March 11, 200620 yr Alright, so i drove from potsdam to rochester today, and my milage is SUCKING, i calculated roughly 15mpg... what's going on? new stuff on the car: -O2 Sensor -Borla Headers -Wheels & Tires she's all alligned and stuff... i sea foamed the vacc line a week or so ago... new fuel filter, air filter seems to be clean.. I keep getting the freaking 'fuel temp senor' CEL (P0181), so i pulled out the main sending unit today, and checked it out, all the wires and stuff seem to be good, all the solders seem to be good.. can't figure it out... it drives a little sluggish also... and i'm getting like.. 40 miles per 1/4 tank!! BOOO!! there's a good dealer that's open tomorrow at 8am, what do i need to get? i have 700 miles to drive tomorrow.. and refueling every 200 miles is not cool. So what's the deal... If i could get a good diagnosis by 8am tomorrow, it'd be awesome... oh yeah, it's 97 impreza obs, 4eat, 2.2l, 171k on her
March 11, 200620 yr What kind of driving, what's coming out of the tailpipe, what's your driving style and is the tranny not shifting past 3rd gear?
March 11, 200620 yr Author It's all highway driving, about 68-73mph, i'm driving it relitivly lightly (not lead footed...), the exaust smells normal, not too lean or rich, and the tranny shifts fine, all the way into drive, and overdrive when it gets a chance. I just changes the tranny fluid last week too. It also has new brake shoes in the back.. but they dont' seem to be dragging that much... I'll have to go smell the exaust a little more to see if she's actually running properly...
March 11, 200620 yr a lot of wheeling will do that. stop complaining. i thought you were on my side for the infamous "ANTI-gas mileage thread"
March 11, 200620 yr It has to be running very rich, maybe the ECU engine temp sensor? would the temp gauge be doing something weird if the temp sensor was bad??
March 11, 200620 yr would the temp gauge be doing something weird if the temp sensor was bad?? No, there are 2 sensors (on most 'recent' models I guess) near each other, a one wire sensor (IIRC) for the gauge and a 2-3 wire sensor for the ECU. If that one goes bad, the ECU thinks the car is cold and runs a rich A/F map - like a 'choke'. Seems to be a very common failure.
March 11, 200620 yr I keep getting the freaking 'fuel temp sensor' CEL (P0181), so i pulled out the main sending unit today, and checked it outClarify one thing: you actually checked the FUEL TEMP sensor, or you checked a different sensor?it drives a little sluggish alsoSo what's the deal... My first guess is the timing is being retarded by an ECU "safe" default mode.
March 12, 200620 yr How about CRAPPY gas... We live in Rochester area and everyone I've been talking to here has had crappy gas mileage on everthing they drive. Talked to my neighbor today, he was getting 17 mpg on his 99 Dodge 1500 5.9L truck in the fall, he lucky to be pulling 12 now. We were getting 22-23 mpg on the 01 OBW and we've been getting aroung 18-20 mpg. Even my 97 Dodge 1500 VAN 3.9L (work provided) was getting `330 miles per tank. I had to fill it at 270 this week. We much be getting hte bottom of the barrell gas here. It SUCKS, literally...
March 12, 200620 yr tune up stuff would be important. O2 sensor people like to suggest though i've never had a good increase after changing...always hopeful but it never happens! random checks: front brakes dragging some. wheel bearing? tire pressure. use cruise control, i just drove back from canada from up your way and got about 2-3 mpg better on the way back using cruise control was the only difference. none on the way up - about 24. cruise on the way back and 27?? same driving. compression test?
March 12, 200620 yr Suggestion: check for dragging brakes, especially from the rear E brake. Drive for a while, pull over, then feel the wheel near the center. If it's rubbing, it will be hot. Feel all four and note differences. Just one of my rears was hanging, just some of the time, so it took awhile to find it, but once fixed it added 3 mpg.
March 12, 200620 yr How about CRAPPY gas... We live in Rochester area and everyone I've been talking to here has had crappy gas mileage on everthing they drive. Interesting; I didn't say that because I thought the response would be "conspiracy theory" . My '99 OBW usually gets 19-20 MPG (almost exclusively local driving, with Ithaca-area hills), but it's been down to about 16-17 on the last few tanks. No CELs, no dragging brakes, but perhaps somewhat colder weather. Heck, my '69 Firebird with a 350 c.i. engine got that kind of mileage .
March 12, 200620 yr Be sure to reset the ECU after any sensor change or significant work on the engine/emissions system.
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