20 MPG (city) for a Manual I4? Good or Bad?

[Nevalite]

Hey everyone,

I just calculated my MPG for my last 30 litres of gas. It came out to about 20 MPG. The car is used for almost only city driving. Is this good or bad?

I check and the car is rated for 19 MPG city and 26 MPG HW...

Are you guys getting around the same as me for city?

Other than driving style are there any tune ups I could do on my engine to make it do better on gas? Fuel filter? Injectors? Fuel pump?

Thanks

[Zviator]

That rating is for the v6. If u have I4 auto it should be 21-28, stick will beslightly better.

Have u done a seafoam lately ?

[Nevalite]

Never done a seafoam, I've heard of it around here, something about filling various parts with a liquid to clean it out or something...

What exactly is it? Will it help MPG?

[Zviator]

It's an adictive chemical that will decompose all the built up carbon and sludge in your fuel injector, mostly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhPsL-6VjLc

Chevron claims to have the same shit in the gas they sell, the commercial about valve covered with sludge.

[Nevalite]

Yeah I just watched that video, I saw you posted it in another thread.

He only seems to put it into the brake booster line, arent you supposed to do 1/3 in the crankcase and 1/3 in the gas tank also? Do you do all 3 at once or 1 at a time?

I'll probably do this this weekend, thanks a lot.

[Nevalite]

Also I was just wondering...If you add it to the gas and oil wont it just mix with the rest of your oil and gas? Would you have to burn the entire tank of gas to get rid of it? Would you have to do an oil change after you do it?

Could I just put it in the brake booster line?

[wtftoy]

I used 1/2 in brake booster line.
Entire bottle with a FULL gas tank.
And I've read that you put seafoam in oil and drive for a little bit (less than like 10 miles or so, i might be off) then change it. BUT I never done this myself.
You can just do a quick search on seafoam and find ALOT more information.

[Nevalite]

I think I might just put 1/2 a can in the brake booster line like you said and not do the others, what you guys think?

[Zviator]

I poured a whole can into the crank booster, didn't blow anything, just a tiny efford to start up the engine again afterall.

[JCamry94]

Clean out your TB too!

Toothbrush + Seafoam =

Should smooth out your idle a bit, and gain a small response at the throttle

[nikita]

One mpg better than the EPA estimate is good, but I get about 22 city (and 33 highway) with a V-6 automatic by #1 slow acceleration (not fun) and #2 higher tire pressures than the book says (improves handling a bit, ride not too bad). Since you are in Canada, I would replace your gearbox and final drive fluids with synthetic, if you havent already. Seafoam and other treatments only help if there is a problem with deposits and using Shell V-power or similar gas does the same thing. I use Chevron gas for that reason.

[ECale3]

The I4 Auto was rated 20mpg city 28 highway (and i used to get better than that on mine) and the manual was rated even higher, so i would say you could probably get better mileage.

[cruisn76]

I hit about 25-28MPG on average with my 4cyl 5spd (50-50 city-highway). This is after seafoam, relacing plugs, wires, air filter, etc...

[Mazeraski]

For my auto I4, the lowest I've gotten since I started keeping track was 18.5 mpg purely city driving. This included a bit of more spirited driving.

The highest I've gotten was 31.9 mpg mostly highway, but with some city driving.

I've averaged 28.8 mpg (just calculated it) which is probably somewhere around 50% highway, 50% city.

I'd say yours is a little low. If you haven't done any of these yet, they could give you a little boost in mpg: a bout of seafoam (1/3 in the gas tank, 1/3 in the crankcase, 1/3 in the brake booster), change the plugs, wires, air filter, clean the TB, etc.