Tips for getting better gas mileage?

Sykora · Post by **Sykora** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:20 am

I've been getting kind of crappy gas mileage out of my 2005 sxt. I live in Downtown Dallas and don't really drive far for work but occasionaly I have to make 40 minute trips for my job. It's a manual and I don't drive the hell out of it or anything. My tires are at 30-32 psi but I've only been getting like 220 a tank!

Any tips guys?

Swordfish2Cowboy · Post by **Swordfish2Cowboy** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:28 am

Dude there's like at least three topics on this already. I'm sure at least one is still on the first page. Please use the search function.

Sykora · Post by **Sykora** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:37 am

yeah I saw those- but they just tell what they get- not how to improve it

Post by **racer12306** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:39 am

figure out your actual fuel economy. miles per tanks means nothing, gas gauges are too inaccurate.

asanti · Post by **asanti** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:39 am

220 miles/tank?

You can start by giving the car a good tuneup (when was the last time you gave the car one BTW?) . Get new plugs and wires to start off with. An alignment wouldn't hurt seeing that bad alignments can kill good gas mileage too. You can also have the o2 sensors checked to make sure they're operating correctly too since if one's going bad, it'll ALWAYS affect your fuel mileage. Then of course make sure all tires are inflated to a Minimum of 32psi all around; 30psi is too low actually. I'm at work, so that's all I can think of off the top of my head but I'm sure others will chime in. (as a side note, I can get +/- 300-320 miles/tank regularly and I drive the heck out of my fairly modded car, 120 mi. round trip to work daily).

Later
Allex

King Crab · Post by **King Crab** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:58 am

Inside the owners manual there's a section for better fuel economy with a manual transmission. Page 97 in mine. I too only work about 3 miles away from work and my Neon never gets up to optimum operating temperature. Although I seem to be around 250-260 miles per tank on short trips and 330-340 on long trips. I know I could get better on long trips but I can't seem to go below 80 mph.

The table reads like:

Normal acceleration shift speeds
Shift from 1-2 at 14 (mph)
Shift from 2-3 at 23 (mph)
Shift from 3-4 at 29 (mph)
Shift from 4-5 at 45 (mph)

Cruise shift speeds
Shift from 1-2 at 12 (mph)
Shift from 2-3 at 18 (mph)
Shift from 3-4 at 25 (mph)
Shift from 4-5 at 32 (mph)

Maximum performance shift speeds
Shift from 1-2 at 30 (mph)
Shift from 2-3 at 50 (mph)
Shift from 3-4 at 80 (mph)
Shift from 4-5 at 110 (mph)
*** If you exceed these speeds, you may notice the engine cut in and out. This is caused by an electronic limiter in the engine computer. The engine will run normally when you reduse engine speed. ***

*** Downshifting ***
Proper downshifting will improve fuel economy and prolong engine life.

Xtian · Post by **Xtian** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 12:07 pm

1/4 of a bottle of Pure Acetone in the gas tank. Increases gas mileage up to 9mpg.

fixitmattman · Post by **fixitmattman** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 12:53 pm

http://www.feoa.net/modules.php?name=Fo ... ic&t=12141

Sykora · Post by **Sykora** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 1:02 pm

okay thanks guys- I'll check that out

Wenuden · Post by **Wenuden** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 7:52 pm

asanti wrote:220 miles/tank? You can start by giving the car a good tuneup (when was the last time you gave the car one BTW?) . Get new plugs and wires to start off with. An alignment wouldn't hurt seeing that bad alignments can kill good gas mileage too. You can also have the o2 sensors checked to make sure they're operating correctly too since if one's going bad, it'll ALWAYS affect your fuel mileage. Then of course make sure all tires are inflated to a Minimum of 32psi all around; 30psi is too low actually. I'm at work, so that's all I can think of off the top of my head but I'm sure others will chime in. (as a side note, I can get +/- 300-320 miles/tank regularly and I drive the heck out of my fairly modded car, 120 mi. round trip to work daily).

Later
Allex

City driving in my sxt brand new, I was only averaging 240-250 miles per tank, filling 9.3g when the light came on (you do the mpg math). You getting 300+/tank and him getting 220 probably has a lot to do with him living in downtown Dallas (mad traffic) and you doing 120 miles a day to work and back, I'm guessing a lot of highway? Keep in mind it takes something like twice the gas to get the average car moving from 0-30mph as it does to go from 30-60mph.

Oh yeah, there's like 12 threads on this exact subject since gas went to $3.50+/gal. Search please.

Oil-leak · Post by **Oil-leak** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 4:54 pm

On my neon the best I've gotten on a full tank of gas was 264 miles. The fastest I would drive would be from 55-60 daily, I would not accelerate that quick, always stay on the right hand lane. I've always had the A.C. on full blast. My car is a ATX with an open exhaust. Open exhaust cause we crashed it and the muffler came off.

BlackRoseRacing · Post by **BlackRoseRacing** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 7:47 pm

Here we go again...
Granny shift it at 2500rpm peak
Run minimal accesories...radio,fans,etc...
I get 25-28mpg driving the car hard! I peaked the best of 36mpg highway...
so its really hard to say what your going to do. First do the basics and then see where you are at...

