100% SOC Re-set trip MPG's

[GrySql]

I thought I'd break this out of other Threads so I can discuss the phenomenon of trying to re-condition the FFH's computer to produce better mileage by following Forum member DrewFM's experiments .

 

Short recap, my FFH used to keep a Lifetime Average about 38 mpg's, but after the PCM update my Lifetime Average dropped to under 31 mpg's. The FFH felt like it was fighting itself, charging all the time, the ICE making howling noises and rpms all over the place.

--

I followed DrewFM's procedure and did the 100% SOC HVB Hard Reset last Thursday (9/12/13), exactly 10 months since I'd took possession of this FFH. I set the Lifetime Average mileage to zero (00.00) after the Hard Reset.

When re-starting the Lifetime Average from zero the first miles driven affect that average very much, then change at a slower rate as the total miles accumulate.

I was determined that I'd use all my hybrid driving techniques learned on this Forum so the FFH's computer would learn what it was built to do, not what I'd taught it during the last 10 months.

That way I'd know if DrewFM's theory was correct.

 

Day 1, Saturday (9/14/13) we took off on a 1,700 mile trip, we climbed up to California's high Mojave Desert to 5,000', spent the night. My Lifetime Average was at 36.4 mpg's that night.

 

Day 2, we went over the High Sierra mountain range enroute Lake Tahoe, a very mountainous drive, we crested many 7,000' & 8,000' summits.

So far, ambient temp 65-99F, AC on at 72, Eco-cruise at speed limit, never over 70mph.

We'd had many altitude extremes, the HVB SOC was staying higher than ever before and helping the car climb the mountains.

Even with the elevation changes and steep grades, at the end of the second day the Lifetime Average (LA) has risen to 37.6 mpg's.

 

Day 3, we're at our destination near Lake Tahoe at roughly 6,000', temps at 40-75F. We're visiting family so we've been taking a lot of short trips here at our mountain lakeside location. These are 3 -10 miles, park for a while, go somewhere else type trips have been a surprise. All but one short trip has yielded over 44mpg's, the car wants to be in EV mode and the HVB charges rapidly. Today one of the 6 mile jaunts produced 56 mpg's.

My Lifetime Average mileage is now at 38.4 mpg's, it is still going up.

 

Day 4 will be local so I don't expect many changes.

 

Day 5 will be very interesting, we're headed for the Pacific Coast, up and over the 7,000' Donner Pass with an eventual elevation drop to sea level.

Edited September 18, 2013 by GrySql

[Eddie Sessum]

I feel like im getting screwed out of MPG because its not mountains here. Ford designed the car to be opposite of what every other car is. Mountains = bad MPG for everything but there hybrids. No clue what the c-max does tho, block wind like an astro van? lol.

[GrySql]

Mountains = bad MPG for everything but there hybrids.

I looked at my Trip mileage since the fill-up at 5,000' in the high desert, the FFH has achieved 42.7 mpgs on this tank of gas for all this mountain driving.

The Time Machine does seem to like all these ups and down's, did 4 short trips this morning, got 46, 44, 51, and 38 mpg's, frankly, that is amazing for this car. I think the computer is getting trained to take advantage of all the Regen, coasting downhill charging and braking because the HVB is staying at a higher SOC than ever. It's a different acting car right now.

 

I'll fill the tank tomorrow for the trip to the Coast. I am gonna try to join the 600 mile club on that leg of the journey - impossible to even think about before the 100% SOC Re-set.

[hybridbear]

Have fun on the way down. Hopefully you can drain the HVB as low as possible right before major down grades to take advantage of the gravitational energy to charge the HVB instead of wasting it with engine braking. We also would slow down as much as was safe to do right before a large descent and then allow the descent to gradually increase our speed to as fast as was safe. Sometimes this meant not only filling the battery up but also speeding up from say 45 or 50 MPH at the beginning of the descent to 70-75 MPH at the bottom.

 

I found that Eco Cruise combined with grade assist works well coming down mountains. Using the Eco Cruise to gradually increase our speed 1 MPH at a time while descending helped maximize the gravitational energy that we converted to kinetic energy through increased velocity or electrical energy in the HVB.

 

Gry Sql - I believe you already know all these tricks but I wanted to post them here for anyone new who reads this and wonders about mountainous driving techniques ;)

[GrySql]

Oh, us old GrySql's can always learn something new, thanks for the tips.

The gravity recharging is a big addition to free miles, I've been concentrating on that.

Using the EV to help the car up the hill makes a difference too.

Mountain driving seems to work with this car now.

