Well, some of you may have noticed a post or two from me. I was just getting interested. I pulled the trigger today and bought a used 2009 FEH. It's in California, and I'm in Missouri, so it may be a few weeks before I can get out to visit my daughter and drive it back (it's now sitting in the kids' drive) but I'm excited. Gary as a 2009 owner, I may be picking your brain for some tips. I'm thinking of going through all the posts and making a outline of sorts of all the good tips everyone has posted.

 

Great choice, I think the '09 FEH will go down in history as one of the most fuel efficient non plug-in FEHs ever. It handles E10 better than my '05 FEH handles straight gas by far. The P&G technique is a killer in this car and I suggest you read all you can about that. I update a thread I started on the '09 FEH techniques and suggest you start there and ask any questions you want of me. Here is the link:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22158

GaeyG

 

Yea! welcome to the club! I know I love my 09 FEHL. Hey, GaryG and I almost got our rides on the same day! He's just way better at the gas sipping than me! Enjoy it and just try to have fun!

PS what color did you get?

 

[QUOTE=way2muchkc4u;226463]Yea! welcome to the club! I know I love my 09 FEHL. Hey, GaryG and I almost got our rides on the same day! He's just way better at the gas sipping as me! Enjoy it and just try to have fun!

PS what color did you get?[/QUOTe

green!

 

Hey, all---

I pulled the trigger too. Bought a 2007 FEH 2WD last weekend and have been enjoying the hell out of it since then (ok.. only 2 days) Looking forward to taking extended road trips with it. It's bound to become my favorite vehicle. Traded a 2006 Scion xB (another vehicle with great MPG).

Hooked up my Scangauge II, and it's really great getting real-time MPG data as well as the avg. MPG that the FEH gives me.

Glad to have found this forum. Look for me to pick y'all's collective minds about my FEH's care & maintenance.

Larry

 

Ok, Gary, I'm going to take you up on your offer.

In looking at your postings on cleanmpg, your original directions for you 2009 FEH were this:

"I am starting to use a new P&G technique where I'm pulsing higher than my target speed and coasting down to that target speed in "D" before setting the CC. Here is a sample of what I'm doing now:

1. Drain the battery in EV to 40.8% and glide in "N" from 30mph to 25mph.

2. The battery will drain down to 40.1% to 40.6% during this glide.

3. Restart the engine with an accelerator blip in "D" and accelerate at a Instant MPG at around 15mpg to 33mph and coast down to 30mph in "D" and set the CC.

4. The SoC generally builds to around 41% to 41.2% at the time I set the CC at 30mph for the remainder of a 42% SoC.

5. At 42% SoC and 30mph the engine will shutdown for EV automatically in CC.

6. Drain the battery again to 40.8% SoC and shift to "N" and repeat again.

The key seems to be the period of time while coasting down in "D" from ~33mph to ~30mph. The instant MPG increases anywhere from 65mpg to 110mpg during this short coast in "D" and the battery SoC is still increasing. Once the CC is set MPG falls to ~25 to 45mph depending if the Aux A/C is running in this 90F heat I'm having. With ~400 miles on this tank I'm holding 54mpg so far. Of course this is in mixed City and about 25% highway. The trick Rick came up with tapping the brake above 40mph for full fuel-cut works like a charm also.

Can't wait for the cooler weather!

GaryG"


But then you later said this:

"Throw everything I've said except my last post regarding P&G. I still do the accelerator blip for the restart but I don't allow the SoC to go below 42% anymore. I think I'm going to have a record breaking tank from this passed fill-up and many more to come as it gets cooler here. Those of you that have the '05 - '08 FEH can use the brake tap or LGA to go EV and neutral glide but Ford really made it easier for us '09 owners. For us '09 FEH owners, fuel-cut above 40mph is the icing on the cake but the only downside is we must glide in "D" till we go EV at 40mph.

The problem I'm seeing now is I'm driving much faster roads and don't avoid roads with many stoplights. This change in P&G allows me regain my tank target average (55mpg this tank) quite quickly, so I'm getting spoiled. I accelerate always with the engine now and at a 15mpg Instant MPG I'm accelerating pretty fast with the '09 engine. The little time it takes me to get to my target speed makes gliding seem forever in comparison. The real bonus is while I'm improving MPG with P&G, I target about a 45 - 47% SoC and a good road to burn the SoC down to ~42.5% in EV at a steady state speed in CC. Of course EV racks up those MPG's also and we can really start taking advantage of having a hybrid. Sure, I'm burning gas accelerating but I'm also building SoC at the same time. This is really getting FUN now!

GaryG"


I'm a bit confused as to what you are now saying you are doing. Can you clarify for an old dense Missouri farmboy? What I'd like to see is simple step by step directions like the first post, but modified by your new findings.

And second, my commute to work is on a rural blue highway (where I can go about any speed I want, but with rolling hills (not over 75 feet incline or so. How do you modify your P&G for hills?

When you are on interstate highways where the traffic is moving in the 65mph range, is there anything you can do to maximize mpg in your FEH, and if so, what?

Finally, my new Escape has the Navigation, so some information will be on the screen I assume. I also have a scan gauge II, so I am somewhat familiar with using it. Can you tell me what gauges I need to put on the scangauge? Are some of them ones I need to program? If so, can you tell what information I need to plug in? As I remember on my scangauge, there are certain presets (which I use all the time on my pickup), and others you can use, but you have to program in some way.

Thanks a bunch in advance!

John

 

Hi John

If your SGII is a 15* processor or older you can't program SOC but the newer SGII you can. This is the only programmed X-Gauge I really use anymore. The other SGII gauges I use are preset. Those are Instant MPG, Open/Closed Loop, and Water Temp.. I have a second SGII I monitor Tank MPG and Current Trip sometimes. The Nav Sys is a POS as far as hypermiling but I use the Tank MPG to compare it to my SGII Tank. I reset them both at every fill-up and compare them during the entire tank. This past tank for instance I had a SGII adjusted Tank average of 62.5mpg and my Nav Tank average read 66.2mpg. I added 13.6 gallons at fill-up and went 847.8 miles for 62.329mpg. My SGII Engine Size is set at 3.5L and I have a 13% tank offset to get the SGII to come closest to gallons pumped at fill-up each tank.

As far as what I've posted in the past, I constantly find ways to improve MPG in the '09 FEH. It's all about trying different things in different weather conditions and finding what works and what doesn't work to improve MPG. I never thought I would ever get my best tank in the hottest days of summer, but I just did. This means I'm still learning and I need to do a rewrite of what you just posted about. I have newer more developed techniques now. Please give me a little more time to respond to your request to help make it clearer and updated.

For example, November 5, 2009 was the last time I washed and waxed my '09 FEH. This had a big effect and lowered my MPG and that can be noticed in my Mileage Log. As my FEH got dirty again my MPG improved to what your seeing now at the dirtiest point since that wash and wax. This may mean a coating something like surfboard wax can be used to improve MPG on an FEH. I don't know what the answer is just yet but letting the FEH get dirty is not the answer either.

As I said on CMPG, don't even go by what I posted about P&G prior to my second posting. This new information I'll put together will be much better.

GaryG

 

mine has x-gauge

john

 

Well I'm off in the morning to fly from MO to California to visit my daughter and will be picking up my new-to-me FEH. So I'll have a nice long roadtrip to get to know my FEH on the way to MO. Anybody have any sights I should be sure to stop and see along the way?

 

Nice. What year and color does your cousin have? I do love my Blak Pearl! Also you write like a bot. Are you using a translator?

Have a good one!