Coolant Temperature, Speed, ICE rpm Graphs of 30 Mile Trip - 45.8 MPG

[plus 3 golfer]

This morning I drove about 30 miles starting from home (1835 feet elevation) to a shop (1170 feet elevation) to get a clear bra put on and got 45.8 mpg.  I used VC-Scope along with VCDS (Ross-Tech product) to record the ambient air temperature (yellow), the coolant temperature (red), my speed (white), and ICE rpm (green) for the initial trip to the shop.  There are four graphs below that show these variables for the 30 mile trip. Each major horizontal division on the X axis should be one minute.

 

My overall fuel economy for the round trip of 60.0 miles was 42.5 mpg with 11.0 EV miles. I averaged just under 52 mph. 

 

From the graphs, the ambient temperature and coolant temperature started out at about 16C (60F) since the car was garaged.  The outside temperature was about 5C (41F).   After about 7-8 minutes the coolant temp climbed to about 93C (200F) edit: should be 83C (181F) as I forgot that the temp scale starts at -10C.   Maximum speed was about 70 mph.  I moved with the general flow of traffic.  It's about one mile from my home to US 60 which is a 4 lane divided highway with a speed limit 55 mph with 3 traffic lights.  After about  5 miles, the Superstition freeway begins with a speed limit of 65 miles/hour.  I exited the freeway about 1 1/2 miles from the shop.  There was congestion on the freeways for the last 4 - 5 miles.

 

I have ordered grill covers from ptjones and I will run tests and a lot more logging of data with / without the covers.  Stay tuned. :)  

 

 

Edited January 8, 2013 by Plus 3 Golfer

[Ryan McEachern]

Excellent. I love this stuff.

[ptjones]

This morning I drove about 30 miles starting from home (1835 feet elevation) to a shop (1170 feet elevation) to get a clear bra put on and got 45.8 mpg.  I used VC-Scope along with VCDS (Ross-Tech product) to record the ambient air temperature (yellow), the coolant temperature (red), my speed (white), and ICE rpm (green) for the initial trip to the shop.  There are four graphs below that show these variables for the 30 mile trip. Each major horizontal division on the X axis should be one minute.

 

My overall fuel economy for the round trip of 60.0 miles was 42.5 mpg with 11.0 EV miles. I averaged just under 52 mph. 

 

From the graphs, the ambient temperature and coolant temperature started out at about 16C (60F) since the car was garaged.  The outside temperature was about 5C (41F).   After about 7-8 minutes the coolant temp climbed to about 93C (200F).   Maximum speed was about 70 mph.  I moved with the general flow of traffic.  It's about one mile from my home to US 60 which is a 4 lane divided highway with a speed limit 55 mph with 3 traffic lights.  After about  5 miles, the Superstition freeway begins with a speed limit of 65 miles/hour.  I exited the freeway about 1 1/2 miles from the shop.  There was congestion on the freeways for the last 4 - 5 miles.

 

I have ordered grill covers from ptjones and I will run tests and a lot more logging of data with / without the covers.  Stay tuned. :)  

 

 

That's amazing, how do you have your computer connected to the car? Should have your covers Wednesday. Thanks Paul

[plus 3 golfer]

I connect a VCDS cable to the OBDII port and to a USB port on a laptop.  It's an old HP laptop running XP.  The data points are selected and then logged into a csv file which I transfer to my desktop.  I then load the data file into VC-Scope to graph.  I notice there's a data field for something like % fuel remaining.  I wonder if this is simply the fuel tank sensor reading or a calculated value based on estimated fuel delivered via the injectors.

 

Later this week for 4-5 days it's suppose to be very cold (for here) with the morning lows in the mid - high 20's.  I should be able to test on four consecutive mornings with cold engine at two constant speeds with / without covers for say about 15 mile round trips.  The first and last mile will be residential to /from US 60, then 55 mph to a traffic light (which if I go early enough in morning I should hit green).  Then, about 6 - 8 miles with speed limit at 65 mph. I'm not sure what speeds but I'll start with 55 mph (so ICE can shut down) and 70 mph.

 

I will also make additional freeway only runs with "hot" engine at same speeds as above with and without covers. 

 

This will be a start.  Once I look at the data, I may make additional runs especially with respect to speed and distance.

 

When the weather warms up, I'll make runs at higher temps like 60F, 70F, and 80F (may be a few months for this).

 

Any other suggestions are welcome.

[darrelld]

So VCDS does work!!!

[plus 3 golfer]

You know, I've used the OBDII function in VCDS on non-VWs (it won't work on all cars) more than I've needed VCDS for my VWs.  This is the first time I logged data and used VC-Scope.

[darrelld]

You know, I've used the OBDII function in VCDS on non-VWs (it won't work on all cars) more than I've needed VCDS for my VWs.  This is the first time I logged data and used VC-Scope.

Thanks for the post, time for me to pull out my VCDS and see what modules are accessible. I assume you are using the latest Hex+Can USB adapter and what did you use for the initial config setting?

[plus 3 golfer]

I didn't do anything to the configuration  to use the OBDII function.  I'm using the USB port selection.  Make sure you push the start button on the car.  Otherwise, VCDS won't connect. That's all you "should" need to do.  If you can scan your Passat, the OBDii function should work on the C-Max.

