So I've noticed that for my Autostop to engage in my HCH II, my engine temperature gauge needs to be around 7 "dots"...is this what everyone else is seeing? I could swear with my HCH I that it came on early, after about 4 "dots" on the old display?

And on a completely unrelated question...what do I have to do to get my signature to show up properly?

 

I don't have an HCH II so I can't help you there. My HCH I starts autostoping as low as 2 bars on the tempurature guage, but usually 4. Maybe if you look at it and compare the percentage of the guage that is filled that'd help. The bars are smaller on the HCH II right?

To get your signature to show up right wrap [ img] [/img] around the address, minus the space before the first img.

 

The ambient temperature seems to play the biggest factor in when autostop comes on. On my HCH I, MT, I get autostop with 2 bars at or above 70F, after running the car about two minutes. From 40-70F, the gauge must read 4 bars. Below 40F, six (half) way bars, and the rich idle cycle after power up must have completed.

Hope this helps.

 

This is good to know, because right now in my neck of the woods, where the ambient temps are between 20F and 35F in the morning, it takes 8 full bars for the AS to kick in. And when I say 'full bars', I mean that it has to be at 8 bars for awhile, else it will kick *out* of AS after a short time.

Also keep in mind that I park my car in a garage, so my block is 20F warmer on average at the start. If you park outdoors, it lengthens the necessary time, from what I've found.

Something I found that helps shorten the time, for those of you in winter climes - set your fan control all the way down to '1' (bar). The system will trickle heat to you, while preserving most of it for the ICE, thereby allowing AS much quicker (as much as 5-10min quicker, depending on ambient temp)

 

My experience mirrors zadscmc's remark- I get an AS in good weather at 2 bars of temperature, but it takes 6 bars (or dots or whatever; the half way mark) when it's cold. Even then, defrost must be off, and even if you aren't using defrost, it sometimes won't AS if the fan is on, even one bar, when it's particularly cold.

 

Denver high was over 70 degrees today. Leaving work, at the first light, the AutoStop engaged. I checked the temp and it was at two bars. This was the first time I have noticed the AutoStop engage at that low of a temp. But we have been having pretty cold weather up until last week. Usually, the temp gauge is about two bars below halfway before engaging.

 

Mochisushi, I see that you have only had the HCH since January- once it hits the warm season in Denver, it ought to AS much earlier than you've been used to seeing. Expect some improvements in mpg! I can't wait for it to get back to 70 here in Illinois. Right now there's still a bit of snow on the ground. Argh! It's certainly true that hybrids perform better in warmer weather- it's basically the same for all batteries, of different types.

 

I've noticed that although the coolant temp plays a factor, so does the outside temp. Sometimes, on warm days, I can get AS to engage with only 3 or 4 bars. On colder days, its needs the full warm up amount of bars (mine is just under half way). It just depends really I think on weather and engine temp.

 

Yup...It is already showing improvements. Worse tank was 39.75 with temps between -13 and 20. Best was 47.8 with temps between 50 and 75. The current tank is showing 46 on the gauge (best tank showed 46.5), but we're in for some snow starting tomorrow, so it will likely drop. Oh well, I could be driving the Sub and getting 14 MPG.

 

The news this morning was predicting 60 degrees for Saturday, which makes me happy. I'm near the end of a tank right now that's getting 49.9 mpg, a personal best, and it's been in the 30s and 40s mostly. When I first got the car, it was warmer outside, but I hadn't tried out any hypermiling techniques. Now that I'm getting better at it, I wish it would warm up so that I could start seeing some fancy numbers. My worst tank was just above 38 mpg, during a really cold period and including two long trips on the interstate at high speeds. Actually, it's been a pretty warm winter around here ever since December, so it could have been much worse. As the Beatles said, "Here Comes the Sun!" ... And I say, it's all right!