hello everyone...lately i have been very disappointed with my car...i have a 1998 honda civic ex coupe and ive been driving it for the past 7 months or so and my question is latley i have been gettting about 22 miles to the gallon on my car normally on a full tank driving local and highway combined i used to get around 290 miles total but now i fill my tank up and set the tiker to zero and by the time im refueling im getting about 220 miles to the full tank...what is wrong with my car? i took it to my local mechanic and he looked at it and couldnt find anything wrong with it...i recently got my fuel filter changed and my car tuned up ...the timing belt seems to be working fine as far as the mechanic goes...........but really is it just me or someon else has this problem to ? what do u say i do? i dont wanna spend 2 much money on it im a college student barley making it thru

 

Noah....Not sure where you live, but it's not unusual to get poorer mileage in the winter. The reason? Gasoline is reformulated. Oil, transmission fluid, wheel bearing grease, and other lubricants are much stiffer on start-up until several miles are driven due to colder temperatures. Tires have greater rolling resistance in colder weather. All combined, this can have a significant effect on gas mileage. Couple of questions: Has your air filter been recently replaced? Have you checked tire pressure lately? Do you drive the car slowly to warm it up or do you let it idle in your driveway? I suspect that, if your driving habits and throttle control remain constant, you will see mileage go up again when warmer weather is upon us.

One further comment. Estimating mileage based upon distance between fill-ups is not very accurate. The only way to truly accurately measure mileage is to divide the number of miles driven since your last fill-up by the number of gallons (including 10ths of gallons) required to fill the tank.

 

delawron thanks for the very much appreciated fast reply....yes i have recently checked my air filters and everything when i got my oil changed i guess i will give it another shot by checking all the fluid levles but do u think losing 60 close to 70 miles on a tank is normal for a honda civic im barley getting 22 mpg within this thing.....and yes i usually start it up on the driveway during hte winter and let it warm up on idel before i drive it ..does that affect anthign

 

another thing is that i live in illinois but i mean isnt it extreme to loose 60 miles to the tank just because its winter..

 

You also might want to check your primary O2 sensor. they go bad with age and have a great effect on fuel economy.

 

Noah....Despite what some may say, warming up the car in the driveway is not a recommended procedure. The best way, and the most fuel efficient way to warm up your car is to drive it slowly for a few miles. Not only will it warm up faster that way, but you will also improve your gas mileage.

 

thanks a lot guys for all the feedback..so what do you guys suggest i do now..i dont know squat about cas.

 

- Get a Factory Service Manual.
- Check your tire pressure.
- Make sure your brakes aren't dragging.
- Check your sparkplugs, wires, cap, and coil. Make sure the plugs aren't fouled and that they're properly gapped.
- Check your fuel pressure.
- Clean your fuel system.
- Check your O2 sensor.
- Stop idling your car to warm it up. You get 0MPG when you're sitting still. If the windows are clear, once the oil pressure has been up for 10 seconds or more, you should be fine to slowly accelerate. Let the engine, tranny, and steering slowly warm up as you go.
- Do a compression test.
- Try to combine your errands into longer trips that keep the car somewhat warm, instead of shorter trips that let the car completely coold down.
- Remove excess unnecessary weight from your car. This could even be in the form of ice and snow.
- Minimize wheelspin.

 

Maybe you drive to fast and accelerate too hard. + don't warm up the car in idle.

Tires also affect fuel economy, and go max side wall pressure. I overpressure mine to 48 psi.

Check Cleanmpg.com and Gassavers.org for more stuff on getting better mpg.

 

thanks a lot guys! for all the feedback..

yeah i stopped warming up my car on idle n checked my tire pressure ....other than that i didnt do much change but it seems like im gettng better milage now,idk if its because its been a little warmer latley or its just that what you guys told me worked but im at around 240 miles and i have about a quarter tank of fuel remaining..thanks once again appreciate it !