Horrible drop in MPG - Nationwide switch to winter gas?
 

Hi all --

I FINALLY got my car back last friday from over 30 days in the shop (some of you who know, know that it was broken into)

Anyways - after being re-united with my baby of course I ran the hell out of it to get the engine back into shape, crusing around town in 3rd at 6K RPMs for fun, hah I know my milage would be horrible on the first take but i didnt care.

My usual Milage is about 240-250 miles per tank (1/2 spirited driving 1/2 tame) and now after a few tanks of VERY conservative driving im getting shitty milage. We are talking like 160 miles to a tank.

Now two possibilities I think (tell me your opinion on both)

1) would sitting for 30 days in a body shop waiting on parts effect it in any way?

2) I'm due for new spark plugs at 30K miles (which im doinigg this weekend) would that have thi big of an effect on milage?

3) I was told that in November the Nation switches over to the winter blend of gas? Is this true, because I've never heard of this here in texas. Would the switch (if its true) mess up my milage that badly?


Any thoughts are apprecitated, thanks!

Jeff

all are good possiblities. Altho i dont think sittin for 30 dyas would have an effect in any way. Have you also checked your tire pressures, you also do know temperatueres outside are different than 30 days ago. It might affect a little bit on gas. Have you also checked the quality of your air filter. Multiple variables to cotend with why your mileage is dropping.

You may also be driving your car more spirited since you got it back :)

Depending on your location, EPA may require "winter" fuel all year. That includes Dallas and Houston areas. Most of eastern Texas requires winter fuel only in the winter.

:Eyecrazy: LUCKY YOU!i got around 270 when i first got my 8 in 04 since then it has dropped to 180 tops no matter what flash,plugs ,oil change ,regular or high spirted driving highway or city!high test mid grade,87 or whatever(i mostly stay with 93 shell octaine)it seems my car made up it's mind to burn it no matter what and the dealer has no clue!(34,890 no change)one day it might change it's mind and give me a break hopfully.they say the computer learns your driving habits and tunes the car for best performance..go figure :spank: but i still love this car anyways i guess i'm just crazy about it no matter what! :kiss:

:rofl: :rollingla Joo' funny funny man Toxin.. hahahahaha...
Umm.. seriously though that aint bad. Get back to me when you get around 130'sh miles per tank on avg. :rock:

Could of just been a bad tank of gas. I live in MA and so far I've gotten horrible mileage on our gas, BUT I've been up to NH twice since owning the car and each time I've filled up in NH I've obtained the highest MPG ever for myself. The NH tanks I've obtained 16mpg and on MA tanks right now I'm avg about 10mpg (last few tanks have been horrible since the reflash).

Just take it in stride again as a bad tank of gas. Be one thing if for two months you've been getting that type of mileage and slowly degrading where as before you were obtaining excelent mileage.

I would replace the plugs, run a bottle of redline fuel treatment through the car, clean the MAF and airfilter, check your tire pressures.

awesome ideas - the tired pressures are spot on... the shop actually aired up my tires to 50 fucking PSI!!!! jesus (they are back down to 32PSI thanks to me)


i checked my tires the day I got my car back, this weekend I will clean my air filter, I was going to do the spark plugs but Gotham Racing didnt have any 7 plugs in stock I could use. I will apparently have to order them special from O'reily auto parts or something.

What the hell is 'Winter gas' ?

I lost about 1.5 mpg going to winter gas too. Fortunately prices dropped along with it, but it bugs me. I hate fake gas!

Winter gas around here has 5% alcohol and some other stuff in it.

My car developed some "issues" just recently and we (me and dealership) are debating whether or not it is a gas-related problem, which is most likely since they said my symptoms sound like I got some really bad gas or something. My mileage dropped from 23 normally down to this tank being 16 with no change in driving and the car smells funny and the exhaust is kinda dark, as well as generally running rough. I'm supposed to take it in on Monday.

I was also having a hard time getting my car to start, but that happened after a "water" related problem on Monday due to heavy rains and apparently the highway having at least 6 inches of standing water on it causing me and 5 other cars to hydroplane and spin out. Oops. Only one car ended up damaged (the guy in the lane next to the wall) and only one person hurt. That problem is pretty much resolved. Apparently it sucked up a lot of water (so I was told was causing that issue). :dunno:

In Chicago I see about a 1 mpg difference between Summer and Winter diving. I don't think it is the gas because we run 10% alcohol year round. Also even if you run regular gas then switched to 10% your only looking at around a 3-4% degrade in mpg. Cold driving will eat more gas as a rule.

The fact that your mileage sucks is something funky with the rotary and don't expect Mazda to help you here. No matter how bad you get they will just tell you it is normal. It's cheaper for them to do this then actually fixing the car.

Zoom-Zoom-Doom

:rollingla

It's not just the gas, your car spends more time warming up. THat's why remote starter is such a bad idea

I thought "winterized" fuel was only for diesels (anti-gelling agents).