My car is getting 23MPG average with city and highway driving

[BigToque]

I don't think that I drive my car all that hard, but the A/C is almost always on at the moment.

Is there anything I can do (maintenance wise) that might help my fuel economy?

Edit:

The car is a 2002 Saturn SC2 w/ 31,000 miles (5 speed)

Edit 2:

I just checked again after refueling my car...

In the city I'm getting 28 mpg.
On the highway, I'm getting 25 mpg.

I think it's a little strange that I'm getting worse milage on the highway than in the city.

 

[Doboji]

what kind of car?

 

[TraumaRN]

Properly inflated tires

Fuel injector cleaner if older car

Dont use A/C as much if possible

and the biggest one that saves me gas-

CRUISE CONTROL

 

[ElFenix]

proper tire inflation
change air filter
run the recommended grade of gas

 

[Kalvin00]

also fuel filter, and mass air flow sensor might need a cleaning, if possible

if youve got over 60K miles oxygen sensors might be contributing too

 

[vi edit]

Try a different gas station?

 

[BigToque]

Originally posted by: Doboji
what kind of car?

2002 Saturn SC2
31,000 Miles

 

[michaels]

I read an article saying that the government was gonna force auto makers to start putting accurate mpg estimates on new cars. Supposedly the numbers are off by 205 on all vehicles.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Is it a stick or auto? Do you have a tach?

Some other tips in addition to the above:

Coast in gear. When coasting in gear your engine doesn't have to maintain an idle RPM as opposed to coasting in neutral, when it does need to maintain an idle RPM. Coasting in gear means you use ZERO gas during that amount of time.
Drive at an RPM that is the most efficient for your engine. My Toyota's most efficient RPM is 2K, and 3K on the highway. Cruise control does no good if it's cruising at an inefficient RPM.

 

[j00fek]

higher gear = lower rpm = less gas to use

get some fuel injector cleaner like 2-3 bottles and put em in your tank see how that does, new air filter, oil change see how it goes
try not to speed while in the test peroid.

a/c on all the time wont help fuel economy at all try not to use it

 

[fLum0x]

Originally posted by: BigToque
I don't think that I drive my car all that hard, but the A/C is almost always on at the moment.

Is there anything I can do (maintenance wise) that might help my fuel economy?

Edit:

The car is a 2002 Saturn SC2 w/ 31,000 miles (5 speed)

dont floor it every time you go somewhere, dont hold down the gas when you see a red light up ahead...just coast, put the windows down. all three of those should help you. The first one is more or less driving casually and with a cruise as much as you can.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: j00fek
higher gear = lower rpm = less gas to use

Generally, but not always. You probably know this already, but driving at 30mph in 5th gear isn't exactly going to use less gas than 30mph in 3rd gear. Too fast, and you're burning too much gas. Too slow, and your engine's going to have a tougher time keeping the car going, meaning more gas use.

I'm still undecided on the A/C thing. I personally think that modern A/C units put very minimal stress on gas mileage. I have my AC turned up all the time and I get 40-43mpg in my Yaris. 40 mpg in mixed, 43mpg in highway.

 

[Modular]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Coasting in gear means you use ZERO gas during that amount of time.

?

As long as the engine is running and the ignition is on, you car is using gas. It doesn't matter if you're coasting in gear or idle or anything.

Lower RPM at closed throttle ie coasting in neutral = less gas than higher RPM at closed throttle in gear...

 

[mcvickj]

What is consider a good PSI for proper tire inflation?

 

[foghorn67]

if it takes you more then the standard few cranks to get the engine started once in a while, you need a fuel injection cleaning, and a mass air flow sensor cleaning.
on the highway, use the a/c. It won't hurt any.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: Modular

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Coasting in gear means you use ZERO gas during that amount of time.

?

As long as the engine is running and the ignition is on, you car is using gas. It doesn't matter if you're coasting in gear or idle or anything.

Lower RPM at closed throttle ie coasting in neutral = less gas than higher RPM at closed throttle in gear...

Why would the engine be using gas if the wheels are spinning the engine? When your car is in motion and in gear and coasting your wheels are turning and thus your engine. Car manufacturors (or at least some) program the throttle to completely shut off at this point, because there's no point in it since the engine is turning... by itself.... there's no need to use gas to keep it spinning.

Likewise, when you're coasting in neutral, your throttle has to kick in and use gas because it needs to keep the engine spinning at its idle RPM.

 

[Queasy]

What the specs say about mpg and actual real world results don't match up most of the time.

