Scanguage II q's

I've been thinking about picking up a Scanguage, but haven't decided yet.

If I were to buy one and hook it up, would you need to go through the dial-in process to get an accurate instantaneous mpg? The reason I'm asking is that very few of my trips are long i.e. >100miles, so I'm not as interested in trip mpg etc... features.

I'd like to be able to improve my mileage (45-47mpg, 2002 jetta, 5M running B100), and I really don't feel like I'm doing rabbit starts, high speeds (mostly under 60)... The one thing is that about 50% of my miles (especially the cold morning starts) are in city driving.

Unfortunately, most of the lights are either on traffic sensors (doesn't matter how long I coast), or timed to stop traffic rather than facilitate flow.

thanks in advance,

The ScanGuage 2 and the Most recent software update is a great tool for monitoring your fuel usage. To name just but a few, you can set-up Scangauge 2 readouts for
• Current trip MPG or Litres LPH
• Current Tank trip MPG or Litres
• Average trip MPG or Litres
• Average tank trip MPG or Litres
• Fuel used on todays trip
• Cost of todays trip
• Time Remaining on tank @ current speed
• Current MPG usage.
All are terrific ways of monitoring and curtailing fuel usage, it that is what you are after.

Hopefully that help you.

Yes, but does it accurately report the instantaneous mpg accuratly without calibration.

Part of the reason I'm asking is that I buy extra B100 in jugs. It is really had to get a very accurate number of gallons for a fillup when you are pouring it out of jugs/cans.

thanks,

L0o0ky said:

Yes, but does it accurately report the instantaneous mpg accuratly without calibration.

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Yes, there are both instant mpg and gph (gallons per hour) readings that are based off the ECU controlling the injector quantity. The trip data and calibrations do not affect those instant readouts.

Oh, and those displays are available in metric is you prefer.

Yes, but does it accurately report the instantaneous mpg accuratly without calibration.

The quick answer is no. Any device will require calibration unless it is an onboard computer that was installed at the factory.

Yes, but does it accurately report the instantaneous mpg accurately without calibration.

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No it won't be accurate until you dial it in with actual fill ups, but it is accurate relative to itself.

Say you can't dial it in to make sure it is right, if you just leave it set stock it will all be relative to that. So say you really get 50 mpg, but SG tells you it got 45 mpg for the last "tank". It will remain off by that set amount. So if you’re using it to see how you can improve your driving to increase mileage it will work fine. If you never adjust it and the next tank you got 48 and the next you got 50 your going in the right direction regardless if it is accurate to the real world mpg numbers or not. Actually I have found my winter numbers and summer numbers vary, but I leave my SG set the same so I can compare them all to each other even though they don’t match actual tank mpg’s.

Does that help?

Yes, these answers do help. I'm hoping I can track down why I haven't been able to break 50mpg. Yes, I know that BioD isn't going to give me the same mileage as dino, but in my situation, the BioD is just a better option (except when it gets around freezing).

If you can fill up with a known quantity of fuel 2-3 times for calibration it should be reasonable accurate for instantaneous mpg. Use a gallon jug or something? Or go to the thread on the OBD board where members post their fuel correction percentage, figure the average and use that as your correction.

It's really too bad there isn't a place to rent one of these.

At my fuel consumption rates, it's going to take me a couple of months just to calibrate (2 to 3 tanks). Not to mention an extremely long payback time.

Really, what I'm looking for is the feedback on the driving style. From what I understand, the biggest thing I can do to impact mileage is to alter my driving style (assuming the car is in good condition).

Here's the run-down on my commute
2 stop signs on a 20-25 mphr stretch (1/4 mile with a school zone)
4 stop lights always red 35mph zone (1 mile --stupid sensors that are hyper-sensitive to cross traffic)
7 miles 55-60
2-5 stop light/s 3 miles (depending on how I hit them--once again cross-traffic biased sensors)

Reverse on the way home etc...

I thought the same thing before I bought my SG, that is I wished I could just borrow one for a bit. Now that I have one I couldn't live without it, knowing the exact coolant temp, battery voltages, outside air temp, instant mpg, reading and clearing codes. Maybe I am just a geek at heart.

If you want to get one on the cheap look on ebay for the original SG or SG1, they are bigger and not as pretty but work just fine. I have seen the SG1's on ebay for about $50.

Yeah, you should get a ScanGauge2. If you are trying to improve your mileage, you'll absolutely love it! The new model has the "X Gauge" feature, which allows you to make custom gauges. If you are not too familiar with the SG, it basically has three modes, Gauge, Trip, and Scan.

Scan is for checking and clearing trouble codes. This functionality is worth at least $50 of the price (the cost of a cheap code reader).

Trip mode includes tank, previous day, today, and current trip. For each of those settings, you can see the number of miles, number of hours, gallons burned, average MPG, average speed, max RPM, max water temp, cost (if you give it cost/gal at fillup), miles to empty, and hours to empty. I may have missed one or two things there. You may not be too interested in those, but the one that I find handy is current trip average MPG. In fact, I have used "X Gauge" to allow me to view that all the time in Gauge mode.

