Increasing mileage efficiency. How do you do this?

almillar

Rules on coasting:

1. Don't do it. You're not in full control of the vehicle because the engine isn't connected to the wheels.

2. If you can be bothered reading beyond rule 1, coasting is absolutely fine. Not downhill, round a corner, on ice, but for example, in this thread, approaching red lights you know will change. Coast instead of engine braking, and your engine will be using idling fuel, instead of zero, but you will not be slowed by the engine being connected by the road, and therefore won't have to speed up again. Fuel saved. Applies to EVs too - don't slow down unnecessarily. Not to be done on the 'L' test but you can go beyond that.

Mistral001

almillar said:

Rules on coasting:

1. Don't do it. You're not in full control of the vehicle because the engine isn't connected to the wheels.

2. If you can be bothered reading beyond rule 1, coasting is absolutely fine. Not downhill, round a corner, on ice, but for example, in this thread, approaching red lights you know will change. Coast instead of engine braking, and your engine will be using idling fuel, instead of zero, but you will not be slowed by the engine being connected by the road, and therefore won't have to speed up again. Fuel saved. Applies to EVs too - don't slow down unnecessarily. Not to be done on the 'L' test but you can go beyond that.

Yes, coasting can be dangerous.  Apart from losing the control of speed that you normally would have with the accelerator pedal, the engine might stall while idling without you realising it resulting in the total loss of power steering and  powered braking. 

I do not think it saves much fuel anyway.  The mgh gauge in my car gives the same reading when slowing down in gear as it does caosting out of gear

almillar

There's something wrong with your car if that's a risk for you. Get it serviced. Literally apart from engine braking, you're at risk of the engine stalling at all times. I'll accept that risk.

If you're engine braking in a fuel injected car, you're burning zero fuel. If you coast, you're idling, and using 'very little' fuel. Coasting is used when you don't want to slow down too quickly, to just have to speed up again. This will save you fuel, whether you notice it or not. Lots of cars will show 99.9MPG which doesn't tell you the true story.

Scrapit

onlyfoolsandparking said:

Scrapit said:

onlyfoolsandparking said:

Scrapit said:

onlyfoolsandparking said:

Scrapit said:

onlyfoolsandparking said:

Scrapit said:

peter12345678910 said:

Just common sense, most cars speeding are late for something. So leave early.

There is one light I can never beat so I go straight to neutral when approaching.

Complete redex cleaners are cheap I know at £3 but these are more intensive. Safer to use once every 2 or 3 years, though use cataclean before mot.

Neutral whilst rolling? That would be a bit naughty, and with modern engine management no benefit.

Luckily for me there definitely is a benefit to coasting as the last owner of my car was Fred Flintstone, no need to worry about modern engine management fueling, lol 

Just a lack of car control then, hence the naughty bit.

Not really, nothing hard about coasting!

No, not hard at all, neutral isn't soposed to be "hard" but quite simply you have no engine braking and have to change gear before accelerating if needed, there fore poor car control. I also suspect doing it saving you next to nothing anyway.

Thanks for the driving advice, I'll remember it always.

Remembering it is one thing, using its another completely. Sadly I'm guessing that's not gonna happen.

Aww don't be sad, there only differing opinions not life or death, bless ya.

No its not an opinion. And yes, it can be life and death. It really is that simple.

onlyfoolsandparking

How can a differing opinion not be an opinion LOL and coasting life and death?? do you actually drive? and if so you really should consider giving up!

almillar

Well this opinion:

Scrapit said:

No, not hard at all, neutral isn't soposed to be "hard" but quite simply you have no engine braking and have to change gear before accelerating if needed, there fore poor car control. I also suspect doing it saving you next to nothing anyway.

is wrong - used in the right circumstances, coasting WILL save fuel. And you simply don't do it when, in your example, accelerating is needed. And you don't need to actually shift to neutral, just depress the brake pedal. You're following rule 1, and not rule 2, above. That's fine, but other people can go further.

Scrapit

onlyfoolsandparking said:

How can a differing opinion not be an opinion LOL and coasting life and death?? do you actually drive? and if so you really should consider giving up!

Because its not a opinion that you are not in full control of your car. Its a indisputable fact for the reasons I've given and why its quoted by authority which I am not. I do drive, I do it to the average standard. You sound like you do it just under that standard, you may never come to harm, you also may. What I do suspect is quantifiable is the fuel saving you believe you make, I suspect very strongly it is simply not worth doing.

Scrapit

almillar said:

Well this opinion:

Scrapit said:

No, not hard at all, neutral isn't soposed to be "hard" but quite simply you have no engine braking and have to change gear before accelerating if needed, there fore poor car control. I also suspect doing it saving you next to nothing anyway.

is wrong - used in the right circumstances, coasting WILL save fuel. And you simply don't do it when, in your example, accelerating is needed. And you don't need to actually shift to neutral, just depress the brake pedal. You're following rule 1, and not rule 2, above. That's fine, but other people can go further.

Are you saying coasting is braking?

almillar

Scrapit said:

Because its not a opinion that you are not in full control of your car. Its a indisputable fact for the reasons I've given and why its quoted by authority which I am not. I do drive, I do it to the average standard. You sound like you do it just under that standard, you may never come to harm, you also may. What I do suspect is quantifiable is the fuel saving you believe you make, I suspect very strongly it is simply not worth doing.

Are you saying coasting is braking?

The average standard. Yes, you're following rule 1 - don't coast, you're not in full control of your car. Good. But we're talking more advanced than average, beyond the standard of driving required to pass the 'L' test. And I can as a driver of a car with a range of around 60 miles in a bad winter, that yes, coasting does save fuel/energy.

No, I'm not saying coasting is braking. When you coast, you have depressed the clutch, and/or shifted to neutral. You do slow down (on a flat road) due to tyre friction and air resistance, and you do burn fuel as your engine is idling (or in an EV, zero energy). But you slow down less than you would if you used engine braking. Here, the engine is 'stalled', and is 'running' from the movement along the road. That added friction slows you down more, but you're burning zero fuel (and in an EV, very likely regenerating, putting electric back into the batteries). Sounds good, but if you've slown down too much, you need to spend fuel to speed up again. You would have been better off coasting.

Scrapit

almillar said:

Scrapit said:

Because its not a opinion that you are not in full control of your car. Its a indisputable fact for the reasons I've given and why its quoted by authority which I am not. I do drive, I do it to the average standard. You sound like you do it just under that standard, you may never come to harm, you also may. What I do suspect is quantifiable is the fuel saving you believe you make, I suspect very strongly it is simply not worth doing.

Are you saying coasting is braking?

The average standard. Yes, you're following rule 1 - don't coast, you're not in full control of your car. Good. But we're talking more advanced than average, beyond the standard of driving required to pass the 'L' test. And I can as a driver of a car with a range of around 60 miles in a bad winter, that yes, coasting does save fuel/energy.

No, I'm not saying coasting is braking. When you coast, you have depressed the clutch, and/or shifted to neutral. You do slow down (on a flat road) due to tyre friction and air resistance, and you do burn fuel as your engine is idling (or in an EV, zero energy). But you slow down less than you would if you used engine braking. Here, the engine is 'stalled', and is 'running' from the movement along the road. That added friction slows you down more, but you're burning zero fuel (and in an EV, very likely regenerating, putting electric back into the batteries). Sounds good, but if you've slown down too much, you need to spend fuel to speed up again. You would have been better off coasting.

I'm not understanding your explanation, when is the engine stalled?