 

Not being on a tight timetable lets me drive in a restful manner yet have fun trying to get this former 'under-achiever' FFH into the happy face column. :)

[GrySql]

It was cold this morning, low 30's. We left the hotel parking lot and I noticed the ICE was idling but the car was driving in EV mode as we slowly accelerated on to the roadway. This lasted for about 1/4 mile, ICE at the lowest rpm's, EV bar up and keeping the speed at about 30mph, finally the ICE took over and the EV went into the charge mode. I've never seen this happen before. It looked as though the ICE was warming up but allowing the EV to handle things as long as my power threshold stayed low. Have you seen this?

Usually it's the other way around, the EV helping the ICE.

-

This was the Trip mpg's over the mountains and driving local for last 3 days.

 

Edited September 19, 2013 by GrySql

[acdii]

It was cold this morning, low 30's. We left the hotel parking lot and I noticed the ICE was idling but the car was driving in EV mode as we slowly accelerated on to the roadway. This lasted for about 1/4 mile, ICE at the lowest rpm's, EV bar up and keeping the speed at about 30mph, finally the ICE took over and the EV went into the charge mode. I've never seen this happen before. It looked as though the ICE was warming up but allowing the EV to handle things as long as my power threshold stayed low. Have you seen this?

Usually it's the other way around, the EV helping the ICE.

-

This was the Trip mpg's over the mountains and driving local for last 3 days.

 

 

Normal. You can kick it out of phase1 by dropping it into L then back to D. Then the ICE will power the car. The mode it was in is to warm up the emissions and use EV to accelerate. Mine does this when its below 60* and the HVAC is on. If HVAC is off, I can drive off on pure EV above 50*, below that and its ICE ICE baby.

[gkinla]

GrySql

I noticed this same phenomenon right away after the PCM update, temps in LA are much higher in the morning. I was wondering why the car was accelerating so smoothly, felt kind of torquier, went to the Engage Screen and noticed the traction motor was pulling more power than the ICE. It has done this every morning since.

 

I also did the forced 100% SOC last week then did the hard reset. I was averaging 35MPG, before and after the PCM update, that is with combined city and FWY. I did reset the AVG MPG and now after 325 mi, I'm averaging 39.1MPG and climbing. The forced 100% SOC and reset has helped my MPG over 10% which I'm very happy about. I just might get to a 40 MPG tank full, and that would be wondrous.

Edited September 19, 2013 by gkinla

[Eddie Sessum]

I found I can keep a steady 37mpg+ always on the trip mpg if I leave the ac fan all the way down. Do alot of you leave yours turned up high like ive seen some posts say? I see 75*f alot.

[gkinla]

I found I can keep a steady 37mpg+ always on the trip mpg if I leave the ac fan all the way down. Do alot of you leave yours turned up high like ive seen some posts say? I see 75*f alot.

 

Mornings I leave the AC off, when it warms up by mid morning, I set the AC to auto, 70 to 72 deg F. Evenings when the temp gets below 70 deg F, I shut the AC off. And this is hard off by going into the climate controls and selecting vent, then shutting the AC pump off. I leave the fan on because I don't like road noise and leave the windows closed. Stagnant cabin air makes me queasy thats why I leave the fan on. 50% of my driving is in the afternoons and the AC is always on.

Edited September 19, 2013 by gkinla

[Eddie Sessum]

Mornings I leave the AC off, when it warms up by mid morning, I set the AC to auto, 70 to 72 deg F. Evenings when the temp gets below 70 deg F, I shut the AC off. And this is hard off by going into the climate controls and selecting vent, then shutting the AC pump off. 50% of my driving is in the afternoons and the AC is always on.

 

 

At night I leave mine off for the most part and it always gives me 40+ (90% of the time) But during the day sometimes I see 17,19,23 etc etc. Really low numbers that in the evenings those numbers cant bring back the super low during the day. At night I do windows down so I know the ac compressor is completely off.

[GrySql]

My HVAC is on if my wife is in the car and this is our only travel car so whatever it takes, that's what the car uses. I like her to be happy....

 

Well, good, that EV/ICE startup combo is normal but I never noticed that before the PCM update.

 

Day 6?, I've lost count, it's a blur...

We're on the Pacific coast, a 386.7 mile day.

We started off climbing up 1,500' for 10 miles, the next 70 miles were mostly downhill, got about 66 mpg for that distance.

After that it was 90F degrees and interstate driving at low elevation for a 160 miles, lots of trucks and traffic and a few stops - then up and over the 1,000' coastal mountains to sea level. I drove at the speed limit (65-70 mph on a lot of the interstate).

For that entire distance today the car averaged 43.7 mpg. My Lifetime Average is now 40.5 mpg's, the highest it's ever been in the 10 months I've owned this FFH.

 

My idea of possibly getting 600 miles out of this tank is going to remain just an idea, next time hopefully. The car would have to travel about 220 more miles on the remaining 3 gallons of gas, and that won't happen.