 

[desteffy]

Probably the A/C, that will definately drop it down a few MPGs

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: Modular

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Coasting in gear means you use ZERO gas during that amount of time.

?

As long as the engine is running and the ignition is on, you car is using gas. It doesn't matter if you're coasting in gear or idle or anything.

Lower RPM at closed throttle ie coasting in neutral = less gas than higher RPM at closed throttle in gear...

Why would the engine be using gas if the wheels are spinning the engine? When your car is in motion and in gear and coasting your wheels are turning and thus your engine. Car manufacturors (or at least some) program the throttle to completely shut off at this point, because there's no point in it since the engine is turning... by itself.... there's no need to use gas to keep it spinning.

Likewise, when you're coasting in neutral, your throttle has to kick in and use gas because it needs to keep the engine spinning at its idle RPM.

Bingo.

At 30K miles, you shouldn't need any of the major tuneup items. Check the maintenance manual, you may need to change fuel & air filter, but spark plugs should still be okay.

Inflate the tires to proper levels and then 1-2 PSI over generally helps, while keeping pressures at a safe level.

Use cruise, avoid braking a lot, plan your decelerations ahead of time, try to accelerate using higher throttle & lower RPM.

 

[WiseOldDude]

You have been duped by big industry with the help of our government.

The government mileage test to determine the mileage posted on new car stickers is designed specifically to create inflated figures. The total test (on a dyno) does not take in to account hills, or wind resistance, and the total test to determine both city and highway is only 11 miles total.

But contributions to the wh0res in Washington by big auto make this a slam dunk to lie to the consumer, just business as usual.

 

[mrchan]

oil change. transmission oil change. change air filter. check tire pressure. try to drive at constant speeds.

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: Modular

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Coasting in gear means you use ZERO gas during that amount of time.

?

As long as the engine is running and the ignition is on, you car is using gas. It doesn't matter if you're coasting in gear or idle or anything.

Lower RPM at closed throttle ie coasting in neutral = less gas than higher RPM at closed throttle in gear...

Why would the engine be using gas if the wheels are spinning the engine? When your car is in motion and in gear and coasting your wheels are turning and thus your engine. Car manufacturors (or at least some) program the throttle to completely shut off at this point, because there's no point in it since the engine is turning... by itself.... there's no need to use gas to keep it spinning.

Likewise, when you're coasting in neutral, your throttle has to kick in and use gas because it needs to keep the engine spinning at its idle RPM.

I take it you've never driven a car with a tachometer to verify your theory?

Because it's laughable.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: Nebor

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: Modular

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Coasting in gear means you use ZERO gas during that amount of time.

?

As long as the engine is running and the ignition is on, you car is using gas. It doesn't matter if you're coasting in gear or idle or anything.

Lower RPM at closed throttle ie coasting in neutral = less gas than higher RPM at closed throttle in gear...

Why would the engine be using gas if the wheels are spinning the engine? When your car is in motion and in gear and coasting your wheels are turning and thus your engine. Car manufacturors (or at least some) program the throttle to completely shut off at this point, because there's no point in it since the engine is turning... by itself.... there's no need to use gas to keep it spinning.

Likewise, when you're coasting in neutral, your throttle has to kick in and use gas because it needs to keep the engine spinning at its idle RPM.

I take it you've never driven a car with a tachometer to verify your theory?

Because it's laughable.

I have

I installed the tach myself. My mileage increased 4mpg+ as a result of letting my car coast in gear as much as possible, keeping everything else constant. I then went back to coasting in neutral and mileage dropped back to what it used to be.

Empirically, my "theory" has proven itself to me.

 

[Nyati13]

Originally posted by: Nebor

I take it you've never driven a car with a tachometer to verify your theory?

Because it's laughable.

A Tachometer only measures crankshaft revolutions, it does not measure fuel usage in any way.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Nebor

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Why would the engine be using gas if the wheels are spinning the engine? When your car is in motion and in gear and coasting your wheels are turning and thus your engine. Car manufacturors (or at least some) program the throttle to completely shut off at this point, because there's no point in it since the engine is turning... by itself.... there's no need to use gas to keep it spinning.

Likewise, when you're coasting in neutral, your throttle has to kick in and use gas because it needs to keep the engine spinning at its idle RPM.

I take it you've never driven a car with a tachometer to verify your theory?

Because it's laughable.

Depending on the vehicle, it uses less/no gas coasting (depending on RPM) than it does when in neutral @ idle. This was discussed rather thoroughly in another thread on here, if you care search for posts by Zenmervolt.