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Hey, Clavius - thought on your fuel mileage ...

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Old Oct 17, 2006 | 02:43 PM
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Question Hey, Clavius - thought on your fuel mileage ...

Do you have an after-market exhaust? Is the ground wire connected? If not, this will give you really bad fuel mileage. Just a thought ...
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Old Oct 17, 2006 | 02:48 PM
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hahaha my own thread about my shyt gas milage I feel special
I have no aftermarket exhaust so thats a no.. where is the ground wire for our car connected?
As I told Kev.. I think I need to move to NH.. while on the trip I got decent milage and when I drove up to the Car show in Aug I got the amazing 16mpg that tank! I think its the NH air I dunno. Calling up the dealer today to set a apointment for the recall and my other issues.
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Old Oct 17, 2006 | 09:29 PM
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It's located on the left side of the stock muffler. You might want to just check and see if it's loose. It may not be totally disconnected, but if it's loose, it could explain the intermittent good/bad gas mileage. If you have my luck, though, it won't be that easy and cheap to fix!
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Old Oct 17, 2006 | 09:40 PM
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I attached the ground strap on my Borla exhaust but dumb ? here..why does not having your grounding strap cause bad gas mileage?
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Old Oct 17, 2006 | 10:25 PM
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Because the oxygen sensors could potentially be grounded to the exhaust, so there is the potential for bad gas mileage if the ground strap is loose or disconnected due to the voltage from the oxygen sensors being offset incorrectly. This will only have that affect if the oxygen sensors are grounded to the exhaust.
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Old Oct 18, 2006 | 06:16 AM
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Gotcha
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Old Oct 18, 2006 | 07:41 AM
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Originally Posted by Clavius
hahaha my own thread about my shyt gas milage I feel special
I have no aftermarket exhaust so thats a no.. where is the ground wire for our car connected?
As I told Kev.. I think I need to move to NH.. while on the trip I got decent milage and when I drove up to the Car show in Aug I got the amazing 16mpg that tank! I think its the NH air I dunno. Calling up the dealer today to set a apointment for the recall and my other issues.
I checked my mileage after the first tankful, mostly city driving, not going over 7K, and I averaged 19.7 mpg. I'm still in the break-in mode with about 800 miles, so I consider this pretty good.
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Old Oct 18, 2006 | 03:45 PM
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^I'm at the bottom of the MpG % for most people. My highest MpG has been 16mpg and the lowest (last week) was 9.74 (or was it .73?), usualy my average has been 13mpg. As I've told everyone I've tried full triptronic and full auto. Thank god this car is fun to drive or I'd be royaly pissed off lol.
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Old Oct 19, 2006 | 12:11 AM
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When was the last time you had your ECU reflashed? I'm sure they'll do that when you take it in for the recall and such, but you might want to specifically mention it, just to make sure it gets done. It'll be interesting to see if there's a difference after they get done with it. I guess that's when you'll know if you need to replace cats or whatnot. Keep us posted!
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Old Oct 19, 2006 | 06:02 AM
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Yeah I'm hoping at the bare minimum a replaced CAT I remember when I first got on this board and started to read the MPG threads that a few mentioned they where the results of bad CAT's. Well off to work with me right now.. wheeee
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Old Nov 5, 2006 | 04:15 PM
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Ahh my epic continues.
This was my first full tank since the recall and part of me was praying hoping to the Rotary Gods.. (not rotarygod himself lol) that possibly my mileage would be better.
Answer.. NOPE!
122.3 miles and I filled it up for a total gallon intake of 13.165
Total MpG this tank 9.29 (rounded up slightly).

This tank was purely driven in Trip/sport mode. Rpm's kept usualy at/around 3k or so since I didnt do much if any highway driving this past week, maybe 2-3 trips on route 1 hitting 70 or so mph. While doing the City driving usualy kept her in 2nd gear again at the 3k mark which is for my car 30-35mph. And my car passed the recall test for the CAT (the one thing I was hoping would fail.).

I think I'm going to start using Mobil on Rt 1 in Norwood for a month and see what I get for MPG. The normal gas station I go to is a Shell Station at RoJo's (holy ya most likely know the one I'm talking about) and I switch between 89 and 91 octane the highest we get here in MA aparently

Please any checking this thread out I aint bitching about the mpg perse just hoping maybe someone somewhere will be like "Hey see if this is..." or "Try this instead..." Just wish we had a real "Rotary" shop in our area so I could take it into them and see if they can point out any possible problems. Its well documented on this site that I pretty much have some mistrust issues with my local dealer
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Old Nov 5, 2006 | 04:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Clavius

I think I'm going to start using Mobil on Rt 1 in Norwood for a month and see what I get for MPG. The normal gas station I go to is a Shell Station at RoJo's (holy ya most likely know the one I'm talking about) and I switch between 89 and 91 octane the highest we get here in MA aparently
I saw a BB 8 there on Friday night at around 5:45. Was that you? That place has the cheapest gas in MA, $2.25 for V-Power is a great deal.
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Old Nov 5, 2006 | 04:27 PM
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arggg, i hate how some people get like 20 mpg easily, and not even driving conservatively...

ive tried driving in every style, from normal to overly agressive to shifting only below 5k and yet my mpg is always around 15.5...