 

Overall, the car is doing better than it EVER has. The science behind the PCM update and then a 100% SOC Hard Re-set eludes me but the numbers show such an improvement from a month ago it is a very pleasant surprise.

That's me --> :)

 

 

Today's Trip mpg's:

 

 

[hybridbear]

It was cold this morning, low 30's. We left the hotel parking lot and I noticed the ICE was idling but the car was driving in EV mode as we slowly accelerated on to the roadway. This lasted for about 1/4 mile, ICE at the lowest rpm's, EV bar up and keeping the speed at about 30mph, finally the ICE took over and the EV went into the charge mode. I've never seen this happen before. It looked as though the ICE was warming up but allowing the EV to handle things as long as my power threshold stayed low. Have you seen this?

Usually it's the other way around, the EV helping the ICE.

What you saw is Stage 1a as described here. Stage 1a is not very efficient as you'll notice that your instant MPGs are very low even though you're driving almost exclusively on battery. The reason why is that the ignition timing is retarded is to reduce emissions upon startup while the O₂ sensors are cold. In the FFH you can skip Stage 1a following the procedure outlined in the link above. During Stage 1a the ScanGauge II will show you that the IGN number is negative, indicating retarded ignition timing. The SGII will also show that the car stays in "Open Loop" during this time. When Stage 1a ends the car goes to "Clsd Loop". For more information about Open vs Closed Loop see this link. For information about Ignition Timing you can read this explanation from How Stuff Works.

 

The FFH allows us to skip Stage 1a and force the car to go Clsd Loop and to more normal advance ignition timing. Other hybrids, like the Prius, don't allow this. Based on what I've read about ignition timing and that the purpose is to improve emissions I don't believe that there is a detriment to the engine life for skipping S1a. And since the main reason for me to buy a hybrid has been for reduced emissions I justify my skipping Stage 1a as reducing overall emissions by reducing fuel consumption. Since during S1a the ICE is running at a low power output level and a low RPM it must run at that stage for a longer period of time before the ICE can shut off the first time. By skipping S1a I get my ICE to shut off faster and warm up faster which reduces emissions.

Edited September 20, 2013 by hybridbear

[Eddie Sessum]

Ive been getting better gas milage since this fillup as right before the fillup i was waiting for someone at the grocery and i decided to park and charge the battery completely with my foot on the gas. it got to almost full in about 5min but took another 3min or so to stop charging. Maybe the computer thought full was lower than it actually is and now it knows where to stop. I also find it charges ALOT quicker now between lights and such just based on the ICE and regen.

 

 

Maybe this is something worth someone who hasnt done a hard reset to try. And dont worry about stomping it to charge in park. It stops at 1980rpm and once it gets to almost full it dropped off to right under 1300rpm.

[GrySql]

We've spent the last few days here on the Central CA coast, putzing around doing tourist things, eating oysters and driving up and down the coastal mountains (1800').

I refilled the gas tank today, the Trip average on that tank was 42.2 mpg's.

 

We just parked it at the hotel after spending a very pleasant evening with a Forum member and his wife.

Currently, my Lifetime Average is holding at 40.1 mpg's.

 

Tomorrow we head south for a few hundred miles, with rolling hills and more traffic as we carve our way thru Los Angeles and on to home.

That ought to be enough computer training for The Time Machine for it to know what it's doing.

Next week I'm going to change the spark plugs (Motorcraft SP-531) - just out of curiosity.

[GrySql]

By skipping S1a I get my ICE to shut off faster and warm up faster which reduces emissions.

Thank you HB, I'm going to try skipping Stage 1 for a while. I'm going to change plugs too.

[GrySql]

We finished our trip, and in conjunction with that, ended my attempt to re-program the car's memory to my driving habits.

I have a couple of thoughts about this 1,500 mile trip: the first is that it was a nice trip, we had a good time.

 

The second objective was to see if my car could re-learn what it was built to do.

According to the Owner's Manual there is a 300 mile 'break-in period' where the car learns the driver's habits and thereafter tries to accommodate that style.

Having had the PCM update practically put my car into the EcoBoost 2.0T mileage category I was willing to try anything.

I used DrewFM's idea about the 100% SOC Hard Re-set, then drove almost 1,500 miles using most of the driving skills that are assembled on this website.

 

I will admit to being less skilled at hybrid style driving than some others here but I gave it a good, reasonable facsimile. The car carried the two of us and our luggage, a moderate load.

I basically drove the speed limits, used gravity charging (using Grade Assist), kept acceleration to no more than the 3rd bar (mostly the 2nd), used inertia down the hills to speed up and allowed a slowdown climbing the hills, kept the SOC as high as possible, etc, etc. I did use ECOCruise most of the time on normal terrain, the high mountains and steep grades I controlled myself.

