only getting 40 mpg in my 1990 CRX HF...
 

i never go above 50mph. i only do 100 percent city driving and i always follow the shift indicator light... what could be wrong and what can i do?

If you baby it and spend a lot of time in lower gears it will hurt your mpg. For a short distance between two stop signs sure just drive like a grandma but if you have a mile stretch to do take it up to speed quickly in 1st and 2nd then shift straight to 4th or 5th, the gear that will cruise 1500 rpm at the appropriate speed. For 100% city driving 40 is not bad though

How long is your drive? MPG is always worse if the engine is not hot for most of the trip (lots of short trips mean poor mpg).

40 mpg is not bad at all if you are stopping at stop lights/signs every 2-3 blocks.

I think these engines were turning quite quickly at highway cruise speed.
I remember one of my friend Civic Si 99 which was running at 4500 RPM at highway speed. Close to the Vtec switch.

UOS
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HF motors actually turn quite slowly. The gearing on these transmissions is REALLY tall, unlike the 1999 Civic SI.

As for getting 'only' 40MPG in city driving, I don't see what the problem is. That's probably about what the car is rated at.

40 mpg on 100% city driving is awesome! My worst mpg tanks were frequent short city drives with A/C netting me a 29.6 mpg fill up for my 99 Civic HX M/T.