My wifes high mileage '91 Accord gets terrible fuel mileage. It has over 300k, but runs great. I changed the oxy sensor a few years back, but since we bought it, we only use it minimally. Only 10k in 3 years, and only in summer. It's too nice to use in the winter!
Always meticulously Honda dealer maintained, frequent oil changes, now using syn 10W30, new Honda air filter.
It is totally bone stock. has absolutely no rich fuel smell from tailpipe (while idling). Has good power, 3k between quart.
On a recent trip to Rhode Island, it got the usual 22 MPG at 70-75 on cruise. Definitley no jack-rabbit starts, etc! Tires are oversize 205-65-15's, but road-side Police speed minders and passing cars digital speedos confirms speed indicated is not slow. Check engine light occasionaly pops on. Should check it out...
So I drive 440 miles and put in 21 gals. And this is only interstate. Her '90 Olds Cierra 3.3 winter beater gets 26 ish.
Any ideas? :dunno:
Check classifieds for needed seats, mags, radio...

Welcome to DA. :thmsup:

I purchased a 91 Civic Wagon RT4WD a few years ago. I saw a big jump in mileage when I did an overall tune up and replaced some basic parts.

The car sounds like it's maintained very well which is a great start. How about things like a valve adjustment and new distributor cap and rotor? For me, the valve adjustment I think was 50% of the gains I made. Though it was taken care of, I think the car had gone almost 100K without getting it done. Older Honda's def need to have the valves watched at least every 15K.

Other than that, keep like you're doing, I would repace all fluids (coolant and tranny, too), spark plugs, and maybe the fuel filters. Doesn't sound like too many miles / year are being put on now but you might want to do it for the time interval. Plus, if the car really isn't driven that much (like my 89 Prelude) - I usually end up changing fluids more often than necessary during the long periods when it sits. Cheap insurance.

Some items that might not direectly affect mpg but you might want to consider: timing belt and water pump replacement and inspect spark plug wires and ground wires and be sure they're intact and not corroded.

My Wagon had almost 180K and still ran great. (Just sold it when I moved south. :( ) My 89 Prelude with only 83K on it. Still runs excellent and is a blast to drive. I don't hesitate to take it on weekend roadtrips thinking I'll get stranded.

Good luck. Let us know what you do and if it helps.

Didn't know that they were adjustable. Def havn't been done in years, but sounds quiet. Might have changed dist cap when ign module (igniter?) went out a couple years ago.

Thanks for the greetings...

You're getting hella jacked at the gas station. They can set the pumps to overcharge you once it's over 5 or 10 gallons (because inspectors use 5/10 gallon calibrations). That's another reason why I never put in more than 10 gallons at once (and still manage to fill up my entire tank...fill up early!). Your car does not hold 21 gallons by any stretch of the imagination...

We get 22MPG all city in a '93... But I don't think our highway MPG was much different.

You're getting hella jacked at the gas station. You're car does not hold 21 gallons by any stretch of the imagination...

Duh! I wuz adding fill-ups, becuz I ran out of gas, almost walking, and put in a few bucks, then filled it at a station that took my CC.
Tossed the calculations, but I am very meticulous, and I've checked it many times over many exclusively Interstate trips. No error, sorry :thumbsdow .

Duh! I wuz adding fill-ups, becuz I ran out of gas, almost walking, and put in a few bucks, then filled it at a station that took my CC.
Tossed the calculations, but I am very meticulous, and I've checked it many times over many exclusively Interstate trips. No error, sorry :thumbsdow .
Don't know what exactly you're talking about but I'm positive you are not putting 21 real gallons worth of gas into your car.

Ben, he put 21 gallons in over the stretch of 400+ miles. Just not all at once.

Ben, he put 21 gallons in over the stretch of 400+ miles. Just not all at once.
Ok, still could easily be the gas station cheating him like I said tho

Ok, still could easily be the gas station cheating him like I said tho


Oh man...that would piss me off if I found a gas station cheating me....

Wow! That does suck. Our '90 Accord LX with the auto tranny gets about 26mpg mixed driving and it has 240k miles on it. That's about how much I'm getting now with my '06 Accord. Maybe changing the spark plugs and wires help?

Hey WB - did you know there's a Wolfpack road in Raleigh? It's between Atlantic Springs and Wake just before 440. I just saw it today.

This concludes today's useless trivia hijack.

Thank you.

The Mgmt

did you know, that the first radio broadcast, KDKA, happened to be in pittsburgh? :yes: :nerd:

Usually save my fuel fill-up notes, but wifey tossed 'em, sorry. Fuel mileage is accurate, always pay attn. to miles/fuel used. Have new plugs for Accord, just havn't changed 'em. Really curious where why fuel mpg is so low. An A/F meter in TP while I drive would be nice, I suppose...
My '83 1/2T 4x4 305 Chev PU POS gets 7-9 city. 'Fraid to take it on Istate, may lose some partz... :lmao:

so that's why you have a name of "uglytruk" on here??? :lmao: :nuts: :eek:

The BBQ black beast cost me $125 a few years back. I didn't overpay. Has a Fisher plow now, use it sparingly, I barely fit into it. A friend is using it everyday right now, I used to. Cruises nice at 70-75 due to 4 speed o/drive. But it blows oil out the front seal, and gets ugly...
I just picked up the 3500 SRW on the weekend. Not as bad as it looks. $450. Sitting several years, Goodwrench 6.2 diesel. Ultra HD drivetrain. Starters burned up, just took it apart.

Now you know :naughty: I like 'em rufffffffffffffffff :thmsup:

replace Air Filter?

When I bought it, the filter wuz pretty bad. I'm pretty sure I put in a Gen-u-ine Honda, but I'll be spending a bit of time working on my fleet this week. Luckily we don't put many miles on our cars, as we live near downtown and only a few blocks from work.

I think that the issue here may be your oversized tires. This will definitely throw your mileage off. During the summer, without lengthy warmups, I have been getting 24~26 MPG of mixed h-way and city driving. I have 180k on mine. My tires are also oversized(195-65-15).
Check here: http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTireMath.dos

Due to the anonymity of the internet, I can tell you you're totally wrong. :thumbsdow

While the tires are oversize, the speedo is very close, and "losing" 10mpg is hardly due to a tire issue. Maybe if I had a billboard on the roof, or a totally clogged air filter, or very badly misaligned front end, or a combination of these. But really man, oversize tires? You're off balance :lmao: :screwy: . Maybe I'll change the plugs to-day...

You can think what you want, but you were the one looking for ideas as to your mileage issues. I was only doing that. Good luck.

Alright, I wuz naughty, I apologize, my bad. :notworthy

I had a nice bithday yesterday, got my friends '66 Corvair hitting on all six. He's owned it since mid 80's, blew the engine in early 90's, and it's been sitting since then. Now it's a runner, and had a great Lebanese dinner at a new restaurant in town. So I wuz being snobbish, or arrogant, or something. Plus, I had already discussed the tire/error issue. The link to Tire Whorehouse is interesting, though.

We'll be using the Accord to drive to Vermont to-day, but mixed interstate-2ndary roads...

Cruzin'...