Hey there. I posted a thread about poor gas mileage a few years back when I bought this car. Per suggestions, I did some casual maintenance, such as air filter, spark plugs, IACV cleaning, transmission flush, fuel and fuel injection cleaning, and timing adjustment. I'm still getting poor fuel economy. I'd say about 15mpg city, 23mpg freeway. For such a small, gutless car, I'd hope for much more, though maybe the D16Y7 is a gas guzzler?

I'm curious if there are any further suggestions about fuel economy improvement. I bought this car to replace a truck, but it's nearly as painful on the wallet. I'm also curious about timing... I have a feeling I'm doing it wrong. I have a timing light, and I've attempted to line up the middle red line with the small calibration sight (the little fork shaped thing) but depending on the angle I look down at it really changes the way I adjust it. It would seem like there should be two sights to look down, kinda like starting down the sight of a gun. (And for what it's worth, I am using a pin to short the jumper underneath the glovebox prior to adjusting timing.)

Anyways, thanks for any suggestions.

 

I'm thinking I posted this in the wrong subforum. *slaps head after seeing fuel economy section*

If a mod can move this, I'd be much obliged. In the meantime, should I be concerned that the car is getting such low mileage, or does it seem par for the course? It's got 150k miles on it. The mileage is the same during the summer or winter... I did notice a small valve cover leak. I'm not sure if this can cause issues. I've also seen people mention changing O2 sensors, though I do not have a CEL. I'm not sure what options I have besides adjusting the timing or looking into a valve adjustment...

 

So I never had any luck getting advice on this topic. Since I posted it, I swapped out my valve cover gasket and fuel filter. I'm pretty sure I have the timing dead on now as well, but I'm still getting really poor fuel economy. In fact, I can smell fuel in the exhaust, and occasionally within the car itself.

I'm moving to grad school in the next few months and want to get this car in shape to last the next three years. I am thinking that maybe I should get the timing belt swapped out (by a pro; that sorta procedure is beyond me) since the car is going to be due in the not-too-distant future. I imagine this would be a good time to have the fuel economy addressed as well. Can anyone recommend any additional procedures I can perform before passing this problem off to a pro? Could the poor fuel economy be due to a major mechanical issue like a blown piston ring or something?