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My wife called me from the car before. She's on her way home from the Chevy dealer after an oil change. She was pi$$ed because they ran a full diagnostic on the car and reset the Average FE display. Why? Because it read 32.6mpg, and they say that is not normal for the car.

This happened on her last oil change at another dealership, and I posted that event as well. That time, she showed them gas receipt with gallons and the miles copied from the trip odometer and it was within a few tenths of the displayed number.

Today, this new dealer asked her if the trip computer is reading properly. She thought to herself, "here we go again...". They reset the FE display and ran a full diagnostic on the system and it came up fine. She didn't have a recent fuel receipt in the car to show them, but she said the car has historically maintained over 30mpg. They replied that it's not possible to get that kind of gas mileage in winter in the mountains with Blizzak tires on the car. She told them, "I hypermile". The response was, "Don't tell me you shut the car off when you're driving down the mountain." (Funny how people fixate on the more dramatic techniques popularized by the media). She does not, and told them so, continuing on to say that anyone can get this kind of gas mileage if they drive safely and properly.

I think the only solution will be to print little business cards with the CleanMPG logo and link, and small captions that read:
"Fuel economy display is accurate. Do not attempt to reset or diagnose."
"Do not reduce tire pressure below 40psi under any circumstances"
"You can see this mpg number in your car by visiting the site named above".
Then tape the card to the display when you bring the car in for service. I think Staples charges 20 bucks or so to print business cards. It may be a good idea...

So she called me to vent, because when they gave her the car back, the Average FE was reading 15 and she said it'd take a day or two for the number to return to normal.

Based on other past posts describing the various views and driving practices of members' spouses, I would guess that I am a blessed man. How many hypermilers have a spouse who actually gets upset when their hypermiling skills are called into question?

You are a lucky man, I can definitely say my "other half" doesn't share my interest in hypermiling. She doesn't care what the tire pressure is as long as it's not flat. She won't read the owners guide although she's a voracious reader.

She will pump gas, reset the trip meter, and and write down the mileage in our log book, at least. She gets a little below EPA on average and I spend my driving time trying to recover.

Please tell me they didn't make you pay for this unnecessary diagnostic work!

Please tell me they didn't make you pay for this unnecessary diagnostic work!

No charge at all, and minimal extra time spent. I think this is the result of the dealers trying to improve their image. Locate and resolve problems before the customer can locate them. If there really were a problem, I'd be happy they found it before we noticed anything wrong. And they are genuinely concerned that the car is in perfect condition. What my wife wasn't too happy about is that they did the diag and reset of the readout before asking her if she noticed anything wrong.

Please tell me they didn't make you pay for this unnecessary diagnostic work!

Double on that one. If they made you pay for this work, I would think it is time to take someone to court for performing unauthorized maintenance.

Cards ought to do it, but you could make it a pre-condition that they not reset or even check tire pressure or mileage numbers, etc. If they do not agree, take business elsewhere.

Cards ought to do it, but you could make it a pre-condition that they not reset or even check tire pressure or mileage numbers, etc. If they do not agree, take business elsewhere.
Last time I had my Subaru in for service the dealer cheerfully agreed not to mess with the tires. And then reset them to 32psi. I felt like such an idiot that, after all I have read here, I actually believed them. I should have checked the pressures when I got the car back and made them reset the tires to 51.

MaxxMPG, you are indeed a lucky man to have a wife like that - but you probably knew that already.......

My wife hypermiles too. She drives a 2005 2WD CR-V with a scanguage. She's been complaining lately that because of the cold she can't get the numbers she was getting before. I told her I'd make a grill block for her.

She even has a I (heart) hypermiling bumper sticker and a tag frame that reads "Please Pass, I'm Saving Gas."

She only FAS at stop lights too.

I'm a quite a lucky guy myself.

AGAIN?? Some people are so narrow-minded. I took my car in for servicing, all they did was an oil change and told me how bad my suspension parts were (which I will be fixing next week). I'm sure this will improve my roll-ability?

