hey guys, im driving a 2000 honda civic hx right now as my school commuter. i just bought it, and the only reason i bought it was 44 mpg on the highway sounds good to me right now, like i said thats the ONLY reason because this thing is slow as *****, and shows no potential to improve. so my problem is this. im only getting about 200 miles off a tank. can anyone pinpoint me in the right direction? because this is not right, my 02 nissan maxima could achieve this. its a 5 speed, and it has about 120k miles.

 

replace fuel filter, replace air filter,a maintainence tune up.

 

start off with a good tuneup with ngk plugs, wires, cap, rotor button, pcv valve, air filter, change oil, clean the throttle body, wouldn't hurt to change the fuel filter as well. Usually in the winter they switch over to "winter" gas and you don't get the mileage that you normally would. Also the gas your using has a lot to do with it whether it has 10% ethanol because that will hurt the mpg's as well.

now I'm getting 375 per tank but I can still get 40+ car has 165k and I'm in va so the climate should be about the same.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Kista20 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">start off with a good tuneup with ngk plugs, wires, cap, rotor button, pcv valve, air filter, change oil, clean the throttle body, wouldn't hurt to change the fuel filter as well. Usually in the winter they switch over to "winter" gas and you don't get the mileage that you normally would. Also the gas your using has a lot to do with it whether it has 10% ethanol because that will hurt the mpg's as well.

now I'm getting 375 per tank but I can still get 40+ car has 165k and I'm in va so the climate should be about the same.</TD></TR></TABLE>



just do a tune up hommie. pretty much exactly what kista20 said.

 

i did a full service when i bought, and i only run premium gas in both my vehicles. i guess a fuel filter is something i didnt do though. thanks. ill let you guys know how it works out.

 

PCV Valve, Have autozone check the O2 sensor(s).

Hows the temp gauge look? If its stuck open and the temp is always low, it can lead to bad mileage.

 

when you do the fuel filter get the correct flare nut wrenches and don't use the standard ones. Advance sells a metric 3pk set that have different sizes on each end so you get six total sizes. I don't remember the sizes offhand but needed two of those wrenches because the top and bottom are different sizes, also you will need a 10mm socket to get the bracket off the firewall, last time I used a wrench and it was very time consuming. I just did mine the other weekend and used a purolator filter which I always use purolator filters and it comes with two washers you need and there is a third smaller washer but you can toss that one in the can as it's not needed. Just make sure you do the fuel lines first then the bracket.

 

Tire pressure? On my 2000 HX I get about 40mpgs on a tank.. ican go about 400 miles before i have to fill up. I would like to know what the problem was as well

 

well i was actually on the way to advance yesterday to get the fuel filter and all of a sudden my car starts to shake horribly. like as if i was starting in third from a stop. i got it to advance luckilly. my distributor cap and assembly is shot, wires are ok but need a change. how could this affect gas? im going to put the new assembly on in about an hour.

 

you're wasting money with premium gas, you do realize that it offers no performance advantages in a hx.

just read your last post, insufficient spark means that fuel wasn't adequately combusted and probably was the cause of your poor mileage.

 

Like some one stated before make sure your 02 sensor is good, especially on a Hx. It can make a huge difference

 

well i changed the distributor cap, and the button that goes inside the cap. no change in gas mileage so far. im changing the wires and fuel filter tomorrow. somethings gotta give or this car is gone. about the changing the fuel filter. im guessing i would need to take the fuel pumps fuse out? run the car until it cuts off? then remove the filter? ist that correct?

 

Why are you using premium in this car?

Is there a CEL? If so, have you gotten the CEL checked?

 

no check engine lights since i changed the distributor cap. when they did check it, it said i was misfiring, which helped determine that my ditributor cap was bad, and it was worse than bad. the whole rotary buttn that goes inside the cap was filed down to nothing. just changed spark plug wires yesterday also. i have been using premium to keep the fuel system clean, and i have always heard you get better gas mileage with premium, i switch back and forth between premium and plus.

 

just run regular 87 or even 89 I have ran 89 some where you could get bad 87 gas. Definately make sure that your tire pressure is good seems like through the winter they drop I checked mine awhile back and they were 28 so I pumped them up to 32-33 pounds. Is your car running good after you've fixed the cap rotor and wires? also did you do the plugs as well? Fireant has a good point as well... the thermostat can be stuck open and not letting your car get up to temp and makes the ecu think it needs to pump in more gas to get it up to temp. What size tires are you running the factory size or something at least close to it? With bigger tires it will slow your speedometer down therefore less miles being put on your car so that would throw it off somewhat but 200 miles per tank is way beyond how much that mileage difference would be. I know you say it's slow as ***** but does it have good power otherwise not being sluggish or anything else that is out of the ordinary?

 

i did the plugs as well. nothing is improving. advance told me they couldnt check my o2 sensor unless my check engine light is on. im pretty sure the tires are the same or close to factory size. i dont mean to sound like an idiot, but where and what is a pvc valve. tire pressure is normal, just checked it. someone at a local shop suggested the timing chain... and perhaps a leakage in some kind of valve (he didnt mean gas leak) the car is being sold if this stuff doesnt clear up soon. i cant afford it. i might as well get a big truck or something. this is really depressing, i drove 4 hours to get this car, just because it was an hx and got the mpgs it should.

 

well it has a timing belt and not a chain, typically you replace them around every 100k miles. How did the plugs look when you replaced them? Have you cleaned the egr ports? dunno about all hx's but mine they extended the emmissions warranty to 10 yrs or 150k and the cel came on a few times, the first was the 02 sensor, next was egr ports needed cleaning and then the last one they said it was a faulty ecu so the ordered me a new one. Only one other thing I can think does the check engine light work? is all your brakes in good shape? a caliper that is sticking could put pressue on the rotor creating a lot of drag, def. check the drums in the back too. You might call the dealer and see if yours was included in the emmissions warranty recall, I don't remember the years but it was certain models that got it, I would think so because for some reason all 96-00 hx's are obd2a whereas all the other models 96-98 obd2a and 99-00 are obd2b. the fuel pressure regulator hasn't failed and dumping too much gas in? I dunno man just trying to come with some things for you to check, good luck with it