Hello, I am a student here in New Orleans and have a general MPG question. I have a 2003 Olds Alero 3.4L with 58,000 miles. I keep the tire psi at or around 32-34psi. I drive 90% city 5% hwy. I am getting about 225 miles to a tank or 19mpg after figuring out my mpg. This just does not sound normal. Any ideas as to why? I am not a lead foot driver, so that should not be an idea :) Thanks for your input.
2006-12-14 12:32:16 · 8 answers · asked by chasesynergy 1 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Car Makes ➔ GMC
well the first 2 things i would check are the Air Filter and the spark plugs, those 2 things can make a huge difference. Most vehicles are due for tune-ups every 30,000 (unless they have platinum plugs. The Airfilter should be changed often as well, because if you have no airflow they you are using more gas
2006-12-14 12:41:34 · answer #1 · answered by Shane 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
2003 Oldsmobile Alero Mpg
2016-11-12 21:40:38 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
New Orleans is using "oxygenated" fuel or whatever they call the special blend that is used to decrease ozone emissions. This fuel is similar to what is used in California. You will find that all along the "chemical corridor" of south Louisiana that the fuel used is not going to get quite the mileage that you would get in areas that use the less "formulated" gas. you can see the stickers on the sides of most of the gas pumps there that mention this though they are fairly small as the gas companies are simply "informing" you and don't want to brag about it. State mandates this. They came close to mandating the extreme oxygenated stuff for Baton Rouge 2 years ago but the EPA gave that area a reprieve for a bit to see if they could control ozone. I bet that if you get a chance to take your car to some place away from all the urbanization and petro chemical areas of high ozone that you will notice your mileage increase slightly. Also make sure that your check engine light is not on as if so you might have a bad sensor or something forcing the computer to dump a bit more fuel into it. Still though your mileage is not out of line for areas using that fuel. Same basic thing that happens around the whole country with Diesel vehicles like I have in the cooler months as they add Kerosene or some similar additive to keep it from "gelling" in the cool weather. On another note unless you are running very low profile tires you might have a bit too much air in them. I would check with the dealer of whatever tires your car has and not the owner's manual for correct pressure as the manual simply gives pressures for the tires that came on the car from the factory. Use that if still original tires though. The 3.4 being a "sporty" engine can benefit as well from using plus or premium as either would increase the mileage if the pocketbook will allow. Not enough to offset the cost though I bet. :-)
2006-12-18 10:17:39 · answer #3 · answered by mohavedesert 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
sounds a little low. Try air filter, also a big contributor to poor mileage would be in-line fuel filter. Those 2 things and tire psi
are the biggest reasons for poor mileage.
I am an ex-technician and current service advisor at a Chevy, Buick, Pont, GMC, Dodge, Chrysler Jeep dealer. 17 years exp.
2006-12-14 13:05:04 · answer #4 · answered by kip 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
alot of short hop driving will kill mileage.(the eng does not reach full operating temperature) dirty air filter is another thing to check.. need to check ecm data to see if coolant temp sensor, ect sensor, is not reading properly,or if thermostat is stuck open, the ecm will give the engine too much fuel thinking it's still in warm up mode. an ect sensor can be bad, and not turn the chk eng lite on. you didn't say how it was running, so i assume it's running ok. another thing to check will be a leaking internally fuel pressure regulator. a leaking unit will dump lots of fuel into the engine via the vacuum hose that goes to it. also look at map sensor data. a bad map will fool the ecm into dumping too much fuel. maf sensor not so much, but with a bad maf, you will have all sorts of running wierd issues.
2006-12-14 12:54:13 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Seems OK but a little low. Try some tips here for getting better gas mileage. Look under the SAVE GAS tab
2006-12-14 12:42:56 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
WEll from the info you posted looks like you have a idle air coltrol problem, 2 things you need to do one get air intake cleaner and remove the air box and clean the throttle body out and try to see if that helps if not replace the idle air cleaner and drive ...
2016-03-17 21:40:28 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would say there`s nothing wrong with this car .90% city driving will drop mpg`s to the level you mentioned.
2006-12-16 03:27:23 · answer #8 · answered by deltech 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Lose the lead foot. Even with easy driving it will only get about 24mpg in city.
2006-12-15 06:35:59 · answer #9 · answered by brad m 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