I am suddenly getting 8 mpg decrease both long and short trips. Rotated tires, checked psi and did an alignment but couldn't find cause. I remember my old car had an engine thermostat and when that was stuck open or close the mpg decreased a lot too.
View 19 RepliesTraffic permitting, pulse and glide or coast seems to work for the mpgs for those dreaded 1 mile trips on a cold engine. If no one behind, I'll just get off the gas and coast down the street, usually to the next stop light. Funny how often the light is red. If a bunch of ICEers are close behind, coasting not an option.
View 3 RepliesI have a 2001 Suburban, 5.3 liter, 2 wheel drive, automatic transmission. I often take 250 to 600 mile trips and track my MPG between gas fill ups/rest stops about every 2-3 hours. I use cruise control and maintain the same speed as much as possible on each trip.What happens is my MPG varies from 16.8 to an all time best, 24 MPG between fill ups. What could be causing this?
View 13 RepliesI don't have a lot of data yet, but the last couple of times we had temps over 80F, my mileage took a significant hit - about as bad as when temps are below 20F (more than 10%)... Shutting off the A/C doesn't change things much...
View 19 RepliesMy wife drives a V-10 Ford Excursion. She drives tons of short trips (5 - 10 min)approx 600 to 700 miles per month. Is this type of driving worse for a large engine and more tolerated by a smaller V-8 or V-6? Her rig has 100,000mi. I use Mobil 1 and use a 7500 OCI.
View 12 Replies07 Chrysler Town & Country with 86K. It's been happening off and on for about a year now. On long highway trips when I'm driving fast (maybe more when it's cold), a whirring noise will build up. It starts quiet and can get really loud. When I get off the highway, the engine noise goes down and the whirring noise is really obvious. I take my foot off the accelerator and the whirring noise continues for about 10 seconds. When I hit the gas again (this time at city speeds, 30 mph or so), the whirring noise instantly comes back and can get high pitched and LOUD, almost like an old police siren.
Last time it happened, I popped the hood to track down the source. It seemed to be coming from the engine block. When you're looking down at it, it's coming from the left side, directly under the drive belt (but not the belt).
2007 Chrysler Town & Country, 72k. It's happened twice now. On long interstate trips, over 50 miles, the engine starts to make a loud whirring/humming sound. The temp and RPM gauge looks fine. The first time it happened, I checked the dipstick and it was very low (I was overdue for an oil change). I topped it off and it went away for a few weeks but then it came back, after about 100 miles running it 75 mph or so. Then the oil was fine. Pulled off and let it cool for 30 minutes and it was fine but I drove slower. It seems to come on while I'm on the interstate and the engine noise covers it until I get off and then it's very loud. Maybe it seems to get louder when I take my foot off the gas.
View 4 RepliesIt seems like it takes an awfully long time for the good mileage to get going from a cold start - even when it's warm outside. The last 5 miles of my commute are great, but the first 10 miles not so much. How much effect does ambient air temperature have on this process.
View 15 RepliesA few weeks ago i had a surging idle issue very intermittently, and it went away for a while so i stopped thinking about it. Just got back from a weekend in vermont, about 130 miles each way, and i noticed as soon as i got to vermont and came to a stop sign it was surging, and when i just got home it was surging again. Why would this have picked back up after long stretches of running for a while? Runs great as far as i know, just have this surging idle for some reason.
View 14 RepliesI have a 2.0l Jetta that has been giving me problems for about a year now.
First, the car started dying out on me after long trips at en excessive rate where it would shut off and have trouble starting multiple times consistently. So I got the fuel lines cleaned, a new fuel filter, the fuel pump checked, and did a basic tune up by changing the sparks and oil.
Still the same problem. after some troubleshooting i gave up and decided to take it to the stealer dealer. after a $130 diagnostic fee and a $300 repair fee they told me that they had fixed it by replacing a speed sensor in the transmission. the car was noticeably running better and did not stall during the short driving i did. I am a student so not much driving was done initially. A couple of months later i took a ~150 mile trip and upon stopping at a red light and trying to go once the light turned green the car stalled.
I took it back to the dealer that told me they would check if the speed sensor was faulty. it was not and they could not refund me my money. i paid for another diagnostic for another $130 and this time they said it was a bad coil pack, a $400 repair fee that i was not going to pay. i went out and got myself a coil pack and installed it myself. still the same problem.
I met a guy that worked for the dealer and had the same tech as the dealers so i took the car to him. he had it for 2 days and drove it for over 80 miles to test run it. he could no replicate the problem and just charged me 80 dollars just for his time.
I decided to take matters into my own hands and I read on these forums a couple of common solutions to the problem such as changing cam,crank,speed sensors etc etc and i started out with the crank..then speed...etc etc.
2 days ago my water pump had been leaking and i believe the antifreeze caused the timing belt to slip about 3 teeth in the middle of driving. luckily no bent valves or any damage to the engine but i did have the push the car about half a mile. After a 5 hour job i replaced the pump and the timing belt along with the cam sensor. I drove it around 70 miles and everything seemed fine. just yesterday i drove around 120 miles and the car had a small stall about 50 miles in when i was at a red light. The rest of the trip it ran fine. As i got to my apartments I decided to see if i could replicate the stall since the engine was hot. I stopped and waited around 10 seconds and then stepped on the gas, the car did almost stall but it stayed on since i let go of the gas. I tried it again and it would no longer do it.
