Man old age strikes again sorry

 

I just put the factory wheels and tires back on, back up to +40's again. The 17 inch wheels and wider tires really eats into the gas mileage. They are heavier and being wider they don't roll as easy i guess.
Keeping the fancy wheels for fun, and it does handle better the 17" rims and tires.

 

Drove from Scottsdale AZ to Tustin CA on less than one tank, 401 miles. Filled to brim afterwords and it was 10.2 gal

 

AC on ? pretty flat roads? Where I live I can take advantage of coasting and if I try real hard (turn engine of at red lights, keep under 60 mph) I will obtain 44 or better. The absolute best was 53.

 

I'm diving from CO to KS on I-70 in March. If anyone's driven there, you know what a flat, desolate drive it can be - perfect for testing out some hypermiling techniques! I'll probably do one tank at slower speeds and see how good it can get (the speed limit is 75, so I kinda doubt I'll stick to "slow" for very long).

 

When I was living in California I would get around 36. Now I'm back in Washington and I think the cold weather has a big impact. Now getting 30-34.

 

Partial tank 340miles
6.351gal
53.54mpg

SG said 55mpg with 13% fuel correction

 

yep, the cold weather has decimated my FE. i don't even bother calculating it any more

i still cannot get a consistent fill up.

 

I get 33 - 35 with the 17" ADR Interspeed Wheels, but they are alot heavies than stock.
Stock wheels on for the winter, right back up over 40, most highway driving though.

 

A question for folks who are FAS'ing (turning off the engine at stops). I've been doing this consistently since my first service, and Maintenance Minder just switched on for my second service. First service was about 6300 miles with not much FAS'ing. Second is about 4000 miles now. Adding in the remaining 15% gives 4600 miles. I suspect that FAS'ing - at least with the key - fools the computer in to thinking that I'm making LOTS of really short trips, artifically recucing my oil life. Anybody else noticing this? I think I've seen some of you using a FAS switch, that seemed a little hard core to me, but maybe not if it keeps the oil life indicator where it needs to be.

Thoughts?

HF

 

Doesn't that add a ton of wear and tear to your starter system??? I would not do it - starters are pretty expensive...

Looks like this was meant for hybrids....here...

Forced Auto Stop (FAS)

Forced Auto Stop is similar to P&G without the objective of re-accelerating. In a hybrid, it is usually a matter of lifting the accelerator below a speed of approximately 40 MPH and letting the engine shut-off. This allows the car to coast to a slower speed, or come to a complete stop without the engine running. However, many conditions can affect FAS (adequate battery state of charge, hybrid system temperature, engagement of AC compressor, cabin heat, etc.) and is not always so simple. Depending upon the hardware and software controls of the hybrid system, there are ways to "fool" the system into FAS. Unfortunately, they are many and varied, and beyond the scope if this article.

 

HEMI-Fit - good question

From my understanding the maintenance minders is triggered by the VSS from the tranny referring to the number of revolutions which would mean higher revs(more revolutions) = change oil sooner. I never thought about the starting of the vehicle as being factored in by the computer. I haven't notice this affecting the maintenance minder but It has been a while since I haven't FASed.

I have been doing the FAS for ~26000 miles and I have about 51k on the FIT.

There have been reports of starters(Hondas) lasting for 300,000 miles. I am not saying this is always the case but in the grand scheme of things a starter is cheap and easy to replace(3 bolts), not to mention you can push start if need be!

 

Thought I would give an update(from start to current) since I have been slacking lately:

 

Possible that the oil pump works a little harder when you first start ignition, to get the oil pressure up? Thinking maybe this repeated action causes some breakdown of the oil, in which case your oil life isn't artificially reduced, it actually is reduced.

The computer could be set to a longer oil life for the first round because because of the additives.

Anyone else find it hard to trust the MM oil life indicator? The company makes money off service, so why not get people to believe in longer oil change intervals by having a computer tell them, "it's OK," instead of a service rep.

 

There is always oil analysis. But I would rather spend the money on changing oil versus the analysis. I wouldn't doubt that the oil change intervals can go longer depending on your driving conditions and habits.

 

Stopping the engine at stop lights is the norm in most of Europe. Freaked me out when my Swiss relatives killed the car at every light, but since everybody does it, it's not a big deal. As for the life of the starter motor, I remember reading (but not WHERE I read) that the starter can survive 10's if not 100's of thousands of cycles, so I decided I wasn't worried about killing my starter. Much.

What I understand about the MM is that it has some method of accounting for driving style, as well as miles driven. In reality, lots of short trip driving is hardest on oil, highway driving is easier. I don't know if the Fit has an oil temp sensor (suspect not), so if the computer has to guess, it probably assumes that a restart has been after some time... perhaps enough to cool the oil back below the "warmed up" threshhold. However, you'd think the coolant temp sensor would be enough of an indicator for cold/warm operation, and in most normal driving, oil temps follow coolant temps pretty closely.

On my first oil change, I had Blackstone do an analysis, and they thought that I could easily go 7K miles before changing this time. With 10K on the clock, I suspect that FAS'ing has convinced the MM that all my "short trips" have reduced my oil's life by about 30%... I'm going to do my own oil service this time - depending on what else is in the B1 service - and get my oil checked again. I'm going to quit FAS'ing and see if the MM interval comes back. The only problem is that it's giong to take about 10 months to find out. At 8000 miles/year, it takes forever to need a change...

HF

 

HF, I'd be interested to see your oil test report. email it to pcs0snq@comcast.net. I have stardized on Motercraft Semi Syn and will double chek the MM using Blackstone. I have 5500 on the interval and mm just rolled to 60%. I will go to recomended 15 and get it tested to see how it;s did.

 

Change my oil every 7500 miles. Have been doing that for as long as I remember.
Got 235,000 miles out of Izusu Rodeo before trading it in on a Suzuki.

 

Recent trip to Nashville. Drove about 300 on the highway and 50 in the city. I cruised on the highway between 65 and 70mph. Got a nice 38.4mpg. Woohoo!

 

Paul,
I can send you a scan of my first report from the original fill oil, but I'm waffling on whether I want to take a sample now or go ahead and push the interval out to 7K on the oil first. I guess a sample now would confirm whether the FAS'ing really had any influence on the oil, or if the MM is BS. At $20/test, I hate to throw money away, but the knowledge is worth something. Hmm. I think I may have just talked myself in to the test...

I'll keep y'all posted.

HF