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You can glide in Neutral regardless of the flat towing capability. It is when you turn your car off while gliding in Neutral that you need a car that can be flat towed. This is because your transmission is cooled and lubricated with oil. When your engine stops, you lose oil pressure, and it is no longer pumped to the transmission. This could cause overheating if you are gliding with the engine off. If your engine remains on, oil continues to fow, and you're ok.

Downshifting when you can't glide to lights is the best alternative, far better than braking. However, it is only effective if your car has DFCO (to check if your car has DFCO, take your foot completely off the gas at around 2000 RPM, you should decelerate at a decent rate until somewhere around 1000-1500 RPM where it will feel like a brake has been release, and you will reach idle RPMs). What you want to do is rather than downshifting so your RPMs are high and you slow down quickly, you downshift just above idle RPMs (while still in DFCO) so that you glide the furthest while using no fuel.

Hope this helps, I condensed a lot of information, so if you need clarification, just ask.

Kirk

 

What is up with my signature pic, it has been broken since last night.

 

I've seen other peoples like that. Look at the banner at the top, we just switched servers, so there are going to be some glitches that will have to be dealt with. If it's not fixed in the next couple days, you could try PMing one of the moderators.

Kirk

 

Just testing my signature. Didn't show up on a previous post. No biggie.

Ok there it is.

 

I've got an A/C question... on a 100 mile each way highway drive last week, I decided to run the A/C full blast for five miles and then leave it off as long as possible. Usually that cools my accord down enough that I can mostly go on fan for the rest of the drive.
Is that the right way to do A/C? Or am I better off running it on lower power for longer stretches?

In other news, I drove from Norfolk to Richmond without using my breaks! And I did it in pretty steady traffic, so it's not like I was the only one on the road. That's 100 miles and it felt good!

Also, I still need a bit of help understanding pulse and glide. I've read Beating the EPA and all that but am still confused.

 

Pulsing the A/C is better, just like you did it. In my car, it doesn't matter if the A/C is on low or high, it still sucks an extra 0.2 gallon per hour!

As far as P&G, Pulse up to 55mph (for example), throw it in N, and coast down to, say, 50mph, rev match and shift back to D and repeat. Next time you're going to be in Richmond, and you want a mini clinic, let me know.

 

To add to what Skwyre said, you can use a larger difference in speeds for P&G for better results. Pulsing to 55 and gliding down to 35 is better than pulsing to 50 and gliding to 40 even though they have the same average speed. Once you are comfortable with engine-on P&G, you can try FASing since I see you have a manual.

Take it slow, and don't try to learn too many techniques at once.

Good luck,

Kirk

 

Thanks for the advice... and I may take you up on that Richmond clinic later this summer. Do you know of any hypermilers in/around the Norfolk and Hampton Roads area?

And I need to change my profile since I've got an automatic, not a manual! ... but I'll still try to give the P&G a test sometime on a nice empty road.

 

I just want to make sure I am not damaging my trans/engine with the way I am driving...I try to turn my car off as much as possible going down hills and coasting to stops/lights. I usually pop my clutch into gear before I come to a complete stop so that I do not have to use the starter. Will any of this damage my engine i.e. over-heating, over-wearing...etc. Thanks for any help!

 

Sk8r, it's fine if you are gliding with your key in the IG-II (Run) position and you bump start properly. Read through this thread for more information about bump starting.

Kirk

 

Hi All -- new guy here!

I ventured over to Cleanmpg in an attempt to improve the EPA estimate of 20/29 for my 06 Honda Accord 2dr V6. However, before I start punching in the mileage logs, I am a little confused. After I click on Add Tanks, do I enter "Distance Driven" as the # of miles driven prior to filling up? Then after I fill up a full tank, do I take the amount of gallons filled and enter that in "Amount of Fuel" added?

Thanks in advance. I hope I make enough sense.

 

This question has been answered on his other thread.

Kirk

 

Hello from Arlington Va. I drive a 2006 Prius on a 16 mile highway commute to work each day... i am getting 46 to 47 mpg per tank on this commute in the 75 degree weather. P&G sounds like a perfect solution to imprvoe mileage... One question however, can i place the Prius in Neutral when i coast without damaging the transmission. So far, that is the only way to keep any arrows (to or from either engine) from appearing on the energy flow screen. Also, I thought one of the points of coasting with the transmission engaged was to charge the battery.. In neutral, the battery is not charged which means that eventually mpg will be affected when the engine has to burn fuel to re-charge the battery...

thanks

chrisqrd

 

Hey, has anyone else been having trouble posting mileage logs tonight? Everytime I click on the log link I get a blank white page. Is that just my computer on the fritz or is it a server problem?

 

Hi Chrisqrd,

Welcome to the site, make sure you you check out the "Start Here!" link in my signature. You can place the Prius in neutral without damaging the transmission.

Check out this thread about pushing the Prius II to its FE limits, and the new Prius forum.

Kirk

 

Hey everyone, jut got my Scan Gauge. I was wonder on the setup if I have a 12.5 gallon tank should I set it to 12 or 13. Thanks!

 

Set it to 12. The size only matters for trip values like distance to empty, and gallons to empty.

Kirk

 

Picture in Rides?

I can't seem to post a picture into my Rides area. Comes back with an error or doesn't do anything. Any suggestions?

 

I have a question. My front tires have a max rating of 35. The rear tires are different, they have a max rating of 51. Is it ok to have different front and rear pressures? (I am loving my new air compressor!)

Thanks a lot,

Nanci