[09hondaccord]

I have a 2009 accord lx 4dr 2.4cyl auto. I bought the car with 47k a little over a year ago. I found out I had open recalls. took it to get them done. (had to do with the gas slowly leaking onto the rings & pretty much destroying them) I get Honda to fix my engine under warranty. was about a 3000 dollar job. they replaced my pistons, rings, head gasket, and did valve clearance check. all done at a dealer. I now have 60k on it and im getting crappy mileage. I averaged 22.1 mpg. I filled up 10 gallons 87 unl. reset trip meter and ran it to where it was when I filled. I drove roughly 185+/- miles on the highway (70mph) & the rest were city (about 36-37 miles). now I broke the engine in after the overhaul. drove 600 miles NICELY. now when I did the test i didn't have the defrost or ac on, started and stopped like a granny, and used cruise on the highway with the windows up. pretty much did the hyper mile thing. i also put a k&n sai on at around 50k. tires are nitrogen filled at 32. am i missing something here? window sticker reads 24 city/30 highway. now combined AVERAGE is 27mpg. i only averaged 22??? i should've reached around 270 miles on 10 gallons. Right? sorry for such a long post just wanted to get details in. appreciate any help i can get.

one more question. i was going to start putting 91 to 93 octane in & see how that performs but i read a post that said it could actually do more harm then good. i don't really remember what the reasoning was behind it but i am kind of cautious because this is my baby and better gas mileage isn't worth screwing up my engine. oh and i cleaned the maf when i put the k&n on with crc maf cleaner. didn't help. any thoughts on the gas though will be helpful

 

[6eHonda]

22.1 avg seems a bit low. I have a coupe but have been getting between 25 - 27.5 almost every tank since I purchased it. An entire tank of short trips will get me down to the 23-24 range.

The air intake stands out as a recent addition. Perhaps you should swap back to the factory intake and see if things improve after a few tanks.

You really don't need nitrogen in your tires and you certainly don't want to run higher octane gasoline.

 

[drowned12]

My long term average was in the 22 mpg range with me not driving like a granny. So depending on hills/stoplight timing etc it's not impossible to get 22 driving normally.

You should buy a $10 OBDII reader and then install Torque on your phone. 45 mph, cruise control, level ground, I get around 40-50 mpg (realtime monitoring). Someone asked me a while ago and I generated ~5 datapoints of my MPG at various speeds with cruise control on....I should dig taht post up.

Oh, and I run 91 octane since that's premium here. I doubt you'll see any issues running 91 or 93 because Honda wouldn't design the fuel map to not be able to handle it. BUT at the same time, it probably makes little to no difference in power.

Edit:

Numbers are:

.28 gph at idle with no acc on.

.78 gph at 35 mph

1.1 gph at 45 mph.

1.48 gph at 60 mph.

Was using gps height to know I'd road was flat.

Full throttle at redline it's around 15 gph, incase you were wondering

 

[09hondaccord]

wow very interesting. I do actually have an obdII scanner. it is the one for 250 bucks at advance. its basically just a general scanner. it can get into depth but I think I have to pay and download software onto it. just wondering though whats the program on the scanner called? if you don't remember that's cool. I just have a lot of options to choose from and honestly im not that good with it. just know how to read and look up cel. oh and I forgot to mention didn't know if this was a problem or not but sometimes I will start my car from sitting over night in my garage and it will seem like it has a small leak in the fuel system. it just takes an extra second to turn over. its not rough in any way shape or form. and its only after sitting and cooling down. my experience with cars is that I could possibly have a minor leak in the fuel system somewhere. I have an optima yellow top so its not the battery. I don't know if anyone here is from south bend in. but my car was done at a place called basney Honda. I trust them because its a dealer BUT I don't trust them cuz they are a dealer. I checked around my injectors and no signs of leaking. I was thinking maybe they didn't put something together the correct way.

 

[drowned12]

You'd want to pick up something like:

Pair it with your Android (probably iOS works too), install Torque, and away you go.

Re: slow starting. I've found the car doesn't seem to start as fast as other cars....there's that extra couple of cranks that it takes.

 

[4G63attack]

I would do all the simple things that wouldn't break the bank, such as tire psi, junk in the trunk, clean air filter, and waxing the car.

I also have a K&N SAI before the install my mpg didn't really drop or made that much of a difference. Although, when I installed my Greddy exhaust it was noticeable, after a couple of fill up it was back to normal. With both modes it seems that i have been getting ruffly around or about 250 miles on 9 gallons of gas. What also help me was my Apex-i smart accel that can change the throttle response.

 

[STL 6-6]

I would have it looked at, I am averaging 23 MPG with my 6 cyl of primarily mixed driving.

 

[leavnon3rd]

NYC mixed driving here avg 30-31

11' 2.4 stick

Has almost 60k on it still has the original brakes , doesnt burn oil (0w20 Honda synthetic every 3k) and front ends tight. I think I got a good one

 

[Shawn02]

I usually get close to 30-31mpg in my 2012 2.4, but it's 99% all highway which gets me around 500ish a full tank. Now if i drove it like i stole it, the fuel rating drops to around 26-28mpg.

