Gas mileage!!!!!

[Xtreemjedi]

I have an '89 LX-I, and as far as I know, it has a 15.9 gallon fuel tank. But i'm averaging only 200-230 miles on a tank. That's only 14.5 mpg at it's best! I DO like to stomp the pedal at traffic lights and take off fast, but it can't be drinking that much gas can it? My thought is that it must be a problem with the car, mechanical or electrical. Anyone else have experiance with this? This is my first thread so don't tear me up too bad...

[MessyHonda]

a tune up is your friend....sont stomp on it for a tank and see how much you can get.....last time i got like 19mpg but i was going like 85+ windows down...for like a hour...it was damn hot...one time i just wanted to find out how much i got per tank and drove super slow and i got 420miles per tank

[ghettogeddy]

well u might want to start with some lucas in the gas it will clean and condition your top end so theres no build up also change your fuel filters and check your 02 u might wan tto get a better filter and get some better plugs and wire(i recomend ngk plugs and wires) other then that u might want to try searching the site there are some pritty helpful tips on gas millage

[Xtreemjedi]

You say "fuel filters", as in more than one? And did you mean a performance fuel filter, or was if a diff filter you were talking about? I don't need a diff air or oil filter. You don't happen to know where my O2 sensor is would you?

[Pico]

your O2 sensors are located in your manifold right in front of the engine there are 2 of them, and being your car is injected you have 1 fuel filter in the enging compartment.
The mileage your are getting is that city or highway and is your car stick or manual?

[Xtreemjedi]

If my car was stick, it would be manual. But no, it's auto. :thumbdn: And you say the fuel filter is in the 'engine' compartment? I thought it was near the fuel tank. ok thx

[ghettogeddy]

i know i have two one in the front an done bye the tank and i ment a air filter never seen a dif in oil filters

[Pico]

If my car was stick, it would be manual. But no, it's auto. :thumbdn: And you say the fuel filter is in the 'engine' compartment? I thought it was near the fuel tank. ok thx
Its right on the firewall next to the vaccum box.

[Xtreemjedi]

Cool thanks, go see my car at cardomain to see my intake.

[Oldblueaccord]

Well my car with 267k miles I just pulled a 27 mpg all local miles here in Knoxville so you have room for improvement. Thats with 89 octane and a few onces of Acetone in a full tank.

First off clean air filter or a new one. Then basic tuneup stuff that you can do your self. Spark plugs (NGK),spark plug wires (NGK or Accels) ,distributor cap and rotor (Standard brand or Honda).

If your able to change your fuel filter it is on the fire wall passenger side. Its a round canister with fuel lines on it.

If your able to check your timing and adjust it according to the book.

Try that stuffs its easiest and see what you get.

wp

[snoopyloopy]

hmm...wonderful ideas. i've been getting about 20 mpg since i put on my dc sports headers two weeks ago. that's down from 23-24 mpg before. i do drive fast, but i don't think i'm stomping it that much at the stop light. 89 lx-i auto.

[speedpenguin]

I always thought our cars had 14-gallon tanks... Was I wrong?

[MessyHonda]

I always thought our cars had 14-gallon tanks... Was I wrong?

yeah its like 15.9gals...the most gas i have put was like 12.6 gals at one time

[DDRaptor]

One question Are you really filling up your tank all the with 15.9 Gallons,
because i have sediment in my tank and it does'nt hold 15 gals it holds less than 12 so you may want to check the pump when you fill up, you never know

as For me i did a lot of things to get more MPG

A full tune up
oil change. I used a K&N Oil Filter (part # HP-1004) i think.
2 fuel filters (i have a carb)
Fuel Pressure Reg + PSI Guage.
Duralast Air filter
Check your Tire pressure.
As for me i got from Lawerence MA to my home in Bronx, NY with half a tank. i would tell you what MPG if i knew how much gas my tank actually holds. and that was driving at speed limit to 65
so i guess i'm getting great mileage.

[MessyHonda]

yeah i think its true since my gas light came on when i was at the stop...i looked in the manual and it said that the gas light will come on when the tank has 3-4 gal left. and i filled it up with 12.6 gal first time i filled it up since i got it....i usually put 20 bucks cash every time. and this time it came out to 38 bucks

[Vanilla Sky]

another FL member YAY.

tune up. can't stress it enough. a full tuneup got me an increase of nearly 5MPG in my truck. plugs, wires, cap, rotor, O2 sensor, seafoam in the gas, seafoam in the oil (put a few ounces in the crankcase, crank the engine, and let idle for about 10 minutes), seafoam in the intake (via the brake booster vacuum line), air filter, fuel filter.

you wouldn't believe the difference you'll get with a simple tuneup.

if we were a bit closer together, i'd pop over and help you get to around 30MPG (easy foot, of course).

