what RPMs should i shift at for optimal MPG?

[johnwc723]

Hi i was wondering if anyone actually has a manual for this car or knows when it should be shifted for optimal MPG as gas is getting expensive these days. I had been shifting at ~2500-3000 and always leaving the car at that with normal driving (not letting the rpms get much below that) but in my g/f's saturn I noticed that its shift light likes you to shift ~2k so now i dont know what to think. I want my 3geez to sip gas as little as possible dont really care about performance most of the time, I cant afford this expensive gas!

[FyreDaug]

3500, 3250, 3000, 2750 are my shift points

[snoopyloopy]

my automatic will shift itself between 2500 and 3000 if i'm not accelerating hard.

[Oldblueaccord]

my automatic will shift itself between 2500 and 3000 if i'm not accelerating hard.

I try to keep my car around 3 grand whatever speed im running. I got in the mid 30's on a trip to NY and back last week.


wp

[snoopyloopy]

yeah, i drive my car like a manual, so i usually gas it so that it shifts at 3k+. anything below that almost kills the engine.

[HondaMan]

I usually shift at about 3k for 1st & 2nd, 2.5k for 3rd and 4th and ride at 2 in 5th.
driving around town I'm usually below 60 at 2 or 2.5

[johnwc723]

so if i shift at like 2k at lower speeds (almost kill the engine) im probably not going to see any mpg increase and maybe even a decrease?

[HaShfIeNd]

my automatic will shift itself between 2500 and 3000 if i'm not accelerating hard.

our automatics get worse gas milage than a manual....

[pookypal15]

my car must be kinda special... (but it does have some tranny problems) in city driving my shifting is something like this
Gears RPM
1-2... ~1700
2-3... ~2700
3-4... ~always below 3500 and rarely ever use 5 unless I make it over 55mph (since in 4th I'm runnin pretty low revs)... I have driven over 35miles on the emergency light with that kinda driving, and that is the worse of the gas that it can sip from the tank! For some reason I can't shift into second above 3k unless I floor it and I do it around 6k RPM, the tranny's weird..

[mouchyn]

1-2 --> 5500 rpm
2-3 --> 4500-5500 rpm
3-4 --> 4500 rpm
4-5 --> whenever i reach cruising hiway speed (anywhere between 70-100 mph)

i get a smidge over 400 miles per tank. usually about 30-32 mpg. engine has 188k miles on it.

[halxi]

1-2:4000-4500
2-3:3500-4000
3-4:5500-6000 (i usually only use all of 3rd if im accelerating trying to get on the highway, normally i skip 3rd, and go straight to 4th and about 2k rpm for city crusing between 30-45mph)
4-5:4500-4800

Your gas mileage will vary between cars, depends on how the motor was broke in, how its been drivin for its 17+ year life, everything pretty much plays a factor. Before i got my Coolant temp sensor replaced, i was getting 80 miles per TANK, no joke... it was horrible. Now that i have replaced it, i get between 290-330 depending on how many times i hit the highway, how hard i accel... all that stuff.

[FyreDaug]

How the hell would the coolant temp sensor drop 200+ miles?

[halxi]

it went out, in turn, telling my ECU that it was running at below 40 degrees. This lead to the ECU dumping TONS of extra fuel into the engine to compensate for the cold, and keep the engine warm. Only one problem, it wasnt 40 below... it was damn near 80

[mr eff]

i get about 340 miles per the tank of driving mostly around town shifting like this:

(out of)

1st: 4500
2nd: 3500
3rd (usually sit here, since speed limits in the inner city are like 25): n/a, or 3500

4th is sort of irrelevant. sometimes if i want to sit at 1700ish rpm, i'll shift immediately out of third into fourth (my hands are trained to shift in order, exception being downshifting) and cruise around 35ish.

dunno, it's all subjective. honestly, i notice that if i'm driving hard (shifting out of 1st at 6600, 2nd at 6250, 3rd at 5000) i still will get about 300 miles per tank.

i also have a reground cam

[mouchyn]

I'm surprised that I get about 350 -> 400mpg

me too! :omg:

[Oldblueaccord]

me too! :omg:

Only time i get super mileage is when I have alot of miles under 30 mph like when I take pics and stuff in the woods cruising back/dirt roads etc.

When I was unemployed a few year I ago I went a a whole tank baby'n around town keep at 55 mph and got the same mpg that I would driving full tilt.



wp

[mr eff]

is this related? what grade fuel are you guys using that gets you such high (350+) miles-per-tank? i usually use 91, but if that's a waste, might as well use something less and help my pocket book's mileage.

