91 celica gt gas mileage

[bluecelicagt]

I just purchased 91 Celica GT and have so far been very pleased except for one major problem. I thought Toyotas are suppose to get great gas mileage?. My car is an automatic with 150000 miles on the odometer. I'm getting around 19 mpg on the expressway. I bought this car thinking about good gas mileage. Is this normal mileage.
I've had the car tuned up (new plugs, wires, cap, etc.) I took it to my mechanic who put it on a computer and the emissions read O.K. and no code faults. I took it to a trans shop to see if the trans. was shifting O.K. and it checks out O.K.and the overdrive is working normally. I even double checked the timing to see if maybe the previous owner set the timing wrong when changing the belt. Checks out O.K.
The car seems to run and idle great with no roughness. Is this gas mileage normal and if not, ANY SUGGESTIONS on how to improve it. I get better gas mileage from my 91 SUV explorer
thanks
scott

[sritzau]

That mileage is not normal. A more typical number is near 30 mpg. My F-150 can get 19 at times (it's a 5 spd with an I-6). I am sorry that I cannot tell you exactly what you need to to to improve it, but at least I can tell you that the discrepency between typical mileage and your mileage is very high. Something needs to be done.

Steve

[bluecelicagt]

There was another reply to this post here yesterday, I don't know where it went, but it suggested that the cooling sensor might be bad and that telling the computer to send more fuel. My mechanic is going to test that today. At this stage of the game, I'm open to anything.
thanks

[zyg0te]

every 90K the O2 (oxygen sensor) should be replaced, if it is faulty, the O2 sensor tells the ECU (Or whatever the computers are called in the toyotas, i dunno, i'm just browsing under my bro's sn.) to give it a looped fuel connection, you'll notice this by poor gas mileage, black smoke out the tailpipe (signs of running rich) and maybe an increase or lost in power (depending on mods).

Air conditioning, is it on? does it really disengage? this will cause poor gas mileage as well. How about your Battery? when was the last time it was replaced? I was getting 6 miles to the gallon in my rodeo, changed the battery and got atleast 13, changed the O2's and got 19ish...all sensors are ran off the 12v base. if you're not getting enough voltage to the sensor all your readings will be off. and stereo...stress on the alt hurts the gas mileage too...it also robs you of HP. Weight? biggest enemy...

[tuby_34]

Hey man, try changing you air fliter and maybe an oil change along with oil filter....changing the oil won't do much but the air filter should.

[dodger1]

Yeah, I wonder what happened to my post about the coolant temperature sensor? Actually any sensor that causes the ECU to enrich the mixture is suspect - the coolant sensor just has the most effect. There is an ambient air temperature sensor too but it has less effect. If the oxygen sensor goes bad you will usually get a code. If the ECU is in 'limp home mode' you will definitely get a code and an engine light. Most other things that I can think of would also effect running and driveablity. (dragging brakes, soft tires, bad air flow meter) Is the idle speed normal (about 750) or too high? The ECU controls the idle speed and if it changes then you definitely suspect fuel injection or a severe vacuum leak. Best of luck.

[bluecelicagt]

Everybody been great at giving suggestions and I've tried just about everyone I could before I broke down and took it into my last resort mechanic. I hate taking my cars to mechanics. Anyways, He's even having a hard time figuring it out, even using his shop computer. He's had it for 3 days (probubly looked at it once) but so far he hasn't found out the problem. At this stage, it's out of my hands. I'll keep you posted on the final outcome. I can only hope it's good news.
thanks everybody
91 toyota celica
90 Mazda Miata
75 vette Conv.
73 Mustang Conv.
61 Triumph TR3

[elcapatante]

For what it is worth my 92 celica 5 speed has 239k and has gotten 33MPG since day one. I gotta believe something is wrong with only 19MPG.

[elcapatante]

For what it is worth my 92 celica 5 speed has 239k and has gotten 33MPG since day one. I gotta believe something is wrong with only 19MPG.

[91CelicaST]

check the front brakes. caliper pistons could be sticking on car this old, and emergency brake cable adjustment. have 91 celica st 36 mpg!

[ztech]

I have 1988 Celica GT and get 33 to 38 mpg depending how I drive it on the interstate.

[SlowYota91]

i have a 91 celica st ... i had to do an engine swap and afterward my car got extremely horrible gas mileage and never went above cold as far as temp goes ... accel. brought on a cloud of black smoke

found out after two weeks that my "help" had broken the "nipple"? off the map sensor ...

a little epoxy and replacing the hose and good as new

amazing how a 1"x1"x1" part failing can cause such a problem

just a thought


btw check the brakes like 91celicast said ... i had the same problem

[91TC]

30 on my 91 gt

[emilynsams]

I have a 1991 Celica GT-S and mine averages about the same as that, around 19 MPG.

[ae_101]

Originally Posted by emilynsams

I have a 1991 Celica GT-S and mine averages about the same as that, around 19 MPG.

Something was wrong with your car too! These 5SFE's are supposed to be a good gas milage motor. Hell, they have them in Camery's too. Everyone here has said all the right things to check. You make have to double chack what the shop over looked. Easy enuff though.

Also anther thing, do you drive, "like you stole it", or drive like a g-ma? I have a 93 GT, and i'm scared to go fast and I just hit 200 miles on a half tank of gas. She has 174k on the clock. I hope you get this fixed! 19mpg is going to get ruff when gas is just under $4.00/gal