[MessyHonda]

another FL member YAY.
tune up. can't stress it enough. a full tuneup got me an increase of nearly 5MPG in my truck. plugs, wires, cap, rotor, O2 sensor, seafoam in the gas, seafoam in the oil (put a few ounces in the crankcase, crank the engine, and let idle for about 10 minutes), seafoam in the intake (via the brake booster vacuum line), air filter, fuel filter.
you wouldn't believe the difference you'll get with a simple tuneup.
if we were a bit closer together, i'd pop over and help you get to around 30MPG (easy foot, of course).


i would warn against seafoam in the crankcase...it just makes your oil less thick so the water in the oil can steam out....i used 1/2 can of seafoam on my tank and then saved the rest for the next tank....now my car runs a lil stonger and i get 420miles per tank

[Pico]

I'd clean out the PCV valve also after using it. All the gunk that it cleans out plugs up the PCV valve, thats what happened to me causing the pressure to build up in my crankcase pushing out the oil pan gasket

[Vanilla Sky]

hmm, come to think about it, yeah. The PCV valve should be replaced at this age, anyway. It's not like they cost much.

[Xtreemjedi]

I already bought the fuel filter, I need to buy the PCV valve, I spent this whole weekend fixing my mom's JEEP POS! I hate american cars. My car is 8 years older than her Jeep, and it NEVER breaks down. I'm going to have to do some work during the week I guess. You guys all need to go to my cardomain and see SOME of the stuff i've done, it's not fully up to date, but I already have NGK's in there, short ram intake, I just did an oil change about 3 months ago, so i'm doing another this weekend. [while i'm doing that i'm also changing the oil pan gasket, valve cover gasket, and painting the valve cover] I guess I need to change the O2 sensor, it's in the exhaust manifold right?

[Vanilla Sky]

yes, but you have two of them in the exhaust manifold. replace both.

[Oldblueaccord]

err this is how i check mpg on a car.

1. Fill the tank note your milage on the odometer or reset your trip guage.

2. Drive the car,when the tank is fairly low fill again until the pump just stops on its own.

3. Take the gallons you put in the car and divide that by the miles you drove that your MPG

So yesteday I filled up my old 77 lebarron i put 13.2 gallons in it and I drove 165 miles.

The answer is >????????????



wp

[2oodoor]

err this is how i check mpg on a car.
1. Fill the tank note your milage on the odometer or reset your trip guage.
2. Drive the car,when the tank is fairly low fill again until the pump just stops on its own.
3. Take the gallons you put in the car and divide that by the miles you drove that your MPG
So yesteday I filled up my old 77 lebarron i put 13.2 gallons in it and I drove 165 miles.
The answer is >????????????
wp
12.5 mpg, U equasion is wrong I think. That is how you figure percentage.


the lebarron is capable of getting 22 mpg, mine did,I did a rig on it, along with several other my own and friends chryslers of the era. I did away with the spark computer, put on dual exhaust with glasspacks and equalzer tube, change the dizzy to pre 72 , uses points, rewire the ballast , adju float and meter rod travel,up timing as far as it would without pinging. retain lockup torque conveter, used 15 inch wheels. kinda worked like the 3G vaccuum removal but you have to buy early model points dizzy.
to be totally honest, I did a friends lebarron, my car was a fury like roscoe p coaltrains, I did have a couple of lebarrons and diplomats.they made an intake for police diplomat that had rochester quad on it ., much better and easy to keep in tune.

[2oodoor]

hmm...wonderful ideas. i've been getting about 20 mpg since i put on my dc sports headers two weeks ago. that's down from 23-24 mpg before. i do drive fast, but i don't think i'm stomping it that much at the stop light. 89 lx-i auto.
something is foul in denmark, dude you suppose to get better gas mileage with headers... as long as you dont keep digging on the sound of those fat tubes!!!!!,also you may have funkywompassed your O2 zsensors, bad or slow reading ones can kill your gas mileage and you willnever be able to tell by the way it runs.

[Oldblueaccord]

well whats your formula old mighty one?

its stock 318 4 barrel lean burn. it gets 2-4 mpg better with acetone.

My point being you dont need to know the size of your gas tank to figure your milage just fuel amount used and miles driven. Maybe that a better way to say it and lord knows I should NOT teach math.


wp

[shepherd79]

err this is how i check mpg on a car.
1. Fill the tank note your milage on the odometer or reset your trip guage.
2. Drive the car,when the tank is fairly low fill again until the pump just stops on its own.
3. Take the gallons you put in the car and divide that by the miles you drove that your MPG
So yesteday I filled up my old 77 lebarron i put 13.2 gallons in it and I drove 165 miles.
The answer is >????????????
wp


i do exactly the same thing to figure out the gas mileage.
My car is getting 37-40 mpg on highway or around 32-35 in the city. the reason i am getting this kind gas mileage is because i have 5 speed from carbed accord. It has lower gear ratios.

