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Welcome to another Autumn tinged week! The mornings are getting cooler and the trees more colorful. :)

44F, 6mph headwind from the SSE, clear:


100.8mpg for 15.0mi (Home to work)

The tank is back up to 96.5mpg over 189.0mi

I guess i have one of those good news/bad news things going on. The good news part is that my driving routes should be much more conducive to higher FE tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday. The bad news part is that this is possible because I was notified Friday evening, about 4 hours after my shift ended, that my assignment had ended and Friday was to be my last day at work.

On a related bad news note, I feel like such a BAD hypermiler.:p I checked the air in my scooter tires and found that the front tire only had 18 psi and the two rear tires only had 22 psi.:o I also found that one of the rear tires has a faulty valve core so I'll be getting that fixed today at my son's work.

Oh no!!! Not again! :ccry:

Any prospects for new jobs?

Oh no!!! Not again! :ccry:

Any prospects for new jobs?

Unfortunately, the situation is much like it was when the last job came along: very slim pickings out there. I only have 1 lead and it's very iffy at best. A frustrating thing is that I really can't even get started looking until tomorrow as I have to wait around today until arrangements can be made to pick up my tools; everything was so ordinary when I left Friday that I had no reason to know I needed to take them with me.

I checked the air in my scooter tires

Thanks for mentioning - I'll check it soon too.
We're back from my usual 2-up+luggage 'long commute' crossing half of Hungary, and this time I achieved this year's worst FE :mad:

We chose freeways (starting with some nice twisty backroads to have fun too), so I went a bit faster than usual, but it wasn't too much (usually at or below 100km/h, 62mph). On the way to there we got some headwind but that fill contained some of my usual commute, at least measured by fill (I'll update my logs according to the distance between two low fuel lights, as I usually do). This tank's average became 3.03l/100km (77.6mpgUS), not good but not that bad either. But on the way back we got rain, my boots soaked (during the first 50km, and they didn't get any drier for the remaining 240), and after some nice tailwind we got the sidewind I almost missed... and I chose the freeway for simplicity. I also crossed Budapest which is bad for simplicity if you don't know all the junctions before you go there... I made a mistake (read: I believed what the road signs said) too which led me to another bridge, with traffic jam, of course.
The average filled near home became 3.65l/100km (64.6mpgUS). I was quite disappointed... wet roads really took their toll this time :(

Well, summer is over. It's been a long, hot one. Great for mileage - I got three back-to-back-to-back distance records. Now the weather has turned. It was 55F this morning, colder than I've seen since April.

66.6 mpg / 12.6 miles - home to school to work.

The tank is down to 82.5 / 509 miles.

513 miles approaching 3/4 used on the gauge.

Yup, It was cool here as well in SW MO 46F. Not bad though. Long warmup time for the truck.

I am back in business with a Working SGII Version 3.17b. I got home on Fiday and there was a pachage for me. Brand spanking new SGII. I had only mailed in the broken one the Previous Sat. I guess once they got it they just put a new one in the mail instead of installing a new screen (that was all that was broken). Either way, Sweet.:p

Now I have to keep track of my numbers again :rolleyes::D

22.8 MPG this moring.

Sorry to hear about the job loss. Had a decent commute this morning.

68.1 MPG / 11.0 Miles home to work
58.3 MPG / 12.2 Miles to lunch and back

Biked again today. It was pretty cold only 40*F out. Everyone at school thought I was insane for biking to school.

71F, 13-19mpg tailwind from SW, sunny:


116.5mpg for 15.4mi (Work to home -- PB by 0.9mpg!)

The tank is back up to 97.7mpg over 204.4mi

Day Total: 108.1mpg over 30.4mi

The drive home was really odd. I actually cruised through the first 11 lights without stopping -- I've never done that before! I was hanging between 114 and 116 the whole time -- not something I had thought was possible on this route! I got through the next several stops and got up to the second to the last light before Anoka at 118.2mpg !! At that point I was reasonably sure I could pop it up over 120mpg by the time I got to the garage but then I hit a massive traffic jam in Anoka. :ccry: I was down to 112.3mpg by the time I got to Main St... just 1mi from where I'd had 118mpg. :p

Oh well. Maybe I'll have the perfect storm of events someday and see 120+mpg on the route. :)

home>school>work
- 22.8 / 13.5 miles (46F Calm)

work>home
- 25.9 / 13.2 miles (68F NW@9)

daily avg is 24.8 / 26.7 miles
tank is down to 3/8 with 300.3 on the ODO.

