Dan_florea

Hi folks,

I' m new here and I would like to share with you some experiences. I Recently made 660 km on a tank, which is a pretty low consumption, somewhere between 6 and 7 liters/100km. I use to drive pretty fast (often above 120 km/h - boooh !), but I use two main tricks to save gas.

The first is to use the cruse control as often as possible on flat, free highway. In my opinion there is no gain using cruse on up-and-down roads or in busy traffic.

The second is to let the engine break the car while engaged in the 5th gear as long as possible before stopping. When approaching a red light for example I dissengage the transmission just seconds before stopping, to avoid stalling the engine (I drive a manual).

Now, here is my question: on the 8th generation Civic is the fuel cut-off as long as the engine is driven by the wheels (on a downhill for example)? If this is true, then it should be more efficient to let the gears engaged than to disengage on a downhill, because in the latter you will consume some gas for idling.

What are your thoughts about this ? Any tricks to share for improving your gas milage?

ezone

Deceleration fuel shutoff has been around for nearly as long as EFI has been around, long before the 8th gen you ask about.

Fuel is shut off when the TPS voltages indicate the throttle is closed, and the RPM is above 1200. (In general. Specific models may vary.)

So, popping it into neutral will use more fuel (engine idling) than letting it decelerate using engine braking.





Tie the car to the rear bumper of a semi trailer. Hope it is going to where you need to be.

Get video of this if you try it.

Dan_florea

You are joking ezone, but some folks really try to drive behind big trucks in order to take advance of the air suction.

ezone

Mythbusters proved it works.


I knew this long ago, back when I drove a 63 Baja Bug.
I ran a 300 mile trip nearly every weekend for at least a year in it.
I drafted off of semis on the highway all the time.
Huge difference.
Drive something so underpowered, and about as aerodynamic as a barn, you can really tell the difference.
Glad I never got to eat an alligator from doing that though. I wasn't smart enough to know it was dangerous.

jordan1794

Mythbusters recently showed that running your tires at extreme pressure(I think 65 PSI?) gave an increase of something like 6%, but that it was really dangerous...they said running at 5PSI above recommended gives like 3%, but will cause un-even wear so they suggested against it...

I guess someone needs to weigh the cost of new tires vs. fuel savings over time to see if it's worth it or not...

They also showed that extremely low pressure (10 psi?? memory is getting foggy now) decreased it by like 14%, and running at 5PSI under decreased by 4%...maybe.

I'm pretty sure about the first numbers about the higher pressure, lower pressure numbers might be way off lol.

don't feel like googling it to check

Dan_florea

The point here is saving gas without losing the fun of driving. Otherwise, driving below 50 mph or buying a Prius would be the most obvious solutions.

What about modifying the air intake to let the engine breath beter ? Do the so-called high performance air filters (you know, the cone-shaped ones) improve gas mileage ?

Other question: is it better for the engine to inhale cold or hot air ? You can direct the air intake terminal towards area wich are cooler or hotter inside the engine compartment.

ezone

My Hog gets nearly the same gas mileage as my '12 Civic.
Guess which one is more fun. (Maybe that's why the gas mileage of the bike is so low.)

Nope.

Neither.
Air density is compensated for by the PCM.

IMO, your best chances to gain efficiency with a stock drivetrain lies in rolling resistance, aerodynamics, parasitic drag, and driving habits.

Dan_florea

Okay, one more try: what about those electronic devices which are supposed to improve your spark voltage ? In theory this should allow you a bigger gap between the sparkplug's electrodes, so explosion is initiated on a longer front, burning is more efficient, etc

On the same note, do the multiple electrods sparkplugs make any difference ?

I know we are getting closer to the gadgets pretending to improve your fuel economy, which are all hoaks. However, among those, the two mentionned above seem the most logical to me.

L82theGame

:rofl mao:: roflmao::roflm ao:

ezone

Oh. Hell. No.
I bet AutoZone loves you.


It's spelled HOAX.

Dan_florea

I know, I know... No chance for me to pick a Nobel prize...

Thanks ezone and jordan, I really appreciate. Please excuse my spelling, I'm not a native English speaker. Drive carefully !

jordan1794

Speaking of aero-dynamics...I was thinking the other day, is there any company that sells more aero-dynamic body parts for the civic?
It seems to be pretty aerodynamic already, but to me the opening in the front for air could be adjusted to allow the same air flow but better performance and less resistance.

Man I miss my engineering class in high school, I'd totally be logging into out auto cad program right now to try out some ideas on the front bumper...

ezone

http://articles.pubarticles.com/1992...00,314435.html

http://ecomodder.com/forum/

04 Honda Civic

iTrader: (2)

Forums on modding your car to be ecofriendly..I think this green thing has gone too far.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

not when the future of this planet depends on it

jordan1794

Think of the gas you save though if you mod your car to get 100 MPG+...
I go through 100-180$ a month and I usually average 30-35, that means at 100 I'd spend roughly 1/3rd of that...