Archives

Welcome back to the grind!

43F (40F windchill), 6mph cross/headwind from the WSW, clear:


103.6mpg for 22.8mi (Home to work)

The tank is steady at 100.3mpg over 706.9mi with 9 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Monday morning fog in the head. 75.3 mpg, a good 10% below recent numbers.


Weekend report:
Drove the van to visit family. 200+ miles each way. Temps in the 70's, strong headwind there, tailwind returning. DWL ~55 mph, complete with spousal eye-rolling ;)

32 mpg there
35 mpg return - tied with my best ever in the van

EPA: 18/25 old, 16/23 new

Nice work, Andrew! Getting those larger vehicles up into that range is a tough job. :flag:

After a poor start (due to being held up at work on a project) I pulled the numbers up pretty well.

59F, 7mph tail/crosswind from the SW, overcast:


118.6mpg for 23.3mi (Work to home)

The tank is back up to 100.8mpg over 730.2mi with 9 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Day Total: 110.6mpg over 46.1mi

Been almost a month since my last tank! The weather is improving, but there was a good bit of rain. Still, managed just under 45 MPG this tank. It pushes my average up over 150%, which makes me quite happy!!

Still looking for that "real" 50 MPG tank, though.

The wife and I did the SF-LA round trip this weekend in her car. When she drove, she kept trying to boost the average MPH number for the trip. When I drove, I kept trying to boost the average MPG number. It was (mostly) amusing. We averaged about 24 MPG, which is decent for her car at mostly-legal speeds. (I5 is 70 MPH where we were on it, and I couldn't cope with her reaction to going slower than that, sigh!)

-soD

Thanks, Sean. I was juggling multiple constraints - mph, mpg, and AC. 1/2 mile pushing the mpg, 1/2 mile at slightly higher speed trying to maintain mpg, AC on the downhill coasts, but only until I needed to bring the speed up for the next hill...

I only took 4:45 to do the "four hour" trip. Thank God for a patient wife and especially the kids - 4 and 1.5 years - who lasted the trip without major issues. It's unlikely I will be able to peacefully push it to this level in the future. ;)

Well I tried as long as i could but the "drive" for better numbers got to me. I have started
engine off coasting again. I know it isn't good for my transmission, but the numbers I get from it got the better of me.

Why do they say eoc'ing is bad?? the lack of lubrication, the heat or what??

when i do eoc it's there two places that i can eoc for 1/4 mile at a time. any other time it's when i see light go red and might be few hundred feet ahead of me.

I know nobody can say "what you do isn't as bad as flat towing"

just curious as to what it hurts??

that being said here's my numbers from today

41.2- 6.4 mile to work

43.1- 5.9 mile home

at my job there are doing some construction and parking gets to be a problem after 8-9 am. so they been asking for 2 people from every dept to park off the island to the other place we have up the road and ride the shuttle bus in to work. guess who is doing it in my dept? :p

yes me! I get a guarenteed parking space so no more riding around now. is lil less than a mile less driving for me now on the days i do use it. it's only for 6 weeks they say.

Hi, Mike -- the concern is due to the fact that your transmission is lubricated by a pump attached to the engine. When the engine is off you aren't pumping anything. The oil film on the internal surfaces will be sufficient for a while, but eventually that will thin out until you've got metal on metal contact. At that point, your transmission is literally grinding itself to bits. Once it starts doing that, you get heat... and more damage.

I can't tell you how long you can go before you actually start damaging the transmission, but I can tell you that you'll damage it if your distances are substantial.

it is getting to be that time again. Getting close to fill up. I may get one and half more days out of the tank:D

home>drop off at school>work
- 22.7 / 13.6 miles (67F S13 cloudy)

work>home
- 23.2 / 13.2 miles (78F S18 Gusting to 32 and mostly sunny)

daily avg = 22.9 / 26.8 miles
tank is ~21.9 over 392.5 miles and the guage is reading 1/16

wow what is up with the winds still :eek:

No driving for me today -- I'm working from home.

