5sp '95 accord LX, 88kmiles. Just got it a couple of month ago. The owner before me used to get 27-29mpg. I'm getting closer to 20mpg (~80% highway miles). I just started to drive stick, still learning, which is (i guess) causes high gas consumption. How do i improve gas mileage? I know that on highways cruise control helps, but in the city its just horrible.

Thanks!

 

Well in the city keep it in 4th when cruising. You can also try doing a tune-up (spark plugs, air filter, fuel filter).

 

You actually should get better gas mileage with a 5-speed over an autmatic.

Try a tuneup, and also try to shift lower (around 2,500 to 3,000 rpms), the higher the gear you are in the lower the rpms, so the better the mileage. However... the higher the gear the less power (get up and go type power) you have at lower speeds.

 

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sj993 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well in the city keep it in 4th when cruising. You can also try doing a tune-up (spark plugs, air filter, fuel filter).</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep.

Slap an intake on their and you will also increase you milage a hair, just dont drive around with your foot buried on the throttle listening to it.

 

Thanks guys!!! I'll service spark plugs, air filter, fuel filter and we'll see what happens.


Modified by r3000 at 11:19 AM 1/13/2005

 

you also might even take it to your honda dealer and have them do a whole fuel system cleaning!

 

At 88k miles the plug wires and a new primary oxygen sensor would be a good idea also.

 

plugs, wires, and fresh/cleaned intake would be a good start for not that much money

 

ok here i go again. What plugs/plug wires do you recommend for every day use/commute? I looked at ebay:

OBX Blue Spark Plug Wires Wire 94-97 Honda Accord 4CYL $45+$13 shipping

also i saw these: OBX Red Spark Plug Wires w/Ground 94-02 Honda Accord $75 + $13 shipping Whats the difference? color ?

spark plugs: 94-97 HONDA ACCORD EX LX NGK IRIDIUM IX SPARK PLUGS $30 shipped

are these any good? is it cheaper to get them at the local store?

Thanks!

 

Stock ignition stuff is perfectly good unless you have some mad modifications.

Tune-up stuff is always good. But your driving habits are BY FAR the most effective way to get better mileage.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JimBlake &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Stock ignition stuff is perfectly good unless you have some mad modifications.

Tune-up stuff is always good. But your driving habits are BY FAR the most effective way to get better mileage.
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also, check the air pressure on your tires, help save a little more gas.

 

OBX sucks. The stock honda OEM plugs and wires are perfectly good for your car. There aren't any better out there and none of them "Give you 20 HP yO!"

"<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Originally posted by Kirwan on Apr/11/04 on Team-integra.net


3. Tune up the car
(Basic)
- Run some injector cleaner through the tank (I’ve always preferred ‘Techron’)
- Replace the plugs (I like the NGK – they are cheap, so do it more often, say 20K miles))
- Replace the plug wires (use good ones- recommended interval is 100K, but I’d do it twice as often)
- Replace distributor cap and rotor (careful with the screw on the rotor)
- Set the ignition timing (see discussion of timing vs. octane; less advance usually helps mileage, but hurts performance)
- Replace the fuel filter (recommended at 20,000 mile intervals)
- Replace the air filter (or clean and oil if K&N type)
- Keep up on oil & filter changes.

(Advanced)
- Set the valve lash
- Check the tension of the timing belt
- Set the timing of the cam gears
- Read engine codes, reset the computer
- Consider replacing oxygen sensor
- Do the ‘Seafoam’ job to clean carbon off the valves (do this before changing plugs or O2 sensor)
- Have the injectors pressure/ultrasonic cleaned by someone with the right equipment
- Consider an adjustable fuel pressure regulator, and a dyno tune with A/F meter to get it really dialed in. Course by this point, you're beyond worring about a few mpg.

