vaaccess

Ok. With the price of gasoline going up and the fact that I use premium, I'm wondering if there might be a cost effective modification that I can do to boost my fuel economy...If it happened to give me better performance, that'd be nice, too. But ultimately I'm just guessing that there's something fairly inexpensive that I can do to my car that will give me better gas mileage which will ultimately pay for the modification!

Right now I have a stock 2001 SE 5spd. I have an Amsoil Foam/Oil air filter and am running Amsoil Full Synthetic oil in it. I'm also in the process of passing some Amsoil gasoline additive that should clean up the fuel system a bit...

Right now I'm getting about 23MPG, which isn't TOO bad, but it's sad watching my gas gauge drop while I drive it to/from work. And, no, I will not modify my driving habits to get better gas mileage. What's the fun in that?!?!?!?

Thanks for your insight.

spirilis

iTrader: (2)

One strange thing I've noticed (probably unrelated) is that ever since I ran 6oz of Amsoil P.I. through my tank, my fuel economy has dropped from a consistent 25mpg to a consistent 23mpg... I'm thinking of dropping a little more in there just to see if it changes anything

vaaccess

I wasn't sure if anyone else would know or be using Amsoil, glad I'm not the only one, though I'm concerned about your results. Maybe the engine is running more efficiently and is therefore able to send more gas through the system after it is cleaned out! DOH!

spirilis

iTrader: (2)

Either that, or some of the carbon deposits got toasted on the intake valve and is currently keeping the intake valve slightly open...
I've heard that a burned valve can sometimes cause no apparant loss of power (butt-dyno based) but a slight drop in fuel economy, so that's why I'm worried
I think I'll put some more Amsoil P.I. in there to see if it'll clean it a little more... I should also check my Long Term Fuel Trim settings too, they probably changed as a result

Cdriven

Hmm, that's interesting. I dropped a bottle of Chevron concentrate into my take a few weeks ago and my fuel ecomony went down about 2 miles / gallon all around.

bigdo26

iTrader: (3)

any sort of intake/exhaust mods *should* get better mileage. they make it easier to get air/fuel into and out of the engine. how effective they are, well thats up for debate. I know on my old car they helped enormously, but on the Maxima, not real sure. GAB might have got +.5 mpg or so on the highway mainly... dunno

SteVTEC

- raise tire pressures 4-6 psi over stock
- good maintenance (clean air filter, good alignment, etc)
- driver slower and less aggressively
- short shift 5spd (3k)

BLKMAX005SPD

iTrader: (1)

but a toyota pauis or whatever its called...
but seriously 23 MPG is pretty good man...city or highway??

NYCe MaXiMa

iTrader: (9)

i get worse gas milage on my 5th gen than i did on my 4th gen.

i used to get about 21 mpg mixed highway/city on my 4th gen..
i get like 18 on my 00 doing the same exact kind of driving



also
how big is the damn gas tank on the 5th gens compared to the 4th gens?

i think a full tank will cost me over $32

2k2kev

2k2 is 18.5 gallons

the best way to get better mileage is follow SteVTEC's advice and get off the gas! Never rev past 3k rpm and try to keep it between 2200 and 2500 rpm as often as possible.

of course that's not fun driving, but it's fuel efficient. You can't have both "fun" and "fuel efficient."

nismotech

in a 40MPH zone, do most of you with stick shifts cruse in 4th gear doing 40-45 at@ 2200RPM-2500RPM?

or

in 5th gear doing the same speed but RPM at 1800-2000RPM?

I usually just cruse in 4th gear, because that way I can have balace of power/fuel economy at the same time. Some times I cruse at 5th gear, but found no power if I have to speed through a yellow light(Only when not enough time to stop ofcourse). But thats just me, What about you guys?

BTW, I have 6spd, this question is for those with 5speeds too.

2k2kev

I have a 6-speed...when looking for mileage I usually drive in the same gear as the first number of the speed

<19- 1st
20-29 - 2nd
30-39 - 3rd

you get the idea. That keeps it right around 2000-2200rpm.

Stereodude

He might as well buy a base civic then

Padsy

iTrader: (1)

MaximaMan77

When I'm after mileage I shift at or before 2.5k and will cruse at what ever gear at my given speed keeps the rpms between 1.5-2k. When I do this the MPG the car shows is 30-35, I figure it's really 27-32. This is city mind you.
On all hwy I can get 450-475 miles from a tank, with usually a couple of gallons left in the tank. That's 27-28ish but I cruse on the hwy at at least 80. When I drop the speed down to 70 I get over 30mpg.

Oh also when I drive hard I get like 14-15mpg.

vaaccess

I have gotten 23 with mostly Highway, but it's during rush hour mostly so it's not always highway speeds...And, it's a lot of accelerating when I'm going around someone.

I figure I could probably get about 25-27 if I drove it like it was a baby, but I think that's just wrong. I love coming out of the tolls and just leaving everyone in the dust! As long as they don't give tickets for mph^2 (acceleration) I'm going to enjoy the cars I drive! Which, kills gas mileage I guess!

If I were to get .5MPG more for an intake/exhaust mod, that would save me about 11 gallons of gas per year. That would mean I could only spend ~$22 on the mods to make it up in a year. Or, the mod would save me ~$110 in 5 years! *rolls eyes* That blows.