[johnwc723]

this seems kinda rediclous, you guys shift at such high rpms yet still get such good gas mileage, mine is shit and im pretty conservative about my shifting

[mouchyn]

this seems kinda rediclous, you guys shift at such high rpms yet still get such good gas mileage, mine is shit and im pretty conservative about my shifting

remember that shifting low won't matter if you still press the pedal to accelerate.

for instance:

say you're driving along at 20mph in 2nd gear. if you shift into 3rd and accelerate to 40mph, you're wasting more fuel than you would if you just accelerated to 40 mph in 2nd gear.

the engine has to work harder to accelerate the car to 40mph, which means more gas is being dumped into the cylinders. most of the "work" being done is going to overcoming the low gear than actual acceleration. it's all about how/when the engine makes usable torque -- not engine speed, per se.

these little 4 cylinders are more efficient in higher engine speeds than they are down low. i try to keep my tach right at 4k rpm for cruising -- even if that means staying in 4th gear on the hiway at 65 mph.

[nismoracer99]

in my toyota pu, i shift at about 2k-2.5k rpm's, depending on how hard im accelerating. but if i floor it, 4.6k-5k rpm.

[frantik]

i've got the manual here and it has the shift points in MPH not RPMs

Normal Acceleration
2nd - 15 MPH
3rd - 28
4th - 41
5th - 52

Cruise from Acceleration
2nd - 7 MPH
3rd - 22
4rd - 33
5th - 48

[Busted_Blue]

damn you guys get alot of mileage.

[snow_man_20]

damn you guys get alot of mileage.


i get only about 30 to 32mpg, i fill out a chart at every fill up. I almost always put in about 11 to 12 gallons at every fill up.

date, station, location, grade, price, gallons, trip miles, total miles, mpg

i also enter in if i add fuel cleaner, oil changes, tune-ups, and new parts.

o-yeah i also shift at around 2.5k if i'm just taking my sweet time and around 3.5k if i'm in a hury.

[Ludi Mali]

with all the highway driving i do i wish we had a 6th gear. it'd be nice to go 70 at about 2250.

[1987HondaAccord]

i thought it was like a 14 gallon tank. when my gas light comes on that means i need about 12.5 gallons of gas. if its been on a while maybe a little over 13. i've never put more than 13.5 gallons of gas in my car at one time.

[leia]

I thought the gas tanks were like 15.6 gal? I swear its something .6

[Not like a rock]

I've found that the key to good mpg is maintaining the little things. so change your o2 sensors and inflate them tires eh. on my automatic, I have noticed that the exhaust is becoming increasingly rich (so that calls for oxygen sensors, I guess) so my mpg is getting worse no matter how I drive.

before this happened, I could get 7.2 L / 100km. that's about 58 cents per 10 miles.

sorry, this has nothing to do with shifting.

[snoopyloopy]

maybe 13.6? because i know it's not a 16. i put 11.4 gallons in on wednesday and the meter was just hovering at the empty line. anyway, a little off-topic, but does everyone's gas guage fluctuate a lot while driving? because i can gain/lose up to a quarter of the tank depending on the stop light.

[mr eff]

it varies from car to car, but for me the fuel guage needle will drop below the empty line before the light turns on.

as far as i remember, the light turns on when you have about two gallons remaining... this has all been discussed somewhere before, i'm sure you could search and dig up the old threads.

according to the shop manual, the tank capacity is 15.9 gallons (60 litres). i would assume the majority of us fill up about 11.5 gallons at a time because that's when the needle hits the empty line. at least, on my car. the guage isn't perfect of course; i'm sure some of us experience the first half tank lasting 150 miles before moving from full quite rapidly to half-full in few mile period.

just keep a 3 gallon jug of fuel in your trunk and drive until you run out. that way you can guage best how many MILES your particular machine can go without any problems.

[snoopyloopy]

i'm sure some of us experience the first half tank lasting 150 miles before moving from full quite rapidly to half-full in few mile period.

yes, that's exactly what happens to me.

[mouchyn]

We have a 16 gallon tank, right?

400miles / 16gallons = 25 miles per gallon.

That's not the best in the world. If I wanted to run leaner, I'm sure I could get ~30mpg or so.

