-Mileage Thread- -Log your mileage, year, model, color, any problems here...

[paperboy]

Originally Posted by TinyGiant

when i drive about 60 ( i dont have cruise control) it seems like its pulsing .. strange

sounds to me like you're just setting your cruise control at a speed where your car can't decide what gear it wants to be in. add or deduct 3-6mph and it should stop imo

same with the guy experiencing pulsing when he rides right on the line of 60mph

[Chuck G]

Originally Posted by paperboy

sounds to me like you're just setting your cruise control at a speed where your car can't decide what gear it wants to be in. add or deduct 3-6mph and it should stop imo

same with the guy experiencing pulsing when he rides right on the line of 60mph

How do you set cruise control when you don't have it?

[paperboy]

Originally Posted by Chuck G

How do you set cruise control when you don't have it?

i don't follow...

to clarify what I'm saying:

the first guy has cruise control. he is setting it at an rpm that his automatic transmission can't decide on 3rd or 4th gear

the second guy has no cruise control. he is manually holding the rpm at that same point (roughly) with his foot on the gas and his tranny also can't make the choice

it's the same thing only in one case the cruise control is holding the rpm at a point the tranny doens't like, and in the second case it's the guy's foot.

you change gears on a stick by depressing the clutch pedal and manually changing the gear with the shifter. in an automatic the gears change for you based on the rpm you are using.

if you have a tachometer, watch how the needle moves up, then drops off when you change gear. then make the same manuever, but right where the rpm drops off to change gears, let off the gas ever so slightly and just hold it there. your transmission will wait for your cue to change gears (when you increase the rpm just a fraction) so hit the gas enough to change gears, then let off again. see what happens.

well, my theory is this is what is happening continually to these two guys. the cruise is letting up the gas right at that critical moment, as is this guy's foot.

milking MPGs by going for some imagined sweet spot is a waste of time if you're hovering right at the rpm where your tranny wants to switch. milking mpgs in general is a little silly on a yaris since you're using so little gas anyway. it's the kind of behaviour that might make sense in a truck, but in a small economy car, the difference is going to be so small it's not really worth the effort. not to mention, being distracted by something as silly as your mpg while actually driving is just plain dangerous

so like I said, increase or decrease the rpm by a small amount (by setting the cruise at a higher or lower speed or giving it a little more gas for the guy without cruise control) .

try this out and see if you have positive results and get back to me because i'm interested now

and most of all: listen to your engine. torturing your engine/tranny/clutch/whatever on the quest for 45mpg isn't going to save you any gas money, and in a couple of years, it's actually going to cost you a bunch of cash when you need a new car/engine because you killed your yaris trying to squeeze blood from a stone

[paperboy]

I was able recreate this in my Yaris yesterday. For me it was 50/kmh on just off flat freeway (uphill)

it was as I suspected, the Yaris wanted to go up to fourth gear, but kept changing it's mind at the last second. When I accelerated another ~5km/h it stopped.

Hope this helps