When to make it shift

[Hockey4mnhs]

I have a 93 Honda accord ex. I have never broken 29 Mpg with it. I try to make it shift by letting off the pedal on all the gears. It shifts around 2000 and I was wondering if it is running rich because of the slow acceleration and that is affecting Fe.

[MetroMPG]

Acceleration technique gets a lot of attention, but I'd say as long as you're not standing on the gas as a matter of habit, it's pretty low down the list of things that really influence your MPG.

If you feel like doing some reading, there are a lot of detailed techniques on this page that'll have a bigger influence:

Beating the EPA - The Why’s and how to Hypermile

[MetroMPG]

PS - welcome to the site!

[Hockey4mnhs]

I’ve been reading lots of sites including this one for the past two months. I really try hard to have good mileage. I moded the intake to a K&N which i think may help. Cruse control is a absolute must when i drive because i have 18 mile each way commute on almost all highway. Still i have never broken 28/29 mpg. You guys are getting 2x that. Please help with any suggestions

[MetroMPG]

Here's one tip: any good driver can do better than cruise control, unless your commute is over perfectly FLAT land. The cruise responds far too agressively to inclines, and "wastes" energy by engine braking on descents, just to hold on to that set speed.

For highway commuting, the single biggest factor affecting your fuel economy is your speed.

How fast are you setting the cruise at?

[MetroMPG]

Also, we're driving vastly different cars, so it's not too useful to do comparisons there. You need to look through the garage and find some people with similar cars to yours (with automatics) if you want to see what's possible.

[Hockey4mnhs]

55-60 on highway 45 off (i live in the country)

[krousdb]

Luckily the inclines aren't too bad on my commute and cruise control works very well. I don't think that I lose any FE using it. My foot doesn't get tired either.

28-29 is good for your car, probably higher than the EPA highway rating. As Metro said above, slowing down will help.

[krousdb]

So fueleconomy.gov gives the 93 Accord a 22/24/28 rating. So 28-29 is 19% over epa combined. Not bad at all. I see that your speeds are moderate. How long are your trips?

[Hockey4mnhs]

18 in total no road is under 45 speed limit and the max is 60 it takes me 20 min about

[LxMike]

Originally Posted by Hockey4mnhs

I’ve been reading lots of sites including this one for the past two months. I really try hard to have good mileage. I moded the intake to a K&N which i think may help. Cruse control is a absolute must when i drive because i have 18 mile each way commute on almost all highway. Still i have never broken 28/29 mpg. You guys are getting 2x that. Please help with any suggestions

don't look at the numbers other are getting unless it with same car and trans.

find what the epa rates your car at and work towards beating those. makje sure engine is tuned up, check the basics . tire pressures set at what?? any extra weight you don't need in there. stuff like that. do you have a tach> what rpm's does it show at speed??

[Hockey4mnhs]

at 45 i my rpms are at 1500 is that to low or should i go 50 and have the fuel run not as rich.

[omgwtfbyobbq]

The slower in top gear the better. Usually...

[Hockey4mnhs]

When acceleration in a auto when for Fe is it the best rpm to get to before it shifts

[omgwtfbyobbq]

I generally accelerate with as much throttle as possible up to ~3k rpm, then back off the pedal so it shifts to the next gear, rinse and repeat until you get to the speed you want to go. When accelerating brisk is better, and when cruising slower is better, as long as the car stays in it's top gear.

[Hockey4mnhs]

Thanks a lot for, not only am I trying to improve my own gas mileage but I am also doing this topic for a presentation for a class. (I am in high school and it will help a lot if I try to show them that not only is it dangerous but it is very pricy to speed.) All your info helps a ton.

[occupant]

The Honda Grade Logic controls make it tough to "coax" the transmission into shifting. I remember test driving two used Accords back in 1995. One was a 1991 5-speed LX, the other was a 1990 automatic DX, both sedans, both around 70-80K miles. The 5-speed was a joy to drive. The automatic always felt like it was holding each gear too long, and I could not let off the gas and make it shift, especially when going up or down any kind of incline. Engine braking is nice but I'd rather have the car GAIN speed when coasting downhill. If I had a Honda or other car with this kind of automatic transmission, you bet I would be putting it in Neutral all too often.

[repete86]

Sorry that I'm responding to late, but I was out of town when this discussion was active and didn't find it until now. I've been experimenting with the Accord DX for a while. I found that the best way to make it shift is on its own. When you let off of the gas then go back on, it's engine braking, then you're getting the engine back to speed. This wastes fuel. The best way that I've found with my Accord is to just accelerate very slowly. It will shift from 1 to 2 to 3 at around 2100 rpms, then at around 2300-2400 for 4th gear. Also, if it's safe to keep the speed above 52 in the country, do so because this is about when the torque converter kicks in. At 55 mph on the highway, you should be seeing much higher numbers than 28. Be certain that you're holding a constant speed. If it drifts off, get back to 55 slowly, not by letting your foot off of the gas or by stomping on the gas.

If you're in a hilly area, I can't help you much on hypermiling techniques because I live in South Florida where everything is flat. Also (and I know that I'm one of the only people on this forum who believes this), if you add about 2.5 oz of acetone to your gas tank with every 10 gallons of gas, you should see an improvement. I think that this makes a big difference in older high mileage cars because of how much gunk accumulates in the fuel system over time. I think that the acetone gets much of this out.

[rh77]

Originally Posted by repete86

Sorry that I'm responding to late, but I was out of town when this discussion was active and didn't find it until now. I've been experimenting with the Accord DX for a while. I found that the best way to make it shift is on its own. When you let off of the gas then go back on, it's engine braking, then you're getting the engine back to speed. This wastes fuel. The best way that I've found with my Accord is to just accelerate very slowly. It will shift from 1 to 2 to 3 at around 2100 rpms, then at around 2300-2400 for 4th gear. Also, if it's safe to keep the speed above 52 in the country, do so because this is about when the torque converter kicks in. At 55 mph on the highway, you should be seeing much higher numbers than 28. Be certain that you're holding a constant speed. If it drifts off, get back to 55 slowly, not by letting your foot off of the gas or by stomping on the gas.

This very similar as to how I try to manage the 'Tegs Auto when it's warmed-up; however, on Cold Starts, it won't shift below 2500 up to 3rd gear -- sometimes I have to give it a quick punch up to 2750 (make sure that when you lift the gas it stays above 2500) and it'll shift and use the higher gear. Do either of you have the same problem? (Maybe not so much in Florida I guess )

RH77

[repete86]

I don't. The auto choke is minimal and only lasts about 3/4 of a mile most of the time on my car. When I went up to Athens a few weeks ago and was driving around in sub-freezing weather, I had all sorts of problems hypermiling, but for the most part, I don't need to worry too much about warm up times.

[veloman]

Back in '03 I drove an auto 92 accord from (near) Burlington VT to southern CT on.... no lie, $10 of gas, which would be about 6 gallons. It was 260 miles, so that's 43mpg. I averaged 75mph too.

I had filled my tank when I left, then when I got home to CT I filled it again and the pump shut off at $10. crazy. Maybe the pump was off, or maybe it was the overall decrease in elevation. I don't remember any wind.