(Which would be 480 miles per tank)

yeah, i've never put in 13 gallons at a fill up. it's usually between 11.5 and 12.5 per fill up for me. i've never seen my gas light come on in my 3gee. :)

[Oldblueaccord]

I thought the gas tanks were like 15.6 gal? I swear its something .6

Yeah I dont think its listed correctly. I never have gotten more than 13.? in my tank ever.

should take your milage driven and divide by gallons used at fill up.
Tire size has alot to do with the numbers also if there differant than stock thast why I dont reallt worry on other peeps numbers. Plus like with me i got the timing advanced alot so I pretty much run premium gas so the numbers get skewd a little.


wp

[nutmeg_runner]

I was taught to maximize fuel efficiency to pretend I was driving with an egg between my foot and the accelerator, anticipate traffic lights, avoid carrrying excess weight, keep tires optimally inflated, clean air filter, use lightest weight oil recommended and to lump errands. I shift at 2-2.5K but quickly shift into 5th once I reach cruising speed-even if it is only 30 mph. This of course means I need to shift as I approach an incline. My mother bet my father once that she could drive home from work using only fifth gear-and she won the bet. My mileage fluctuates by season and conditions but now typically obtain 30 mpg in suburban driving. As the car has aged the mileage has decreased. I used to get 30-32 city, 36-38 hwy. I suspect if I changed the oxygen sensors my mileage would improve some. The other factor is the gasoline has changed. In Connecticut they add 10% ethanol which I suspect decreases the mileage. My gauge fluctuates by incline/decline of vehicle. As I travel uphill the needle reads fuller than when I travel down the hill.

[paullouisf]

This doesn't work. BMW has experimented and found that 1/2 to 3/4 throttle gives the best mileage. The sooner you get to cruising speed the better your mileage. So, moderate to hard accelleration works best. I have tried this in every car I have had and it works. In my 86 Lxi 5-speed with BP 91 octane, 1/2 to 3/4 throttle, shifting around 4k rpm I average 35 mpg (30 with the air conditioning on or in the Ohio winter snow). I do use 5th as much as possible. For as long as I have had this car I have never got less than 30 mpg even in downtown Dayton, Cincinnati or Columbus city driving.
Anyway...


I was taught to maximize fuel efficiency to pretend I was driving with an egg between my foot and the accelerator, anticipate traffic lights, avoid carrrying excess weight, keep tires optimally inflated, clean air filter, use lightest weight oil recommended and to lump errands. I shift at 2-2.5K but quickly shift into 5th once I reach cruising speed-even if it is only 30 mph. This of course means I need to shift as I approach an incline. My mother bet my father once that she could drive home from work using only fifth gear-and she won the bet. My mileage fluctuates by season and conditions but now typically obtain 30 mpg in suburban driving. As the car has aged the mileage has decreased. I used to get 30-32 city, 36-38 hwy. I suspect if I changed the oxygen sensors my mileage would improve some. The other factor is the gasoline has changed. In Connecticut they add 10% ethanol which I suspect decreases the mileage. My gauge fluctuates by incline/decline of vehicle. As I travel uphill the needle reads fuller than when I travel down the hill.

[newaccorddriver]

remember that shifting low won't matter if you still press the pedal to accelerate.

for instance:

say you're driving along at 20mph in 2nd gear. if you shift into 3rd and accelerate to 40mph, you're wasting more fuel than you would if you just accelerated to 40 mph in 2nd gear.

the engine has to work harder to accelerate the car to 40mph, which means more gas is being dumped into the cylinders. most of the "work" being done is going to overcoming the low gear than actual acceleration. it's all about how/when the engine makes usable torque -- not engine speed, per se.

these little 4 cylinders are more efficient in higher engine speeds than they are down low. i try to keep my tach right at 4k rpm for cruising -- even if that means staying in 4th gear on the hiway at 65 mph.



i still have an auto but i plan to convert it soon
if im in 4th gear at 60mph and i switch over to 5th gear and keep it at the same speed, would i use less fuel? just curious cause the engine doesnt have to accelerate to get it back up to that speed anymore

[clark_486]

with all the highway driving i do i wish we had a 6th gear. it'd be nice to go 70 at about 2250.

i agree. i cant count the number of times i was on auto pilot and tried to take it out of 5th while costing or something and tried to go into 6th :p

[MessyHonda]

old thread...haha

[Dr_Snooz]

I shift at 2-2.5K but quickly shift into 5th once I reach cruising speed-even if it is only 30 mph.

Lugging the engine will have a pretty dismal effect on your mileage. If you're driving 30 mph in 5th and step on it to make the next light, you'll dump a lot of gas into the cylinders and do nothing more than heat up your engine.

Honda designs their engines to wind high and tunes their cars for average driving. The engine is only coming onto cam (its most efficient) at somewhere around 3k rpm. If you're shifting at 2k, you'll be running the engine where it is consistently inefficient.

Don't worry about an arbitrary number some "expert" gives you. Just drive and enjoy your car! Very few cars in the world are as fun and trustworthy as these old Accords. Learn where the car wants to shift and shift there.

:D

[MessyHonda]

i shift at 3500 rpm from 1st to 2nd then like 3000 to 3rd and 4th...from 4th gear i get it up to 4000 rpm...because i have a tall 5th gear that drops me down to like 2800 rpm