pb
Jul 28, 2011
9:01 AM

We've found that you don't get a good average MPG until you've added at least three fuel-ups. In fact, we don't include vehicles in public browsing until they have at least three fuel-ups because the numbers are either way too high or way too low.

I'd wait and track a while. If your average is still low after a dozen fuel-ups, then you can start to investigate. You just don't have enough info yet.

DTMAce
Jul 28, 2011
9:46 AM

Quote:

1. What makes a difference in MPG?
2. I am changing my crappy goodyear stock tires to michelin primacy ones
3. I do get my oil change when it displays 10% life remaining
4. I don't use synthetic oil when I do get my oil changed.
5. I drive mostly city than on the highway.
6. I only do partial fill ups and not full fill ups when my tank is totally empty.

What do you guys suggest I do?

Well, lets see.
What makes a difference? Lots of things. Driving habits are the primary effect. Hard acceleration (rabbit driving), city more than highway, even how you fill the car.

2 - Good tires do provide a small help. Stock tires are usually designed to provide excellent balance of performance, road comfort, and mileage, providing the tires are kept at the recommended pressures, and in good shape.

3 - Not sure how many miles you drive between changes when the car says its time, but it should be at least every 3 thousand miles, especially with regular oil.

4 - You might want to consider using synthetic, it does help performance of the engine and can help your mileage some.

5 - Driving mostly city is going to make your mpg lower. Most cars have a range that is normal, even though yours looks to be low at the moment.

6 - This will DEFINITELY affect your MPG. In order to have a proper MPG reading, it needs to be full tank to full tank, partials will not calculate correctly. If you are doing partials, you also need to mark them as partials. Fuelly will not give you a MPG for those, as they cannot be calculated properly. Always try to fill your tank, and always fill it the same way. You could keep it full and just top it off every so often at say half a tank, rather than empty. Always good to have a fair amount in the tank at all times.

The car being ex salvage shouldn't matter, unless there is some sort of problem with the engine electronics causing performance issues. But I think your problems are more likely to be the method you are using to put gas in. You could be hitting 30+ mpg right now, but with doing partials all the time, you are not going to get accurate results.

Good luck.

would it matter if i don't do one full fuel up as i am always going partial fuel ups??

thanks DTMAce, sorry i doidn't refresh my page ignore my last post.

thanks

DTMAce
Jul 28, 2011
9:52 AM

As I said above partials are what is messing you up. If you look at my fill ups, I have no partials. Partials can't be properly calculated without full tanks. The less partials you do, the better your results. Make sure you mark partials as partials too.

yes when i do partials i always put the check mark for partials. i have this thing where i like to see so many bars on my car regarding my fuel rather than seeing less bars lol

pb
Jul 28, 2011
10:08 AM

Here at Fuelly, partial has a special meaning. Here it means you didn't fill your tank to the top. It doesn't matter how full your tank is when you fill it, as long as you fill it all the way to the top. Fuelly calculates individual tank MPG by using the *difference from full*. So just think of partial at Fuelly as meaning not full to the top.

As long as you're fairly consistant in how you fill, and you fill to the top, Fuelly should give you pretty accurate results.

jonswifey,

Like DTMAce pointed out there are dozens if not hundreds of factors that affect mileage. Check the Tips page here on Fuelly for dozens of good ideas to help you increase here our mileage. Some of the biggest factors are properly inflated tires, dump the junk in the trunk (don't carry around extra weight in your car), accelerate smoothly and easy so don't floor the gas pedal, use the highest gear possible for cruising if your car is a stick, don't coast with the clutch in or in neutral, since you're already looking at new tires consider LRR tires for your replacements (LRR stands for Low Rolling Resistance) and keep them at the top end of their air pressure range it makes for a slightly harder ride but helps your mileage quite a bit, get the car a good tune up from a reputable mechanic who specializes in Hondas, new plugs and wires can make a difference along with a fuel injection system cleaner and replace the fuel filters both inline and on the engine if your car is so equipped. Have the brakes checked to ensure that they aren't dragging, change the transmission fluid and filter if it is an automatic or the fluid alone if it is a stick, have your wheel bearings checked to make sure they aren't worn or inadequately greased. Since this is a salvage vehicle, also have your alignment checked, a car that is dragging a wheel can cost you 5% in fuel economy pretty easily, possibly more if two or more wheels are rolling in different directions.