Gauge mode lets you view four readings at a time. You can view whichever four you want. Mine is usually set to:

Instant MPG ---- Current trip average MPG
MAP (turbo boost) -------- Water temp ºF

Instant MPG will tell you a lot, but it changes so quickly that it is hard to tell what MPG you are really getting. That's were average MPG comes in handy.

Speaking of your fuel economy, you posted one of the reasons you are getting lousy (relatively) MPG:

2 stop signs on a 20-25 mphr stretch (1/4 mile with a school zone)
4 stop lights always red 35mph zone (1 mile --stupid sensors that are hyper-sensitive to cross traffic)
7 miles 55-60
2-5 stop light/s 3 miles (depending on how I hit them--once again cross-traffic biased sensors)

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Any car will get lower fuel economy before it is warmed up. This morning, in 30ºF weather, it took about 12 miles on a 50 MPH highway to reach full operating temp (187ºF). This includes 4 stops and an average speed of about 35 MPH. In the first mile, my trip MPG is up to about 40, after that, it slowly rises to 50 and above. By the time I got to work today (31 miles), I had reached 61 MPG.

NOTE: My MPG readings may not be true, as I have not fully calibrated my SG2, and I am filling up with B100 at home and have to rely of a relatively cheap digital fuel meter to input the correction values.

McBrew said:

Any car will get lower fuel economy before it is warmed up.

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Just wondering if the Scangauge would show this?

If I were to reset my Current trip driving at 60mph (using Cruise) with the engine cold (less than 100f) for a 2 mile stretch of highway and then repeat that test shortly after when the car is fully warmed up would the two mpg values be noticeably different?

canbluegolf said:

Just wondering if the Scangauge would show this?

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Yup, this time of year if I drive to work cold I get around 80 mpg, if I pre-heat the engine with the coolant heater I get low to mid 90's and if my wife just got home and I leave with it hot I get about 100-105, so it can tell it's using more fuel hot, warm or cold.

L0o0ky said:

Reverse on the way home etc...

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Just a quick suggestion - try driving forwards on the way home. It's tough to get any kind of decent mileage in reverse.

If I were to reset my Current trip driving at 60mph (using Cruise) with the engine cold (less than 100f) for a 2 mile stretch of highway and then repeat that test shortly after when the car is fully warmed up would the two mpg values be noticeably different?

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Yes, it will show this, and you are spot on as far as the procedure to follow.

Bradtholomew said:

Just a quick suggestion - try driving forwards on the way home. It's tough to get any kind of decent mileage in reverse.

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How else am I supposed to tell the grandkids it was uphill both ways?

McBrew said:

Yes, it will show this, and you are spot on as far as the procedure to follow.

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Well I tried a "mini-test" as I drove to work today. It seems there is a definite increase in fuel usage when the engine is real cold but appears to vanish *fairly* quick. It was in rush hour traffic, cruise used in 3rd at 32 mph on different roads ... but at least everything here is flat! When the WT was below 32f the instant was ~23.5mpg, above 100f it seemed to settle around ~29 mpg.

I'll do a better (proper) test when I don't have to drive to work and I can hit the highway which is only a minute from home.

I have tried to calibrate my Scanguage II, but seem to dummy up on it! Fuel mileage is 520 mpg! Ain't that great. Have read manual, but missed something. Any suggestions other than unplugging it and selling.

Naples, Did you set the engine size to 1.9L and the fuel type to "dieselA"? When you calibrated, you pressed either the top left or top right button to match up to the number of gallons you actually put in? I don't see how it could read 520 MPG. Even stock, my SGII was reading maybe 20% higher than actual.

I recommend you set it to "default" and start over. Don't forget to set the engine size and type.

canbluegolf said:

Well I tried a "mini-test" as I drove to work today. It seems there is a definite increase in fuel usage when the engine is real cold but appears to vanish *fairly* quick. It was in rush hour traffic, cruise used in 3rd at 32 mph on different roads ... but at least everything here is flat! When the WT was below 32f the instant was ~23.5mpg, above 100f it seemed to settle around ~29 mpg.

I'll do a better (proper) test when I don't have to drive to work and I can hit the highway which is only a minute from home.

Click to expand...

Make one of your gauges a load meter. It will display engine load in percentage. You will see instantly that when you first start up on a cold engine the load is greater (lets say 20% at idle). Once the engine is completely warm go check the same idle load and it will be in the low teens..even down to 10% on occasion. I'm guessing the thicker oil is the main culprit.
As for instantaneous mileage mine seems to refresh about once every 1 or 2 seconds. It's fun to watch sometimes but I'm not sure how useful it is. Much better to go to the "Trip" function and display the "Current" mileage. You can refresh the current reading as often as you like and it will display a running average from the moment you hit "refresh". This is very useful for figuring the mileage on any particular stretch of road.
Mike