About that wind.... Guess which way it was blowing. ~20 mph from the south, on my north-south commute.

86.4 mpg home last night
79 mpg this morning

The tank is up to 77.1 mpg / 197 miles. That's my best mid-tank reading ever. I need to bring it up to 80 mpg for the Kilo. 80.8 required for the next 800 miles.

After 4 days of using the bicycle instead of the car, i drove today and had to get gas. This is the longest i've gone between fill ups; 21 days. 48F when i left the house and currently 62F with overcast and winds from the N @ 5mph.

- 50.3mpg for 22.7 miles from home to the gym
- 44.4mpg for 9.2 miles from the gym to school
- 46.9mpg for 16.4 miles from school to the gas station

The tank fill up ended up being 45.1mpg over 472.9 miles.

- 42.4mpg for 7 miles from the gas station to home

Day total: 47.1mpg

The tank is full @ 42.4mpg over 7 miles.

I'm luving this warm weather that we're having here now. mornig are a lil cool, but notenough to hurt trhe mileage much. snowbirds are finaly heading back north and roads here won't be as congested.

42.3- 7.2 mile to work. temp was 63 degrees at 5:40 am

43.4- 3.x mile to grocery store for some supplies

42- 2.x mile home. temp for these two trip was right around 79-80 degrees

Tank sitting at 40.2 225 miles.

ANOTHER blustery day in the middle of the country:mad:

home>drop off at school>work (on time today:p)
- 23.1 / 13.6 miles (65F S@17 Gusting to 35)
[I will have to start looking for a new route to work as they will be closing down the road I usually take to construct a new 5 lane bridge over a creek.]

- 21.0 / 13.2 miles (73F S@26 Gusting to 36) Dadgum that was a brutal fight all the way home with the head wind)

daily avg - 22.1 / 26.8 miles
tank sits on E with 419.3 miles and ~21.9 from the SG calculations.

I will need to fillup tomorrow on the way home. Thus starting Challange IX ;)

Looks like I'll have a taste of that wind here today, Jason. :(

39F (33F windchill), 10mph cross/tailwind from the N, clear:


102.9mpg for 22.8mi (Home to work)

The tank is up to 101.0mpg over 753.1mi with 8 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

It looks like our wind will be changing directions over the course of today. 20 mph headwinds both ways! :rolleyes:

81.5 mpg home, 82 degrees and tailwind
84.1 mpg to work, 68 degrees and headwind

Tank is up to 77.7 / 219 miles.
I need 80 mpg for the kilotank.

54F part way, 14-23mph headwind from the NNW, sunny,
55F the rest of the way, 14-22mph wind from the N, sunny:


106.2mpg for 20.0mi (Work to doctors' office)
104.3mpg for 4.1mi (Doctors' office to home)

The tank is steady at 101.0mpg over 777.3mi with 8 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Day Total: 104.3mpg over 47.0mi

Nasty wind...

not too bad today! I got to park in the other lot and am working on when to start my coasting.

41.7- 6.4 miles to work. been working on when to start my coasting to the other lot.

47.1- 5.9 miles home.

got lucky today! I did a loop around the developement before hitting the main road and that where i got lucky!! as i was coming up to main road a line of cars went by. If i would have went that wy first off i would have had them behind me. after they passed i had whole road to myself. got a nice long coast in and had 42 mpg showing at the red lighht. :D

I see some other people have caught the wind we have been having. It's finally dropped down to 13 mph now instead of the 25+ we were having. Unfortunately it also came with a wind shift and cooler temps.