I had my worst mileage in a long time today: 59mpg. Due to traffic (I headed into the city at 6pm), my engine was off at least twice as much as it was on, and due to rain, electrical loads were high. My SoC quickly ran down, and I pretty much had to allow background regen during every pulse to keep it at three bars SoC. Really tough conditions for mpg, but I could have done better route selection to avoid some of the traffic.

Biked again today. It was pretty cold only 40*F out. Everyone at school thought I was insane for biking to school.

Hahahaha, they're so boneless :D

I took this picture a few years ago when I came to work by bicycle. It was the coldest morning that year. I brought a digital thermometer with me, yet I don't know the temperature because it went down to -15C (5F) then its LCD froze and went blank :D

http://w3.szivarvanynet.hu/alvaro84/hwsw/sarkkutato.jpg

So just keep on riding :D

Dedication!!! Way to go, Oainac!

Robert, that's brutal. :(

Somewhat warmer this morning...

53F, 6mph tailwind from the NW, clear:


103.8mpg for 15.0mi (Home to work)

The tank is back up to 98.2mpg over 219.5mi with 19 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

I've decided to try cycling the pack to see if that changes the assist behavior. I think it won't but it's something I've never done. This pack has never been lower than 17 bars since it was installed. Now it is at 11. I just kept the clutch mod enabled to prevent regen, used assist a few times, and lots of engine off coasting while running off the big battery with the headlights on. It will probably take me another day to drain it the rest of the way down. Once there I'll just take my time charging it by flipping the clutch mod on and off (regen for braking only).

Hahahaha, they're so boneless :D

I took this picture a few years ago when I came to work by bicycle. It was the coldest morning that year. I brought a digital thermometer with me, yet I don't know the temperature because it went down to -15C (5F) then its LCD froze and went blank :D

So just keep on riding :D

Now that's dedication!

It's only 53*F out today so it will be a lot nicer for biking.

Woo woo went past 600 miles!! 612 miles approaching "E" mark on the gauge!!

My record ever! Will refill after work today.

Hahahaha, they're so boneless :D

I took this picture a few years ago when I came to work by bicycle. It was the coldest morning that year. I brought a digital thermometer with me, yet I don't know the temperature because it went down to -15C (5F) then its LCD froze and went blank :D

<brr/>

So just keep on riding :D

I used to cycle in all weathers too. It's just that all weathers never got that cold. As long as I had a good set of waterproofs and access to a shower I was fine.

Although I did bruise my ribs once during winter when I tried to go from pavement to sidewalk cycle path too quickly and the bicycle let me know that it didn't like having drastically different levels of friction on the two wheels.

Had a good commute this morning and my tank is still over 61.5 so this might end up being my best tank so far.

71.1 MPG / 11.1 Miles home to work

:( :mad: :(

Funny business with my clutch. It's not disengaging quite right - down near the floor with lots of slack above the engagement point. From that, grinding on a few shifts. Worse when it's cold. I topped off the clutch fluid last night. After a mile or so this morning, it's somewhat better. Cautiously optimistic...

74.1 mpg home
66.1 this morning

The tank is WAY down to 81.6 / 544 miles and below 3/4 on the gauge. :(

Congrats LinuxGold :thumbs_up:

Andrew & Sean, hope your cars will improve back quickly.

Sean, I'm waiting for your 120+mpg commute ;)

Congrats to cyclists :thumbs_up: (happily I'm living at 20mi from work ;) )

Denis.

