very bad mileage..plz advise

[louie1086]

126 miles on nearly a half tank of gas?? i know i use the AC but seriously, this is horrible.

I make sure my tires are inflated properly, the air filter is somewhat clean, engine properly lubbed, no CEL. What can I do to increase my mileage, or at least get it back up to OEM? I have an oil leak, but that should affect it right, or am I wrong?

[felonyr301]

You probably drive inefficient probably gas and brake too much instead of rolling by to redlight lol. Turn off the ac and check again. Could be your o2 sensor need to be replaced.

[ghettosled]

its hard to tell your fuel economy just by looking at what the fuel gauge is showing. fill up the tank and calculate things when you know how many gallons it takes and go from there.

reason being if i stop my car facing up hill, the gauge reads low. face down hill and it reads high.

[toyomoho]

What engine? Get some MPG numbers and post back.

[xet]

I am only getting about 320 from my camry without crossing into the warning light territoy. But that is just a combo of being old and my driving

[dc_98_cam]

Originally Posted by felonyr301

You probably drive inefficient probably gas and brake too much instead of rolling by to redlight lol. Turn off the ac and check again. Could be your o2 sensor need to be replaced.

Even with 5s-fe, 126 miles and maybe 9 gallons sounds like something has ceased to work correctly. Have you ever replaced your Oxygen sensors, both of them?

[keba]

Mine is a gen3 96.YMMV

I think the gauge is not linear.

I beleive that the first half (From Full to MidPoint is 10 Gallons) .The Second Half From MidPoint to Empty is 5 Gallons. This is my humble opinion.

So if it was the first half you are talking about its pretty bad

if it was the second not so bad

The engine will not throw codes for gas mileage - it doesnt see anything out of range from a sensors inputs


As for a tuneup . run a can of techron through the fuel tank.that should help some

plugs,ditributor cap,wires,air filter -these are more of a pep-upgrade than a fuel economy thing but might as well do it sooner or later.Again my humble opinion

Oxygen sensors,Intake air temp sensor,MAP Sensor, vaccum hoses - these are more critical . check if everything is plugged in good.

Overdrive on,Power Mode off. - Keep RPMS below 3K,except merging - If you have a V6 even less 2-3K .Learn to Coast .

A\C- better to use the A\c on the highway than without,and having the windows rolled down.


Brakes- see if any of them are sticking

Vf -The diagnostics port provides a Vf signal (look at the manual) which say how ,much richer or leaner a fule trim mix is from a regular trim.I havent done this until I came across another post.Try it and see if your car is running rich all the time.

Tires are recommended at 30 Psi .some people push higher for more MPH .This may be dangerous .Stick with recomended .

HTH
keba

[louie1086]

I have a 5sfe. Actually, I do coast to red lights, and on highways; easy on the brakes, and I always try not to accelerate unless I have to, and when I do, its a gradual acceleration. The brakes dont feel like they are sticking. I plan to run some seafoam into the fuel system during my next fill up, but i still got half a tank left. Should I do it sooner? Perhaps I will consider changing the O2 sensor, but they were replaced a year ago during a tune up.

[Venom_5]

have someone look under your valve cover see if its all gunked up ... u might want to bring it to the dealership in this case, cuz there may be something a lil worse than just a sensor

however, even a bad sensor can do this too - so dont overlook anything

[sk8ersublime]

I got my ERG? or EGR? valve/pipe cleaned out when i had a CEL, they said it was clogged which was causing bad mileage. They reset the light, and it came back saying it was the o2 sensor....its still on to this day...but with my new tires that are inflated right, i got 398 right when the light started coming on, and i have a 95 v6 LE. And i drive with the windows down, or i have the AC on....so yea... i would check that valve/pipe...i still have to get that sensor fixed...anyone have a part # and a place i can buy this, and possibly a guide to do it myself? lol...im poor.

[Venom_5]

yep, EGR is another culprit

[keba]

I just got a oxygen sensor from the junk yard(5 bucks,five fifty with "warranty" ,--yes from a junkyard).but only the upstream sensor.

The new one is more responsive .Faster to switch than my older one.Havent noticed much mpg increases but this one definitely runs bettter .and switch to extremes better .but then again my computer was quite happy with the older one

BTW,I let it run without a sensor and the exhaust open.Sounds pretty neat.kindof motorboaty sound.

