[Vwdiesel] Rabbit Shift Points

[James Hansen]

Bryan K. Walton wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 13, 2007 at 02:44:03PM -0500, Bryan K. Walton wrote:
>> Well, I realize that most people hate them.  That is fine by me.  I'm
>> not interested in constantly looking at the light to determine when to
>> shift. I'm not trying to figure out where the optimum shift points are.
> 
> Uhhh, sorry.  That should read: "I'm JUST trying to figure out where
> the optimum shift points are."
> 
heh.

Well, I don't hate them, they just don't work well enough to bother 
with, not being an essential device, or terribly helpful.

The light on the dash isn't really much help for any determination of 
efficiency, it's more of a guide for when you have the stereo on :-)
It's too mechanical to figure out mileage on the fly... I think the 
intent was as a guide for newbies to stick shift than anything else- 
remember the diesels came out during the beta test version of the fuel 
crunch in the late 70's, so there were a whole new crop of folks trying 
out one of them thar diesels for the first time, many never having 
anything to do with a clutch, stick shift, etc.
I know of one that drove all day in 3rd gear in an early diesel rabbit. 
  Just not paying attention.

You need to find one of those devices that gave a readout of mileage on 
the fly- Loren has one, he can help out here.

The optimum shift point in a diesel, like I said, is pretty broad due to 
the nature of efficiency of the diesel engine- pumping losses aside, it 
uses less fuel per stroke at higher rpm, more at lower, when load is 
constant, to achieve almost the same fuel used over time.
-james