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Hey hey! What's this? My mpg is going DOWN this tank! Is this is a typical thing for newbie hypermilers??

I didn't do anything different that I can think of the last couple of days (except I tried a different route home-- came across three unexpected 4 way stops-- don't think I'm repeating that). Oh and Saturday I had one of those go out to Target (4 miles maybe) and bring a bunch of stuff back and come home. But other than that, I don't think I'm doing anythign different and got really not such good mpg even going to work where I get to coast and get the hills and no a/c.

I sure can't figure it out. Nothing done with car (but I will get tires checked tomorrow).
Tires and maybe the gas being different are the only thing I can think of, unless of course there is some odd thing about when you first start doing this, that your life time car mpg might actually go down. Seems dubious. Actually got something like 18-19 mpg going home. I know it was beastly hot with a/c on; uphill; etc. but I have gotten almost 27 or so before.

Wtfig???

--des

Hi Des:

___I do not remember but are you SG-II equipped yet? A/C running up hill will take down an Insight let alone a Corolla. Recheck your SG-II’s setup as well as a quick walk around the vehicle to make sure all is well there. The iFCD will lead you down the proper path as it never lyes ;)

___Good Luck and I know far better segments are in your immediate future.

___Wayne

Yes, I have a SG. Now do I understand much of it, no. The only way I can really get this thing well (I think) is to sit in my driveway with it (and the little pamphlet and a good magnifying glass) on a nice cool afternoon and play with it. Trouble is, we don't do nice cool afternoons in August. :-} So I don't really understand that stuff to be honest, and like any computer I will just need to play with it.

Uphill is tough. I think there are no really good ways to do it. But I was generally making up for it by very good mileage going in.

I don't know if I could tell if anything were wrong walking around the car. I think that there would need to be a snake sticking out of my trunk or something. :-) Though I doubt that would effect gas mileage it would give me a heck of scare. I might tell low tires though. I'm going to check that.

Can your gas type matter??
Or does one just sometimes gets bad mileage in the grand scheme of things?


--des

Hi Des:

___I do not remember but are you SG-II equipped yet? A/C running up hill will take down an Insight let alone a Corolla. Recheck your SG-II’s setup as well as a quick walk around the vehicle to make sure all is well there. The iFCD will lead you down the proper path as it never lyes ;)

___Good Luck and I know far better segments are in your immediate future.

___Wayne

What about winds? Tail winds are great, but head winds can hurt bad. Also, 4 unexpecte stop signs can hurt a lot. Basically one or two bad trips can ruin a tank. Also, keep in mind, not every tank is going to be greater than the last.

The best thing to do is keep track of your tanks and compare them over a longer period of time.

y current tank is a bit lower than my previous one and it has to do with having to leave my car idling for 15 minutes for my emissions test. Brought the trip from 60mpg down to 48mpg. And my tank from 57 to 54 or something like that (I'm just guessing at the numbers, but they should be close.)

Hi Des:

___Can you call me tomorrow afternoon and we can go over the SG-II's setup by phone. I just want to make sure your SG-II is properly setup before you begin worrying about a drop in FE over a segment or tank.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Sure Wayne, I sent you a message.

I think winds are about 10 mph. I didn't get the direction. But come to think of it might have been *more* 4 way stops. Yikes I won't try that again. I also went up almost to the foothills something like two or three days in a row. Hadn't thought about that. There is no way you can make up for going up that far, because downwards there are about 3 lights which you would have to make all of them. I hadn't thought about that either.

I don't know that it was really 18 today or not. But all that might explain a little!!

--des

Des,

I just finished my fourth tank since I started hypermiling. From my first (baseline) tank they got
2 - better
3 - worst
4 - best so far!

So don't worry if you don't keep getting better results with every tank. Just like the stock market doesn't go up every day, your tanks will vary but overall will trend up as you get more practice. Good luck getting the SG figured out. I'm pretty good with electronics and it still took me some getting used to. You'll get it, especially with personal help from Wayne!
:D

Advice on reading the manual: If you can, go to the Scanguage web site and print it off. The text in the supplied manual is just too small for "normal" people to read. Or just the ones that are half blind like me.

For me it was. There is a term for it in statistics. Something like Observational Anomaly. Has to do with the fact that you are paying such close attention to your numbers that there is the tendency to accredit statistical variance with an operational variable. Problem is you need a long period of observation to determine what your statistical variance is.

For me if a tank is above or below where I expect it to be, I can usually find a good reason why. Chances are you just got a bad pump, gave you a bit of a tall tank.

11011011

Thanks all.
Esp. thanks to Wayne. SG was set for a 3.0 liter tank. Might splain some things. And yes, I agree that there is something to watching this. Obviously sometimes I would do better and sometimes not so good. I doubt I ever got 18 mpg though (even before I started hypermililng), esp to Lowes and back or something (1 mile).

--des

Hi Des:

___It was great to speak with you. Hopefully your tanks will improve tremendously from this day forward ;)

___I looked up your 96 Corolla. If you have the 3 speed auto, you have a 1.6. If it’s the 4-speed auto, it is the 1.8. Look in your manual or under the hood as there should be an emissions sticker with your ICE size listed. We set you up for the 1.8 but just in case, you may need to drop it down to the 1.6. Actually, I hope you have the 1.8 because it was quite a bit more fuel efficient out on the highway with the 4-speed vs. the 1.6 w/ the 3-speed.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I talked (questioned) poor Wayne's ear off. :-)
Anyway on to the questions. I'm going to say funny thing is all. I have been under the assumption that this is a 1996 for the whole time I have had the car (I think 8-9 years).
I bought it new (I think I'd have to look up a great deal to find out all that info). But anyway I looked at the manual and it says 1997. I suppose the used car guy could have put another manual in the car (it was a Toyota stealership). The manual talks about a 3 speed transmission and a manual transmission, nothing about four speed, but then I am not sure that I have a 1997 as I always thought it was a 96. The Emissions label says 1.8.
Now I guess I have to find the original info. NOt that there is much difference between 96-97 though.

I suppose 1.6-1.8 aren't all that different anyway re the SG.

BTW, someone mentioned going to website and printing out manual. Great idea. It really is almost impossible to read.

--des


Hi Des:

___It was great to speak with you. Hopefully your tanks will improve tremendously from this day forward ;)

___I looked up your 96 Corolla. If you have the 3 speed auto, you have a 1.6. If it’s the 4-speed auto, it is the 1.8. Look in your manual or under the hood as there should be an emissions sticker with your ICE size listed. We set you up for the 1.8 but just in case, you may need to drop it down to the 1.6. Actually, I hope you have the 1.8 because it was quite a bit more fuel efficient out on the highway with the 4-speed vs. the 1.6 w/ the 3-speed.

___Good Luck

___Wayne