ge8 fit sport Need help ASAP! Averaging 18-19 MPG City
 

Hi all. I have a 2009 honda fit sport. Since I had the car I've being getting 18 to 19 mpg. I can get 20 to 21 if I drive like a snail.
All my driving is city mostly and I Live in NY. I had the car serviced when there was a recall for certain engines and the head had to be removed to check the number on the block I believe. Anyone know where I should be looking for issues. My car has 47,000miles on it. I do here a small chatter like something was drop I. The engine bay a speed around 15 to 25 mph at a slow acceleration from 1st to second gear. Any insight would be great. Thanks

A huge help is to pump tires to 35-36psi. U gain a lot of miles/gal from that. Also try switching gas brand for 3 fill-ups and see if that changes anything as well.

red lights are terrible for gas mileage.

Air filter, fuel filter are my first thoughts. Looking to do my fuel filter myself but need a proper diy manual to do it and not wanting the online version. Good luck

Your mpg is probably about normal for your driving conditions.


Clifton

Dirty air filter does not affect mpg. It used to with old cars but with modern computer cars it does not.

Idling and stop and go kill MPG. This is where a hybrid shines and is a better option.

I'm no car genius but I think thats low. That along with the rattle I would take it back to where you had the work done. On a fresh trip reset I can get round 25mpg in stop & go.

So... It's summer, you're in NYC and you're getting horrible mileage.

Check.

You probably spend more time than the rest of us with the engine running and the car not moving.
-Bad for mpg.
You probably have to hit the brakes more often than the rest of us.
-Bad for mpg.
You probably have an automatic transmission.
-Bad for mpg.
You think driving "like a snail" is going to help.
-Bad understanding of mpg.
You probably have to use the air conditioning a lot.
-Bad for mpg.

You can't change most of that, so you're going to get pretty bad mileage. Look on the bright side: just about anything else on the road will get even worse mileage than you're getting now.

Yea the Ac is always on especially since the weather has been in the 90s. Added a fuel treat and I'm trying a different gas station just for the sake of my sanity. Was going to Hess amd mobil gas. Will try BP.My tires were way over inflated. I know that's actually good for gas but bad for bumps yikes 41 42 psi.

i run at 42 psi. been averaging 34-41 lately but depends on how long of a drive it is. normal commute is about a 34 but most are highway miles. i use cheap regular gas from a no name gas station.

get yourself a scangauge and it will teach u how to get better mpgs.

yeah its too bad hes in NYC. instead of coasting to a stop at red light, alot of the traffic race to the red light.

What is a Scan Gauge? Never heard of it.

I'd drop the tire pressure down a little bit to around 32 or 34. Bumping the pressure up in the city is going to do nothing for you as far as economy is concerned but like you said, 42 is quite hard/bouncy on the car/you. Might as well not punish yourself on both fronts (Ride & Economy) if you don't have to.

I don't think there's a lot you can do to improve economy in NYC other than not driving. When I lived in NJ, I'd get 28mpg in the integra but the moment I went into the city, it would drop into the low 20's Most of the time though that was only for shorter trips and not regular city driving. (Plus I had the 1.8L which was a little better on torque than the L15 in the FIT.)

The test for the engine would be to get it out on the highway for a drive. Fill up once you get out of the city and head up the Northway, out 80, or some other road for a weekend. Then on your 2nd fill up, check the economy. If you are low 30's or above (High 20's with AC on at 75mph), the engine is running normal.

FYI, when I worked at a college here in VT, our Security office had an Escape Hybrid as a "cruiser" and that netted about 20mpg in campus stop/go driving. The V6 & V8 non-hybrids were about 11-12mpg. 17-19mpg in similar driving areas on a non-hybrid may seem low but it's not too bad.

~SB

It's like an UltraGauge, only way more expensive. They're small displays you can stick anywhere that plug into the OBD port.

Mine is set to show instant mpg and short trip mpg in the upper half of the screen. The lower half shows (in smaller numbers) Long trip mpg (I reset every fill-up) and coolant temp on one side and fuel level remaining and DTE on the other side. If your car can measure something, or if something can be calculated from numbers your car does measure, then these gauges can display it.

I have a 2012 Fit that I use for delivery purposes. I can get anywhere from 26-37 MPG. A/C and stop and go take me to the low end and obviously highway miles use less fuel. I did change to a new K&N air filter last week, and in the same type of driving I average about 3 more MPG.

I doubt that either one of those will have much effect on fuel economy.