Thanks, Denis! The numbers today were much lower due to a headwind, traffic, and my efforts to drain this battery in a reasonably short period of time. How do people do this?? It is a real struggle to get the SoC down very low!! :confused:

Of course, maybe this is just further proof that my assist level is limited compared to other Insights. I finally got it down to 5 bars (out of 20). I'll take it down a bit further tomorrow morning with the headlights on but if I get it down under 4 bars I expect it to insist on force charging back up to at least 13 bars -- clutch mod or no. I really don't know how long this takes as I've never actually driven the voltage down like this before. Recals are typically pretty quick for me since I never allow the voltage to vary much from all the way at the top. :o

60F, 5mph headwind from the NNW, overcast:


102.2mpg for 15.4mi (Work to home)

The tank is up to 98.4mpg over 234.9mi with 19 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Day Total: 102.9mpg over 30.4mi

No car driving today. At least not yet anyway. I may go on a bit of a recon mission later this evening though. I have been job hunting online and I have a lead on a job that is 12.0 miles from me and the roads are practically deserted and, for all practical purposes, flat. The pay range is pretty close to what I need too. I have driven most of this route before with the Insight and have been able to hit 110+ but suspect it could go way higher with practice.

home>school>work
- 24.8 / 13.4 miles (54F SW@5)

work>school for pickup
- 25.5 / 12.0 miles (74F N@15)

school>home
- 30.0 / 1.2 miles

daily avg = 25.4 over 26.6 miles

if I get it down under 4 bars I expect it to insist on force charging back up to at least 13 bars -- clutch mod or no. I really don't know how long this takes as I've never actually driven the voltage down like this before.Once my car hits three bars (or zero bars, which contributed to my bad mileage last night), it insists on force charging up to four. Never to thirteen.

You could try some "electric pulse and glide": Clutch switch disengaged, pulse at WOT in 5th, glide with the engine off so the SoC can't recover. Two minutes of pulses would do the trick for me.

The car tries very hard to hold on to its SoC. I pieced together my grid charger before I got my MIMA, and the result didn't boost my mpg very much at all because of how hard I had to accelerate to get assist. Plus, whenever the engine is on, there is undocumented regen to balance out the draw of the DC/DC converter.

Robert, at what speeds do you do this WOT pulse in 5th? The thing I'm trying to address with this exercise is the strange refusal to exceed 5 bars of assist... and so far nothing has changed that. :p

I know exactly what you mean about not being able to get assist without hammering down... that's why I normally drive with zero assist. I also find the background regen persists to some extend all the way up to somewhere in the middle of the 18th bar -- I get better steady state numbers if I keep the SoC above that level.

An interesting trip in today. I didn't use any assist because on the way home yesterday every time I flipped the clutch mod off it started charging. The SoC dropped pretty quickly from 5 to 3 bars... but then no further. It must have been pulling some background regen to maintain but I was having a hard time telling with the headwind I was fighting. This amount was less than I expected too because it didn't actually force charge back up to 4 bars.

I'm going to keep this up on the way home to see if having the headlights off will drop the background charging enough to get the SoC down to 2 bars -- it shouldn't go below this level unless the gauge needs to be recalibrated. Robert, did you use MIMA to force the level down to zero?

At any rate, 52F, 8mph headwind from the S, clear:


105.5mpg for 15.0mi (Home to work)

The tank is now back up to 98.7mpg over 250.0mi with 18 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

76.9 mpg home last night, 80 degrees with a headwind.
72.4 mpg this morning, 58 degrees.

The tank is down to 81.3 / 575 miles. 5/8 on the fuel gauge.

The clutch is working, but is not perfect. The engagement point is low, especially when it's cold. I think I need to bleed the hydraulics.

Had a good commute this morning. My tank is still over 60 MPG, so still shaping to be my best tank so far, but alas, it was not meant to last long as I had to take a trip out to my wife's family and the interstate driving brought my average down.

70.1 MPG / 11.1 MPG home to work
52.3 MPG / 42.1 MPG To wife's family and back

Tank is down to 59.4

Went home for lunch. I'm glad to report that my recent string of (relatively) poor results is entirely from the new route and weather. ;) It was 80+ degrees and sunny.

78.1 mpg / 10.7 miles there, slight headwind.
102 mpg / 10.7 miles back to work, slight tailwind. :D

The tank is back up to 81.5 / 597 miles.

Nice work, Andrew!!! :thumbs_up:

I'm definitely in new territory with this low battery thing. I started the car and it immediately dropped to 2 bars, then 1 bar as I tried to get it to stay off with the FAS button (it wouldn't because it wanted to charge). I had to deal with a forced charge for the first couple of miles until it hit 5 bars and my clutch switch was able to cancel it out again. I had it back up to 6 bars but lost one bar approaching my house. I'll have to go back to more key FAS to get it to charge up better without completely destroying my FE in the process. It's probably going to take me a while to get that SoC back where I like it. Like, weeks. :o

Those first couple of miles were hard to recover from as it was... :p

72F, 12-20mph headwind from the NNW, sunny:


102.2mpg for 15.3mi (Work to home)

The tank is now back up to 98.9mpg over 265.4mi with 18 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Day Total: 103.8mpg over 30.4mi

Biked to school. 3.4Miles round trip.

