Can megasquirt be used to achieve better fuel economy???
Forum rules
Read the manual to see if your question is answered there before posting. If you have questions about MS1/Extra or MS2/Extra or other non-B&G code configuration or tuning, please post them at http://www.msextra.com The full forum rules are here: Forum Rules, be sure to read them all regularly.
-
Bernard Fife
- Super Squirter
- Posts: 1009
- Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2004 3:15 pm
An overly rich condition (or a mis-fire) can definitely fry the cats, as the excess fuel is consumed in the cats themselves. However, a lean condition generally does not harm the cats (but does result in higher emissions while lean).
BTW, you don't need a wide band sensor to achive to a lean mixture (as long as you don't want both lean and EGO feedback). You can tune it to stoich, then adjust the VE and EGO limits as described in the manual to get lean mixtures.
Lance.
-
Minami Kotaro
- Helpful Squirter
- Posts: 42
- Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2004 3:41 pm
- Location: Somewhere in TN
1915cc turbo ... only 3lbs so far
Controlled by MegaSquirt and EDIS
v2.2 board, MSNS-e 024s11
Check out my ongoing success story.
I did some mpg tests and my car gets 22.5mpg on the street and 43.1mpg on the freeway. I usually get 28mpg mixed.
So the only thing I can think of is the weight of the car is the problem. The car weighs 3000lbs and it has a 150hp engine. So all the go and stopping is killing the mileage. What do you guys think?
-Is Deceleration Fuel Cutoff turned on? It should be.
-Consider dipping into a richer AFR at a slightly higher manifold pressure.
-Your medium-to-high load timing might be too retarded.
-If you have staged injection, that might not be handled well.
-Your acceleration enrichment settings are WAY too rich.
Something else to consider is whether or not one of those two measurements is a fluke.
My A/F right now is 14.65
Those two measurements are not a fluke and I'll explain why.
If I were to drive only on the streets and never touch the freeway my mpg would be 20-22.5mpg. Now my mixed mileage is 28mpg, that is 50% street and 50% highway. I can do 120+ miles on the freeway in 3 gallons, you do the math.
If you don't believe me since this is the internet and a lot of stuff gets made up you can come to Southern California and I will empty out my tank and put a 1 gallon of gas and you can follow me on the freeway till I run out of gas and see my odometer.
I even drive 10mph over my sweet spot. If I were to drive at my sweet spot I can easily pull off 45+mpg.
My main concern is the street MPG, I am over the EPA number but I want more.
So would having say a 15-15.5 A/F at 1000-2000rpm put more strain on my engine?
Back to the other reasons. You say your acceleration is too rich in that RPM range. 14.65 doesn't sound too rich assuming you are talking nearly-ambient manifold pressures. What do you think about the other items on my list?
My timing right now is 20 degrees. My compression is 9.2 and I use mainly 89 octane by shell or Chevron. I'll be switching to 87 octane soon since it's a 4 cylender.
I don't think there is fuel cut off on decelaration, just the rpms drop to around 1100-900rpm and the car can coast 1/8 - 1/4mile.
Here you go, this will clarify a lot.
http://www.nissannews.com/site_library/ ... pecs.shtml
Decel cutoff happens every time you lift the throttle, like on upshifts, which happen all the time when accelerating using a manual transmission. Every OEM uses decel fuel cutoff because it's free mileage that you don't have to do anything to achieve.
Timing is at 20 degrees where? If it's at 20 degrees at high manifold pressure, my guess is that's way too retarded and will cause poor mileage. If it's at 20 degrees under boost, that might be too much.
Octane has nothing to do with the cylinder count of the engine. It has to do with burn rates and detonation supression. You use the octane you intend to use when you tune the car. Lower octane can sometimes produce better mileage given you aren't detonating, but what REALLY improves mileage is careful EMS tuning on a dyno.