I had my 2006 Prius (108k miles) shipped (on the back of a flatbed) from Los Angeles to Seattle in mid-October, and I noticed a drop of MPG pretty quickly. I went from 46mpg to now 34mpg over the last month, over 3 tanks of gas.
I have Goodyear tires, but I don't know the make of them (I remember they were 'High Efficiency' or something, meant for fuel economy) and I checked the PSI and it was 36 front, 34 rear. At first I thought it must be the tires but they seemed fine.
Then I thought it was the cold weather, but really the change in temperature wasn't very dramatic (until last week) as I was on the beach in LA where it was typically 65 and the past month in Seattle it would be typically 50-55 (this past week notwithstanding!).
Recently returned from trip from Austin Tx to Monroe LA. Gas mileage decreased from about 43.3 MPG to 38.5 MPG. A little annoyed by this but I guess I can attribute this to the increased weight in the vehicle. Still taking care in for other thing. Maintenance needed light came on & I assume it may be for a 15,000 mi checkup since it is nearing that mark.
View 3 RepliesSince I got Prius I've noticed that driving at 50mph returns 80+mpg , 90+mpg if I let it gently glide at -1mph per 1 mile. As it gradually slows down, the mileage starts to decrease. By the time I get down to 45 mph the mileage shows around 70mpg,
I get down to 40mph, I'm only getting 50mpg. When I keep my speed between 40 and 45 I get about 52-55 mpg for the day. If I keep my speed between 45 and 50, I get 55-60mpg for the day.
I was driving my 2010 Prius on the Highway (less than 2 miles) and the engine check light came on.... shortly after the ! (triangle with exclamation light came on and then started flashing). I exited the highway and was going back home. On the way home, I noticed a decrease in acceleration and then a message 'Hybrid...'
I was able to coast into an apartment complex and then got a ride home.
After about a couple of hours, I went back to the Apartment Complex. I reviewed the manual and one of the options was to check the gas cap. I filled the tank up last weekend and haven't driven it since today.
I have a 1998 F150 with 14300 plus miles. 4.6 engine. I have been smelling antifreeze after a drive long or short. I have looked for leaks but not finding anything.
View 1 RepliesMy dad says hes stuck somewhere with his 2010 prius,, he says it wont start, and the signal is stuck on.
View 10 RepliesIn a cold weather also noticed the EV mode doesn't stay on for a long time even with a 90% full battery and fully warmed up. The engine starts to kick in randomly.
View 6 RepliesI have a 2010 Prius V that is honking the horn in the middle of the night and sometime in the middle of the day ( 5 short honks of the horn). This has been occurring over the last few months.
1. Only one key FOB and it is stable ( not in a pocket or something pushing a button)
2. Car is confirmed to be locked before this occurs.
3. No alarm issue from what I can tell ( I get up right away and no one or animal is around the car)
3. Cannot find root cause on a current thread although one person stated that it might be that the 12 VDC battery is starting to go bad???
No other issue with the car.
I'm having a very strange problem with my 2011 Prius.
About two and a half hours ago, I drove home and parked my Prius for the night. About an hour after I parked, my Prius started beeping, three short beeps, every couple of munutes. It's now been doing this for over 90 minutes. Because I can hear it from the house, it is very, very, very annoying.
I have checked all of the doors, and also took the car out for a quick spin around the block, in hopes of getting the beeping to stop. No luck. It keeps beep-beep-beeping every few minutes.
It has been unusually cold here the past couple of days, in case that has anything to do with it. That being said, it was a good 10-15 degrees colder yesterday, yet the car wasn't having this problem. It only started this evening.
My question is, what in the world could be causing this beeping? Is there any way to stop it?
The stock 265/75/16 tires need to be replaced and I was considering swapping 285's on the stock wheels. Will I notice an increase in fuel consumption? I realize that calculating mpg will need to be adjusted due to larger tires since the speedometer will be slightly off.
View 14 RepliesWhat would make a FI engine act like its flooding out and dying after a short run on the freeway?
Details:
1994 F-350 351W (just overhauled this winter)
has new TPS, ICM(?).
Dual exhaust dumps right before the tires
new filters in tanks, new fuel filter on frame rail
All fuel lines have been opened and blown out from the tank to the engine compartment fitting near firewall.
Fuel pumps hold good pressure when tested.
Symptoms:
smells like its running rich most all the time
after a short hiway run @ 70MPH it will stumble and die when returning to surface streets.
fuel smell near engine sometimes, but no obvious puddles or leaks anywhere.
May be related?:
When on a longer highway run, I can't use the FWD tank for a long period without the engine stumbling and cutting out or popping at times. But I can swap to the rear tank for a bit then run the FWD tank again for a while. driving up hills it seems to be worse, but I'm in the panhandle of TX right now..good grief!
I am having to drive this truck for work long distances. While I dont expect a vast fuel range, it would be nice if I could go a couple hundred miles on 20 gallons of gas....