Still, I'm not going to complain too much when my tank average at 300 miles is over 36 mpg.

today started nicer with West Winds at only 10, then it all changed back to "freshing" winds again.

home>drop off at school>work
- 22.3 / 13.6 miles (51F W@10)

work>gas station
- 19.4 / 9.7 miles (63F SW@25 Gusting to 30) mainly a head wind, nasty at that!

fill 442.6 / 19.922 gals = 22.22 MPG

gas station>church building
- 24.5 / 2.7 miles

church building>home
- 21.8 / 4.8 miles (53F W@20-28) cross winds

daily avg = 21.1 / 30.8 miles
tanks is over full and 7.5 miles with 22.8 MPG since the fill up.

I hope the wind gets better for you guys!!

I'm back playing the "can I hit 100+mpg in below freezing temps?" game again. :p

30F (25F windchill), 5mph cross/tailwind from the NNW, overcast:


101.0mpg for 22.8mi (Home to work)

The tank is steady at 101.0mpg over 800.1mi with 7 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Serious temperature change! Yesterday morning was 70, today was 45.

76.6 mpg home into a north wind
77.3 mpg this morning with a tailwind

The tank is down to 77.3 / 251 miles and approaching the F mark. I need to get it up to 80.

Gah... a tale of two drivers:

yesterday - her
82 max MPH :eek: - 49 average MPH
48.2 MPG
150 miles

today - me
63 max MPH - 51 MPG average (huh??)
58.9 MPG
47 miles

She has GOT to start leaving on time for things... yeesh. At the very least she's left the auto A/C settings alone and doesn't lose another 3 MPG for setting it to "arctic blast".

That tells me what a great car you have. She still got 48 mpg. My wife, driving well / mild hypermiling gets about 21 mpg in the Odyssey.

And your average speed was higher, despite not being in nearly the hurry she was. ;)

This weather has been unseasonally hot. Yesterday i took the bicycle and it hit 93F. This morning was 61F and currently it is 74F and sunny with winds from the NNE @ 8mph.

- 50.7mpg for 23.5 miles from home to school
- 44.1mpg for 23.5 miles from school to home with a headwind

Day total: 47.1mpg

The tank is up to 46.4mpg over 54.1 miles with 11.9 gallons remaining.

I went home for lunch. On the way there, I was cursing the headwind (20 mph). On the return, I was blessing the tailwind.

70.0 / 10.7 miles going home
98.2 / 10.7 coming back :D. 100 is my record in similar conditions.

That brings my tank up to 77.6 / 272 miles.
It's nearing the F mark, above and right on it depending on the terrain.
260 was my farthest to F before, so I'm in uncharted territory - good for the kilotank.

Wish I had SuperMID by now... :(

I *BET* if I got it and used it, I would find a lot of mistakes that I've been making.

Average fillup yesterday, but my new tank looks very impressive. Only about a gallon used(can't confirm though, only a guess) and at 72.5 miles :eek:

I wouldn't be surprised if it was under 50mopg when I fill up next, though. The first 100 miles always seems overly optimistic.
We shall see.

Scott, look up the MPGuino -- several of our members are using one with great success. You can order a kit pre-assembled but you do still have to go splice into wires in the car.

Man, the traffic was really rowdy today! The headwind was a pain and I really didn't enjoy having a pickup blast his horn at me as I'm trying to accelerate (not fuel efficiently :rolleyes:) uphill and into the 20mph wind... Blah. Why is it always the times I'm accelerating hard to not be a nuisance that I get honked at? :confused:

46F (41F windchill), 11-21mph headwind from the NW, sunny:


107.3mpg for 23.4mi (Work to home)

The tank is up to 101.2mpg over 823.5mi with 7 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Day Total: 104.1mpg over 46.2mi

I still have a round trip to Church and back tonight. I hope the wind dies down a bit!

Blah... 80F with 23 MPH wind gusts.

