A good commute

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#11

12-23-2005, 11:55 PM

NASAgineer

Pretty Darn Active Enthusiast

Thread Starter

Join Date: Nov 2005

Location: San Jose, CA

Posts: 330

Re: A good commute

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElanC

I think you're in a fortunate location where the prevailing wind is mostly at your back, both ways. I'm not kidding. The thermal effects in the South Bay are such that the early morning breeze tends to be from south to north and the afternoon breeze is from north to south. It will probably be much more pronounced in the summer.

With the Pacific storms in the last 10 days or so we've had mostly southerly winds at 10-15 MPH. That is quite significant for your mileage.

Wind around here is almost always from the N-NW. It only shifts to the S-SE when there's a weather system moving through, and that's usually only in the winter. I've been flying out of Reid-Hillview airport (East San Jose, 6 miles from my house) for 3 years and I have yet to see a morning breeze from the south in the absence of a storm passing through. In fact, most summer mornings the wind is pretty calm or light from the NW. Once the central valley starts to warm up it starts pulling in the onshore breeze from the NW in the late morning. When I started my flight training I was out there 3 times a week at 8am.

The recent storms have been giving me a nice tailwind on the way into work (North), but I pay for it on the way home

Heading into the wind going south at the height of a storm I drop down to 46-47.
But, in the absence of a storm I'm still getting 55-56 going North and 51-53 going South. Part of that is that I work at sea level and my house is 220 feet elevation.

With all the weather we've been having, it's hard to tell how much effect the wind is having on any given day, but based on the few calm days, I think my mileage on my commute is getting better as the car breaks in.

Quote:

I notice that little green AUTO STOP light right under the tach needle. I'm curious - does it come on when you glide? i.e. does it come on when the engine rotates with valves shut? What does the tach itself show in that condition?

No, the auto stop light only comes on below about 5 mph (when stopping) and coincides with the tach reading zero. The tach just shows the speed of the crankshaft, so it doesn't change when the valves seal.

Last edited by NASAgineer; 12-24-2005 at 12:00 AM.

#12

12-24-2005, 07:36 AM

Civic Duty

Brains of the Operation

Join Date: Jun 2005

Posts: 226

Re: A good commute

Quote:

Originally Posted by dlingner

It's a little risky, however, because the engine kicks back on if you don't brake hard enough.

In the HCH-I, at least, the engine will also come back on in an extended autostop if you run out of vacuum from braking too much. This happens to me when I'm autostopping down a long hill near my house sometimes in heavy traffic. I figure I've got about 2.5 good solid pumps of the brake before I use up all my vacuum - or a much longer time utilizing a gentle depression. A good way to escape this is to just perform a FAS, and when you run out of vacuum just press really hard or use the E-brake.

#13

12-24-2005, 09:11 AM

tbaleno

Join Date: Dec 2004

Location: Leominster, MA

Posts: 2,161

Re: A good commute

Probably not the wisest thing to use FAS or e-brake. But that depends on the slope of the hill. But you know your situation better than anyone and I'm sure you know what you are doing.