Jerome Adams · Post by **Jerome Adams** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 1:20 pm

I get 24-26mpg avg. in town. I have less than 5 miles to work and several traffic lights along the way. I have a few mods and wider than stock tires. My mpg should go up a little now that it is cooling down and I don't have to run the AC constantly.

Oh and I drive like an idiot 90% of the time.

Fuzzyneon · Post by **Fuzzyneon** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 1:36 pm

i get about 27-28 80percent city 20 percent highway and have gotten 36 all high way lowest was 26 city abusing the baby

Wenuden · Post by **Wenuden** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 1:53 pm

hmm I get about 22mpg city/29 highway in a 19 year old v8 camaro. Those of you that can't seem to get 30+ must drive like douchebags.

Xtian · Post by **Xtian** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 2:43 pm

1/4 of Pure Acetone to you gas tank. Increases gas mileage from 23 to 33!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1dykupyBd8

MoxHair · Post by **MoxHair** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 2:53 pm

Xtian wrote:1/4 of Pure Acetone to you gas tank. Increases gas mileage from 23 to 33!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1dykupyBd8

myth busted

Post by **racer12306** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 7:12 pm

very specific conditions need to be met and most of them will never be met.

Jerome Adams · Post by **Jerome Adams** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 2:11 pm

Wenuden wrote:hmm I get about 22mpg city/29 highway in a 19 year old v8 camaro. Those of you that can't seem to get 30+ must drive like douchebags.

Most of the time, yeah. I can get over 30 on the highway, but not in the city.

BigMac · Post by **BigMac** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:11 pm

A tip to save a little gas and more clutch/TOB wear: You can safely shift into neutral (e.g., to coast to the next red light or top sign) w/o using the clutch at all. Just push the shifter into neutral at the same instant you take your foot off the gas. Works every time.

OB · Post by OB » Sun Oct 19, 2008 1:56 am

BigMac wrote:A tip to save a little gas and more clutch/TOB wear: You can safely shift into neutral (e.g., to coast to the next red light or top sign) w/o using the clutch at all. Just push the shifter into neutral at the same instant you take your foot off the gas. Works every time.

You can also safely shift into any gear w/o the clutch. That's the beauty of a fully synchronized transaxle. The clutch can theoretically be used for 1st and reverse only. Takes some practice, especially downshifting, but it's actually pretty cool.

fixitmattman · Post by **fixitmattman** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 2:13 pm

It doesn't need to be a syncrhonized transmission to do it. In fact, you're not even using the synchro's when you rev match, since when you're rev matching you're doing the work of the synchro's by simply modulating the throttle. This is how you drive trucks/equipment that don't have synchronized gear boxes.

excon · Post by **excon** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 2:21 pm

how did you all figure this out? you just went out and decided you wanted to grind the gears in your transmission and it didn't work?!

Swordfish2Cowboy · Post by **Swordfish2Cowboy** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 8:40 pm

BigMac · Post by **BigMac** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 11:53 pm

We're really old and drove vehicles before synchros were invented.

Swordfish2Cowboy · Post by **Swordfish2Cowboy** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 11:53 pm

BigMac wrote:We're really old and drove vehicles before synchros were invented.

Holy shit man, you're not kidding!

So today I drove a car that had the dimmer switch on the floor. That was fun.

BigMac · Post by **BigMac** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 12:17 am

lol -- damn kids!

Yeah, the old dimmer switch on the floor never worked very well when you needed to use it and the clutch at the same time.

To the OP: sorry for hijacking your thread there. You should also up your tire pressures to 36-38 (till you can't stand the bad ride), and check them every few weeks as the temps drop.

OB · Post by OB » Mon Oct 20, 2008 8:29 pm

fixitmattman wrote:It doesn't need to be a syncrhonized transmission to do it. In fact, you're not even using the synchro's when you rev match, since when you're rev matching you're doing the work of the synchro's by simply modulating the throttle. This is how you drive trucks/equipment that don't have synchronized gear boxes.

The synchros do help prevent the occasional grind that is otherwise very difficult to get around in non-sync'd transmissions. Unless the shift and rev match are dead on, the synchro still catches the gear for you. I drive 10/13 speeds around at work from time to time and am still getting the hang of it. Takes a lot of practice.

fixitmattman · Post by **fixitmattman** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:07 pm

Yeah those are fun, been a while since I mashed gears on something like that. Most of the time though the non synchro trannies like the fuller are designed a little different with the lack of synchro's in mind (kinda like a dog box). Because of that there's a more generous window for rev matching. A little practice and it become second nature with no grinding.

moparman00 · Post by **moparman00** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:46 am

to reply to both topics, i guess i chim in with some others, 36-38 highway, and im 17.....and in town 26-28, unless im driving like an idiot, etc....then things go down hill

as for the shifting withouth the clutch, i started doing that on my dirtbike, when i was younger, and ive learned how to do it i a car....but the thing that perfected it was driving a 10 spd, truck with a 53' box....that was when it kind of made sense....so now i can shift withouth the clutch all the time with no issue.....up or down.....whats fun though is eating or something, so you drive with one hand on the stick, on holding whatever is in you hand, one foot on the gas, and the other knee to stear!....