Honda Car Forum

Also cars get less MPG during their break in period. The seal from the
pistons rings between the combustion chambers and crank case still
needs to break in/strengthen up first.



East-

Like you said, my car is spending half its life not warmed up. Does
this negatively affect my car besides the low gas mileage? Can this
cause problems with my engine?

Yes. If the car never reaches operating temperature than there will be
nasty carbon deposits inside the cars combustion chambers. The valves
themselves will become coated with carbon, as will the spark plugs and
injectors.

That's one reason why cars that do lots of highway miles instead of
short city trips last longer.

East-

In article <1144031594.880636.156600@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups .com>,
ag <ag_15@excite.com> wrote:
>I am measuring the gas mileage as you have described. Given that how
>everyone feels that trips 5-8 miles long could be the cause of the poor
>mileage, is there something I can do for such trips to maximize the
>mileage?

Combine trips? I.e. do all of the short trips together, so that the
first short trip leaves the car still warm for the next one.

In your previous car, how did your fuel economy compare to the EPA
fuel economy?
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Timothy J. Lee
Unsolicited bulk or commercial email is not welcome.
No warranty of any kind is provided with this message.

ag_15@excite.com wrote:
> I bought an Accord '05 Value Package (AT, 5 Speed) in August last year.
> Since then I've been trying to measure my gas mileage. The sticker on
> the car showed the EPA estimate as 24(city)/34(hwy) mpg. Now, I've been
> driving mostly on highways since. I would split it as 70% hwy, 30%
> city. Yet, I've been consistently getting 22-23.5 mpg from this car. I
> would also like to add that I rarely drive during rush hours on the
> highways, meaning I don't brake much once I'm on the highway.

but how fast do you go? the best mileage is going to be given AS SOON AS
5th gear kicks in, with the revs as low as possible.
>
> I was told by many people that I should check the tire pressure, as it
> could be a major reason for poor gas mileage. I checked the tires and
> they all came out to around 26 psi which is way below the 30/32 psi
> recommended for the car. So I filled the tires and kept monitoring the
> pressure, always keeping it around 32-33 psi cold since November last
> year. Still, the mileage hasn't improve at all.

shouldve improved some, but maybe not measurably.
>
> When I took the car to the dealer, I was told that they will not
> inspect my car till I had atleast 5000 miles on it, which according to
> them is the break-in period (even though my manual says the break-in
> period is 500 miles). Then, I contacted Honda directly. The customer
> rep told me that no dealer would inspect the car till 7500 miles as
> that is the break-in. Then during the conversation he changed the
> number to 10000 miles. When I told him that my honda dealer told me
> 5000 miles was the break-in period, he changed the number again to
> 4000-4500 miles. It seemed to me that the customer rep was just trying
> to make excuses for not checking my car.

theyre all right. if the car is babied, it might not be broken in until
after 10k miles. or later.

google for "EPA estimate test procedure" and youll find how they do it.
your mileage may vary, and it is.
>
> Now, I am no expert in cars. So I'm not sure what the typical break-in
> period should be. But is it normal to get such poor mileage that I am
> getting from my car? I have tried taking all precautions while driving
> like slow acceleration, driving at 65 mph on highways and no
> overspeeding, driving slow till the engine heats up, no idling the
> engine, etc. Is there something I can do to fix this poor mileage
> problem? I have driven other cars and never had such a problem so I
> know that it's not my driving that could be causing this.

time, and longer trips
>
> Also, I would like to add that most of my car trips are 5-8 miles long.
> Could that be attributing to this problem?

yes. the car likely isnt warming up enough to run as lean as it can.
>
> Thanks,
> ag
>

ag wrote:
> I am measuring the gas mileage as you have described. Given that how
> everyone feels that trips 5-8 miles long could be the cause of the poor
> mileage, is there something I can do for such trips to maximize the
> mileage?

not really. another issue might be "reformulated gas" if you live in an
area that uses it. mileage on RFG is lower than normal.
>
> Thank you all so very much for your responses.
>

ag wrote:
> Like you said, my car is spending half its life not warmed up. Does
> this negatively affect my car besides the low gas mileage? Can this
> cause problems with my engine?
>

theres a slight possibilty your catalyst and O2 sensors wont last as
long as they could.

ag wrote:
> I live in North Cali. Not too cold actually. It's usually around 50-65
> when I'm driving. I do realize that by having a short commute I'm
> saving money on gas even though my gas mileage is low. But I really
> want to know if it is just the distance or something bigger that is
> causing the problem.

its perfectly normal, especially considering the car is still breaking
in. if theyre using RFG up there thats another factor.
>
> Thanks for the input fellas. I will try cruising on some highways for
> 20-30 minutes everyday for some time. Hopefully I'll see better
> results. I'll post my results here soon.
>

"ag" <ag_15@excite.com> wrote in message
news:1144031594.880636.156600@i40g2000cwc.googlegr oups.com...
>I am measuring the gas mileage as you have described. Given that how
> everyone feels that trips 5-8 miles long could be the cause of the poor
> mileage, is there something I can do for such trips to maximize the
> mileage?

Not really. Installing a coolant heater will make a big difference.

> Thank you all so very much for your responses.



--
The DervMan
www.dervman.com

<eastwardbound2003@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1144044995.020466.36640@z34g2000cwc.googlegro ups.com...
> Also cars get less MPG during their break in period. The seal from the
> pistons rings between the combustion chambers and crank case still
> needs to break in/strengthen up first.


*Significantly* less in some cases, rather, after fifty thousand miles of
mechanically sympathetic use, my own cars have been "better" for it (lower
fuel consumption being the main area).

--
The DervMan
www.dervman.com