Just for your viewing pleasure, I just filled her up today:

232.8 miles / 12.661 gallons = 18.387 mpg. Not bad considering the following:

1. Wintertime oxygenated petrol

2. I used SS most of this driving period (love to wind her up!)

3. Lot's of redline shifting (i.e. - VTEC / CAI wail!!)

I'm happy with that. Most of the driving was done in city, with a bit on the highway to and from work.

Not bad for an est. 300HP luxury muscle car!! Think of the days muscle cars got 10~15 mpg (and had nowhere near the luxury we do.) I think this rocks! Don't you!?!?!?

Jim

 

Filled up today, pleasantly surprised...after ~8300miles and 2 oil changes:

335miles / 12.922g = 25.92 mpg

ULEV
50% city 50% highway
not exactly a lead foot
91 octane

After my first oil change I would see ~23 mpg consistently, but now its almost an improvement of nearly 3mpg.

 

KavenTrax - Are you driving like a little old lady, or what!

That's impressive. I'm still happy with mine though. Almost 7500 miles on mine, and 3 oil/filter changes. Also did a partial trans fluid @ 5k.

Like I said, I was a bit hard on her this time around (not really hard, just having lots of fun.) This car loves the cold Dec. Ohio air.

Jim

 

I'm driving like i wana see my 30th birthday and many birthdays
after that. But on the freeway, its a different story...cuz if people
drive like a herd of cows, I tend to keep my distance from the herd.


I use to drive hard and get about 100 miles half tank, when i was in school and stressed. LOL
But the roads were so tempting back then...
clean, wide open streets, new pavement in Irvine CA
thank the man upstairs i never got a ticket in that city full of pesky ricer cops.

 

Hey Jim -

I am wondering???? In your sig you state 14.92 and you list a $hit load of mods.....Was that track times b4 mods or after mods? Sorry to hijack the thread!

 

KavenTrax - I know what you mean. I really only do this kind of driving when the traffic permits. Trust me, I'm 39 with a squeeky clean driving record.... I plan on keeping it that way!

Thoro - Yeah, the 14.92 was with Comptech suspension, K&N drop-in, and slicks only. Haven't had a chance to run with all the new goodies.

 

Guys, you are supposed to do your first oi change at 7,500 miles.
Like the new Accord, the car comes with a special additive in the oil to help the break in and that is why they want you to run the car for 7,500 miles before doing an oil change...

 

Hmmm... I'm always up for some speculation…


Let's say you’re a low mileage driver and don't hit 7,500 miles for 2 years. Do you:

1. Wait 2 years with original crusty ‘n black "break-in" oil to change?
2. Change when then engine feels like it has broken in (after 2000 miles or so)?
3. Ask the dealer?


Let's say one driver drives around in SS with the revs sitting around 4500 RPM most of the time and another driver is loafing in traffic at 1500 RPM. Is the wear the same in both conditions at 7500 miles?

Then there are people who do tons of stop-and-go driving with lots of cold starts... There is this large collection of acids and water that the "filter" tries to keep out of the oil, but....

There are exceptions to the rule...

 

EricL : I guess one can always turn something around and go, 'what if....' Don't tell me you are a lawyer?

I consider myself a normal driver, so I guess the 7,500 mile oil change works for me. But I just thought I would post what I have been told by more than one person that works at the dealership...

 

haha I cant wait till 7500, that might be in 3 years. I only have 2000 right now, and moving into school in a few weeks, that means car will be parked for a whole year at home probably, then driven in summer and then parked next year also. I'll probably have around 7500 in 2 maybe 3 years.

 

If you drive enough miles that 7500 miles is done in less than a year, go for it...

I really would be concerned about someone going 2 years with the original lube.

 

I'd say that's crap. You aren't going to hurt anything by changing your oil at 3k or less. Multiple people on these boards changed their oil at 1k mi. It makes your car happy.

 

Agreed. How some can think leaving the OE oil in for that long is beyond me. I sure as he!! didn't, and feel a lot better about it.

My engine see's regular intervals of 3k-5k rpms, no way will I leave oil in there for any longer than 4k miles!

 

First off, here is my disclaimer..... I AM NOT SAYING THAT I AM CORRECT ABOUT THIS OIL CHANGE AT 7,500 miles.


