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Thread: Shift Light

  1. #1
    Business Up Front Johnny Mullet's Avatar
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    Shift Light

    It would be nice if the Mirage a shift up indicator like a lot of manual transmission cars have. Everytime I get in the Mirage and drive (like on the weekends or store trips) I notice the wife gets like low to mid 40 MPG's, but everytime I drive it I get high 40's to low 50's

    I figured it out one day when letting her drive while I rode shotgun after a few beers. I noticed her going 55+ mph in 3rd gear and I corrected her like 4 times on the ride that she needs to upshift. Wifey is hard of hearing and does not hear the engine screaming at 4K while cruising down the road. I decided to remove the intake air snorkel to make the engine louder and this seems to correct the issue, but I would rather have an upshift indicator.



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    Quote Originally Posted by Johnny Mullet View Post
    It would be nice if the Mirage a shift up indicator like a lot of manual transmission cars have
    My Space Star has. Two arrows on the LCD display. So if your car hasn't, maybe it can be added by an ETACS hack.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2013 Space Star Cleartec Intense 1.0 manual: 55.7 mpg (US) ... 23.7 km/L ... 4.2 L/100 km ... 66.9 mpg (Imp)


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    Still Plays With Cars Loren's Avatar
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    You can think of the ECO light as a sort of reverse shift light. If you're driving normally, shift when the light goes out. It won't get you full hypermiler MPG, but probably as good as you'd get by following a shift ligtht, which would have similar programming.

    Or, if you want something RPM-based that she's really going to see:
    https://www.amazon.com/GlowShift-Black-Adjustable-Shift-Light/dp/B001PNPU3I

    Or you could put a cheap old smart phone or tablet in the car, get a Bluetooth OBD interface, and put anything in the world you want up on the screen as large as you want with a shift indicator.
    Simplify and add lightness.

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    Senior Member Alex1a1f's Avatar
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    Just so you're aware.. if you purchase a shift light.. most only work for even numbered cylinders. Make sure you inquire before you waste your money.
    (blank signature)

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    Still Plays With Cars Loren's Avatar
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    I hadn't thought of that. I know this wouldn't work for a tach, but what if you set it for a 6-cylinder and then set your limit to half of what you want it to be?

    For a tach, you need accuracy. For a shift light, you can lie to it as much as you need to, you just need it to come on when you want it to.
    Simplify and add lightness.

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    Senior Member Mitz's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Space Wolf View Post
    My Space Star has. Two arrows on the LCD display. So if your car hasn't, maybe it can be added by an ETACS hack.
    What car model do you have pal? Can you post a pic of your LCD display? I'll see if there's an option at ETACS Decoder for that.

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    Senior Member Cobrajet's Avatar
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    All a shift light really does is come on when the vacuum pressure in the intake reaches a certain pre-set value. As has been mentioned, the 'Eco' light in the Mirage does the same thing. But instead of coming on when you need to shift, it stays on when you don't need to shift.

    Tell Mrs. Mullet that if she can't see the 'Eco' light she's probably in the wrong gear.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mitz View Post
    What car model do you have pal? Can you post a pic of your LCD display? I'll see if there's an option at ETACS Decoder for that.
    An early 2013 Space Star Cleartec Intense 1.0 manual. A real pic is a bit hard. The arrows are only visible when driving, and then I don't want to handle a camera.

    Here is a picture from the owners manual:
    Name:  lcd.jpg
Views: 1323
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    The arrows marked with '6' are the shift indicators. And of course the 'P' marked with '5' is not available.


    BTW, the Eco lights and the shift indicator do often not concur. For instance, when driving uphill in the 4th gear at 70km/h, with two green Eco lights on, the shift indicator tells you to shift up. But when you do so, you will loose speed, or have the red Eco light on.
    As I don't know what the Eco light is actually telling, (the manual doesn't say anything about the underlying algorithm), I don't know which one is right. My gut feeling tells me I should use the 4th gear.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2013 Space Star Cleartec Intense 1.0 manual: 55.7 mpg (US) ... 23.7 km/L ... 4.2 L/100 km ... 66.9 mpg (Imp)


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  12. #9
    Still Plays With Cars Loren's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Space Wolf View Post
    My gut feeling tells me I should use the 4th gear.
    I think your gut is correct. Never make the engine struggle unnecessarily.

    The shift logic probably includes something like "IF not accelerating AND is RPM above X THEN Upshift" It doesn't know that you're going up a hill, just that you're no longer accelerating.

    The ECO light is probably mostly a vacuum gauge. Lots of vacuum means you're babying the throttle and being theoretically economical. Less vacuum means you opened the throttle more and are using more power and thus more fuel. They draw a line in there somewhere that allows you to accelerate "reasonably", but if you apply more throttle than that (vacuum is less than X at whatever RPM) then the ECO light turns off.

    Being a complex system with lots more inputs available, it's probably more involved than that. But, that's basically what it's doing.


    Simplify and add lightness.

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