course, i cant complain compared to you, but whats wrong with me and my car?! the recall didnt affect my mileage at all (well, im only three tanks in... but i would have noticed by now)
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Old Nov 5, 2006 | 04:38 PM
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Originally Posted by HolyCross05
I saw a BB 8 there on Friday night at around 5:45. Was that you? That place has the cheapest gas in MA, $2.25 for V-Power is a great deal.
Nah wasnt me.. I filled her up on Saturday night. I went with the 89 octane since I litteraly just spent about $115 at Bestbuy lol. My insurance payment is next week so till next week every cent is gonna count. I usualy switch back and forth from 89-91 octane. I used to always go 91 but the gas price increase's started to really kill me so trying to recoup that cash now with the switching.
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Old Nov 5, 2006 | 08:33 PM
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Kev, do you have a second car? If you can be without your car for a week or two, I know somebody who can work on it and diagnose the problem for you, but he'll need to have it for a little while. He'd need a full history on the car - parts replaced, etc. If this is a possibility for you, PM me and I'll send you his name. I don't know the protocol for advertising shops on the board. Your gas mileage is insane, though. There is definitely something wrong there!
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Old Nov 5, 2006 | 09:24 PM
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Going to see about possibly asking one of my mechanic friends about putting my car up on a lift and take a look at the CAT. My oh so smaht father said thier instruments can detect a clogged CAT, but 'eh according to him CAT's dont melt and take years. LoL.. sadly had to tell him otherwise in regards to our car's heat. I just hope my friend doesnt blow me off or has the same attitude my dad has. I've read a few threads about Hp issues and gas mileage and one common theme was the CAT was bad.

I dont have another car or I would definatly drop it off to get looked at for a week or so. I know if I mentioned it to Gallery I'll get a "Well its mainly because your not warming it up properly." excuse I got awhile ago with a ruff idle problem I mentioned and mileage. I'm sorry in the morning I always allow it to warm up for atleast 5min's. In the afternoon maybe 2min's as I put my stuff away and take a breather.

Hey Kev if ya read this (might pm ya if I get no reply in a day or so) I forget do you have a Scanalizer from Hymee? Or know anyone in our area that does. At times my Rmp seems to dip to what looks to be like 700rmp which is the key spot for a engine replacement durring a test drive (none was done for mine btw nor a vacum test just a CAT test and reflash).
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Old Nov 6, 2006 | 07:57 AM
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Glad to hear you have a plan and someone who can take a look at it. Keep us posted, and stick to your guns about the problem and the need for getting it fixed. Don't let anyone talk you into believing that it's operator error. You definitely have a legitimate problem that needs to be resolved. It's a shame your dealer isn't taking this more seriously. Good luck to ya!!!
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Old Nov 23, 2006 | 09:49 PM
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So far its been a week now since I've got a NEW CAT lol and I just broke 100miles on my baby and I have just under a half a tank. I'm hoping maybe to get to 200miles outa this tank which will make me happy.
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Old Nov 23, 2006 | 10:19 PM
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Woo-hoo!! Early Christmas present???
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Old Nov 23, 2006 | 10:38 PM
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Dumb question but is the issue with the cats that they burn out or clog? If they clog can you just check the vacuum as you would with a piston engine?
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Old Nov 23, 2006 | 10:52 PM
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[QUOTE=Clavius] I'm sorry in the morning I always allow it to warm up for atleast 5min's. In the afternoon maybe 2min's as I put my stuff away and take a breather.

[QUOTE]

suggest you stop doing this - just start it & go (without reving it hard ) . might get an extra 5-10 miles out of a tank - maybe . The old days of having to warm up your engine before taking off are over ...........

sounds like the cat was problem though
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Old Nov 24, 2006 | 06:03 AM
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Originally Posted by lone_wolf025
Dumb question but is the issue with the cats that they burn out or clog? If they clog can you just check the vacuum as you would with a piston engine?
They tend to clog up but problem is you have to convince your service dept to take a look at it. Sadly/Thankfully for me I got a CEL for a Airpump which according to my paper work was being drained of amp'age 'cause of the clogged CAT. Others and myself thought it was my CAT 'cause on several threads I've read on CAT's the person stated horrible gas mileage. So far I've gained 70miles from my previous tanks lol.

Oh and I always warm my car up atleast durring the winter. Go from Toasty house to Toasty Car is always nice. That and I dont need to scrap the ice offa the windows 'cause of defrosting.
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Old Nov 24, 2006 | 11:23 AM
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Originally Posted by Clavius

Oh and I always warm my car up atleast durring the winter. Go from Toasty house to Toasty Car is always nice. That and I dont need to scrap the ice offa the windows 'cause of defrosting.
makes sense I suppose - that is a lot of fuel consumed doing that though.

My car never gets left outside overnight so I don't have that problem.
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Old Nov 24, 2006 | 11:33 AM
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Kev:

I have an ODB-II software from Harrison. If you need a scan, let me know.
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Old Nov 24, 2006 | 02:45 PM
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Originally Posted by Brettus
makes sense I suppose - that is a lot of fuel consumed doing that though.

My car never gets left outside overnight so I don't have that problem.
Still wish to this day the garage my house has was useable but its to well thin to be used for cars
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