Hey guys. i Have 91 se, and i have been getting really crappy gas mileage. Most of my driving is around town, and i get approx. 25 miles to a quarter of a tank of gas. WHat can i do to fix this problem? I have also used the search function, and i have done all of things people have said to do

 

Don't floor it.

I got nearly 280 miles off 16 gallons of gas recently.

 

a tune-up might help, changing the gas cap and like Gamezilla said no "leadfoot" helps the most!

 

It amazes me how some people complain about crappy gas mileage. I get 400 miles or better to a tank.

 

i have this EXACT same problem, i drove to and back from school today 10 miles there, 10 miles back and used a quarter of a tank, and i never floor it..

 

How about actually calculating the mileage for a full tank? Gas gauges tend to be a little less than 100% accurate. Run out most of the tank (keep track of miles), fill up, divide miles by gal and get you MPG. Saying I only got x miles on a 1/4 tank means jack squat...

I keep a spreadsheet of every tank in my car...avg about 21 during the week, got 25'ish on road trips. With the right conditions I'll see 28-30 mpg...not bad for a 360 HP car...

 

My maxima's fuel gauge drops the first quarter tank in less than 30 miles. Needless to say it's inaccurate. Just fill your tank to the top run it for x miles then fill it back up to top. divide your miles by the gallons refilled. argh, i just realized hankd already said what typed.

 

360HP Maxima???!!

 

Maxima???

 

re-read his sig...

 

I think that you should get some of that fuel injector cleaner...it definately helped me...and put quality gas in your car...like Mobil, check tire pressure, that stuff really makes a big difference....good luck

O

 

I have a '91 as well and generally get 20 miles or so to the gallon in town (about 270 miles on one tank) and as high as 33 or so on the highway. I don't know what everyone else has told you, but when I notice my gas mileage slipping I usually know one or two things I need to do. Everyone else is right when they say don't floor it. My '91 still has some zip and will move, but it sucks gas when I do floor it all the time. I change the oil every 3,000 miles and add a bottle of fuel injector cleaner. I only burn 93 octane gas (helps reduce the slight knock I hear every once in a while) and try to keep my tires at max p.s.i. I changed the wires and plugs myself last summer and that helped somewhat. When I'm on the interstate on long trips, I do better the closer to the speed limit I go (which is kind of an obvious thing but it helps) especially when you're comparing 80 mph to 65 mph. Do try to run your tank down to nothing and fill it up and track the miles you get out of that tank of gas; its the best reading you can get. If I fill my car, some days I can drive 40 miles or so before the needle even begins to move down. You may just have a goofy needle. I can't remember if the fuel pump is in the gas tank or not, but if there has ever been any work done back there, they may have messed up the float mechanism (happened to me with a different car).

 

i am supprised that noone even mentioned the fuel filter! when i took mine off it was the original oem 91 filter, and it weighed about 3 pounds! try replacing this and let me know if it help.I got a huge increase in gas mileage after that! I would also do a tune up (rotor button, cap, gas cap, air filter, wires, plugs, chevron with techron fuel sytstem cleaner)(maybe even your throttle body needs cleaning) you might even want to start using valvoline maxlife on your engine. well if you need more help just let me know!

 

get into the habit of taking off slowly...from redlights and such - i understand cutting in front of people may prevent that. but if you take of slowly and try to keep the rpm needle under 2 it saves you A LOT of gas...you will notice the difference. it takes a lil longer to get up to speed but only by a few seconds. just take your time. This gets me a tank a gas per week...and i drive approx 40-50 miles a day sometimes more goodluck!

 

I drive 75 miles to work daily one way, all highway. I guess driving 90 - 95 miles per hour all the way is the reason I am only getting 20 miles to the gallon ???? How much of a difference would it make if I went the speed limit (70mph)? I hear you when you say, you will save a lot of gas if you slow down, but how much is a lot?

Sidney
http://maxima.cardomain.com/id/sxwk12

 

a lot is enough to get you up to 300+ MPT

I went about 80/85 down to LA from SF and was only getting about 22MPG. On the way back I was forced to go around the speed limit of 65-70 and my MGP rose to about 28

Needless to say, all the driving was highway

 

Well let me tell ya, on my Caddy the way I drive makes a HUGE difference.. it didn't seem to make too much of one on my Maxima, but let me give you an example: On the Caddy there is a gauge for Average MPG, when I was driving around very conservatively trying to get as much gas mileage as possible, I was getting ~330 a tank for a whopping 14.5 MPG, but now I drive around like I did in my Maxima (only a lot faster ) and I'm only getting 11.5 MPG and I'm gonna run out of gas at 240-250 or so..

 

Yeah the gauge drops way fast when it's on its on it first drop. It usually only takes about 40 miles for mine to be at a quarter tank. Caluculate the gas milage to get an accurate reading.

 

I have a '91, and I've noticed a few things: 89 octane gives me about 40 more miles to the tank versus 87. Keeping your tire pressure up helps quite a bit, as well as good plugs. Mainly, aside from using good gas, they're right about your driving. If you are going to pass with a lot of throttle though, just go ahead and downshift.

 

OK i know this is dumb but do you smoke (drive with the window down) I know my gas mi. drop right down when I crack the window at 75

 

was it u who wrote that u got 280 miles off of 16 gallons beacause usually that is where i am at as well I noticed that when u floor the hell out of it all the time which us maxima drivers seem to do because maxes have the power and torque gas mpg goes down take it easy check the fuel filter etc if not

 

I averaged 29.4 MPG on a trip from LA to Seattle last week. I drove highway and roads such as along Big Sur. Fast and slow. Rush hour and open, 80mph+ driving. Unreal. I am used to my Xterra getting 16-18MPG at best. Pig slow too.

 

With the turbo and 370cc injectors (185's are stock) I still get into the low 20's around town and 26'ish @ 75-80.

The best I ever got was 29.9x when the car was stock and I had Energy MXV4's. There was a huge difference when I installed 300Ztt wheels & performance tires (got worse).

For those of you that drive over 3000 rpm in 5th on the freeway, or are punching it all the time, the JWT ecu leans out the open-loop fueling quite a bit and should provide better mpg's. Also, normally the ecu leaves closed-loop around 3000 rpm at freeway load's, so Clark can extend that for you, which will help the speeders out there.

MK

 

i am frequently going about 75 miles to indi and back... but i notice a HUGE difference in milage when i speed

when i run late (usually) i sometimes speed up to 120.. averaging around 100 mph

the trip takes about a 25-35 perecent more gas than when i go 70... course.. i get there 30 min faster