P&G in a non-hybrid car or truck

All I can tell you is that I had a 1999 Nissan Altima before buying my 2012 Prius. In preparation I used to try and hypermile to hone some of my skills. The one thing I used to do as far as P&G was to put the car in neutral when I was on the highway. When I decelerated to a certain speed I would put it back in gear accelerate and repeat the process. I used to average about 27.5 mpg doing this. My usual mileage was about 24 mpg or about 14.5% more. I wasn't too worried about the car since it had about 200K on it.

I found these lessons valuable when I got my Prius. Since you are doing well on your avg mpg it should be pretty easy for you to apply the same techniques.

 

People have been using pulse and coast longer than there have been hybrids. It can improve fuel economy.

Depends. It's called deceleration fuel cut off (DFCO), and some models do it, some won't, and some only under certain circumstances. The HHR will only do it when above 2000rpms and not instantly. So it only engages DFCO in at highway speeds while in D. I've heard from one or two other posters that is true of their GM vehicle with automatic. Downshifting will get it to engage for me. A scangauge can show when a car is in DFCO.

Unless the valves shut or get close to shutting, DFCO can work against you when pulse and coasting. With the valves opening normally, there will be a good amount of engine braking. Which means shorter coasts and more pulsing. So it might be best to shift to neutral for the coast.

For an actual glide, you need to shut off the engine for the coast. If you can't turn the engine off or on while in neutral, you won't be able to do a glide. Also check the car manual under recreational towing to see if the it can be flat towed. If not, then the transmission might be damaged from gliding.

There should no issue with doing this in terms of wear and damage. Transmissions are meant to be shifted. The human error of going into reverse while moving forward can be bad. Check for the gates on the shifter. These are mechanisms that keep the lever from shifting without pushing a button, or pulling it towards you with column shifters. Most probably don't know this, but pushing that button might not be necessary. The HHR can go D to N and back without it, but requires it for N to R. Accidentally going into reverse shouldn't happen. Same with Ranger, but not so with our Sable.


This is probably the best article out there.
Beating the EPA - The Why’s and How to Hypermile - CleanMPG Forums

 

Yes, it works in non-hybrids, especially with manual transmissions. Automatics can be problematic, but respond well to other methods. P&G was invented long before modern hybrids were invented.

Try CleanMPG.com, where there are many hypermilers with legacy vehicles. Start with the 'Beating the EPA' sticky postings.

 

This about as generic a description of P&G as you will get, and it applies for all types of cars. Hybrids tend to make it easy to apply it. They do most of the work for you. Manuals tend to get a better return because of the level of control they give the driver. There are also other techniques in the link that might work better for you.

Want specifics for P&G in an automatic. This is my experience. Getting up speed for top gear and lock up tends to be better than the slow acceleration of eCVTs and manuals. A traditional step automatic loses more energy in the lower gears. Counteracting the savings of keeping rpms low during acceleration. So, moderate acceleration to top gear and lock up, usually around 40 to 45mph, can yield better results. If most of your driving is below these speeds, some transmissions have lock up in the lower gear, and rigging manual lock up control sounds pretty straight forward.

Once at your coast speed, just let off the gas. Now this depends on the car's transmission and DFCO behavior, but put into neutral or not. The Sable can coast almost as far as in neutral as in drive. The HRR has to be neutral for distance.
When I do go to neutral, I'll start applying the gas before shifting back to drive to get the revs closer. Below 50mph, this probably isn't really necessary.

Once you hit your bottom coast, just re-accelerate. When doing this on roads with higher speeds, try not to let the speed drop below the low speed for top gear. The car will downshift when apply the gas then. Which will burn more gas. Also keep acceleration light enough to avoid downshifting.

In hypermiling lingo the above isn't P&G, it's pulse and coast. A glide is a coast with the engine off. Your desire to do this depends on your car's design in transmission and ignition circuit. If you have to be in park in order to start the engine, this won't work, and I would only do extensive gliding with a flat towable transmission. It's just coasting in neutral, but you turn the key to off and then back to keep power going to the instruments and senors.

Now, you will lose any non-electric power steering with the engine off. The brake system will hold some vacuum for boosting, but it will run out. Two braking events are about i. Then you'll be stopping a heavy car with just your leg muscles. So practice gliding without traffic around. Also train yourself to start the engine as soon as you feel the loss of brake boost. If your car has a hand brake, you can try using it for controlling speed gain. It won't drain the brake vacuum.

As always, ymmv.

Here's an historical article on hypermiling from the '50s.
How to save gas - Hypermiling 50 years ago! - CleanMPG Forums

 

When I was active there, for a year before buying a hybrid, it seemed that most other participants were also driving nonhybrids. Various forms of this method were common.

Which transmission does your truck have, manual or automatic? As Trollbait mentioned, the greatest return is with a manual. Many drivers of automatics prefer other methods such as DWL.