* 63.1 over 47 miles home. Did I say that I LOVE being able to run A/C again???

home>drop off at the school>work
- 20.3 / 13.6 miles (35F W@7)

work>home
- 24.0 / 13.2 miles (61F W@9) :Banane18:

Daily avg - 22.1 / 26.8 miles
tank is still over F with 34.3 miles and (~22.4 MPG)

More terrifying traffic jerks tonight. This time it was some guy in a large SUV 1.5' off of my bumper as we are heading down a steep hill. Oh great. :rolleyes: REAL safe. :p

50F down, 11mph tail/crosswind from the NNW, clear,
41F back, 1mph headwind from the NW, clear:


104.8mpg for 18.4mi (Home to Church)
96.8mpg for 18.4mi (Church to home)

The tank is steady at 101.2mpg over 860.4mi with 6 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Day Total: 102.4mpg over 83.1mi

Probably no driving today -- working from home.

52F with rain and winds from the NNW @ 10mph giving me a headwind

- 47.7mpg for 23.6 miles from home to school

The tank is up to 46.8mpg over 77.7 miles.

Dude, where's my mpg?

74.1 mpg home into that stiff headwind.
72.6 mpg this morning at 40 degrees! It was 85 just 2 days ago!

The tank is, predictably, down. 77.3 / 293 miles.

I'm calling it 290 at the F mark, making it the longest yet. Also the topped-off-est tank by 0.3 gallons. That's worth about 24 miles at 80 mpg, so it might make the difference in the upper 900's.

The hot weather over the past week or so was nice, but now it's back to reality. 50F with rain and winds from the N @ 5mph.

- 40.6mpg for 8.1 miles from school to the gym
- 43.1mpg for 9.1 miles for the trip back to school
- 46.3mpg for 17.2 miles from school to the store
- 36.9mpg for 6.3 miles from the store to home

Day total: 44.4mpg

The tank is down to 45.3mpg over 118.5 miles.

Weather here was real nice going to work. has been in the 60's and this mornign was 73 at 5:30 am.

coming home is where the "fun" started :rolleyes: two seperate times I had minivans floor it to either get around me or keep me from merging in front of them.


43.4 7.2 mile to work.

42.6 6.3 mile home

tank sitting at 40.5 250 miles dash guage about 7/16

fuel level 43% on SGII.

Since I hit one of my goals for 2010 I'm gonna start work on my other one. A 500 mile tank :D When i get close to E this time I'm gonna keep a small gas gas handy and push it a lil more.

I'll check the fuel level on the SGII to see what kind of readings i get also. My fuel tank holds 12.8 galon, but i usualy end up pumping under 10 after low fuel light comes on. if i go by this then i'd only need to hit 39 mpg and thats no problem.
when does everyone else refuel and do you drive with low fuel light on much??

Mike… as late as I can and frequently (with the light on). ;)

Mike… as late as I can and frequently (with the light on). ;)

And he'll drive for up to (or over) 200 miles with the light on...

I don't take the chance. I might make one more trip to work with the light on (52 mile round trip), but not normally. For some reason I get worse FE when it gets that low.

I might stuff a tank this year and see if I can top 650 (or 700) miles for a tank.

Hmm... 700 miles, 16.5 gallon tank... under 42.4mpg...

I can do that, though I have never put in more than 14.9 gallons.

This time it was some guy in a large SUV 1.5' off of my bumper as we are heading down a steep hill. Oh great. :rolleyes: REAL safe. :p


Sean he was just trying to draft off you, he saw it on the race track and wanted to see if he could get a better sling shot effect around you :D

I usually can get another 50-75 miles out of the tank after the light comes on. After getting down below the E line last summer and still having at least a gal left in the tank I usually take it down to the middle of the line as long as it is on the way to the gas station. :p

home>school>work
- 20.9 / 13.6 miles (40F S@8) so nice not to have to fight the wind

work>home
- 24.7 / 13.1 miles (71F SW@8) :Banane18:

daily avg = 22.8 / 26.7 miles
tank is now on the Full line with 61.0 miles and ~22.6 MPG = 150% ;)

I finished off the week with a trip to see the GF.

While driving around to do some shopping, I find out she doesn't like FAS. :(