Biked to a friends house. 2.8Miles Round trip.

6.2Miles total today

home>school>work
- 23.8 / 13.3 miles (51F calm)

work>home
- 25.2 / 13.1 miles (77F calm)

daily avg - 24.7 / 26.4 miles down to 1/4 of a tank with 353.3 miles

Hey Sean, quick question on your quest to drain your pack: Is there any good points about bringing the pack down below 18 bars every so often? My pack was basically brand new about a month before I got the car and it hasn't been below 18 since the trip home through the mountains of AZ and NM.

Hi, Larry -- I'm not convinced there are good reasons to drain it every once in a while, though there are a number of MIMA users who insist it is good for pack health. This wouldn't be nearly as painful if I had a grid charger installed (which I'm still considering by the way), but I never would have done it if I wasn't trying to see if the limited assist functionality was related. So far, it doesn't seem to have been. I'll try assist again once the SoC is all the way back up.

I ended this morning's trip at 10 bars SoC -- it hurt the mileage but at least I'm half way there now. I believe once it hits 13 or 14 bars it should go to background regen (not visible on the gauge) and I'll have an easier time keeping the numbers up while the pack charges the rest of the way up. We'll see. I've no experience with this.

49F, 4mph crosswind from the WNW, clear:


93.5mpg for 15.0mi (Home to work)

The tank is back down to 98.7mpg over 280.4mi with 17 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Hi, Larry -- I'm not convinced there are good reasons to drain it every once in a while, though there are a number of MIMA users who insist it is good for pack health. This wouldn't be nearly as painful if I had a grid charger installed (which I'm still considering by the way), but I never would have done it if I wasn't trying to see if the limited assist functionality was related. So far, it doesn't seem to have been. I'll try assist again once the SoC is all the way back up.

I ended this morning's trip at 10 bars SoC -- it hurt the mileage but at least I'm half way there now. I believe once it hits 13 or 14 bars it should go to background regen (not visible on the gauge) and I'll have an easier time keeping the numbers up while the pack charges the rest of the way up. We'll see. I've no experience with this.

49F, 4mph crosswind from the WNW, clear:


93.5mpg for 15.0mi (Home to work)

The tank is back down to 98.7mpg over 280.4mi with 17 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.
Thanks. You know me, just looking for every edge I can get in my quest for stupid-high numbers.:D Hoping you get that issue solved soon.

You know, this is making me really wish I had actually tried assist before the battery was replaced. For all I know, this is normal behavior for the newest hardware/software revision. How does yours work? Does it give full assist bars immediately? Your battery was replaced even more recently than mine, right?

79.9 mpg / 10.7 miles - home last night. 85 degrees, slight headwind. soooooo close :p
70.7 / 12.5 - home-school-work this morning. 60 degrees and calm.

The tank is down again to 81.2 / 620 miles. Approaching 1/2 on the gauge.


The clutch is behaving itself now - 95% of normal. The only thing is a slightly low engagement point, but it's fine.
I changed the spark plugs last night. NGK Platinums. They seem to help slightly with a minor, nearly imperceptible, stumble under power at low rpm. It's now even less perceptible. Or maybe it's just a placebo. ;):p

That's a very good question. The trip home from AZ is kind of a blurr and, since I've been back, I pretty much either back off the throttle immediately or engage the clutch switch right away. I don't recall ever seeing a full set of assist bars though. Since my pack should be relatively healthy, I may experiment a little with that later today. And yes, it looks like my pack was replaced about a month or less before I bought the car. I seem to remember something about March '10.

Thanks, Larry!! Mine seems to top out at 7 bars in first and only 5 bars in any other gear... right up to WOT. :rolleyes:

Had an ok commute this morning. Tank is closer to 60 at 59.8.

