ive only noticed this with the tank im on now so i cant really conclude anything but right now i have used approx. 1/2 tank (9.25 gallons) and i have only gone 136 miles. thats 14 mpg. what the hell is that? i was only at about 60 or 70 for my quarter tank when im usually at about 80 or 90. i havent been flooring it all the time or anything like that. in fact i dont think ive floored it one single time on this tank. supposedly "winter" gas gets worse mileage because of additives or something but it shouldnt drop to 14 mpg from close to 21 mpg. what gives?

 

make sure you are on level ground, since it does make a difference. In my '96 I have what looks to be 3/4 of a tank in the driveway and as soon as I'm on the street it changes to 7/8. Also make sure you are buying good gas. Nothing below 91 octane and none of that Shell crap...

 

So your getting about 275mpg?? That's a little low.. On my '01 I get about 370mpg.. Lately with the cold weather it dropped to like 316mpg.. Maybe cuz the cold weather & my Cai makes me rev more

 

shell is crap?

 

I usually stick to Mobil, Sunoco, Exxon, & Ammaco... I like the Sunoco 94

 

That's the problem I've been having too.
my MPG dropped from 22.5 to 17.5 all of sudden. After I noticed the drop in mpg, i started to test out by driving it really nice & slow, but mpg only climbed up to 17.8. I think even with those addictive in the gas, but it shouldn't drop that much. My car is only 2 months old. Someone please help

 

370 mpg? a Honda Insight doesn't get a 1/4th of that.


Well, I am not going to wine about this, but, my car is getting only around 17 in the city, 20-22 mpg highway. I changed the fuel filter + air filter, I'm about to do the spark plugs, I drive very normally. My car has 62k miles now. Best I've ever done was 340 miles on a tank. Other then that I'm getting anywhere from 230-280, depending on type of driving. I'm going to Pepboys to get me a PCV valve. my car drives fine, I don't know what the problem is, if there even IS a problem. I'm driving mostly around NYC, so it's bumper to bumper traffic everywhere.

btw, I think Cold weather affects fuel economy as well? Typically I get lower milage with colder weather..

 

at least around chicago. my dad put shell premium in his '95 and had alot of problems. the car would shake when idling and the performance was a$$-awfull. I personally will never buy gas anywhere other than Amaco. A week ago I bought gas at Mobil and my throttle response just about disapeared. Not to mention far worse mileage.

 

A wild guess is a dirty air filter AND mostly city driving. I've done as bad as 17 but that's city driving and getting stuck in traffic.

Don't trust the needle, trust the gallons pumped fill-up. Sometimes I drive 75 miles on the highway after getting fuel and the needle remains above full.

14 mpg would drive me crazy even if it's only $0.899/gal now (Saturday)....

 

You cannot guage how much gas is left (gallon wise anyways) from the fuel gauge. The first half is very optimistic and the second half falls very very quickly. 14mpg is low, but not unusual for city driving. I get approx 15.5mpg if I drive all city, and approx 19-20 in mixed highway city driving.

 

For two reasons....1.cold starts and more time to get to proper operating temp.2. In the northeast they add additives to winter gas to improve emmisions, but this hurts the MPG.

 

okay to clear some things up...

"making sure im on level ground": this wasnt me glacing at the gauges once while on my driveway. i have been noticing this for the last 3 days
I think PCGuRu meant miles per tank, not miles per gallon.
"Shell crap": shell is actually supposed to be the best gas for your car as far as mileage goes (exxon for performance). thats what ive heard from certain mechanics. PLUS, ive always used shell (93 octane)in my car so if it was the "shell crap" then it should have always been like this
"Dont trust the needle": i know the needle isnt extrememly accurate but ive been driving this car for 2 years. ive got a good idea of how much gas is left compared to what the needle says. i should have way more miles on half a tank (accoring to the needle) than i do right now.
14 mpg isnt unusual for city driving: yes 14 mpg is unusual. as i said, ive had the car for 2 years and i have always gotten 20-21 mpg. even on the tank before this, that is what i got. im diriving on the roads around my house like i always do. my explorer got better than 14 mpg on these same roads.
dirty filter? maybe but my last tank was fine. the filter wouldnt have gotten THAT dirty in the last 5 days.

i appreciate the help but i have already thought about these things.

 

 

when my car first started having problems, mileage fell to around 14mpg..i drive mostly around town, revving alot. rarely on the highway. i changed my TPS, spark plugs(NGK platinum), changed from ghetto POP style intake to ghetto cold air(K&N cone), new fuel filter and new fuel pump(walbro 255lph). well, since i've had that work done, my best mileage has been 25ish MPG (315miles, 13 gallons on fill up). i filled up last night, i'm at 21mpg.
whats the PCV valve? what does it do and how hard is it to replace?

 

i think i realized what the problem was. since im selling my car soon i decided to be cheap and fill up with "regular" 87 octane gasoline. i never would have thought using 87 octane would hurt my MPG so badly but ive concluded that had to be the reason as last night i filled up with the usual 93 octane and ive gone 115 miles on a quarter tank instead of 70 miles like last time. so i guess i figured out what the problem was.

 

Been driving my 96 GXE auto for 5 1/2 years and filing with 87 and 93 gas, I could hardly tell there is MPG difference with diff Octane. My driving pattern is basically 70% hiway and 30% city, and MPG is almost always between 21+ to 22+. Around here I usually use Pice Costco's, Beacon (?, cheap one I think), 76, Chevron, etc.
BTW my friend said with his 89 Accord, he always used 76 which he felt a much smoother drive. The other brand gave him some shaking feeling.