But why would the comment be made that you think this is crap without even checking it out with the dealer. If Honda/Acura puts an additive in and recommends that you do not change the oil till 7,500 miles, I would follow it.


I guess they were full of crap too to suggest breaking in the car too.


And yes, I agree. If you cannot run the car enough to drive 7,500 miles in a year, it may be wide to change out the oil. But I would think that that is the exception.

 

Sticky tires will also have an adverse impact on your fuel economy (even if you don't drive harder as a result of getting them )

I consistenly got around 24.5-25 MPH on a 75/25 mix of freeway and street driving on the stock/tires & wheels, with an occasional 27-28.5 MPH for all freeway driving. Immediately after getting the Toyo Proxes T1-S (luv 'em!), my gas mileage on the first full tank dropped 10% down to 22.5.

Grippy tires are definitely worth the drop in fuel ecomony, IMO.

 

Hammerman - Agreed. Can't wait till it's sticky tire season again. I see Kumho's in my future....

Eggplant - Don't get your panties in a bunch. All I'm saying is my theory of "OE shipped oil with addatives" being left in for 7.5k miles is crap.

And no, the dealer (and manufacturer) are not "full of crap" suggesting a proper engine break-in period of 600-1000 miles. That I stand behind.

Do whatever makes you happy.

Happy Holidays - Jim

 

300hp? Wow, I need your mystery mods.

 

Dude, assuming a 24% drivetrain loss that most see, all I need on the dyno is 224.2 HP at the wheels. That gives me (roughly) 295 HP at the crank, no!?

I should easily see those numbers when I do get around to dynoing the car (maybe next week.)

I know crank HP doesn't mean squat, but the license plate sure looks cool!

 

I know why kavx gets 25mph, cuase he has a CL-P!! :P j/k..

but I change my oil every 7500 miles w/ mobil 1 5w30. and no ericL is not a lawyer he is some sort of mathmatican/physics guru/mechanic

 

Yea, I love to back tally the losses 260 to 208 (or 200), and then scale back using the 20-25%

Some food for thought... Some of the losses are "fixed losses" and others are "frictional" -- related to the actual amount of HP that is being made. (Example -- ATF pump would fall more into the fixed loss department)

As to how much and from what... Who knows for sure...

Can we take your car apart and run before-and-after crank hp vs. wheel hp for all the mods around here?

 

Originally posted by EricL

Can we take your car apart and run before-and-after crank hp vs. wheel hp for all the mods around here?


NO!

 

I can tell those #$!!!#@# headers took care of that.... (j/k)...

 

The 235mm width increases the rolling resistance for each tire over stock.

 

You would think so -- yes? A rather counter intuitive concept is that a tire of the same construction MXM vs. MXM or TOYO T1S vs. TOYO T1S will actually use less energy in the case of a 235/45-17 vs. the stock 215/50-17.

What you are saying seems like common sense and seems totally reasonable. However…

If you compare a 235/45-17 against a 215/45-17 and assume that they are the are made of the same materials and have similar construction, the lower profile tire (with its smaller front-to-rear contact patch) will consume less energy than the higher profile tire with its larger front-to-rear contact patch). The low profile tire gives up some of its front-to-rear contact patch for more side-to-side contact! Both tires need to support the same weight; they are just doing it in different ways!

The lower front-to-rear contact patch results in lower losses from deformation. (A good picture/drawing would help here…)

If you could imagine a tire 3-feet wide, the front-to-rear contact area would only need to be less than an inch, and if you increased the width towards infinity, you would have a tire with a front-to-rear contact patch that would approach zero (remember the load is supported by a tire’s contact patch: width * front-to-rear contact length).

The front-rear contact area would be close to zero and deformation area of the tire would also be negligible...


That is also why people will tell you to increase tire pressures to increase your MPG…

 

DAMN! EricL , you must be an engineer!

Need more guys like you on this board.

Seems to be very few compared to the

Mustang , SE-R , or SVT boards I used to frequent.


Thanks for the informative post!

 

My Acura dealer said to go ahead and change the oil at 600m. and I did just that. Change every 3500m. and thats with synthetic!

 

Not to bash anyone, but I'm old school. Dino oil + fliter every 3750 (or there abouts.) I did change it at 1k though. Synthetic is just to rich for my blood. And the extended drain interval doesn't appeal to me either. I'd rather have fresh, clean and clear oil in there about every 4k.

Jim