Prius (2004-09) Fuel :: Unexpected Gas Mileage Drop
Aug 14, 2010
I've had my 2007 Driftwood Pearl Package 2 Touring a little more than a year now. I had been getting 42-46 MPG every tank until I filled up my gas tank today.
View 19 RepliesI've had my 2007 Driftwood Pearl Package 2 Touring a little more than a year now. I had been getting 42-46 MPG every tank until I filled up my gas tank today.
View 19 RepliesI turned on the car, CONS showed 56.0mpg,
backed out of the garage (about 20 feet) 55.8 mpg,
waited for the garage door to close 55.0 mpg (ICE started),
got to the end of the street (about 200 feet) 54.0 mpg
outside temp was 51F, humid, cloudy
had about 90 miles on new tank of fuel
I know you get big swings in fuel economy when you reset the trip on fill ups but I just thought it was funny that the mpg would drop 0.8 mpg while not moving.
I commuted to LA 2-3x a week. The mileage on my car is now at 90k. I have had an average of 40 mpg since new, but suddenly it began to drop. We took it to our local Toyota dealer and was told it was most likely a cable that needed to be cleaned. That was $160. It didn't work.
View 10 RepliesI am using a 2012 Prius and I was running around 23KMpL average. For sometime I am seeing my mileage around 17 - 18 KMpL. What could be the reasons for this ?
The only change happened in between is that I had a accident which I had to replace the front buffer.
I bought a 2010 Prius II (150,000 miles on it) about two weeks ago. In that time the car has been averaging between 41 and 43 MPG according to the computer, and I calculated 41.3 MPG at my last fill up. I am concerned about the MPGs. I bought a brand new Prius in 2012, it was a III model and '12 year. That car always got 48 highway, and 50 in the city. From what I understand, the 2010 and 2012 models have the same engine and transmission set up and the only difference may be the software.
So my questions are; why am I getting 7 to 9 MPG less than my old (newer) 2012 Prius? What to do to get better mileage, but what actually worked? My checklist of repairs include; check 12v battery, change out spark plugs, just changed air filter, check brakes, oil change (using Mobil 1 full synthetic 0w-20), what else should I check/replace/update,
It seems that my mpg gauge always drops by at least 2 mpg when it's raining, even if one goes slower because of the rain. Why is this?
View 19 RepliesThis Easter I put summer tires on my "new" (owned about 4 weeks) prius -07, and cleaned and greased brakes.
With winter tires (almost new Nokia hakka xx, stud less) I got 4.5 l/100km (52mpg) easy and 4.2 (56mpg) at best, now I get 5.5 (42mpg) and 5.3 if I struggle, if I relax and put cruise control on I get 5.8 (40mpg). I travel 100km to work every day.
Summer tires is Michelin primacy (about 2 seasons?) pumped to 3.0/2.8 bar (over inflated).
Brakes don't seem hot after drive and they was really clean and easy to move after my service so my guess is that they work fine...
Mileage went down over the weekend so I see a clear link.
It was more fun trying to hypermile at 56mpg aiming for 60 then it is at 42 aiming for 45...
12v battery charged, just in case. Still same temperature out 1-8 C. Oil and all filters changed first week (will change trans axle oil in summer). Travel to work got 4% shorter so tire size must be a small reason to the +20% problem.
Last October I needed new tires, so I had Michelin Defenders put on my 2011 Three in place of the OEM Firestones. The Michelins perform well and are nice and quiet, but...
My gas mileage (both indicated on the dash and calculated) has dropped by about ten percent. In researching the two brands of tire, I found that the OEM Firestones are rated at 836 revolutions per mile, and the Michelins are 839. I'm wondering if this is the reason for the apparent change in mileage.
I replaced my 12V battery yesterday with the Optima yellow top. immediately after, my gas mileage dropped to about 16 mpg.
View 9 RepliesMy '05 Prius has been going strong with just passing the 200k mark recently. However about 2-3 weeks ago after I replaced the PCV valve, I started getting really bad gas mileage. I'm talking about getting an average of 45 mpg in city/highway combo down to 30 mpg. Filled up my tank twice from empty so I'm pretty sure it's not just bad gas. Highway driving does slightly better than city.
Today I noticed that my acceleration from stop is just absolutely terrible. The car responds really slow and sluggish and takes a while for it to realize I want to go. Low speed doesn't get good mileage at all. It seems I get normal mileage at almost 65 mph, not sure why.
I don't think the 100 degree weather we are having here in Texas is causing THAT much of an effect because last year and two years ago during 100 degrees, gas mileage was normal. What to check? I searched and most talk about cold weather. I have a relatively new 12V gel battery so I doubt it is that but I can try disconnecting it.
Well I work overnight security and I'm able to watch movies in my car or be on my laptop at work but I ruined my battery( didn't have the car engine on) and now that my battery is dying I noticed huge drop in gas mileage .
