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I'm a new member here and I have some questions. I checked in at http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10603

Info on my drive:

I drive about 2.5 miles to work and back.

Going to work, I go about a half mile - 6 blocks and 3 stop lights in a 25 mph area - to get on the interstate, which is 55 mph. My shop is immediately off the interstate.

The work I do requires me to keep around 100 lbs of various equipment in my car, so lightening the load isn't really an option.

I've read the "Beating the EPA" article and spent this weekend trying to practice DWB and making it a point to draft larger vehicles. Semis are what most people think about drafting but given the option, I would say a fullsize van or a lifted pickup are likely to help out as well. I also upped my tire pressure to 40 lbs.

Something that clicked Saturday for me about DWB was that it was something I've done previously in vehicles with a manual tranny but never before in an automatic. Of course, the vehicles manual transmissions were a 78 F-100 w/ a 302 and a 72 Chevelle with a 300+ HP 350, so I just expected to get poor mileage from them with that much power on tap.

A few questions:

First, what IFCD is recommended for my 05 Corolla.
Second, is there any information here about reading the tach to gain MPGs?

Welcome, Kevin!

For the iFCD, we will all recommend the Scangauge. It's the best thing available right now.

You drive an automatic, so just keep your rpm as low as possible. You really want it lower than the auto will allow, so just get as close as you can.

Be careful drafting. Especially smaller vehicles - they have shorter stopping distances than a semi, and they give you less benefit. I wouldn't do it, except if you have a 30mph headwind.

Thank you for living so close to work. That uses less fuel than any of my hypermiling efforts can ever do. Do your roads permit any kind of bike use? That would be even better.

The distance by bike is 2.5 miles from my front door to the front door of my shop but it involves going through a heavy industrial area as well as some lousy parts of town. I ride as often as I can around the neighborhood fun but I'm not sure I want to step it up to riding 5 miles on a bike on top of working outside all day.

Of course, that would certainly help me reach the weight loss goal I have for myself by the fall for the 10-year high school reunion as http://www.gmap-pedometer.com says I'd burn almost 1,000 calories just getting to and from work. Maybe it isn't such a bad idea!

Another question: do any of the "go fast" goodies help out with fuel economy such as cold air intakes or computer reprogramming tools?

Most "go fast" changes will actually hurt your fuel economy. I have yet to see a computer reprogrammed specifically for FE and CAI only cause your ECU to pump more gas into the cylinders to keep the air/fuel mixture the same ( ~14.7/1) -- which gives more power but lower fuel economy (since you are using more fuel than you would have).

I decided to take the bike out for a spin tonight. You guys have gotten me amped about riding again. I think I've only done a couple miles since last summer. It took longer to get the tires pumped up and my camel bag clean than it would to ride to work, but I'm still not sold on riding through all of that.

I did about 7 miles tonight and barely broke a sweat. The ride went great with no incidents...until I got home and took my shirt off. I caught my left pinkie in the pull chain for the ceiling fan and got a nice scratch. And that is how my luck goes. I think I'll go nurse it with a Yuengling and nullify the calories I just burned. Heh heh.

...I think I'll go nurse it with a Yuengling and nullify the calories I just burned. Heh heh.

:D :Banane35:

I was giving real consideration to trying out riding my bike to work. I even found what seems to be the perfect bag to carry the things I have to keep with me. I shopped around and found a really good price on a Maxpedition Fatboy Versipack. Then I started crunching numbers.

I used gmap-pedometer.com to find the exact distance to and from work.

It was about 5.6 miles round-trip.

5.6 x 5 = 28 miles a week.

So riding a bike to work will save me about 1 gallon of gas a week or a little less than $15 a month.
It would take 4 months of riding the bike to work every day to pay for the bag I want.

I think I'll stay in my car for now and keep practicing my hypermiling tricks.

Hi Kevin:

___Welcome to CleanMPG!

___Sometimes (rarely though ;)) we lose sight of the goal which is to minimize our fuel consumption vs. maximizing our FE. You have just succeeded in becoming the best hypermiler around when you can bike vs. turning the key and I wanted to thank you for it!

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Hi Wayne, thanks for visiting my dumb little thread! I do agree with your perspective. There's more than one way to look at the numbers. I love it when I can get others to ride with me somewhere. If I can get 30 MPG by myself, I say I'm essentially getting 120 MPG if I get my girlfriend and my parents to ride with me when we're going to dinner somewhere.

I still like the idea of biking to work, but with my personal safety being in question and what I consider required equipment for the venture to take so long to be financially justified, I think that in this instance sticking with an automobile may be in my best interest.

Of course, there's also the other factors I haven't looked at. With the purchase of additional equipment, I may be comfortable biking to the grocery store, to rent a movie, or to even further ventures. Any additional use would pay off the equipment even sooner and save even more money in the long run.