4. Other areas around the car;
- Make sure the tire pressure is correct (run it on the high side for mileage)
- Reduce weight of the vehicle; are you carrying around extra junk?
- ‘Improvements’ (Intake, exhaust, etc) can help mileage a bit if you don’t drive harder because of them.
- Make sure your brakes are in good shape, and not dragging
- Watch out for fuel leaks. Besides the fire hazard, they cost you a lot of mileage.
- Don’t fall for gimmicks; magnets on the fuel lines, swirlies in the intake, e-bay chips and 8 way spark plugs do nothing or make things worse.
- Accessories like A/C and even a high power stereo do put a load on the engine, and cost mpg.

5. Driving

- How you drive is a huge factor in mileage. If you “drive it like you stole it”, you don’t get to complain about your gas consumption. That’s the tradeoff you make; it takes gas to make power, and if you’re doing high performance driving, you’re pulling a lot of power out of the engine; and putting more gas into it. The old saying goes: “Speed costs money – how fast can you afford to go?”
- If you want good mileage, keep your foot out of it. Accelerate and decelerate slowly.
- Cruise at moderate rpm’s; 3000 is good, 2000 is probably too low, you’ll be ‘lugging’. These aren’t high torque engines, and if the revs are too low, it’ll have to work harder. When deciding which gear to use, think about how much you have to press on the gas pedal to keep a constant speed.
- Shift at moderate rpm’s – not too high, but also not too low, or the revs will drop too much on the upshift (see lugging)
- Mileage is generally much higher on the freeway, where you run constant speed without a lot of starts and stops.
- Air resistance goes as the square of speed- that is, it increases a lot at high speed. Slow down. Don’t even get me started on wings.
- Don’t use the engine to decelerate (downshifting into corners or stops) Brakes are cheaper than clutches and don’t use any gas.


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One thing to remeber is that smaller engines such as our 4cyl hondas are most effecient at higher rpms, so in theory you are accelerating it is better to go to higher RPMs with less load than lower RPMs with more throttle.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Atheist &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">One thing to remeber is that smaller engines such as our 4cyl hondas are most effecient at higher rpms, so in theory you are accelerating it is better to go to higher RPMs with less load than lower RPMs with more throttle.</TD></TR></TABLE>

There is a point of diminishing returns, though. You make it seem like you can hug the redline and get 30 mpg. It doesn't work that way. When cruising, keeping it between 2500 and 3k seems to work best for me. I cruised at ~2900 RPM on the way to Myrtle Beach last year and received 34 mpg in my 91 Accord with over 250,000 miles on it with the a/c running in the heat of summer.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 93HONDAACCLUDE &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you also might even take it to your honda dealer and have them do a whole fuel system cleaning!</TD></TR></TABLE>

honda's "fuel system cleaning" is simply putting a bottle of techron in there. Make sure its the "techron" and not the "with techron". There is actually a difference, and the techron version (the one you want) is about 3 times more expensive

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Atheist &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">One thing to remeber is that smaller engines such as our 4cyl hondas are most effecient at higher rpms, so in theory you are accelerating it is better to go to higher RPMs with less load than lower RPMs with more throttle.</TD></TR></TABLE>Not really... They're more efficient at wider throttle openings. Low-compression engines are more efficient at near-closed throttle. This is basic thermodynamics, it's not just Hondas.

You want to accelerate moderately to save gas. WOT & shifting at 6k rpm is nuts if you wanna save gas. So use lots of throttle & shift at 2000 rpm. Notice I didn't say this was healthy for the engine, I said it's the way to use less gas. When you need power for entering traffic, shift at higher rpm. If you have an auto-tranny, you can't control this...

If you want to see how good your fuel mileage can get, go to Kansas, get on the highway, & drive 60mph for 400 miles. Any other way, you're not measuring your car's efficiency. You're just demonstrating how much your testosterone has control of your right foot.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JimBlake &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you have an auto-tranny, you can't control this...

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Throttle position determines the shifting point on an auto tranny.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Justin Klemgold &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Throttle position determines the shifting point on an auto tranny.</TD></TR></TABLE>Exactly. You can't get it to shift early with WOT.