[2oodoor]

well whats your formula old mighty one?
its stock 318 4 barrel lean burn. it gets 2-4 mpg better with acetone.
My point being you dont need to know the size of your gas tank to figure your milage just fuel amount used and miles driven. Maybe that a better way to say it and lord knows I should NOT teach math.
wp
Old mighty one?, omg, i have become my monkeys uncle. Im just trying to help with ideas man and what I have seen work before. Gas mileage formula I assume you are meaning, backwards from yours, how many miles Y did you get from the amount you put in Z, so Z divided by Y + mpg . example for the class clown in the back rolling a doob, Z/10gal divided by Y 100 miles equals 10 mpg.
OH regarding the chrysler, whatever you do its yours but acetone will eat up shit.. All those I converted were lean burn, that is why I replaced distributor with points], moved the wire on the ballast that goes to coil. adjust carb to its bottom stop, then adjust mix, and set timing so it just stops pinging, about 10-12 deg BTDC, you also have to punch out honeycomb in cat. I promise if the 318 is in good shape valve sealing good and timing chain good, you will get 20 mpg , Ive done it to several cars, it makes a lot more power to

[snoopyloopy]

something is foul in denmark, dude you suppose to get better gas mileage with headers... as long as you dont keep digging on the sound of those fat tubes!!!!!,also you may have funkywompassed your O2 zsensors, bad or slow reading ones can kill your gas mileage and you willnever be able to tell by the way it runs.
i know, which is why i was a bit confused. when i loosened the egr valve so i can get it on, i didn't tighten one of the bolts enough so it fell off and i haven't gotten another one. and i reversed the o2 sensors because the guy i bought them from said that the engine runs better that way. (and i put them on properly and the car did run like complete crap. but he bought the headers used himself so maybe it's just time for new ones.) but beyond that, i don't see what could be causing it because that's all i bothered. but maybe it is the o2 sensors because my engine acts like i added vtec headers. no power/acceleration to 2500 then power to 3000 and then none till 3500 when it's cold. and when it's warm, no power till 3300 or so. then it's like vtec kicking in. sounds cool but it's annoying as hell since i don't really like cruising in 3rd gear on the freeway.

err this is how i check mpg on a car.
1. Fill the tank note your milage on the odometer or reset your trip guage.
2. Drive the car,when the tank is fairly low fill again until the pump just stops on its own.
3. Take the gallons you put in the car and divide that by the miles you drove that your MPG
So yesteday I filled up my old 77 lebarron i put 13.2 gallons in it and I drove 165 miles.
The answer is >????????????
wp
to figure out your mpg, you divide how many miles you went by how many gallons you went. not the other way around. the acronym, miles per gallon, tells you that you divide the miles by how many gallons, not the other way around.

[B16KILLA]

i know, which is why i was a bit confused. when i loosened the egr valve so i can get it on, i didn't tighten one of the bolts enough so it fell off and i haven't gotten another one. and i reversed the o2 sensors because the guy i bought them from said that the engine runs better that way. (and i put them on properly and the car did run like complete crap. but he bought the headers used himself so maybe it's just time for new ones.) but beyond that, i don't see what could be causing it because that's all i bothered. but maybe it is the o2 sensors because my engine acts like i added vtec headers. no power/acceleration to 2500 then power to 3000 and then none till 3500 when it's cold. and when it's warm, no power till 3300 or so. then it's like vtec kicking in. sounds cool but it's annoying as hell since i don't really like cruising in 3rd gear on the freeway.
.
my car was doing the exact same thing when I put on my header. Leave the O2 sensors in and just switch the plugs. Plug one O2 sensor where the other goes & vise-versa.

[MessyHonda]

^^^you guys have DC or pacesetters?^^^

[B16KILLA]

^^^you guys have DC or pacesetters?^^^

I have the pacesetter. I'm not sure about snoopy he might have a dc

[RamThis]

Make sure when checking mileage, you use the SAME PUMP that you got your gas from before. Fill the tank until the pump shuts off automatically. Reset your trip odometer. Drive it till you need to fill up, go to the SAME PUMP (because it's going to meter the fuel the same, plus the car will be setting in the exact same angle as before so air pockets wont be an issue, meaning the pump will put the exact same amount or at least very close, enough to determine mileage to a fairly accurate degree)

Once you know how much fuel it took to refill, divide your miles driven by the gallons of gas you put in, and that is your average fuel mileage for that tank. You need to do this over at least five tanks, ten or more is better, then you can add each averaged mileage per tank together, and divide that number by how many tank full's averages you added together, and that will give you a good, clear overall average of your mileage over a long period of time. Mileage can vary alot, depending on ambient temperature, traffic conditions, and actual fuel composition between tank to tank.