68.2 MPG / 11.0 Miles home to work

Thanks, Larry!! Mine seems to top out at 7 bars in first and only 5 bars in any other gear... right up to WOT. :rolleyes:

I glided down to 12 mph, bump-started in 3rd, then shifted to 2nd and floored it and I got the assist to max out. That was all the "hot-rodding" I could force myself to do.:D

Got a question that may actually belong in a thread by itself but, I experimented with turning off the pack (flipped breaker to off) and was seeing the little battery voltage well into the 13 volt range; as high as 13.8 but usually around 13.3. Would this mean that I'm getting a charge without doing the dc-dc mod?

Okay. That settles it, I guess. Doing that in my car gets me only the 5 bars. Or at least, that's all I got when I still had a full SoC... and it doesn't appear to have changed with the battery cycling. Something is goofy here and I don't know what yet. :p

If you were seeing over 13V then you are definitely getting DC-DC functionality. You can see what I mean if you just key to on without turning on the car. At rest (after overnight), I can see 12.5V on the SG before even inserting the key. At ON without starting it drops down to 12V and slowly chunks down from there (lots of computers in this car!). With the engine on it will stay over 13V with the headlights on but in AS with no headlights it will go down around 12V and shuffle up one or two tenths every once in a while. Kicking on the wipers or the lights will spike the voltage back up. With the FAS button, the voltage just locks in at 13.8V

as high as 13.8 but usually around 13.3. Would this mean that I'm getting a charge without doing the dc-dc mod?Yes. But if you remove the battery and MCM from the car and you'll need to manually tell the DC-DC converter to run. Also, it seems like the MCM sometimes decides to shut down your charging system almost arbitrarily if it thinks things are running poorly.

Sean, I disassembled my pack and cycled it stick by stick on the bench. Capacity of my weakest sticks improved by a few Ah just from four cycles of 10A discharge / 8A charge. You need to blow the gunk out of a battery (or break up Nickel dendrites) every now and then. Charge and discharge as fast as you can.

Oh yeah, I did forget to mention I was at either 18 or 19 bars when I did that experiment.

Cool, that's encouraging about the DC-DC thing. I didn't think to try headlights but will do that later although, I suspect it will probably still stay over the 13 volt mark. This opens up some more experiments I will want to try on driving style ie. acceleration rates, gears used, speed ranges, etc. without having to worry about undue stress on the pack while experimenting.

Yes. But if you remove the battery and MCM from the car and you'll need to manually tell the DC-DC converter to run. Also, it seems like the MCM sometimes decides to shut down your charging system almost arbitrarily if it thinks things are running poorly.

Sean, I disassembled my pack and cycled it stick by stick on the bench. Capacity of my weakest sticks improved by a few Ah just from four cycles of 10A discharge / 8A charge. You need to blow the gunk out of a battery (or break up Nickel dendrites) every now and then. Charge and discharge as fast as you can.

Thanks. I may want to look into the DC-DC mod in the future. Maybe time to look up those directions.;) And yes. I did notice brief times that the voltage dipped below 13 volts but could never see a pattern to it. This could explain that I'll bet.

Sean, I disassembled my pack and cycled it stick by stick on the bench. Capacity of my weakest sticks improved by a few Ah just from four cycles of 10A discharge / 8A charge. You need to blow the gunk out of a battery (or break up Nickel dendrites) every now and then. Charge and discharge as fast as you can.

I'm afraid I don't have the option of disassembling the pack like that. :( I still haven't figured out why the assist level is limited -- that sure prevents fast discharge!

The only other next step I can think of is getting my hands on a hall effect ammeter to see what kind of current the motor is actually pulling. It is still possible that the gauge is simply registering the assist level differently than other Insights show but I kind of doubt it after being unable to keep up with another Insight off the line.

Is there a way to reset the MCM? I reset the BCM last time and it didn't change the behavior at all.

Pulling the IMA reset fuse should reboot them both.

The assist/regen gauge is a notorious liar, but you should feel a kick in the pants when you're at WOT and you toggle the clutch switch on and off.

I think the car wants you to get a MIMA L.

That's the thing -- I don't feel much of a kick at all. :p If I could figure out a way to install a MIMA joystick and buttons such that they were hidden but easy to operate I might consider it.

