Good morning everyone,
I have an intriguing situation with my ol lady’s integra. The car is a 1996 LS special edition and currently has 183k on it. I have checked for vacuum leaks and cleaned the intake. Car runs perfectly and gets it's oil changed like clockwork. Even the transmission gets nothing but Honda fluids. There are no leaks, ac is super cold and has never left my wife stranded anywhere. Here’s a list of some of the items I have replaced. Also there are not codes and live data shows nothing wrong.

1. fuel filter
2. air filter
3. o2 sensors
4. belts
5. timing belt
6. water pump
7. plugs, wires, cap and rotor
8. pcv valve
9. injectors flow tested and cleaned

Even after all that I’m still getting poor fuel consumption. Here’s what I think could be the culprit. When I go to start the car it seem like there is barely enough juice to crank it. I know its not the battery or the connection since it is new also. So is the starter. The only thing I can think of causing this is that although my distributor is not completely out yet. I believe that it is on its way out and that may be causing me to get bad fuel consumption.

I did the same exact things to my 1996 Honda accord ex v-tec and I’m getting over 400 miles to a tank. I do about 75-85 mph every morning in rush hour traffic. So how is it she is barely breaking a little over 200 miles per tank? When we first bought the car, she could get about 350 miles per tank.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Specially if you have had this same problem. Thanks again HT.

 

check your tire pressure and alignment. that affects your mileage more than you think if you car is fighting to travel down the road. Also, have you done a compression test to see if your motor is just lacking in optimal output?

 

Tire pressure and alignment are right on. I had just replaced all control arm bushings, bearings, installed itr sway bar, shocks. Then right afterwards had the car aligned. I haven't done a compression test yet. The car gets it to 100 mph quickly despite having 183k miles on it. It only seems weak when I start the car. That initial crank seems weak but car starts with no hesitation. That's why I keep thinking that the dizzy is on it's last legs.

I try keeping all 4 of my cars in top driving shape. The Accord and Integra are the daily drivers. We keep the infiniti and maxima at home to save on gas.

I could have sworn I read something about a bad dizzy being the cause of poor fuel consumption. Just can not seem to find that article now.

Thanks BDR for your info.

 

Change the Cap and Rotor parts are only $40 and its easy.
Go with OEM parts

 

Do you have an auto trans? Since you do mostly highway miles, I wonder if the torque converter isn't locking up. But from what I've read you would get a CEL for that.

 

spark plugs gap correct? what weight oil? fuel pressure too high? should be 31-36psi

You could try doing the ign coil, but if it runs good, then it's not it.

 

check the coil and ignitor with a digital meter..make sure it lies between minimum and max specification.

oh...is her coolant temperature reading correctly? a bad coolant temp sensor will tell the ecu its cold, thus more fuel is being used.

did you recently perform a timing belt? is the timing correct? make sure the belt isnt on there super tight

 

^good point. what is the temp from your live data?

 

I had a distributer that went bad last winter on my Integra. The new one got me over 30 mpg. The best i got with the old one was high 20's.

 

If you suspect the coil, use an HEI spark tester to check the spark, should be bright blue. 94

 

Try reseting the ecu either unplug the ecu for a few mins or the neg battery, this will clear any stored cells that could be cauising a rich AFR. Your coil could be going bad giving weak spark and causing a rich AFR but i doubt it but maybe..