It's not hard to do either, just keep a piece of paper in the door pocket and a pen, and just write down miles/gallons each fillup for a while then do the math later.

Also, the headers might make the mileage seem to go down, only because of the "novelty" of the added power makes you drive it harder whether you know it or not. My truck's mileage dropped alot going to 4.10 gears at first, but once I got used to it and wasnt driving the piss out of it all the time, my mileage actually came up 1-2 MPG average from when I had 3.55's.

[TWOLOUDNPROUD]

^^^you guys have DC or pacesetters?^^^
Messy PM me with your Address for i can sent you the Dc Header.

[2oodoor]

i know, which is why i was a bit confused. when i loosened the egr valve so i can get it on, i didn't tighten one of the bolts enough so it fell off and i haven't gotten another one. and i reversed the o2 sensors because the guy i bought them from said that the engine runs better that way. (and i put them on properly and the car did run like complete crap. but he bought the headers used himself so maybe it's just time for new ones.) but beyond that, i don't see what could be causing it because that's all i bothered. but maybe it is the o2 sensors because my engine acts like i added vtec headers. no power/acceleration to 2500 then power to 3000 and then none till 3500 when it's cold. and when it's warm, no power till 3300 or so. then it's like vtec kicking in. sounds cool but it's annoying as hell since i don't really like cruising in 3rd gear on the freeway.
to figure out your mpg, you divide how many miles you went by how many gallons you went. not the other way around. the acronym, miles per gallon, tells you that you divide the miles by how many gallons, not the other way around.
I was cornfused too, I looked back and it looked like the same formula to me, but his final answer was way off from mine. go figure./.. hahah I said figure
Are these Hondas like other OBD2 cars where you must unhook computer so it can relearn the changes. Reversing the wires on the sensor themselves just is for fooling the ECM if you have removed cats. with headers you can also up tune your timing a couple of degrees from spec... and give your injectors a more steep dwell curve. if you use programable type. also you may need a valve job, valves may not be seating good nuff, so losing back pressure actually hurt your bottom torque, does any of that make sense>? Im putting on my DC tommorrow and I sure dont want that investement to cost me mpg, but Im carbed .wood not hurt, would not indeed to check out the rest of exhaust system. and make sure egr is not stuck open.
take care snoopy, and try not to change too many things at once before test drive, it gets you all P'd off.

[RamThis]

OBDII cars do not need the battery unhooked anyway, it is a total myth. They are adaptive and will adjust themselves to obtain the highest efficiency constantly.

[snoopyloopy]

my car was doing the exact same thing when I put on my header. Leave the O2 sensors in and just switch the plugs. Plug one O2 sensor where the other goes & vise-versa.
yeah, that's what i ended up doing. green into yellow and yellow into green. because correctly, it ran like complete crap. but the "vtec" phenom is stil annoying.

^^^you guys have DC or pacesetters?^^^
i do.

and i think it may have a bit to do with what type of driving i'm doing. when i took longer trips on the highway with the stock headers, i was getting the same 23 or 24 mpg i'm getting in the city. now i apparently get around 20, 21 in the city, but 30 or so on the highway. so apparently i need to do more road trips.

[TWOLOUDNPROUD]

This is going to kill you with my B20a and my fuel presure set at 60 psi stage 2 cams and my Shogun Hypertech turner i Still get 275 miles to a tank.

[HOOPTIE]

Make sure when checking mileage, you use the SAME PUMP that you got your gas from before. Fill the tank until the pump shuts off automatically. Reset your trip odometer. Drive it till you need to fill up, go to the SAME PUMP (because it's going to meter the fuel the same, plus the car will be setting in the exact same angle as before so air pockets wont be an issue, meaning the pump will put the exact same amount or at least very close, enough to determine mileage to a fairly accurate degree)
Once you know how much fuel it took to refill, divide your miles driven by the gallons of gas you put in, and that is your average fuel mileage for that tank. You need to do this over at least five tanks, ten or more is better, then you can add each averaged mileage per tank together, and divide that number by how many tank full's averages you added together, and that will give you a good, clear overall average of your mileage over a long period of time. Mileage can vary alot, depending on ambient temperature, traffic conditions, and actual fuel composition between tank to tank.
It's not hard to do either, just keep a piece of paper in the door pocket and a pen, and just write down miles/gallons each fillup for a while then do the math later.
Also, the headers might make the mileage seem to go down, only because of the "novelty" of the added power makes you drive it harder whether you know it or not. My truck's mileage dropped alot going to 4.10 gears at first, but once I got used to it and wasnt driving the piss out of it all the time, my mileage actually came up 1-2 MPG average from when I had 3.55's.
This is how I did it and I average 34 mpg (75% highway and 25% city). I do not drive it easy either and I have almost 300,000 miles on it too. It is maintained like a new car and it does not leak, drip, or use any oil. Maybe I have a freak car but I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!