JM1FE

He's in Marlton, which means he can just cross the Walt Whitman bridge and fill up at the Sunoco right on the other side (Front Street) in Philly. Added bonus is that it avoids the 'full serve only' idiocy of NJ. I never trust that what I pay for in NJ is actually what they put in it. I don't know if PA gas is the same formulation as that in NJ or DE, but I get lower/less consistant economy on gas bought in NJ.

philodox

Actually, the closest bridge to me is the Ben Franklin I think there is an Exxon right next to that bridge though.. But is it worth the toll? hehe.. I think philly has more stringent gas requirements than Jersey does..

Oh yeah, I hate the full service BS myself. I just pump my own gas anyhow. The gas station I go to doesn't really mind.

SDB

I am trying to summarize all the many posts about poor gas mileage. It seems that all the cars having problems were manufactured in 2003 or at least before April 2004 which is when they arrived from the factory with the M flash. It is hard to tell because many of the posts don't mention the manufacture date or the vin. For reference the last car without the M flash is JM1FE17**40135536.

Does anyone have mileage problems with cars made after 4/2004 to disprove my assumption?

G8rboy

But the posters with the really bad mileage have the M-Flash as well, so I don't think that is the key. I personally get slightly worse mileage after the M-
Flash... although I attribute part of that to enjoying the better power curve with my right foot. My car came with 'J' calibration, and got ok mileage for the winter (15ish), then when I got the L flash I was getting 17ish, then with the M I'm getting 16ish (this is all non-highway driving).

dmp

If I lived near you, I'd loan you my OEM intake stuff for you to put on the car for the inspection

RX3+5

Thanks for the spreadsheet.

Vince

zoom44

it's cool i was just going "how the F did i miss a recall?!" :D

take it in take the heat and get them to explain the rotten egg smell. my opinion is it is flooding and cat related.

i wonder tho how many flooded before M. i believe i am seeing a direct correlation between flooding and bad cats. bad cats = less mpg. the owner may not have even been the one to flood it. could have happened before purchase- at the port or at the dealer.

zoom44

Ben Franklin is scarey from the Philly side. take the wrong turn near it and you end up on it headed for Jersey then when you get to the other side even if you know where you are it can take an hour to get turned around to go back :D

hop on over get some good gas and have a good cheese steak while your at it. i miss cheeses steaks

philodox

oooo... cheese steak... think i need to make a trip down to South Street... damn you zoom44.. hehe.. going to get me fat

SDB

Which might back up my observation. Those that have problems (10-13 mpg) originally came with pre M flashes. This enabled them to be flooded somewhere along the line which caused damage to the cat which then resulted in poor mileage.

Hey, its just a theory.


On a related subject, my Mustang Cobra had a cat that was so bad that the car felt like it was running on 4 cylinders but I never got a CEL.

G8rboy

ok- I see where you're going... that makes a lot of sense. I do know that mine was flooded at the port, so I've wondered if my cat lost one of it's 'lives'. In the spring I plan on changing my plugs out, and possibly getting a high-flow cat... I'd be curious to see if my mileage goes up any (although I don't consider my mileage to be in the 'problem' category).

salituro64

Original Flooding Problem, then M-Flash but bad gas mileage. Maybe were on to something with the CAT.

Howard

Mine with 10mpg was 08/03. I agree that the Flash is not the issue rather something else related to earlier builds. I have a list of members who have the problem and I can share it according to them, but they have not supplied me with additional info for the most part.

Howard - 08/03 10 mpg. I take mine in for service next week and they are supposed to check the mileage and I will ask that they check the cat. This is the most sensible thread yeat on the mileage issue of the 20-30 threads out there. Sorry for the long post but I thought some otheres might want to see this info.

whosyourbaba - well i read your several post about mpg. I'm with you. When i first got it i was getting around 12. When i do like 90% highway, thats when i get like 80. Last 4 tanks with city driving with granny shifting was about 12 mpg. i cant do 150 miles for a full tank, kinda sad. let me know what ur dealer says, im bringing mine in when i got some time. best wishes.

dwntreader - I am still getting about 12MPG after having my car in the dealer's shop 4 times. It has had all the latest flashes and recall service and nothing has helped.

The best I've gotten was 20MPG on a road trip to Jacksonville, Fl from Altanta, Ga. I think that is pitiful for a road trip. I currently have just shy of 9000 miles on my RX-8 since purchasing it on 4/15/04.
Feel free to post the numbers in your list

twisty7867 - m pretty sure my mileage is due to my driving habits, because I do in the mid-20s when I have any extended 75mph type highway driving, but nonetheless, I do typically get between 8-11 MPG in city driving.
amartin - "I average 14.5-15.3mpg driving ""normal"" (for me), and 10.5-12mpg driving agressivly (on the street).
In contrast, driving my S2000 HAAAARRRRDDDDDDDDD I still get ~20-22mpg... and FWIW, 11MPG on the track (of course, I'm sustaining 7.5-9k rpms the entire time on the track)

rotarynoob - 04 RX-8 Build date: 11/03
Mileage: 3100 as of 11/22/04
Gas Mileage: 12-14 MPG regardless of driving style
Service History: Center console button replaced 11/22/04

Isamu - "What is considered horrible mileage? I'm getting about 12-14 MPG city, and about 20 MPG all highway.
"

dmp

Yes - it's one of those....so if you don't like MPG threads...move on :-)

hehe


First tank - 220miles to the Low Fuel Light. After some back-of-the-envelope math, I figured about 18 miles per gallon. Not too shabby.

