blackls

Okay, I read of some of you people getting like 350 miles to the tank and I am so jealous. My gas gauge reads a little on the low side (the needle goes to E and the gas light comes on earlier then most; at about 3 gallons left) and I am lucky to get 240 miles to 11 gallons of gas (that's about 22 mpg for you math majors out there ) and that's pretty crappy. My driving is mixed city and highway; mostly city though, but I think that's still pretty bad for city driving. Only mods are intake, ignition, and exhaust on a 94 LS w/ 70K miles; the ignition didn't help anything as far as gas mileage goes. I don't really drive that aggressively; shift at 3K-3.5K normally and hit 5K-6K maybe twice a day at most (under normal driving conditions). I'm running Penzoil 5w40; would switching to 10w40 help any? I run with my A/C on at 1 about half the time; the car is unbearably slow when the A/C is on so I only use it when I have to. Any other factors as to why my mileage sucks so much? I used to have a Civic DX and that thing was awesome in terms of gas mileage; I'd get 32 mpg without even trying in the city.

Vracer111

10W40 oil! That isn't right, you should be using 10W30....your current oil is too thick (viscous), which is not good for your engine! Get some 10W30 oil in that car pronto! It will improve your fuel mileage too....


[Modified by Vracer111, 10:02 PM 7/19/2001]

blackls

Oops...sorry, meant 5w30 and 10w30...not 40 Oh, btw...I use 93 octane when I fill up everytime...

Ricehornet

thinner oil = less viscious = better milage......at least in theory

how are you measuring your gas milage? ...dont go by the fill light, or the gauge.....basically what you should do to measure is the following.
1- fill up gas until the "click" then stop.
2-reset trip odometer
3-drive
4-when you want to fill up gas go back to the same gas station and preferbly the same pump and fill up to the click again. That's how many gallons you used...then you get the number in the trip odometer and do the math.

AC does kill it pretty bad


[Modified by Ricehornet, 1:53 AM 7/20/2001]


[Modified by Ricehornet, 1:57 AM 7/20/2001]

Rain_man

Wow that is pretty bad, I'm guessing you might have some worn out parts. I've noticed my mileage has gone down too, and it seemed to coincide with my wheelbearings going bad. Mine have about 93k on them, but I've heard about bearings going out earlier than that.

A good way to check too is to see what kind of highway mileage you can get. But the only way you can find that out is through a long trip. I can get as much as 400 miles to a fillup (although I'm using up 13 gallons of the 13.3 capacity, hehe) which still only comes out to a hair above 30 miles per gallon. And also remember that the teg is rated for 24 city driving, nothing especially high.

You might have other worn out things, such as spark plugs, wires, cap/rotor, and so on... who knows, but I'm guessing it's maintainance related. Either way it can't hurt to replace parts when they're worn out.

blackls

Well, I always reset my tripometer everytime I fill the gas, and I calculate mileage by gallons pumped divided by mileage on tripometer. I don't think it's maintenence related though; I just had my 60K service done about 4K mi ago and everything checked out fine (except for radiator and brakes which I have since fixed). I am lowered too, but I don't think that would affect my mileage any; I don't have any negative camber whatsoever; 14" steel rims can't hurt mileage either I'm guessing. I'll go check my tire pressure tomorrow, someone told me that if it's low, it can decrease gas mileage. I have gotten 29.5 mpg before when I drove from Dallas to Austin (about 90 mph the entire time with spurts up to 110), and that was before I had the 60K service done. I'm guessing it's something stupid and minor though...

leesiulung

I HEARD that if I you drive very fast say freeway driving and have your window open it hampers you mpg, better to have AC on and windows up!! Guess its a aerodynamic thing.....?? Another factor is also weather... but i still don't think you should get that low mpg though...

-siu lung

H23 Power

thats not right....i get 27-28 in my GSR...1/2 a/c....few street races...and driving pretty hard...

WOTTEG

City Driving = Sitting at lights not moving = burning gas but not moving
City Driving = Acceleratign from low speeds or stopped = more fuel consumption
Highway driving = cruising at low RPMs while moving rapidly.

math majors should be able to fiure this one out too.

SPiFF

Also keep in mind as the motor gets older it will get worse gas milage. Our LS used to get 300+ miles to the tank mixed driving all the time. Now, at 92,000 miles, I get 270 on avg.

GSR-REX

I drive pretty hard too....Usually shift at 4-5000 normal driving.....7600-8000 when I'm "gettin on it"...I consistently get 25-28mpg and fill up when the trip reads 300-320...never lower than that, sometimes higher on road trips. My engine only has 32K on it so I'm sure that helps...But, My brother's Teg has 86K on it and he gets almost the same exact results as I do. You must have something worn out. Have you noticed any performance loss in the last few months? (besides that power-killin' A/C unit!)
I would try some good Fuel injector cleaner. I use Castrol Syntec Power System. I wait until the tank is almost empty, pour that stuff in and fill it up with 93octane...That sumbish runs like a scalded dog on that first tank!
Also...You may want to consider getting it looked at by a reputable trustworthy mechanic to see if anything is noticeably worn...and you may want to do this before you are thumbin' a ride home!
Hope ya figure it out!
Peace...happy E-Beer Friday everyone!!!
This round's on me!