Which fuse is for IMA reset? Shouldn't disconnecting the 12V have done the same thing? This limited assist thing is really perplexing. :confused:

I didn't get much added to the SoC on the way home. My style of driving really doesn't have a lot of excess to cull from. :p And yes, at 11 bars I'm still limited to 5 bars of assist. :rolleyes: No apparent background charging though. I'm used to it picking up once I get toward the bottom of the 18th bar so this is a bit odd.

70F, 13mph cross/headwind from the WNW, sunny:


109.5mpg for 15.4mi (Work to home)

The tank is now back up to 99.1mpg over 295.8mi with 17 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Day Total: 100.8mpg over 30.4mi

home>school>work
- 22.5 / 13.5 miles (58F N@8) back to the old route but it is still rough.

work>home
- 26.2 / 13.1 miles (75F N@15)

daily avg = 24.6 / 26.6 miles
Tank is now at 379.9 with the guess gauge at 3/16 (half way from 1/8 to 1/4)

Which fuse is for IMA reset? Shouldn't disconnecting the 12V have done the same thing? This limited assist thing is really perplexing. :confused:7.5A, the fourth one in on the bottom row; yes; I'm sticking to the "it's a weak IMA battery" theory.

Have you seen pics of Mr. Perkins' steering column mounted MIMA controls, with a paintbrush handle for a lever? Classy.

Fourth from the right side? If so I tried pulling that one and my SoC was at 0 bars while it was out, then back all the way to full when it was in. I tried leaving it out for a half hour and it didn't seem to reset anything. The one that did was the fifth in from the left (fuse #18) and that's what I pulled last time.

How could it be weak after being in the car just 1 year? And if it was weak, shouldn't it have taken a lot less time to drain than 45mi?

I haven't seen Peter's install. You don't mean this (http://www.solarvan.co.uk/insight/switch015.jpg), do you?

Roaming the usual Vértesacsa-Székesfehérvár commute trips every day (weather is dry though cool since we got back) - yesterday it was 2-up. I may have a day off from coming home, to bring a pair of boots from my mother's place (and visit the grocery market in the morning after night shift) - they used to be my brother's and I hope they'll be more waterproof than any of my current ones. Last time these were full of water (I felt it flow around my feet) after the first 50km and our East Hungary route is 280+km long - yes, we're about to go there again and I just saw the forecast predicting rain again...

Good luck on your trip!!!

I sacrificed mileage again to get the SoC topped up. It is now at 18 bars. It still gives a max of 5 assist bars at WOT in 2nd... though it did climb up to close to 15 bars at 2500 RPM? Still not the behavior I expect based on accounts from other Insight drivers but interesting none-the-less.

I'll be meeting up with another local Insight driver next Tuesday and I'm hoping he'll let me take a test drive to see how his vehicle behaves. He's got a 2000 MT and has had the battery replaced as well as the MCM (just like mine). We'll see.

Thinking back, I posted about a lack of power last January. At that time I had to use assist to maintain 50mph on the highway and noted the assist not going over 5 bars. I had just assumed it was limited due to the temperature but that was only 5mo after the battery replacement. Perhaps this is how Honda intended it to work? Or was something left unplugged?

45F, 1mph wind from the WNW, clear:


91.1mpg for 15.0mi (Home to work)

The tank is back down to 98.7mpg over 310.9mi with 16 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

78.7 mpg / 10.6 mi - work to home
97.8 / 8.9 - home to music practice after dinner
74.0 / 8.9 - back home, late
71.8 / 12.6 - home-school-work this morning

The tank is down to 81.0 / 668 miles and close to the 1/2 mark. 710 was my best 1/2 tank distance.

First time this semester that I used the car instead of the bike. The bike needs a new rear wheel, which is on the way. My friend carpooled with me as well so she could save fuel. Pulled very low numbers because of the street flooding and heavy rains, but it's much better than what she would have gotten with her Explorer (http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/weather/nws_alerts/Flood-Watch-issued-October-01-at-500AM-EDT-expiring-October-01-at-800PM-EDT-by-NWS-Boston-httpwwwnwsnoaagoverbox_83957643).

64F with moderate to heavy rains and winds from the NNE @ 13mph

- 42.9mpg for 22.6 miles from home to friend's house to school (SG2 didn't reset between trips)
- 38.8mpg for 22.9 miles from school to friend's house to home (SG2 didn't reset between trips)

Day total: 40.5mpg over 45.6 miles :(

The tank is down to 46.1mpg over 354 miles with 5.3 gallons remaining.