 

You don't access specific modules like with VW. On the Main Page, there's a "OBDII" button.  That brings up another page with a series of Mode buttons.  Select them just to see what's available.  Mode 1 has the real time data which you can select, log and graph.  I believe you can change the frequency of sampling the data with the turbo button but I didn't monkey with it.  The data log shows that the selected data was scanned sequentially on about a 0.66 second cycle.  

 

Once, you have a log of the data saved, you can then open the log in VC-Scope and "play" the data. You can download VC-Scope from Ross-Tech but it should already be in the Ross-tech folder for VCDS.  The data will move across the screen as time advances. "Pause" the playback and then you can  use a "screen shot" program to capture the graph and save it.  If you look at the first graph, you will see at the lower left an "8X" to scale the time which puts about 10 minutes of data across the graph.  You can select a value as low as 0.5 which will show about 40 seconds of data across the graph.  The 621.95 in the lower left is the number of seconds from the beginning of the log until I paused the playback. I then restarted the playback and paused the playback again at 1244.27 seconds as shown on the second graph.

 

I forgot that if you look at the VCDS manual, it will show you some of the things I described.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Plus 3 Golfer

[bymaine]

Excellent data! Will be interesting to see results after the grill cover installation! Thank you!

[plus 3 golfer]

This morning I looked at the data again and realized I misstated the coolant temperature by 10C when I read the graph as I forgot the scale on the y axis starts at minus10C.  Note on the first graph that at the bottom of the screen, the actual temperature is displayed at 83C when I paused the playback.

 

So, this is significant as the coolant is only at 181F.  My guess is ICE is still not up to full efficient operating temperature cruising between 65 and 70 mph at around 40F ambient temperature for 15 minutes or so.    Can't wait to test the grill covers. :)

Edited January 8, 2013 by Plus 3 Golfer

[ptjones]

Minimizing the # of variables is the main concern I have. The more variables the more testing you have to do . Looks like you have a plan. Good Job.

Paul

Edited January 8, 2013 by ptjones

[darrelld]

This morning I looked at the data again and realized I misstated the coolant temperature by 10C when I read the graph as I forgot the scale on the y axis starts at minus10C.  Note on the first graph that at the bottom of the screen, the actual temperature is displayed at 83C when I paused the playback.

 

So, this is significant as the coolant is only at 181F.  My guess is ICE is still not up to full efficient operating temperature cruising between 65 and 70 mph at around 40F ambient temperature for 15 minutes or so.    Can't wait to test the grill covers. :)

 

Have you seen any data for the inverter temps? The inverter has an independent water cooling loop.

 

Unfortunately I need to rebuild my HP notebook before its possible to do VCDS logging. My only other alternative is running VCDS in Parallels on my Macbook Pro Retina.

Edited January 8, 2013 by darrelld

[plus 3 golfer]

Have you seen any data for the inverter temps? The inverter has an independent water cooling loop.

 

Unfortunately I need to rebuild my HP notebook before its possible to do VCDS logging. My only other alternative is running VCDS in Parallels on my Macbook Pro Retina.

I recall seeing some type of battery charge % or something like that.  When my wife gets back, I'll hook up VCDS and look.

 

That's a good point on the inverter.  I would assume that one would get an alarm if inverter temp was exceeded (for example if electric pump fails) or that the inverter would simply shut down when too hot and one would only run on ICE. I also don't know whether it's possible to somehow select data addresses that are not visible under the OBDII function of VCDS. 

 

There will be some ambient temperature and load that will require significant air flow through the grill.  Right now we only have the coolant temperature to monitor.  Once I find the conditions that cause the coolant temperature to exceed a certain number whether that is 205F, 215F or when the coolant fans come on, I will test the cutout cover against the full cover and removal of the lower cover.  It's likely that in the heat of the Phoenix summer (mid May - mid Sept), I'll remove the lower grill entirely and even the cutout upper grill.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Plus 3 Golfer

[CNCGeek]

This is really cool, I have a simple ODBII reader which I use with Torque (Android), but the VCDS looks awesome.  Regarding the battery charge % you noted, did that appear to be for the HV battery or the 12v battery?  I'm asking because I am curious to know if there a way to get the actual HV battery capacity so it can be tracked over time.

[darrelld]

This is really cool, I have a simple ODBII reader which I use with Torque (Android), but the VCDS looks awesome.  Regarding the battery charge % you noted, did that appear to be for the HV battery or the 12v battery?  I'm asking because I am curious to know if there a way to get the actual HV battery capacity so it can be tracked over time.

 

You can download a lite version and test your interface;

 

http://www.ross-tech.com/vcds-lite/download/index.html

[plus 3 golfer]

I checked VCDS for other temperature data and there is nothing for the inverter.  I did look at the coolant lines that run from the inverter.  There appears to be a split cooler located behind the lower grill.  It appears the inverter may be cooled by the upper part and the CVT by the lower part.  I tried to find the a/c condenser. I would think it would be in front of the radiator.  When I have time I'll take the lower cover off and then I should be able to see everything.

 

In any event, one could leave the bottom cover off and thus provide sufficient cooling to the split cooler.

 

The battery data point says "Battery Pack Rem. Life" and for me showed 40.0% so it is the HV battery.

 

I also saw in a search for Ford scan tools that for 2013 vehicles the old "cheap" ford scan tools won't work.  The new tool is in very expensive.

 

I believe I read that the lite version of VCDS supports reading only one OBDII data point at a time instead of four.  It should be on the Ross-Tech site.