My moms ‘14 500 Pop Automatic Multiair is getting anywhere from 11-23 mpg city and highway. Is there anyway to bring it up, we only drive it hard getting on the freeway. Should she try shifting manually at low revs.
Technical Fuel Economy
- Thread starter Rocco Reviews
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Technical Fuel Economy
Check brakes are not dragging.
Check emergency brake fully disengaged when released.
Make sure tyres correct pressures.
Don't use a.c.
Does she drive a lot of short distances.
How are you measuring mpg?
How many litres per gallon?
Check emergency brake fully disengaged when released.
Make sure tyres correct pressures.
Don't use a.c.
Does she drive a lot of short distances.
How are you measuring mpg?
How many litres per gallon?
OP
OP
The brakes are fine emergency brakes are off the tire pressure is a little over what the door says to the AC is used on a low setting we drive a combination of short and long distance we are measuring the miles per gallon through the trip computer and it has a 10 1/2 gallon tank. I remember when we used manual shifting car the fuel economy went up by one or two
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OP
OP
What are using auto stick to manual shift to help because I do remember the fuel economy going up by one or two when we shift it manually
If you are quoting instantaneous consumption from trip computer that is unreliable.
Next time car filled up , zero the trip ,
Then on following fill up, after say 150 miles divide the trip miles by number of gallons it takes to fill.
That will give an average mpg figure.
Press gas pedal gently , accelerate gently .
Even a.c. on low uses extra fuel.
The computer may have an average mpg read out, have a look in hand book. May be worth resetting average value to zero and starting again if possible.
How did you check brakes don't drag?
Next time car filled up , zero the trip ,
Then on following fill up, after say 150 miles divide the trip miles by number of gallons it takes to fill.
That will give an average mpg figure.
Press gas pedal gently , accelerate gently .
Even a.c. on low uses extra fuel.
The computer may have an average mpg read out, have a look in hand book. May be worth resetting average value to zero and starting again if possible.
How did you check brakes don't drag?
OP
OP
if we take the car on a long road trip on the freeway we get about 30 miles per gallon highway the car stops perfect we don’t hear any noises or squeaks coming from the brakes on a hard braking and when we got our tires changed we weren’t told that we needed new brakes
OP
OP
Don’t worry we brought the car to a mechanic it’s being looked at now I was just wondering how we can make the mpg better when we get it back because it’s been like this for three years. The mechanic said it’s probably the vacuum pump.
What grade of fuel do you use?
Also you really need to look into what oil grade and spec is in the engine as the wrong stuff can cause plenty's of issues
Also you really need to look into what oil grade and spec is in the engine as the wrong stuff can cause plenty's of issues
Get them to check the brakes do not bind
Regarding your fuel use.. what air temps do you tend to drive in ?
Reset the trip (mileage) counter, this in the UK resets the average fuel figure, the fill the car full, perhaps use a premium fuel some US is a low standard around 85 drive the car for a few weeks and see what the figure is?
Is the 30mpg from computer display or calculation from fill up to fill up using miles covered and fuel used?
Is computer display average mpg or instantaneous mpg use?
It is not possible to tell if a brake is dragging by weather the brakes work or not
After a drive put your hand near each wheel , if you feel a lot of heat coming from one wheel more than the others brake may be dragging. Front wheels should be same temp as each other .
Rear wheels should be same temp as each other.
Front wheels should be warmer than rear wheels.
You could ask garage to check no brake dragging when it's with them and they may have it lifted on a ramp.
I dont recall them saying what State..
Hence the climate question..
But fuel spec.varies massively stste to state
OP
OP
Get them to check the brakes do not bind
Regarding your fuel use.. what air temps do you tend to drive in ?
I’m in California so about 65-90 degrees F.
OP
OP
Next fill up zero the trip and on the following fill up calculate your own average to check computer is not telling you lies
Should we try manual shifting? We do have to fill the car every .5 a week just from 5-20mi round trips.
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