REALLY Bad Gas mileage

loccomoco · 05-30-2004, 02:49 AM

Well. I have a 1995 Saturn SL1 Manual. Recently I've been getting REALLY bad gas mileage. I filled it up to a little over half a tank today, and already (after 35-40) miles its at 1/4 tank. That is ridiculous. My moms Corvette gets better gas mileage than mine at the moment, and it has 4 more cyl than mine and its over 3.8 liters larger.
I have been taking my car easy. (Shifting when the shift light comes on). Not punching it. and it still gets horrible gas mileage. I dont use my A/C so thats not a factor in this.

The air filter is clean, and the tires are in alignment.

Any help would be appreciated!

onefast94sc2 · 05-30-2004, 03:46 AM

try changing the ects (engine coolant temp sensor) the 2 wire one in the head it sounds like it is giving false readings to your pcm about engine temp that and a good tune up

Robert-sl2 · 05-30-2004, 06:22 AM

are you sure your fuel gauge is completely accurate? mine is fairly inconsistent in how long it takes between marks (I may go 90 mils before it gets to 3/4 mark, then 40 miles later I am @ 1/2).

What I would do to make sure:

Fill the tank till it is full, reset the trip odometer, drive for a while (100-150 miles) then refill the tank to full. See how much gas you used and figure out your true mileage.

cvpi71 · 05-30-2004, 07:14 PM

well the gauge is not the best thing on these cars, try driving it about 100 miles or so, and fill it uop again and see many gallon it take, miles drivendivede by gallons you need to fill up and do the same the second time around and you will get a rough estimate of mpg.

Artificialist · 05-30-2004, 09:23 PM

Also, the catalyst may need replacement if the car is losing power as well.

amazinghl · 05-30-2004, 10:36 PM

Change the ECTS and Thermostat first and see if anything changes. *about $40 in parts.

afsaturn1 · 05-31-2004, 01:45 AM

well when you drive those 40 miles fill it back up and see how many gallons went in it.

ausgeflippt13 · 05-31-2004, 03:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert-sl2

are you sure your fuel gauge is completely accurate? mine is fairly inconsistent in how long it takes between marks (I may go 90 mils before it gets to 3/4 mark, then 40 miles later I am @ 1/2).

mine does the EXACT same thing. So my bet is that your gauge might not be reading correctly. Your ECU might also be thinking you're running lean, so it dumps in more fuel than necessary.

Seein' as how running rich doesn't actually help performance on our cars, I suggest that you really gun it for a while one day. Run the hell outta that thing, and try to remember how zippy the car was when you first got it and compare the two to see if this fuel problem is, in fact, not a problem.