... Pulled very low numbers because of the street flooding and heavy rains, but it's much better than what she would have gotten with her Explorer (http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/weather/nws_alerts/Flood-Watch-issued-October-01-at-500AM-EDT-expiring-October-01-at-800PM-EDT-by-NWS-Boston-httpwwwnwsnoaagoverbox_83957643).



I think your location is misspelled.

:o :o :o

Leaving work today I discovered that there is nothing whatsoever wrong with my Insight. Apparently, I just didn't know what "floor it" actually meant in this car. I was pushing the accelerator down until I felt resistance and thought that was all the way down. On the way out of work today I pushed harder... and felt the pedal go down further. There went the assist gauge to all 20 bars! :o

Having finally felt that "kick in the pants" everyone talks about, I wasted some gas a few more times convincing myself that yes, I could do that in any gear and the car REALLY moves when I do it. :eek:

I got home through the rain, wind, and traffic with a decent number in spite of that and the SoC at 18 bars. I'm done "diagnosing" now. :o

53F, 6mph headwind from the NNE, rain followed by sunshine:


105.2mpg for 15.4mi (Work to home)

The tank is back up to 98.9mpg over 326.3mi with 16 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Day Total: 97.7mpg over 30.4mi

:o :o :o

Leaving work today I discovered that there is nothing whatsoever wrong with my Insight. Apparently, I just didn't know what "floor it" actually meant in this car. I was pushing the accelerator down until I felt resistance and thought that was all the way down. On the way out of work today I pushed harder... and felt the pedal go down further. There went the assist gauge to all 20 bars! :o

Having finally felt that "kick in the pants" everyone talks about, I wasted some gas a few more times convincing myself that yes, I could do that in any gear and the car REALLY moves when I do it. :eek:

I got home through the rain, wind, and traffic with a decent number in spite of that and the SoC at 18 bars. I'm done "diagnosing" now. :o

53F, 6mph headwind from the NNE, rain followed by sunshine:


105.2mpg for 15.4mi (Work to home)

The tank is back up to 98.9mpg over 326.3mi with 16 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Day Total: 97.7mpg over 30.4mi

That's sweet that you can put the "pedal to the metal" and still get 90+MPG.

Here is a picture of my assist gauge that I was telling Sean about. This is with the ignition switch in the run position but engine off.
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/medium/IMAG0069.jpg

Looks like the LCD has been cracked right there, Larry. :(

Bummer! As I was mentioning, I can still see when assist comes in but it requires much more attention. I mostly see it out of my peripheral vision then I look directly at it. Since I try to avoid assist at all costs, I figure if I see any activity at all it's too much so I back off.:p

My month of daily commuting by car and train is now over. I'm spending the rest of the day moving to San Francisco, so I'll be biking and busing from this point.

Even for someone who hates commuting by car, that temporary commute wasn't so bad. I took a route with little traffic to the train staion, and then the train ride gave me time to read the news on my phone. I was very happy with the mileage I got from the driving portion. Initially I was getting 50 MPG downhill and 45 MPG uphill, but for some reason the uphill half has been even better recently (maybe the heat wave?). I've got within a hair of 50 MPG in the uphill direction a few times, even though the best I can do going downhill is 52 or 53. There's about 500 feet of elevation change and much of it happens on a very steep slope. I don't know why the MPG figures are so similar in both directions. I also tried commuting entirely by car one day, and I was amazed how little gas I used. I got 58 MPG on the way there (must be a record) and 52.8 MPG on the way back. The drive back was hurt by driving around looking for an alternative freeway entrance because of lane closures. The last time I checked my tank average it was 51.1 MPG. It's probably very slightly lower right now.

Incidentally, my last drive home on this commute route yesterday was an upsetting experience. On the freeway, I saw a speeding car swerve as if making a very very aggressive lane change, but that car ended up a few lanes over. He immediately overcompensated and did the same thing in the other direction, almost hitting the median. I didn't know what that was all about about, but I was even more shocked when I saw that car do something similar a few seconds later. Just after that, that car and another car pulled over together on the left shoulder. Perhaps one of them hit the other. Then once I got off the freeway, a deer ran in front of me and I had to brake hard to avoid it.