I'm not so lucky with the other half hypermiling. She's tried it but she freaks out if traffic is not completely ideal. i.e. 10 cars per mile at the max. One of my co workers on the other hand borrowed my scangauge. drives a 98 cherokee and gets 25 hwy and 14 or so in the cold mornings on the way to work. He finds it intriguing and is kinda getting addicted :D

Cards ought to do it, but you could make it a pre-condition that they not reset or even check tire pressure or mileage numbers, etc. If they do not agree, take business elsewhere.

Well I suspect that these request are about the same as ordering a pizza and requesting that it not be cut. I'm so used to cutting all the pizzas that come out of the oven, just like these guys are so used to checking and adjusting tire pressure on every car, that even when there is a request not to do so that the lines of communication between the customer and the actual person working on the car are so horrible that it ends up happening anyway.

The only service I ever take my car in for is the big ones, and they do something with the battery that ends up resetting the trip-odometer, but no big deal, just gotta remember to write down the big odometer numbers instead.

No business cards.

Just a placard to leave on the steering wheel at service time. Reading much like you stated above.

This would be the equivalent of the K&N filter sticker on your air intake.

I occasionally use business cards tailored to a specific project I may be currently working on. I use a template available with Microsoft word which came with my computer and bought some blank cards at walmart were I just need to run them through my printer much more convenient and cheaper than staples.

Whats does FAS stand for?

FAS stands for Forced Auto-Stop -- basically it is just manually turning the engine off.

My family bugs me about my car and the way I drive, they think I'm crazy - except for my 10 year old sister. She's just curious to why I drive so weird. Things are starting to change, albeit extremely slowly, now that I'm getting closer and closer to what she gets in her 2006 Prius! She gets about 50mpg and I'm now passing the 40mpg mark in my 1994 Corolla(wait for the next log :D

sulfuric: who is "she"? lol I hope your ten yr old sister isnt driving yet :eek: "Learn" her how to hypermile first :D

sulfuric: who is "she"? lol I hope your ten yr old sister isnt driving yet :eek: "Learn" her how to hypermile first :D

And don't let her learn to drive at the FSP Driving Academy, where the basics are taught as:
1 - Start truck, let it warm up for 10 minutes. Cold engines use more gas, so get it nice-n-hot before driving.
2 - Dial phone, hold phone to left ear with left hand. Place gear selector in "D" and place brick on accelerator pedal. Place right hand on horn and hold firmly until you have reached your destination.
3 - Do not step on brake pedal until you can no longer see the ground underneath the vehicle ahead. In wet weather, first try to swerve to adjacent lane (you are running late so don't slow down no matter what), and then depress brake pedal with both feet when you realize there's a cop next to you in that lane.
4 - Always follow the "two second rule" - Which states that you should drive fast enough that after crashing into the car in front, it should take at least two seconds for the two crushed vehicles to slide to a halt.
5 - Highway speeds are easily determined by this handy formula - Your speed = pi over two multiplied by the posted speed limit. It's ok to do 86 in a 55. The cops won't bother you because they know that all speedometers are "a little off" and so it is perfectly plausible that your speedometer is reading only 55.
6 - Remember to keep your tires inflated to about 22psi. Overinflated tires can explode and tear the fender off your car.

(Hopefully I didn't leave anything out. I never went to the FSP Driving Academy, so I can only list what I observe on the road as their alumni all set out to kill themselves)

Thats why i dont like bringing my car in to the dealership.

When i visited the dealership, they leave their customer's cars outside with the windows wide open. Allowing all of summer's pollen to accumulate on the inside. Civic Sis with the black interior was now yellow.

Before i took mine in to them i wrote "KEEP WINDOWS CLOSED WHEN OUTSIDE" on a piece of paper and put it on the steering wheel.

I brought my car in for warranty work to replace defective sun visors. When i got my car back, my Oil Life Meter was reset back to 100%. It was at 70% when i brought it in. I dont know why they would reset it. The service manager was like "well, we didnt do any oil change." DUH!

Boston Man, they sound incompetent.