[Jeep]

Welcome aboard, hummingbird.

Surprised to hear that you experience an improvement in braking as a result of over inflation. Generally, braking goes for a toss.

The other major drawbacks of doing this are that you will suffer premature failure of the suspension components. Also, rattles develop in the car quickly.

[hummingbird]

Thanks, Jeep,

The braking does not deteriorate for sure.

Improvement in braking that I talk about could have come about because of the overall low inertia achieved because of making the car lighter by chucking all the junk in the boot.

Yes, there is some increase in the ride harshness /noise. I saw that as an advantage in case of rough roads actually - in case of tyres blanking out what you are going over, you get to notice every pebble through the seat-of-the-pants feedback.

May be I will continue with this till I get my rude shock about bearing failure

cheers:
HB

[hyper123]

Hi, welcome to the forum!!

You might find the following threads interesting:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/409853-post93.html
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post1018099
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...tml#post815883

Congratulations on your hypermiling endeavours !!
We need more efforts like these to keep our earth clean and green. Bit by bit if all of us should initiatives like these.
I myself have achieved hyper FE by applying hypermiling principles. Not to forget the peace of mind in city traffic as well.

[quote=hummingbird;1121102]One pays for higher milage through higher awareness...

Well said here !! Hightened awareness takes care and puts to rest, all fundas given to drive home the point that western and Indian road conditions difference makes hypermiling impractical here.

Though I am a little afraid of your tyre pressure settings. Hope you are absolutely clear on this.

[hummingbird]

Hi iraghava,

I went through my car's dash very carefully, going through every crevice that could be suspected of being a hatch foe the OBD-II connector. Couldn't find any OBD conn. as described on posts on TBHP and other fora too...

Do you know the connector position? Does anybody else?

cheers:
HB

[Atlblkz06]

Originally Posted by hummingbird

Hi Folks,

Big mistake: heard about the new fad - hypermiling on CNN eco solutions (forum covered there was cleanmpg.com, by wayne gerdes) and fell in love with that concept called hypermiling (Mistake because it has wormed into my brain, and doesn't let go) my last tank was 18 kmpl.

- Hummingbird

Hummingbird,

I own a Hybrid, and I understand where you're coming from. But don't go too crazy with this and forget to ENJOY the drive!

The most important thing to remember is to know when to accelerate and how much. This way you can coast as much as possible and save gas and your brakes. Don't resort to craziness like turning your ignition off. You'll wear out your motor and since your accessories are off - you will not have power steering or brakes either. This is a serious safety hazard and its not worth it.

For the record, I get about 34mpg/14kmpl in the city and 42mpg/18kmpl in the highway cruising at 70mph/110kmph.

The car is an 09 Camry Hybrid. It weighs a hefty 3800lb car with a 2.4L 155hp engine and a 40hp electric motor. It does pretty good for its size.

[jaysmokesleaves]

Very warm welcome to the forum. I hope you can share more about hypermiling and the other minimalistic concepts you inculcate in your lifestlyle.
It will surely be a valuable contribution to the forum.

Regards & cheers:

J

[hummingbird]

Hi Jay, Atlanta guy, thanks for your suggestions...I should and do understand the difference between driven and daft..

I certainly enjoy driving, and engine off coasting is just a matter I have tried to habituate myself to.. It is almost automatic these days. However my attention to the road, traffic and my vehicles state (speed, anticipated coasting distance, pulse length and intensity required etc) has increased. I have made it into a sport that I enjoy.

Atlanta guy, the stats about your car are impressive, and more so is the FE figure you quote. But there is one point I did not understand -

Don't resort to craziness like turning your ignition off. You'll wear out your motor

Could you elaborate? I thought I would use the motor less and it would be just fine for the periods coasting in off condition...

[Atlblkz06]

Originally Posted by hummingbird

Could you elaborate? I thought I would use the motor less and it would be just fine for the periods coasting in off condition...

Actually - I meant to say that the STARTER motor will wear out, not your motor. Here is why I think you should not coast with your engine off:

Increased wear.
The starter motor in the average car is a tiny underpowered unit that draws somewhere between 100-200 amps. Its probably rated for 10k starts or so and when you start using it 20+ times a day, it'll probably die out pretty quickly, negating any savings from your technique. This is just my theory, I may be wrong.

Barely any savings.
A 6.0L LS2 V8 uses about .66 gallons per hour to idle. I know this because my dad's car actually has a readout, its pretty cool!
That's about 42ml/minute. So I'd estimate your City 1.3L to use ~15ml per minute when idling, and cost you 0.75 rupees per minute. (@50 rupees/l)

I think the ability to use your brakes in an emergency when coasting is worth Rs .75/minute

[hummingbird]

No, I don't use the starter at all, except for when at signals. When in motion, all starts are bump starts.

Any info on custom Honda Diagnostic System connector? So I can connect a scan gauge there?

[Atlblkz06]

Originally Posted by hummingbird

No, I don't use the starter at all, except for when at signals. When in motion, all starts are bump starts.

Any info on custom Honda Diagnostic System connector? So I can connect a scan gauge there?

I'm not sure what the Honda Diagnostic System is - can't you just use the OBD-2 port?

I did some searching and found that there are a lot of people bump-starting their cars. It still sounds strange to me and I wont do it. But if you're happy - more power to you!