I filled up the tank, then headed over to my Dad's place. A 10-minute stop turned into 45. My family was keeping warm in the car w/ the engine running 95% of that time. Also, a couple days later I had some friends over for test-rides. Several 'fun runs' later, the tank emptied to about 15mpg.

Now...my Third tank. Last night I filled up, and made a 60 mile trip - 90% freeway. Today to work and back left the fuel gauge reading 'just' above 1/2, and 102 miles on the odometer - Not too shabby I thought, especially because I 'got on it' several times.

Tonight I had a pretty long drive via freeway, in rush-hour traffic, with a couple side-trips thru town. All told I went about 125 miles.

Fuel gauge? Only consumed 1/4 tank, as the needle is just above 1/4 remaining. I am VERY surprised. Tonights driving was under 70mph - except for a few pass-manuevers, and one rather agressive wheel-spinning launch from a Metered On-ramp up to about 75mph. Nearly 125 miles on 1/4 tank - I'm VERY excited to see what mileage I'll end up with, but maybe...just maybe this'll be the 20mpg tank I've been SO hoping to see.

yay!

I'll post back tomorrow after work w/ an update and 35 miles or so added.

:D

markd

Ironic that you just posted this... I was getting about 240 miles on the gallon before, but I got my car flashed (per the Mazda recall) a month ago, and today, frustratingly enough, I only got 25 miles on 1/4-tank. That's 100 miles on the tank!!! Absolutely terrible. I called my dealer and they gave me some b.s. response that it may be due to the shape of my gas tank and how the indicator floats in there. If anyone else who has recently done the flash is having fuel-consumption problems, let me know whether your dealer was able to resolve the issue.

Mr M

Perfect!
That is the best way to test mileage, with an empty tank - they fill it up, drive for a week, calculate the mileage and you finally have a case.

You are finally making progress, I am really interested in the results. Give the dealer input on how you drive the car, whether you gun it a lot, or drive on the highway a lot etc, so they can duplicate the same conditions.

Good luck!

foxman

Howard, very frustrating situation. Surely their testing of the mileage will start to convince them. There is varying service quality, knowledge, and even approach amongst dealers, unfortunately that is just the way it is. We are lucky to have 4 down here and sometimes it is easier to make progress by switching as I found with the brake squeal. I am sorry you don't seem to have that option.

It will be very interesting to see what they say next and a diagnosis for your low mileage.

jsh1120

Just reached 1000 miles on my RX-8. First 3 tanks, prior to the M flash yielded 17.5 to 18.1 mpg. Last tank, since the M flash, yielded 18.5. I suspect it has more to do with variation in highway/city driving than anything else.

Although I watch my gas gauge obsessively, I suspect that any seat-of-the-pants calculations based on partial tanks are error-prone. On the other hand, if your mileage drops significantly after the M flash, I strongly suspect something's wrong either with your calculator or your car.

dmp

Anyone else notice the gauge sinks over night? When I left my car last night, the needle marked 1/4 tank. This morning, the mark was slightly under.

My car has the M flash, btw - according the people on the phone at Mazda's phone number.

As of this morning, here at work I've got 240 miles, with more than 1/8th tank remaining - very close to 1/4 still. If I can hit 260 miles before the light comes on, I'll have +/- 20mpg.

Yeah - it sorta sucks to have to nurse the car, just to get 'somewhat decent' mileage.

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

Mine is a 9/03 build. I picked it up on 6/30/04 with 44 miles on the odo. 7/6/04 the car threw a cel and the dealer installed tsb's including the M flash. 9/04 with 2K miles on it, the cat was replaced after throwing a cel. Before and after cat replacement, I am getting 13 city/15 hwy mpg. The car has 7K miles today and this isn't getting any better.

So, the car wasn't driven (much) before the M flash. The cat was replaced and that didn't improve the performance or the mileage. There is a different problem here. The theory of the flooding causing the cat to go bad may be correct. But, at least in my case, there are other forces working that causing the milage problem.

RotorManiac

Same here. I made about 90miles with1/4 once and thought "wow! I'll reach 360 with a tank?" but then the gauge dropped and, well, I got about 250-260miles.

My record though is 280-285miles. Now that I have the flywheel, I don't think I'll see that again:p

dmp

I'm wondering if a smart user will check the voltage send by his/her Air Meter. I know on my previous Mazda (93 Probe GT), the voltage was changed by the air pushing back a cone, and the meter reading the distance the cone was moved. I'm wondering if we know the OEM Spec for Air Meter voltage? One could then see if the the measured voltage falls within whatever spec Mazda designed.

Make any sense?

Helge's RX8

I noticed my guage at 1/4, then 5 minutes later at the notch below 1/4, then 5 minutes later back at the 1/4. I'm sure it's a digital gauge that has a limited number of positions. It's possible that when the actual tank level is right in between two positions that it will "bounce" back an forth between them every few minutes.

SDB

So much for the cat theory. But this still confirms that the problem cars were built with pre M flashes. Is anyone having this type of problem with a car that came with the M flash from the factory?

zoom44

my record is 340 miles. thats cruise set at 78 for a really long freeway run. wheni made teh runs to 7stock with nemesis he said he had never seen 300 miles and i told him "well you will this trip" he didnt believe me until after the second consecutive tank over 320 miles and 23.99 mpg both tanks. he got 24.x on one of those legs too. we were not under 70 any of the legs and well over that on many (playing with other rotaries ) and still i think the lowest on that trip was 20mpg. maybe 18 the one tank when we were over 100 for a while. if you are one of those people that thinks this engine is no significant mpg increase of previous rotaries drive with some 7s for a trip and watch them pull over for gas between 150 and 200 miles when you still have nearly twice that to go.