NYC mixed driving here avg 30-31

11' 2.4 stick

Has almost 60k on it still has the original brakes , doesnt burn oil (0w20 Honda synthetic every 3k) and front ends tight. I think I got a good one

Why do you change your oil every 3k? I change my oil every 8k miles

 

[2010 LX]

A better way to measure mpg is to FILL the TANK slowly to the "click" (try to use the same pump if you can). On the next refill, just divide mileage by gals replenished. Do a running average. Using the gas gauge and only putting in 10 gals is VERY inaccurate.

BTW, it takes a lot more than 600 miles to "break" in an engine.

 

[leavnon3rd]

Because being in this trade I wouldn't leave oil in anything that long. And since its covered for 7/120k I keep fluids and filters OEM in the event I have a warranty issue.

Ow20 is thin as it is.

 

[09hondaccord]

A better way to measure mpg is to FILL the TANK slowly to the "click" (try to use the same pump if you can). On the next refill, just divide mileage by gals replenished. Do a running average. Using the gas gauge and only putting in 10 gals is VERY inaccurate.

BTW, it takes a lot more than 600 miles to "break" in an engine.

it says it in the Honda manual 600 miles for a new or rebuilt engine. I kinda like to follow that book unless there is a recall on that too? wouldn't surprise me the least. so i should fill to full(only till gas pump shuts off) reset my trip meter, run it down to a 1/4 tank, refill till pump shuts off again & then divide how many miles i got by how many gallons i put back in??? sounds simple enough. so last question, does it matter how far down i let my tank go? for example, its an 18.5 gallon tank, that will weigh roughly 111 lbs depending on how hot or cold the ambient temp is.(gas being 6lbs/gal) if i only run it down a 1/4 tank & refill, i will get a different mpg then if i run it down to we'll say the gas light coming on. how much of my tank should i use to get the closest estimate of mpg? or does it not matter?
i have my tires set to 32psi. i have 18's but theyre the same circumference as oem wheels. and they weigh less. i do have speakers in the trunk, they weigh about 50 to 60lbs with the box. and ive waxed her idk how many time since i got her. i weigh 220. & my air filter is clean. so hopefully i got everything right for the next test. will do this weekend. thanks all

 

[drowned12]

You're only supposed to baby a new engine for the first ~500 miles. It settles in longer than that (you'll see MPG improve the older the car gets, up to a point where it starts declining with too much age of components), but you don't need to really worry about it.

I wouldn't worry about how far you let the tank go, since the method isn't that accurate to begin with. I prefer real time fuel consumption measurements, because they can be more easily replicated by someone else. The "miles per tank" method doesn't take into account driving conditions (flat vs. mountains), traffic variations, temperature variations, etc.

I don't know about best MPG, but my best 0-60 times were from a nearly empty fuel tank on a cold day.

 

[pswanky]

woah woah woah woah my last tank only lasted 300 miles before my gas light came on why am I getting such bad fuel economy? :O

 

[pmdbruin]

Miles 19,117
Total Gallons 760.98
Average Price/Gallon 3.92
Average MPG 25.12

Been keeping track of my gas/mileage since I bought the car. Those are my stats. Over 19k miles, I averaged 25.12 MPG. I would say I drive 70/30 highway/local.

 

[09hondaccord]

ok so my mpg is right around some other people. even 2 doors. I did the 10 gallon thing again haven't had the gas light come on but im close. im a little less than a quarter tank and im at 200 miles. if I get 22 miles before the light comes on it will be the same as last time. 22.1 mpg. average. im at about 60/40 ratio for city/highway. when this one is done im going to do the other way. hopefully I can average 25 or 26. that would be nice.

 

[benjerman112]

I just filled my coupe up the fuel light came on so I filled up with 87oct at Mobil. I think the tank before was 87oct from 76. I had like 376 miles filled up with 16 gallons. avg 23 all city little to no hwy.
The sticker said 21 city/ 30 hwy.

 

[Baldeagle]

ok so my mpg is right around some other people. even 2 doors. I did the 10 gallon thing again haven't had the gas light come on but im close. im a little less than a quarter tank and im at 200 miles. if I get 22 miles before the light comes on it will be the same as last time. 22.1 mpg. average. im at about 60/40 ratio for city/highway. when this one is done im going to do the other way. hopefully I can average 25 or 26. that would be nice.

“My MPG is poor” threads are always tough. There are too many variables in the equation – different driving techniques, different environments, etc. First, what was your mpg before the engine rebuild? I would suggest you use that as a benchmark. Comparing your mpg to EPA numbers or what others get may not prove helpful to you.

For example, my wife has a 6-mile “pure city” commute to work each day in her V6 RAV4 4WD. It is rated at 19/26. She typically averages 16-17 mpg, which is less than EPA city. But on highway trips at 75+ mph, the RAV4 gets 28+ mpg. It will get 30+mpg at 55-60 mph. Much better than EPA highway. Same car, vastly different mpg based on circumstances.

Your car may be just fine. It may be your specific driving technique and where you drive that is responsible for your poor mpg. And lastly, higher octane fuel will have no effect on the mpg. Don’t waste your money.