I did the full blown FAS / N-ICE-off (neutral, ICE shut off) version just enough on flat ground to find that it really did work, but it wasn't for me and my stickshift Subaru. The shutdown and restart takes a lot of work. (Really hardcore hypermilers install a pushbutton kill switch, to eliminate all that key work and ignition rebooting, and risk of triggering the steering lock.) The aero and AWD drag of my Suby made for short glides, necessitating a higher repeat rate than on my older (now departed) Honda hatchback. And my skill with the Suby restarts (bump start with the clutch, rev match the transmission before fully engaging) was not sufficiently smooth to keep the long term wear low. The old Honda was smoother, but its days were numbered, and it was too old to install a ScanGauge for the needed feedback. Without feedback, it is too easy to get it wrong and reduce MPG, not improve it.

But I still do a terrain-matched N-ICE-on version in the Suby. When rolling hills allow longer glides, I take advantage. Pulse up the hill, coast on the downside. Leaving the engine on and idling consumes a portion of the potential savings, but with my car seems worth the reduced wear and tear.

 

It can be rough on the ignition system and starter, simply because you are using them more. The only things I've heard of needing replacement from hypermiling, were a starter and ignition switch. With a manual, you can bump start to keep the extra use of them low.

The engine is already warmed up, and the glide isn't likely to be long enough for all the oil drain back into the pan.

I have heard of a transmission dying, but was most likely do to age and previous wear. I only recommend engine off gliding with a transmission that can be flat towed behind an RV or such. Not many automatics can be because they require the engine to circulate their fluid. Rev matching is a good idea. There might be more long term wear, but I expect it won't take much life off the transmission. The HHR as 110k+ miles on it. I have been hypermiling for about 50k of them, and haven't noted any changes in the transmission.

I do keep an eye on the battery voltage while the engine is off. Starter batteries can be damaged by the deep discharge that can happen during a glide. If I get my hands on a cheapo battery to wire in back up, I will.

PS: If the car can't be glided with engine off, or you are just uncomfortable with it, do try shutting off at lights and other longish stops.

 

Newbies should note that this isn't the same as a 'pop' start, where we got the old vehicles (mostly farm equipment in my experience) rolling then dropped the clutch. Pop starts can create quite a jolt, putting shock loading on the drive train.

Bump starts are much more gentle. Let out the clutch just enough to lightly tap the plate to get the engine spinning, instantly depressing the clutch again. Let the engine come up to speed, then rev match it before fully re-engaging.

After I started hypermiling, it was nearly two months before I encountered a flat open rural road sufficiently empty to get the necessary practice to make this work. It was great seeing the Suby's MPG climb to almost 40, from an EPA highway rating of 27 (25 on the new scale).

But it was also too much work and distraction in this car, and seemed likely to prematurely wear the ignition switch and possibly other parts. After a day's practice, I returned to just using the engine-on version on gentle hills. Low to mid 30s is sufficient.

 

Pulse and glide works in manual transmission vehicles. It can only be done under very limited circumstances in automatics so in an automatic drivers stick to Driving With Load.

As Troll mentioned, you can only glide engine-off if the car can be flat-towed and only up to the recommended speed.

P&G is most efficient when the glide is done with the engine off, but it's possible to do it NICE-ON (neutral, engine on), although the lower efficiency means you need better glides. Engine-off (FAS, Forced Auto Stop, the name coming from Honda Hybrids) is an advanced technique due to the inherent safety implications.

Is it bad for the vehicle? I think the fact that hypermilers don't have long-term problems with their vehicles is telling. Some hypermilers spend more time with the engine off than on but when the engine is running it's neither idling nor being thrashed.

If you want advice on P&G and other hypermiling techniques in a different vehicle I think you could be better off at Wayne Gerde's site, CleanMPG.com. (Disclosure: I am a moderator there.)

 

I seem to remember that you are using a Bluetooth Torque device in your Prius, for the same functions many of us have ScanGauge. Are you using the Torque in your truck too? It will help.

 

TPS- throttle position sensor
% load
Most engines are operating at their most efficient at around 70% load. This is where you should ideally be at while pulsing. With an automatic, the transmission might downshift, and start sucking fuel. Between the load reading and iMPG, you can figure out which TPS readings to aim for, which doesn't seem to flucate as much as the others on the scangauge. When cruising at a steady speed or load, a light touch on the accelerator is better since less gas is going to the engine. A medium to medium-heavy acceleration should be used for pulsing. Since that should be in the engine's efficient sweet spot. The area between these two, you want to avoid.

If you do any engine off techniques, whether moving or stopped, keeping an eye on battery voltage doesn't hurt. I try not to let it drop below 11.8volts.

Loop might another one to check, if it doesn't report DFCO engagement directly. This tells you if the oxygen sensor feedback loop is open or closed. Open means the computer isn't going by the oxygen sensor readings, and is just using a programmed fuel trim map. Normally, it will only be open at start up until the sensors warm up. Closed means it is using the sensor readings to adjust the air fuel ratio. This reading can be used to puzzle out a car's DFCO behavior. If coasting in gear and the loop opens, then most likely fuel has been cut off from the engine. As I said before, the engine braking with DFCO might be detrimental to coasting for fuel economy, but if you want to slow down anyway...

 

I think trip MPG is the most important. If you can't push it higher than for the same trip without P&G, then something isn't working right.