I'm not as big a believer as DTMAce in the synthetic oils but I know that they are popular and many people swear by them, to me they just aren't worth the added cost. Talk to your mechanic and see what they recommend for your application.

A big factor in your mileage numbers being low is your City Driving, the fact is with the exception of some hybrid and electric vehicles city driving equals lower fuel economy and highway driving at steady speeds for long distances works out to high fuel economy. That being said 20 MPG for a Civic is pretty low even the CNG Civics I used to drive at work got into the mid to upper teens, usually 15-17 when I was at the wheel. That being said this isn't a CNG or Propane conversion is it? Those get horrible mileage compared to the gasoline versions due to the low BTU or energy content of CNG and Propane compared to gasoline.

Finally, I agree with DTMAce completely, fill your tank every time if at all possible for a number of reasons. First, it makes Fuelly work much better for you and as pb pointed out above it doesn't mean that the tank was empty when you started, it just means that it was full when you left the gas station and gives the system a good point to calculate from. Second, with the current generation of gasolines containing ethanol they are prone to absorb moisture from the air which is BAD for your engine and fuel system, a full tank doesn't have much room for air in it compared to a low tank and therefore doesn't pick up nearly as much water vapor from the air. There are safety reasons to always have gas in your tank, if there is an emergency it is good to have gas in your tank, if there is a supply interruption or economic problem you can go a few days without stopping at the gas station, and if you get stuck on the roads in a winter storm you can spend the night with the car on and heater running. And finally, as I was told when I was first driving, half a tank of gas costs the same amount if it is the top half or the bottom half of the tank so pony up for one fill up and then if you can only afford half a tank fill it when it is half way down rather than wait until it is empty and you'll always have at least half a tank.

Good luck and let me know how it goes.

One more thing, if you are in an area where you can get pure gasoline, without any ethanol, that will increase your mileage. Now that I think about it if you are using E85 in your car you are probably doing quite well getting 20 MPG. Even E10 (10% Ethanol) decreases the mileage in my Acura Integra by about 20 % over straight gasoline.

thanks for your input bates :)
I got my tires changed at discount tires, bought the new michelin primacy :)

One other thing that I didn't see mentioned above. When you fuel up be sure that you DO NOT top off. Once the pump clicks off, resist the urge to give it one last squeeze, this will help to ensure that you're filling the tank to the same level every time and will improve your MPG accuracy from tank to tank over the long haul.

Also, good luck with the EX! I just got a 2010 LX and using much of what was cited above, I got 32 MPG on my first fill up.

DTMAce
Aug 13, 2011
4:31 PM

dslater, this does not work the same for every vehicle.

My beretta for example will NOT fill consistently with this method, whereas the caravan is usually pretty close.

I always squeeze them up till they are full. My beretta often can hold a gallon or more past the pop point. Its never the same either. The van however is usually within 50 cents or so of being full.

How do I know if its full? When I'm trickling it in, and it starts to pop really easy, plus I can hear the filling sound change a bit as it fills. This takes practice, but if you use common sense, it works really well. I usually round my fillups within 50 cents. (example 10.50 or 11.00)

This can also be affected by temperature, and by different pumps/stations. Not all of them pop the same way. One station I go to, if filling the van, it will pop it constantly, even though it isn't full.

I have issues with people who post on here and state what you did, as it is not the same for everyone. In my experience it actually caused me more inconsistency than filling it to the neck every time as I do.

My recommendation, is to find what fills it properly, and always fill it the same way. Whether that be by stopping when the particular pump you are at *thinks* you are full, or filling it to where you know its full.

I have even been known to shake the car a bit to make sure it was completely full, dislodge any air bubbles in the tank. But that is overkill for most. lol