• My biggest deviation from good hybrid driving was the HVAC, my wife is in charge of that and it was on most of the time.

 

I think my car did relearn some of it's gas mileage potential, about 1/3 of this trip was in EV mode.

I also think that this car will never achieve the consistent high mileage numbers like those seen in the Happy Mileage Thread.

It can, and has, shown some very good numbers during this trip but straight and level interstate travel @ 55-65MPH achieves high 30's and low 40 mpg's.

I constantly monitored the elevations with my Garmin GPS, so I know 'up' from 'down'.

Even the road's construction material can change the mpg's, I saw a 3-4 mpg difference on some rough asphalt vs smooth concrete or that new 'quiet' asphalt.

My gas fills were very close between the pump and the Trip Display.

 

In summary, for me and my FFH, doing the 100% SOC Hard Re-set provided a gas mileage improvement and might offer some help to other FFH's with similar post-PCM update mpg problems. But, you have to drive the next 300 miles, at least, like the best hybrid driver you can be, the computer needs that input to learn to do the right things at the right time.

 

I've said from the beginning that if this car can get an average of 40 mpg's I'd be happy, the car must have been listening.

My Trip Total was 40.4 MPG's, portal to portal. :)

 

 

**

(Strangely, there were a few occasions when we were getting near home (my 'back to the barn' syndrome) that driving at slightly over the speed limit of 70 mph improved my mpg's, I was amazed to see 45-55 mpg's during that stretch. I'll have to look into that later, I know there is a Thread about that theory on the Forum.)

Edited September 23, 2013 by GrySql

[corncobs]

Sounds like you had a fun, joyful but uneventful trip.

 

It's really good to hear that you can see a definite improvement in your MPG results.

 

Welcome back!

[GrySql]

Sounds like you had a fun, joyful but uneventful trip.

It's really good to hear that you can see a definite improvement in your MPG results.

Welcome back!

Thanks, always nice to come home to your own bed.

Not exactly uneventful though, Saturday night we met up with another Forum member and his wife (second time now) and had a lot of fun. ;)

Edited September 23, 2013 by GrySql

[gkinla]

After the %100 SOC and hard reset, filling the tank, resetting the average MPG to zero, I was now averaging 39.1 MPG, in combined city and FWY, and slowly climbing. I take it to the dealer for installation of the Ambient Lighting Kit, the FFH comes back with 37.3 MPG, and I know it didn't leave the shop floor. Grrrrr! I know the Tech had to have the car operating to check out the lighting, but to drop 1.8 MPG is disheartening to say the least knowing how hard we have to work at a getting great MPG. It just shows idling is a MPG killer. Using energy and no miles, averaging a zero in is a killer.

[Eddie Sessum]

Sometimes certain tests require a fully charged battery since it sits parked in ev mode and you don't want an ac draw.

 

Wanna see bad. Charge from dead off the engine at a stop

[Eddie Sessum]

Sometimes certain tests require a fully charged battery since it sits parked in ev mode and you don't want an ac draw.

 

Wanna see bad. Charge from dead off the engine at a stop

[GrySql]

After the %100 SOC and hard reset, filling the tank, resetting the average MPG to zero, I was now averaging 39.1 MPG, in combined city and FWY, and slowly climbing. I take it to the dealer for installation of the Ambient Lighting Kit, the FFH comes back with 37.3 MPG, and I know it didn't leave the shop floor. Grrrrr! I know the Tech had to have the car operating to check out the lighting, but to drop 1.8 MPG is disheartening to say the least knowing how hard we have to work at a getting great MPG. It just shows idling is a MPG killer. Using energy and no miles, averaging a zero in is a killer.

I feel your pain, but those idling mpg's will get recaptured quickly. Knowing you car is capable of getting better mpg's now is inspiring.

Besides, they gave you a discount on the parts, found a unique switch and only charged one hour for install labor, I think you won on that deal.

:)

[GrySql]

Sometimes certain tests require a fully charged battery since it sits parked in ev mode and you don't want an ac draw.

 

Wanna see bad. Charge from dead off the engine at a stop

I don't understand, to what are you referring?

[gkinla]

I feel your pain, but those idling mpg's will get recaptured quickly. Knowing you car is capable of getting better mpg's now is inspiring.

Besides, they gave you a discount on the parts, found a unique switch and only charged one hour for install labor, I think you won on that deal.

:)

 

 

I know it sounded like a complaint, but it wasn't about the service. We have the best dealer in the South Bay, and they always have gone the extra mile to make us happy. Thanks for putting it in perspective, they again went that extra mile to provide a great service. I got more than I expected with the Tech finding that unique switch and not having to drill a hole in the center console.

Edited September 27, 2013 by gkinla