my car gradually is decreasing MPG

[GasSavers_RoadWarrior]

Originally Posted by RightontheMarc

The only problem I ever had with Fords was where they cut corners on cheap parts to save money and keep the cars cheap. But that has little to do with the actual ford engineering since the parts are made by all kinds of other companies. One example is the flimsy tie rod ends which is the only problem I have had yet in 83k miles. I replaced them myself for $40 each with lifetime warranty.

I don't mind that, 'coz Fords and Chryslers both, due to extensive cross fertilisation of the engineering staff, I can always see and understand what they were trying to do and how it's meant to work, and where the bean counters messed it up, and how to fix it and/or improve on it... Some other makes *cough*GM*cough* I just end up staring in disbelief that it ever worked in the first place.

[bowtieguy]

Pro84,

several years ago, i had a saturn w/ AT and SOHC. altho i didn't hypermile in those days, i drove the car VERY conservatively and avg'd ~27mpg if memory serves me well.

that car is not a very good base for achieving great FE perhaps?

[1993CivicVX]

This is a completely wild guess since I don't know anything about oil, and oil burning in relation to fuel economy, but my guess is, your car's oil burning issue is gradually getting worse, and because of that, your fuel economy is gradually getting worse--complete guess--dunno if anyone can shoot that hypothesis down.

[dosco]

Originally Posted by RoadWarrior

Not sure if Saturns are Bosch haters or not, they might not be since it was derived from an Opel engine.

'96 SL2 is an Opel design?

[GasSavers_RoadWarrior]

Not the whole shebang, but the block is based on an opel block I beleive. It's the same one that went from ~1.4 to 2.0 ish in Euro Opels and Vauxhalls. Hmmm, wonder if that was the same one in the Lotus-Calibra and if the heads fit..

I'll try and find where I found that.

Edit: Nevermind did some digging, can't find the source that confused me, but it appears he confused it with the Family II engine in later ions, L series, aura, etc that had Opel roots.

[dosco]

Originally Posted by RoadWarrior

Not the whole shebang, but the block is based on an opel block I beleive. It's the same one that went from ~1.4 to 2.0 ish in Euro Opels and Vauxhalls. Hmmm, wonder if that was the same one in the Lotus-Calibra and if the heads fit..

I'll try and find where I found that.

Edit: Nevermind did some digging, can't find the source that confused me, but it appears he confused it with the Family II engine in later ions, L series, aura, etc that had Opel roots.

Yeah, I was pretty sure there was no Opel influence until the new "L" series came out (2000 I think).