Archives

I'm Lou/Louie/Louis depending on how I know you. I'll introduce myself as Lou, my mom still calls me Louie, and the doctor's office and bill collectors call me Louis.

I'm driving a 2000 Subaru Forester with 170K miles on her. Tires are at 44psi, engine has Mobile 1 synthetic oil, and I'm wearing cool mirrored shades to help me slide through the air feeling smooooth.

In reading about hypermiling, I find that there are already several things that I'd been doing on my own. I coast to lights, and try to avoid using brakes because of the energy that I'll need to use to get back up to speed.

I live just northeast of Indianapolis. I'm writing from just north of the Michigan border, where I'm having a mini-vacation with my lady friend. I nursed the car through slower roads and eased on the accelerator, and found that my gas gauge hasn't moved as far as it usually would have. There's been some local here-and-thereing since we arrived, and there will be some more tomorrow. I'll tank up before we head back to Indianapolis, and tank up as soon as I get home, so I can get a really good idea of how I'm doing. I've managed to squeeze 30mpg out of this car before, but that was on the interstate at 70mph. I plane to stay on roads with a top limit of 60 as much as I can.

I'm Lou/Louie/Louis depending on how I know you. I'll introduce myself as Lou, my mom still calls me Louie, and the doctor's office and bill collectors call me Louis.

I'm driving a 2000 Subaru Forester with 170K miles on her. Tires are at 44psi, engine has Mobile 1 synthetic oil, and I'm wearing cool mirrored shades to help me slide through the air feeling smooooth.

In reading about hypermiling, I find that there are already several things that I'd been doing on my own. I coast to lights, and try to avoid using brakes because of the energy that I'll need to use to get back up to speed.




Hi Louie!

Sounds like you are not in the hottest part of your country. Why not try to cover at least the upper grill of your car while at the highway and see if that helps? The air that flows at highway speed will make the engine loose heat. The best operation would be if the temperature was just below the fan-trigger-temp all the time. On my car that never happens on the highway while HM'ing, even in the summer.

You could just use cardboard and tape for the first experiment, and if temperature start rising you could just coast to a stop and remove it.

Daytime temps this time of year are usually mid-eighties to mid-nineties. How is blocking the radiator a help for mileage?