[BABYACCORD]

I drive a 2005 accord hybrid with 65,xxx miles. So my IMA and engine light turn on. Take it to the dealership and good thing it was still under warranty. They replaced the IMA battery but i was only getting 22mpg overall 280 to 300 miles per tank. Took it to a different dealership to confirm the battery was replaced and it was. They scanned it and checked it and found nothing. Only thing he found was that the car had some cheap spark plugs to replace them with ngk. So i did and sure now its at 25 mpg only getting 330 miles per tank. What else can i check. There is no check engine light on. Car was rescanned, new oil change, new car battery, new ima battery, new ngk plugs. I dont even know where to start. does the mpg on your dash even go passed 30. mine doesnt even go passed 25 and my commute is mainly 90 percent highway. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Aviography]

How are the brakes? Are they dragging? Although you would have smelled the burning brakes if a caliper had been seized badly.

How are the tire pressures? You should be around 32 psi, anything lower will unnecessarily cause rolling resistance to reduce your MPG.

Are the new plugs you had put in the proper iridium model as specified by Honda?

Make sure any controller firmware version is up to date.

Other than that I can't offer any suggestions. The 7th Gen Hybrid seem to have had as much issues as the environmental issues it is trying to solve, perhaps that was one of the reasons the model was discontinued after only a few years of production, and never made into the 8th or 9th Gen Accords.

 

[jimijam]

how dirty is your air filter?

 

[Chris333]

Aren't hybrids made for city driving? 90% highway wouldn't help it save gas.
http://www.edmunds.com/car-news/hybrids-make-little-sense-for-highway-drivers-study-shows.html

I've read that pzev cars get better mileage, but they are clearly listed as getting worse MPG than a regular car...

 

[RTexasF]

How are you determining your miles per gallon? How much it gets per tank means nothing unless you are doing the math correctly.

 

[WDHewson]

For one who understand thermodynamics, hybrids are a crock. Overall it's conceptually easy, you've still ultimately got a gasoline powered vehicle. Outside capturing some energy with regenerative braking, the hybrid does nothing for overall energy utilization. IMHO.

 

[RickBlaine]

For one who understand thermodynamics, hybrids are a crock. Overall it's conceptually easy, you've still ultimately got a gasoline powered vehicle. Outside capturing some energy with regenerative braking, the hybrid does nothing for overall energy utilization. IMHO.

For one who understands energy consumption, hybrids are fantastic. Overall it's conceptually easy, you've still ultimately got a gas-powered vehicle in case you need to travel long distances. Regenerative braking captures what would have been heat and turns it into battery power. The hybrid system does a nice job of adding torque, speed, and fuel savings. IMHO:banana:

 

[Dan]

For one who understand thermodynamics, hybrids are a crock. Overall it's conceptually easy, you've still ultimately got a gasoline powered vehicle. Outside capturing some energy with regenerative braking, the hybrid does nothing for overall energy utilization. IMHO.

I don't understand thermodynamics but Hybrids get better gas mileage than their solely gasoline powered counterparts

 

[debianlinux]

I have an '05 HAH with ~108K miles and still gets ~38mpg highway and ~33mpg city. My Trip Odometer B indicates an overall average mpg of ~35mpg. I drive probably 70% highway daily commute. I have seen it hit 41mpg on particularly long interstate drives.

The design of this particular hybrid is that you get your primary economy boosts from the VCM cutting out half the cylinders at cruising speeds and the Autostop cutting the engine while sitting at lights. The regenerative IMA appears to have very little effect on economy except when it assists in keeping the VCM in Eco mode for small hills, etc.

If the car is getting sub 30mpg economy I would suspect that the VCM portion of the system is not working. Does OP see the Eco light illuminating during normal usage?

 

[RickBlaine]

Now THAT was helpful. +1

 

[BABYACCORD]

WOW thanks for all the help. Yes i replaced everything to specs. Like i mentioned almost everything is new if not oem pretty much same requirements as the manual and honda recommend. Spark plugs are ngk 1zfr6k-11 like it says. Battery is a 12 v.52ah/5hr. even down to the oil. Tires are also new. Im determining my mpg by resetting my trip odometer every fill up thats how im getting my overall miles per tank and pretty much dividing that per whatever gallons i used to fill up (13.xx) I have used regular unleaded to premium with no change either. My mpg actually drops to 23 in city per the display monitor on cluster. For the most part its pretty accurate. Yes the dealer updated every software and checked it 3 times and it throws no codes or anything. Im just lost now. The only major thing left that i have to change on the car now is the transmissions oil, its coming up for a change and the timing belt at 70 but other then that i dont see what else it could be..

 

[BABYACCORD]

I have an '05 HAH with ~108K miles and still gets ~38mpg highway and ~33mpg city. My Trip Odometer B indicates an overall average mpg of ~35mpg. I drive probably 70% highway daily commute. I have seen it hit 41mpg on particularly long interstate drives.

The design of this particular hybrid is that you get your primary economy boosts from the VCM cutting out half the cylinders at cruising speeds and the Autostop cutting the engine while sitting at lights. The regenerative IMA appears to have very little effect on economy except when it assists in keeping the VCM in Eco mode for small hills, etc.

If the car is getting sub 30mpg economy I would suspect that the VCM portion of the system is not working. Does OP see the Eco light illuminating during normal usage?

yes the eco light turns on during driving and autostop functions as it should

 

[Fast4door]

The hybrid system does a nice job of adding torque, speed, and fuel savings. IMHO:banana:

and dont't forget that it also adds to the price

 

[debianlinux]

What is your driving style?

I am imagining that if I drove my car in max performance mode I would get as bad or worse mileage but it would sure be fun right up until the infamous V6 transmission exploded.

Another consideration is whether or not the mpg computation is accurate. A) does the odometer reading and the fuel pump agree with the mpg calculation and B) does the odometer reading agree with your experience with actual distances traveled?

If either of these were off you could be getting great mileage and be getting lied to by the computer.

 

[RickBlaine]

and dont't forget that it also adds to the price

Please answer debianlinux's questions...I've seen car computers lie before.

Price is an interesting concept. There is the purchase price, the cost of ownership for 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, etc..., and there is the opportunity cost, the price of gasoline, the fluctuations in the price of gasoline, the resale value, the repair costs, and the price of the non-hybrid version.

For me, I'd be better served with having a second car be a hybrid or even full-electric.

I hope you figure out what is going on here.

 

[bttfpromo]

I've got a 2005 HAH, and I get about 25-27 around the city. If I make the trip from Georgia to Tennessee, I get about 34 MPG on the highway. I consider that great for a hybrid that I run the A/C on all the time, and there's a lot of hills and such around here.

 

[BABYACCORD]

My driving style is normal to slow. I have actually been trying to get the best mpg out of it so I keep an eye on speed and everything else. Im pretty sure its accurate. I drive 20 miles each way to work and back. Having to refuel at least once a week. Maybe its running rich. How can I check that. About the cost of the hybrid im not really understanding the question. Since purchased I havent really replaced any major parts other then the battery is probably the most expensive part, probably 120 140 bucks. Other then that just the norm. Oil changes. Filters. Breaks. I bought the extended warranty so the dealership replaced the ima battery for 30 bucks.

 

[BABYACCORD]

I think I'm just going to start driving my 99 civic. Gets better mpg and cheaper to fill up until I can solve this problem.

 

[WDHewson]

I hardly ever see a Civic at the gas pumps!! Mostly minivans and pickups at the pumps. I wonder why??

 

[pumafeet10]

What mileage do you get in the city? How fast do you drive on the highway? At what rpm is the engine shifting gears at? Had an alignment recenty?