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Hi Everyone,
What a great site! I have a 92 mile round trip commute every day, 80% highway (65MPH), 15% state route (50MPH) and 5% in town (25MPH-30MPH).
I have been using a ScanGaugeII for about a month now and have achieved MPG of between 38 and 40. My current tank average is 40.5. My best home to work MPG has been 41.5, but Work to home tends to be right around 40 or 40.5.
Warmer weather is still to come and days have been averaging in to 60s so I am hoping to see a bump as temps climb into the 70s and 80s.
I have been playing around with many of the basic hypermiling techniques but have recently been toying with cutting the engine on approach to Highway off ramps. One problem I have however is that the ScanGauge cuts out and I get no record of my MPGs. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to account for these savings and calculate it into the average tank MPG?
I realize that cutting the engine at a stop will keep your average from declining, but an engine off coast would make MPG climb if you could account for the distance.
Anyway, I'm loving my daily commute and enjoy trying to best my prior day.
I just too my tires from 30PSI up to 37PSI and hope it helps. I unfortunately still have snow tires on which isn't helping, but hope to get them changed out soon. I am still very happy with 40MPG on my Sentra which is rated at 23c/30h. My goal is 45MPG on a tank average. I'm hoping that the new tires will help as well as a new set of plugs. My air cleaner is relatively new. Any other suggestions on things to check to keep as efficient as possible?
Well, glad to be here and looking forward to saving more gas.

Scott

welcome !

140% of EPA is awesome !

The key trick is not to turn off complete;y - you should be able to turn off engine w/o shutting down electrical - check the manual

Good to have you, Scott!

The first thing you should do is set your fuel type to "Hybrid" -- this will prevent the ScanGauge from turning off when the engine is not running (as long as the key is in the run position). Second, what transmission does your Sentra have? If you have a manual transmission, you are fine. If you have an automatic transmission you should check your owner's manual to see if your vehicle is safe to "flat tow" (get pulled on all 4 wheels). If it cannot be flat towed you should not coast with the engine off as this could damage the transmission due to a lack of lubrication. You can turn the car off safely at long stops no matter what your transmission is.

If you determine that your vehicle is indeed safe to FAS, shift to neutral first, wait for the RPM to drop down to somewhere close to idle, then key one click back to ACC, wait just long enough for the engine to die (usually about 1s or so), then key back to the ON position. Putting the key back into the ON position is important because that keeps your electronics up and your airbags functional. You'll lose power steering but your power assist for the brakes will be good for 3-4 good applications of the pedal.

Please be sure you practice this somewhere isolated so that you can learn how your car behaves safely!!! Run the braking vacuum out so that you know what it feels like and how much force it takes at that point to stop the car. Practice with some curves so that you learn to anticipate the change in effort needed for when the power steering drops out or comes back -- you don't want to over or undercorrect in a cloverleaf!

Good luck and safe driving!

Thanks for the tip on "Hybrid" fuel type. Will this effect any other aspect of the SGII?
I have a 4 Speed Auto so I guess I should be fine attempting Fas.

The hybrid fuel type won't affect anything else -- it just tells the SG to not stop working when the engine is off -- which is frequent if you drive a hybrid or you drive like I do. ;)

I don't think the number of gears has anything to do with whether or not your car is flat towable, but if your manual says it is okay have at it. :)

I don't think the number of gears has anything to do with whether or not your car is flat towable, but if your manual says it is okay have at it. :)

Sorry, should have been clearer. 4-speed Automatic Transmission. Not 4 speed manual.
I'll try the Hybrid setting on my commute home. Thanks again.

Edit: Ok, now I understand. I misread the first message as saying that automatic transmissions were always safe. I'll consult my manual before I try it again. Thanks for the help. This is all new to me, but very interesting.