One of the peculiar aspects of my new apartment is that there's usually an abundance of empty parking spots around the corner. I can't begin to describe how atypical this is. Since it seems like it won't be a big hassle, and my only fixed cost is $550 per year for liability insurance, I expect to keep my car, at least for now. I don't plan to use it much, but it will be useful for going out of town on the weekends, picking people up from the airport, etc. Daily parking rates provide a strong disincentive to ever drive to work (as if I needed one in the first place...).

OK, gotta pack up the computer...

Good luck with your move! Good choice keeping the car for occasional use, I think.

:o :o :o

Leaving work today I discovered that there is nothing whatsoever wrong with my Insight. Apparently, I just didn't know what "floor it" actually meant in this car. I was pushing the accelerator down until I felt resistance and thought that was all the way down. On the way out of work today I pushed harder... and felt the pedal go down further. There went the assist gauge to all 20 bars! :o

Having finally felt that "kick in the pants" everyone talks about, I wasted some gas a few more times convincing myself that yes, I could do that in any gear and the car REALLY moves when I do it. :eek:

I got home through the rain, wind, and traffic with a decent number in spite of that and the SoC at 18 bars. I'm done "diagnosing" now. :o

53F, 6mph headwind from the NNE, rain followed by sunshine:


105.2mpg for 15.4mi (Work to home)

The tank is back up to 98.9mpg over 326.3mi with 16 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Day Total: 97.7mpg over 30.4mirofl.

I was going to half-jokingly ask you if you had, perchance, installed fuel economy floormats under the pedal, and if your SG reports TPS sweeps from 9 to 89 like mine does.

I'm glad to hear you've gotten your problem sorted out.

Also, say "hi" to that other Insight driver for me.

Good luck with your move! Good choice keeping the car for occasional use, I think.

I'm also thinking about getting a car for occassional use. Teresa would remain my main ride :) A cage would be useful when it's really cold, or when I have to carry something heavy - but I can't imagine myself, dragging a big iron box weighing a ton, just to get somewhere, alone... this is my main reason for riding instead, after all...
Maybe a small diesel. I'd may let it rest for months between uses and I'm not sure how old gasoline behaves. PHEV users may have a clue :D

My Elantra sits for months and doesn't have any problems with old gas. The evaporative controls are so good these days that nothing really escapes the tank… and nothing really gets in either. I've had more than one tank completed with gas over 6mo old and couldn't tell the difference in power or efficiency at the end of the tank as compared to the beginning. In fact, my record distance/efficiency tank was one such instance.

From early today: 63F and sunny with winds from the N @ 8mph

- 50.6mpg for 38.8 miles from home to an airport to watch my boy scout troop go flying with "Young Eagles"
- 46.5mpg for 26.7 miles from airport to recumbent bike shop to test ride some trikes
- 52.6mpg for 71.4 miles from recumbent bike shop to gas station (got a little lost trying to find my way back to the highway)

The tank ended up being 47.9mpg over 492.2 miles using 10.276 gallons

- 44.8mpg for 6.9 miles from the gas station to home

Day total: 50.4mpg over 144 miles

The tank is full at 44.8mpg over 6.9 miles.

Visited my mom's place for the boots... got the low fuel light just before I got to my workplace, at 370.3km. It means under 3l/100km lately, but that rainy 2-up ride through and after Budapest drags light-to-light average down to 3.11l/100km (75.6mpgUS) - still much better than the last one...
(Reserve is officially 4l, so in theory I reach the 3l/100km level at 366.6km from a good fill up the filler neck, and my experience - and openoffice sheet - proves it.)

I'll fill her next week (I still can safely come to work twice on reserve), we're going to ride Ciliegia to the East tomorrow. I'm curious what kind of FE she'll deliver in 2-up, long trip mode with my present knowledge. This time I'm not planning to take the freeway route so I won't go too much over 90km/h (main road 405 has a PSL of 100km/h and 4 has a few 110km/h 4-lane legs, and I'll go slower there).

edit: my log has a small hole (lost fuel at the 30k service) and it's 39882.6km long, but by the odo I just reached 40.000km with Teresa :)

Work
37.5MPG/15.7Miles
34.7MPG/15.7Miles