Thanks for making me think twice about this! :cool:

My Versipack will be here later this week. This is going to be really different for me. :cool:

Kevin, your comment about carrying 100 pounds of stuff made me think of the trailer that I have for my bike. It can hold 2 children and is rated for 100 lbs. I bought it for the kids from Toys r us, but perhaps it or something like it can be adapted for your purposes.

I would definitely have to do without when riding the bike. There's far too man curbs and other obstacles to even think about dragging a trailer. But I've seen the trailers before and considered them for going to get groceries.

I refilled last night after my first hypermiled tank. I have been getting a constant 29 mpg with the mix of driving I do and this tank netted me 32 mpg just with inflating the tires, doing the speed limit, taking it easy on the skinny pedal and conscious use of coasting. My SG should be here this week, so hopefully I can use that to improve even further.

MY SG came today. It's temporarily installed as I plan on fabbing a small perch for it. The perch will match the contour of the steering column but be flat on top. I may need some additional velcro but we'll see. Right now I have the wire tucked between the clear bezel and the black trim around the dash gauges and that's holding it in place quite well. I used the included twist tie to secure the excess cable under the dash. I took a quick spin literally around the block and averaged a little over 20 mpg but with significant periods at over 50 mpg. I think this is going to be a very useful little device!

(Sorry for the dusty dash. I almost always get some dirt or at least some saw dust on me at work and the car's interior pays the price.)

http://kevin108.com/forums/cleanmpg/sg2.jpg

http://kevin108.com/forums/cleanmpg/sg1.jpg

Did a rural loop today of about 50 miles.

http://kevin108.com/forums/cleanmpg/43mpg.jpg

Rode my bike to work for the first time today. It wasn't much fun dealing with the hazards, traffic and lousy roads, but I did it. Took a little less than 15 mins to get the 2½ miles at my standard pace.

Nice job on that 43!

Hi Kevin:

___For just getting started, you are certainly moving in the right direction :)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

The wealth of good information and good people here has made it easy.

Home safe and sound. Tried a different route on the way back and it was much more relaxing.

Biking is all about picking the right route. And leg strength.. and proper clothing.. maybe hydration.. well anyway, picking the route is very helpful. I was an avid biker as a teen and I would like to get back to it but 10-15 miles is just too long of a bike ride for me every morning and evening.

Jaral, I think you are absolutely right about how important the route is. I would much rather leave a few minutes earlier and take the nicer route, which is really just a parallel street, but it made all the difference in the world. Leg strength is fine. I'm a carpenter by trade so I'm climbing and moving all day. Plus when I was a kid, I spent almost every day of my life on a bike and I think I still have the legs to prove it. I get winded riding fast before my muscles get tired. My strength is great but my aerobics suck. For clothes, I don't have much of a choice. I wear my work attire, which is cargo shorts and a company t-shirt. For hydration, I have a camel bag that I use for longer ATV and bike rides. Of course, in 15 minutes I'm not going to get but so thirsty, but it's nice to have the equipment all the same.


If any of you are curious about the pack I bought...

Hung on the closet so I can grab it when I wake up.
http://kevin108.com/eee/mvp1.jpg

Cell phone and pen, mainly so they can't fall out of my pocket.
http://kevin108.com/eee/mvp2.jpg

Sirius for the work van.
http://kevin108.com/eee/mvp3.jpg

Pentax Optio WP, two batteries and custom case.
http://kevin108.com/eee/mvp4.jpg

MG is Munner Goose, a nickname for my Mom, who isn't very thrilled about this bike stuff.
http://kevin108.com/eee/mvp5.jpg

My speedometer/odometer for my bike.
http://kevin108.com/eee/mvp6.jpg

Kobalt multi-tool, Mini-Mag and Radio Shack charger setup for my Eee.
http://kevin108.com/eee/mvp7.jpg

My Eee, which fits perfectly in the main weatherproof compartment.
http://kevin108.com/eee/mvp9.jpg

Went to work manually on two wheels again today. So far so good.

Hi Kevin:

___With all that gear, you are not only ready to ride, you are darn near bullet proof in the process too :)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I'm not making any significant savings and I'm not getting that much exercise out of it, but I'm enjoying doing it. I loved to ride a bike when I was a kid and I'm realizing that passion is still there. I'm not the fastest or the best at jumping, but I can pedal all day and I just have a blast riding. My soul is being rewarded most of all.

It was easy to think of a lot of reasons not to ride to work, but now I've made a total of 4 trips over that route and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. I don't know that I'll bike from now on, but it's been nice so far. Wayne, thanks again for helping me to see beyond the dollars and sense about this.

I'm sure a lot of you have had this sort of epiphany once you started hypermiling. Things just click. You start saving gas, saving electricity, saving money and making your life better. I would really like to hear other peoples' stories on this. I've started a thread at http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=103381 so please chime in!

