Hey Guys, Newbie here!!

Had a question about gas mileage.. I just got my '98 Prelude SH about a month or so ago and noticed I'm only getting about 320 miles out of a full tank, as opposed to 415-ish on my old car, a '96 Maxima. Does this sound 'normal'? I actually don't drive too aggressively either, usually shifting at under 4k RPMs..

Also, kinda related.. I thought the Prelude had a 15 gallon capacity gas tank, but whenever I fill up, rarely do I even get 13 gallons in before it tops off. And this is after filling up about 20 miles or so after the gas light has come on.. So does this mean that I've got about 3 gallons in the system still once the gas light has come on..which means I could probably drive about 60 - 75 miles once the gas light has come on??

Thanx for your help and any insight!!

 

Sounds normal... I do ca 250 miles in city traffic (especially now in the winter) and ca 400 miles on highway.
pentaq

 

dont feel bad man. i have a 2000 SH and the only time i ever see over 300 miles to the tank is when i do highway driving. i usually get about 280 miles per tank. when i get on the gas i see as low as 17mpg. normal driving about 23mpg.

the lude has a 13.9 gallon tank if i remember correctly. i have gone about 30 miles after the gas light came on and then filled up 13 gallons... so who really knows. i dont know of anyone that has ran one out of gas yet.

oh, and welcome to H-T!

remember, before you post a new thread to use the search function. it is in the upper right hand corner of the page. most things can be found there. if you still have questions by all means ask.

Doug

 

well, i dont have a 5th gen, but as far as the gas light goes, It should be coming on when you have 2-3 gallons of fuel left. That way it warns you so that you remember to fill up. If your on a drive in the middle of BFE and the light came on and you only had 1 gallon or 20 miles to go before you ran out of gas then that would really suck. Also with the chances of dirt particles from the filling station tanks, its not really a good idea to run your car till its empty before putting gas in it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by shakes &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
the lude has a 13.9 gallon tank if i remember correctly.
Doug</TD></TR></TABLE>

not sure on the 5th gen, but the fourth gen holds 15.9 gal
so the fifth might be more than 13.9.

oh and another thing, if you see the the big fuel truck filling
up the tanks at the gas station, i wouldn't gas at that time,
that's when all the gunk at the bottom of those tanks gets
mixed around with the nuw fuel

 

320 is normal. Its actually pretty high. I average about 310 max...

And 5th gen tanks are 15.3 gallons I think. They have like a two gallon reserve after your fuel light comes on.

 

you can squeeze a lude to 400. I have. The tank is something like 13.6? 14.5? I forget now. You have a good 2 or 3 gallons after the light first turns on. I experimented and got mine so the needle was pretty much touching the E before I ran out of ***** and decided to fill it. I think it was around 420 miles on the tank

 

im not sure if im right but i learned that the gas light means the fuel pump is heating up, and gas acts like a coolant for it. thats why its bad to always run around on empty, it shortens its life span!!

 

WOW! How do you guys get such high numbers? I average around 220-230 or less. That is pretty much city driving with a little highway driving. Does that sound right?

Thanks

 

Hey,

theres an easier to check your the mpg on your vehicle,

1. Fill the car with gas till the handle clicks for you to stop.
2. Reset your trip odomeer
3. Drive for however much, should be for a couple of gallons at the least.
3. Fill with gas again to the click.
4. Now take the miles you drove and divide it by the amount of gas you just put in.

Those steps right there should give you a real good illustration of your the mileage you get per gallon

 

Winter gas mileage sucks ***.

 

yeah it's weird because you can go about 70 miles b4 the
first bar drops off the fuel guage if you fill all the way up

 

i'm not sure what causes the difference in gas mileage, but there sure seems to be one in the ludes. my buddy had a 97' sh and was lucky to see 250-260mi per tank. i have a 99' sh and i rarely get under 300mi per tank (usually much more)regardless of city/highway driving.

 

Wow, thanx for chiming in guys!

There sure seems to be a wide range of what people are getting in terms of mileage.. I do agree with CHK4TIX though, that you really shouldn't let the gas guage go too low before you fill up, for fear of clogging up the lines..

Also, on a wee bit of a side note, especially since the holiday season is here.. for those who may be going on road trips, heed this piece of advice: When you're cruising on the highway trying to break your record (NYC --&gt; Chicago = 11 hrs), as soon as your gas guage gets down to 1 quarter, take the next exit and fill up! I can't begin to recall HOW many times I've told myself 'Naah, we can make it to the next exit!'. For those of you who've driven through Penn. you know exactly how far apart those exits can be!!

Remember, it's okay to get there 10 - 15 min. late..rather than not get there at all.

- Umar

 

Another tip... too lazy to look for the link.
A guy on NASIOC had a friend who got a tank full of crap basically killed his truck.
Few tips I learned from that post.
#1 Never get gas from a station where the fuel truck is filling the stations tanks!
This stirs up all kinds of crap that normally would sit at the bottom of the tank.
#2 Old stations might not be the best place because their tanks might have more crap in the lines especially if your getting near the bottom of their tank.

I only get gas from Mobil and usually only the newer stations.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spanishlude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im not sure if im right but i learned that the gas light means the fuel pump is heating up, and gas acts like a coolant for it. thats why its bad to always run around on empty, it shortens its life span!!</TD></TR></TABLE>

Nope. The gas light is control by the float in the gas tank. When the float hits a certain level it turns the light on so you know you're going to run out decently soon. Otherwise, under hard acceleration the light would come on since that puts the biggest strain on the pump.

As for the 230 miles.... that's about right for me with city driving. I've been able to improve my gas milage using the A/F guage also. Helps keep me from hitting the 80% level on the highway when accelerating or during other driving times. This way instead of the car running pretty rich, it keeps it under the ECU's control which will lean it out more. I've noticed even doing this can get you from 23 mpg up to about 27/28. May not seem like much, but it gets you from around 340 miles a tank up towards 420.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SKDRCR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yeah it's weird because you can go about 70 miles b4 the
first bar drops off the fuel guage if you fill all the way up </TD></TR></TABLE>

you've noticed that too, very perplexing. then th rest of the tank seems to go fast.

 

I haven't paid any attention to how may miles I get out of a tank but I sure can see a difference when I stay out of VTEC! I bet that's why some of us are getting fewer miles per tank.

 

yeah that first dash last forever then i lose that and then the tank is gone!!

 

The 5th gen has a listed capacity of 15.9 gallons. I can get 350 miles out of a tank if I'm driving downhill with a 40 mile an hour wind behind me.

 

hmmm interesting guys
well i noticed i get 360 for 14 gallon b4 the light comes on

hint:criuse control

 

Damn Nate, you get 310! I barely make it to 300....and I know how you drive ;-)

 

for the record i've squeezed 17.5 gallons into my 4g before.