If you 02 sensor was replaced last year then that shouldnt be it.

P.S.Replacing the sensor was the easiest thing I have ever done It was not rusted or anything ,

[chester08]

Sorry for the long post buddy, I think this would help in case a new oxygen sensor wouldn’t work…Here’s some tips I’ve researched on how to increase your mileage. This is what I did when my Toyota oxygen sensor failed. Hope this would help…Okay, here you go...

• Don't accelerate quickly. - I used to be a relatively aggressive driver. I would speed up quickly from stops, accelerate into the fast line quickly on the freeway, and so forth. If you accelerate gradually, though, it can really help your miles per gallon. Your car won't be working as hard. You'll be a safer driver to boot.
• Let your car brake itself. - I wasn't so bad with this one, but I used to often wait until I was somewhat near a stop before braking down to a halt. Anticipate stops ahead of you and just let off the accelerator, letting the car slow itself down.
• Drive at the speed limit on highways and freeways. - This was the hardest one for me to do. I would consistently drive 5, maybe 10, miles per hour over the speed limit. Last year I wouldn't have cared about this one. Now, my choice is between driving 5 miles per hour slower on highways and freeways, or paying for gas more often. At $3.00 a gallon, I'm now more willing to drive 5 miles per hour slower. And you know what? I find that I don't really get where I'm going any later than I did before. Funny, that.
• Use cruise control. - This really helps your miles per gallon a lot on long stretches of road. Where I live there is a drive I often have to take that's about a half-hour drive. I tested this out on that drive and was surprised at the difference cruise control made. I tried driving the exact same speed with and without cruise control and using cruise control consistently gave me a 4-5 miles per gallon advantage. If I worked the accelerator myself, even being very consistent and alert to how I was driving, I would get about 24-25 miles per gallon on this highway stretch. (This is using the real-time miles per gallon display, mind you.) With cruise control on, it would increase to 29, and then vary between 27 and 30 depending on the road conditions. Not bad.
• Don't use the air conditioner. - This can be a hard one in the summer, but with fall settling in, it's not that tough anymore. Every time I turned the air conditioner off, I saw an immediate increase in my miles per gallon.
• Accelerate before hills. - (If you live in the Midwest, ignore this. What you call a "hill" is what we in Oregon call a "speed bump".) Accelerate before you get to a hill, and then let off the accelerator once you hit the hill. Let your momentum carry you up the foot of the hill. Accelerating before the hill is easier on your car than accelerating on the hill. If it's a big enough hill, you'll still need to accelerate while you're on it, but then you won't have to use the accelerator on the entire hill.

And now here are some things I haven't tested, but are supposed to help.

• Clean out your car. - A lighter car will get more miles per gallon.
• Check your tire pressure. - Low tire pressure makes your car work harder. Don't over-inflate your tires.
• Change your air filter. - A dirty filter will decrease your miles per gallon.
• Get a hybrid car. - Well, duh. However, hybrids aren't for everyone. If you have long stretches of highway or freeway driving, a hybrid won't give you much of an advantage. They are also less powerful when it comes to hills.
• Do more in one trip. - Less trips equals less gas.

Good luck…Let me know about any development of you car…tnx!!!

[xet]

Originally Posted by chester08

• Get a hybrid car. - Well, duh. However, hybrids aren't for everyone. If you have long stretches of highway or freeway driving, a hybrid won't give you much of an advantage. They are also less powerful when it comes to hills.

I disagree with your claims here, if I use cruise control on a freeway in great conditions I might get like high 20's to 30 mpg, my dad's prius can easily get 60 mpg cruising at 80mph. And power isn't a problem really we were able to take the grapevine (basically a really hilly area in socal) at 80mph with ease.

Of course none of this really has to do with why he is getting poor mileage and it is still most likely a mechanical problem since he is an i4 and getting such terrible mileage

edit: saw you from socal so I guess Ill leave the grapevine description for others

['_']

Regarding the air conditioning on Camry's, there are only two settings, on and off right? The low, medium, medium-high, and high are just there to control the fan speeds correct? So basically if I had the air conditioning set at low and then later set at high, would I be using the same amount of gas?