View 18 RepliesI live in the suburbs, so I do a lot of stop and go driving. For the longest time, I would typically get 25 or 26 mpg city, as per the gauge. I would see the number climb to 41 or so in constant highway driving. I am pretty sure the fuel tank is about 10.5 gallons or so as when the low fuel light comes on, and there is only one bar left on the gas gauge, and I top up the tank, I never put more than about 9.5 - 9.8 gallons in.
All this being said, in the last few weeks I have seen a severe drop in MPG. The gauge is constantly reading about 19.5, when I hit the expressway it will climb a bit, but when I compare the miles driven to the bars on the gas gauge, the bars used to drop at about 20 miles driven, now each bar will drop at around 13-15 miles driven. We are having some extreme cold here in the midwest, as opposed to last winter when I bought the car.
I have a 2008 prius. Usually it gets me around 52-55mpg, I've had it since January. Since a couple of days ago its not giving me anything above 49. I know thats a normal number, but considering the fact that its usually quite a bit higher I'm wondering what the cause of the drop is. Also around the same time, when I pull out of my driveway I notice what appears to be a bit of water leakage. Its under the vehicle in the front center, and it only happens when I start the car for the day and pull out of my driveway (its on an incline).
View 4 RepliesI have a 2006 Prius with 165K miles. My MPG suddenly went down 20% (47 to 38). Tires are fully inflated. I did change to high-mileage oil at last service, could this be the cause?
View 4 RepliesAfter about 2,000 miles I'm averaging about 35.5 mpg on my Energy Savers, down from about 40 mpg on Michelin Harmony's. No change in driving habits. No change in tire pressure. Installer has checked them and doesn't see anything wrong. Balanced and aligned at installation. My 2008 is typically carries close to the maximum rated weight with passengers, dogs and/ or gear, hence the lower than average mpg. Michelin will exchange them, but doesn't consider them broken in until 5,000 miles, which I certainly won't reach within the 30 day guarantee period.
View 12 RepliesSaw a drop in mpg from 45mpg to 34mpg. Since I was way over 200,000 miles, I began to fear traction battery failure. Toyota looked over codes, did diagnostics, etc. and found nothing. They recommended and replaced the auxiliary battery, which made no difference. I fought with them on aux. battery replacement price since their costs had gone up 50% in two years. Mine was barely out of warranty. So what happened. I replaced the iridium plugs. Mileage jumped back up to 45mpg.
View 8 Repliesi've noticed on my 2008 prius that once i lose the first bar of gas i begin to rapidly lose the rest. For example the first bar might take three days to vanish but once its gone i might lose the second bar on the same day i lost the first.
View 10 RepliesI used to get 55-58 MPG when my commute was 65 miles one way, 85% freeway. But these days I noticed that when AC runs hard and trips typically 16 miles, 40 MPH, mpg dropped to 42-45. That worried me a little bit.
Driving style: conservative. I start off normally, but I use N gear as soon as passing speed limit. (this factor alone should enhance mpg by 10 I guess. I used this technique on my 98' Lexus LS400, 4 Ltr V8 engine, once got 38 mpg on freeway, while the sticker says 18/25). This is the main reason I worry that something is wrong with my prius.
Typical range: 16 miles, all local.
Tire pressure: 40 psi
AC runs hard, outside temp 90 degrees, I set temp to 72 inside. (I guess this is the main reason for mpg drop, but I don't think it should drop that much)
I recently changed oil and trans oil.
My battery is a little bit weak, but no warning light. If I forget to turn off head lights, it needs jump in 10 minutes.
Mileage is 143K, 2004 model.
Water pump changed by Toyota free of charge.
Any clue? or it sounds normal and I don't need to worry about it?
I have a 2005 Prius with 130k miles on it. In Oct 2012 I took it to the Toyota dealer for 120k service. They performed the following:
120k service
Replace serpentine belt
Clean and adjust drums
Replace cabin/hepa micro filter
Replace brake system fluid
Since then my car's mpg has dropped from ~45 to ~35mpg. I specifically notice that the pickup is completely gone and that it seems to "drag" pretty badly when starting from halt (stop sign, a light etc). Once it gets up to ~40mph, it appears to be doing all right in terms of mpg. What could be causing the "drag" and mpg drop?
Drive a 2004 Ford F150 4.6L V8 EXT CAB. It has 71,000 miles on it. Truck runs great, doesn't stall or miss and idles good but my gas mileage lately has been very bad. Oil, air filter and fuel filter have been changed. What could cause this?
View 14 RepliesI have a 2004 Subaru Forrester with a 2.5L engine (non-turbo) and about 137,000 miles. I usually get just a bit more than 300 miles on a tank of gas. About 3 weeks ago, I took the car for a major tune up (and they also replaced a valve cover around the spark plugs area). After the tune up, the car was running great and I was still getting about 300 miles to the tank. Within the last 10 days, I noticed that the gas mileage on the car has decreased - I am now getting closer to 250 miles per tank. The mechanic rechecked the fuel lines and test drove the car two days ago but did not see any signs of leaks. The weather was near freezing for about a week but has warmed up again to the 40's. My driving habits have not changed and I am driving the car the same way as before. I am stumped as to why the gas mileage would drop that much. What might be happening?
View 8 Replies