They were calling for rain today and my knee was bothering me (I've had arthritis since I was 12), so I drove to work today. Also it was 100° this afternoon and I am not acclimated to the heat yet, so after all of that, I was glad to go back to 4 wheels today.

I filled up today. This was the second tank I've entered so far. I got 32.5 mpg, which was still an improvement, but I was a little disappointed based on my efforts. Then, sitting down to type all of this out, I remembered that 60 of these miles were pulling an 8x10 flatbed trailer over about 60 miles to deliver a TV prop I'd built as a side job. So yes, I think with this tank I can creep a little closer to the 40 mpg I regularly get with my trips.

Filled up yesterday and wound up with 33.3 mpg topping my previous tank by about 1.1 mpg. I honestly can't believe I'm still making progress! But this is a good thing! Also I've started chopping another 5 mph off my interstate speed. It seems to be making up for running the AC. I had a significantly better average until Sunday morning. The last mile of a trip to my parents' house was mainly spent driving at idle speed and something like 17 mpg.

My goal right now is an even 35 mpg, which I know I can easily get if I can stay on the interstate at constant speed.

Hey guys! It's been a while, but I'm back in something reasonably fuel efficient again and I'm going to do as much as I can with it.

For the last 7 months for a variety of reasons I'd gone back to driving my old Silverado on 35s with a 350 and go-fast goodies. It averaged about 8 mpg even with our usual tactics. And it had to have premium because it has a Hypertech chip in it and pings with regular. It is a relic of my youth when gas was cheaper and I had much different ideas about what I wanted to drive everyday, but it's paid for and in good condition and nearly an antique, so I'll hang on to it.

I decided I wanted a small 4x4 SUV that could still tow a couple ATVs and haul a reasonable amount of people and stuff. About a week ago I bought a 2000 Jeep Cherokee. First mileage test in the new Jeep was good! 302.1 miles ÷ 16.903 gals = 17.87 mpg. I paid $2.39 a gal for regular vs the $2.69 a gal premium the truck has to have. This first tank alone has saved me over $60. This thing is almost going to pay for itself.

http://kevin108.com/files/images/forums/glocktalk/cherokee01.jpg

My Cherokee has given me a fit for months on end up until October when I finally got the root of most of the problems. It's been a totally different vehicle since then.

I made my first lengthy highway trip last month and broke 20 mpg. Most of the trip was 65+ mph and through the hills around Charlottesville, VA. Now that it's running right, I'm planning on picking up another SGII to see what I can really get out of it.

Hi Kevin, Welcome back to CleanMPG. What did you find wrong with your Jeep? The roads and hills around Charlottesville are good if you figure out to maximize your ups and downs. There are plenty of those. Our son graduated from UVA this summer and still lives there so we are there at least once a year.

Good Luck!

Thank you! It's good to be back. Things seem a little quieter here. I guess everybody's waiting on gas to break $3 before they start driving with some sense again? Anyway, on to the Jeep.

It started off with poor fuel economy and the occasional backfire on an incomplete start. It moved into lacking power, missing, cutting off, being hard to start, going into limp mode, etc. The codes it was throwing indicated it was either the crank position sensor or the camshaft position sensor. I replaced both of those and my problems prevailed. I even swapped in a different coil rail with no change in symptoms.

I finally found out about reindexing the camshaft position sensor. As the vehicle ages, the timing chain stretches - simple enough. The computer and correct for this...until it can't. Then it freaks out and causes all the problems I had. The problem was solved by moving the engine to TDC, zeroing out the timing marks and aligning two holes - one in the collar around the oil pump drive shaft and the other in the camshaft position sensor. That was the worst of it, despite being relatively inexpensive.

Shortly after I applied that repair, which made it run like brand new, I sprung a leak in my radiator while towing our two ATVs home from the local offroad park. This caused a very brief instance of overheating which cracked my head. The 0331 head on the 00-01 4.0s has a casting flaw that leaves a thin spot between the 3rd and 4th cylinders that's prone to cracked. Many will crack just from the heat cycles at around 100,000 miles. Others wait to crack when slightly overheated and a lucky few never crack at all.

Replacing the cooling system along with the head ran around $750. I've got a lifetime warranty on everything I've replaced except the head, which has a 3 year warranty. Hopefully now I'm good to go for a while so I can spend some money on skid plates and armor and not just replacing parts!

Good work! I bicycled to work for 9 years, 6.5 miles each way. Keep up your hypermiling efforts.

I finally had a semi-regular tank without any towing. I did do about an hour of mild offroading last Saturday but putting around in 4-low at idle seems to agree with this rig. There was a fair amount of in-town driving as well, maybe 25%-30% and I still broke 18 mpg. For what it is, what I do with it and how old it is, I'm delighted with a number like that.

I definitely need a separate set of tires for my offroad jaunts. These Michelin streeties do great on pavement and in rain and snow but they're not so great when it's a little muddy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKGqy02z9KQ