for a long time. When coasting in gear with your foot off the gas, it uses much more fuel than at idle speed; and it takes 6 to 10 seconds for DFCO to kick in. So, if I can coast in gear for 20 seconds it's likely to be worhtwhile, but if I can only do it for 10 seconds it's far better to do so in neutral even if I'm going to use the brakes to stop.

Thanks for the link to the thread, I may go to HF and pickup one of those gadgets.

I generally look to use the lower gears when I'm decelerating to a stop for a longer distance. I'd say on average, I shift to "2" at about 55 mph which brings the engine to about 4,000 rpm or so. Knowing the injector duty cycle would help clear things up, though, for sure.

FWIW, where did you pickup the injector signals from? The OBD port? Or did you have to clip onto the injector leads in the engine bay and run cables into the cockpit of the car?

[Snax]

It's hard for me to say for sure since I go so freaking long between fillups, but I think with my new office location, my P&G/EOCing is really paying off. In two weeks in the Escort, I have travelled 140 miles and burned an indicated 1/4 tank. If the fuel guage can be trusted at all, that's means I may be getting over 50 mpg. Unfortunately I don't think the guage is quite that accurate, so I'm betting it's somewhere in between 40 and 50 mpg. Not bad in a car rated for mid-30's.

It's also noteworthy to mention that I don't have as many unexpected light changes driving to the new office, so I can plan some really long glides. Additionally, there are multiple long minor rises and dips along the way which I pulse up, and coast down. My speed fluctuates from 30-45 mph most of the trip unless I'm holding people up, then I try to do 35-45 P&Gs in the 40 mph zones.