Hello, I have a dilemma. My car is a 1991 Honda Civic DX sedan, and it has 196,500 miles. After purchasing it with 164,*** it ran fine. I know that since it's cold out, your mileage decreases slightly. It is a manual transmission, so I understand it is supposed to get great mileage. Well, consistently I was getting 37-40 until I rear ended someone at about 20 mph.... enough to dent the hood and break the honda emblem off of it. From then on, my mileage was consistently 27-33...Keep in mind that this is combined city and highway, with city being the primary. However, I do drive very agressively. Although my driving style hasn't changed, my mileage just dropped recently. I was wondering why it may have changed from the accident. More recently, I was consistently driving 300-350 mph on a tank which holds about 10-10.5 gallons. Now, my fuel gauge is near empty after just over 200. This means that my mileage dropped nearly 8-10 mpg...Granted that it is very cold out and in the low 20's since I'm in Ohio, and some trips are short, but I am wondering if anyone can account for such a loss in fuel economy. My driving style has not changed, and I make just as many if not less short trips than I used to. The only things I can think of are to put in some fuel injector cleaner in before I fill up, and change my air filter. I am also sure that my tires are properly inflated. Furthermore, I just replaced my spark plugs last year as well as wires, and I just tested the wires when the car idled and they definitely are working correctly. I would appreciate any help or insight you can offer since you are reading this. Thank you!

 

Well from what you say, obviously it's something that was damaged during the wreck. Any number of things could have been damaged really, that might be causing this problem.
I recommend getting a warm coat, a flashlight and start studying inside the engine bay of anything that may be damaged / leaking and then running some fuel / emissions tests.

 

check your fuel delivery area such as the fuel rail, injectors, pressure regulator, filter, pump, alllll that crap, see if any of that is leaking, check your tire pressure as well!! that is overlooked by a lot of people, it could just be time to get your fuel injection system cleaned too...check all that, you should be able to find something within those lines...hope that helps.

i would first turn your car on and pop the hood and try to see if you can locate a leak by sight or smell. then go from there.

 

How about your engine power? Did it change?


Did you check alignment?