Mr. Choi

[QUOTE]thinner oil = less viscious = better milage......at least in theory

your theory isnt all that true. between 5-30 and 10-40 you might see, maybe, at max 5 miles per tank better if you used 5-30 vs. 10-40. the oil molicules of a 5-30 and 10-30 is the same at the upper tempature, the second number. the only benifit from 5-30 vs 10-30 is a bit quicker oil circulation when starting up in cold *** morning. in gas mileage it doesnt really help that much from 5-30, 10-30, 10-40, 15-40, 15-50... etc etc etc.......... jus remeber, newer engine thiner oil, older engine thicker oil.

Cosworth

Slightly off topic. Why are you using 93 grade fuel on your LS? If you have 18B, is it necessary to use 93 grade fuel? I mean, using 93 won't actually won't really help you with gas mileage, performance, logevity of your engine. Just use 89 and save $$$. Just my opionion.

AMCMan93

What all does the 60k service include? Just wondering, cause I don't know if they clean your fuel system, which is definetly a good thing to do at 70k if you don't do it regularly.

Rory Breaker

It all depends on the condition of your car, the type of driving, and the quality of gas. There are a few things for you to check out:
Maintenance-
Spark plugs, wires, distr cap & rotor
Fuel filter
Fuel Injectors (get them professionally cleaned, if not, try some $5 STP cleaner)

What kind of gas are you using? I ONLY use Exxon, Amoco or Sunoco 94, but I recently started using Chevron, and after one fillup there and 2 other tanks of gas from Exxon & Amoco, Im now getting over 300 a tank easy...that Techron **** does an engine good AC also guzzles your gas...I never use it.

blackls

The 60K service includes cleaning out the injectors and adding some fuel additive. As far as ignition goes, everything is perfectly fine; the plugs were just replaced 5K miles ago and the cap and rotor have no wear whatsoever and I replaced the spark plug wires with aftermarket ones just recently. I'm using 93 octane because I have money burning a hole in my pocket...no, not really I noticed that I got better gas mileage when I would use higher grades of gas; I don't know, maybe it was psychological or something. I'm going to be running nitrous soon so making it a practice to fill up with 93 octane won't hurt. I fill up with Exxon or Mobil most of the time and occasionally Chevron (but Chevron is on average 7 or 8 cents more per gallon). Try to drive around in Texas in the middle of summer without running A/C...I dare you.

madchiller

i have a 97 GS-R and if im nice to her she gets about 24 mpg and she has 101,000 miles on her. dem were hard earned miles too! :D

WOTTEG

I hear you, I live in abilene, can you say "Dust Bowl"? AC is a must.

Premium gas here is like $1.29.
Regular gas is $1.19

Why not pay the extra dollar per tank to pamper my car?

Albertson's gas station has been giving us these great prices, ever since they put in the filling station they have been beating everyone else's prices. People line up three cars just to get gas there. The pumps usually have people there around 11:00 at night. And the tanker truck comes every other -to- every third day!!!

Karl

ingrate

If you have an LS, 89 or even 87 octane will do.. you don't want to be putting 93 in your engine, that's probably what is hampering your engine's performance. Higher octane burns slower, and in a lower compression engine like the LS it might not burn completely or fast enough, which might result in lower power output or lower gas mileage. Try 89 octane on your next fillup.

JimmieD

absolutely, i now get better gas mileage putting 89 in my car than 93 or 94 that i used to put in. iread it somewhere so i tried it and it works with no loss of performance. try it the next few times. IM with the results.

leesiulung

oh sh*t you guys pay $1.29 pr.gallon for premium. I just filled up today and premium gas at Chevron is $1.89 pr. gallon... here in good old North California...



-siu lung

blackls

Hmmm...next two or three times I fill up then I will try using 89 octane and see how that works for me. I never realized that a lower octane gas could produce better mileage...


[Modified by blackls, 7:08 PM 7/20/2001]

WOTTEG

Higher octane burns slower, why didn't I conclude that before?

Wonder how much slower. If th emost fuel is burned with the pistons close to TDC then the energy is not as useful as if it were burned closer to say 1/5 turn past TDC, where the Piston speed starts to increase the most. It is here that the pistons are most suceptible to being pushe -> and in turn the crank is pushed her as well.

So question is: if higher octane burns slower, does it burn closer to TDC or 1.4 turn past TDC?

Of course it doesn't get sparked untill the piston is past TDC, that's irrelevant anyway.

I think I'm just Yakking -> not making any sense. . . .
Karl

Rain_man

There's a difference between how fast gas burns and how hard it is to make gas burn. You run higher octane to prevent detonation (premature igniting of the mixture), but that doesn't mean the gas burns slower, just that more energy is required to combust.

Haha, all this studying for thermodynamics and kinetics acutally pays off!

BoM

is ur gas station u fill up at a namebrand gas station or sum no name one.....sumtimes they be putting other chemicals in them tooo distill them more.....maybe its time for a tune up ....ur ignition plugs ect....


im fuc*^&^ drunk! don't mind me