hey boys and girls,
I recently bought my wife her first car, 08 honda fit sport, car has 175k miles.
I replaced the spark plugs and coils but the car will still shake really bad if start and you try to drive away when cold, it needs to be warm up for a few minutes before is put in gear.
It has a very poor gas milage, maybe just 175 miles on a full tank, city miles

I know i have to replace the alternator because of the flickering of the lights issue, can the alternator affect the gas milage?... Is this maybe a valve problem, or what else can it be?... The car runs good and it doesn't have any other problems
Thanks in advance

 

I'd run high octane gas, raise psi in tires, add as many LED's in the in interior to reduce power use as possible.

 

Miles per full tank isn't a real measurement.

Before you throw parts at it, get a ScanGauge or an UltraGauge. Next best is to get a bluetooth OBD dongle and use Torque or another instrumentation app. Instant mpg, short trip mpg (since key on) and long trip mpg (reset every fill up) give you real numbers, and instant gph will tell you what the engine is getting without worrying about what traffic is doing to you.

Getting a baseline of what mileage you're actually getting will help you see what's going on- different routes and traffic conditions will do different things to your mileage, and you can see exactly what red lights and drive throughs do as well.

You got a great little car, you're going to love it and so will she. It likes to move, it likes to turn, it likes to park and it likes to carry stuff.

 

Unless you have recent documentation that a valve adjustment was performed, I'd add that to your TO DO list.


But since you mention city gas mileage, I'd check mileage by 1. drive out of the city, then fill the tank (record mileage). 2. Drive AT LEAST 100 miles at once, on rural or interstates 3. fill gas tank again before entering the city, divide miles traveled by gallons used (do not rely on an automatic readout)

Report your findings here...

 

She has never owned a car before?

Gas mileage is 90% driver habits. Idling, heavy braking and accelerating, stoping and starting. Can't avoid some of these things in the city which is why Hybrids do so well because they are using battery power during these times.

Calculate MPG also instead of going by miles driven until X happens.

 

Thanks guys,
It's her first car ever, but i have driven that car alot, because i sold my truck to get a new one, so i drove the fit for a few weeks and we even took a 500 mile roadtrip and the car barely made 230 miles doing 70mph. until the gas light came on.
I do reset every time to see my gas consumption, that is why i am surprise not to see this car in the 300 mile average. Maybe i'm asking to much but getting only 150-175 city miles on a full tank?...
Or maybe i just have a heavy foot because this little car just wants to go once you are at the pedal, but my wife it's very easy on it, she is a new driver so she is scared to go to fast.

I always use the hi octane gas. I also noticed a gas smell from the back, coming from the exhaust like it is burning to much gas, no check engines lights on.
I ordered new front struts and alternator, i been watching some videos and reading the "how-to" section, any other tips?
Thanks

 

gas smell from the exhaust = ignition misfire
what coils and what plugs did you use??

 

So how many gallons did it take when you filled it?

The tank is 10.3 gallons right? I bet it only took 8. something gallons when the light came on (GK Fits are WORSE)..

But yeah, fuel smell = misfire, get it looked at. DO THE VALVE ADJUSTMENT.

 

I always got worse mileage with high octane.

Just use regular, high octane is a waste of money in a Fit. Do use a high quality top tier fuel though.

 

I just bought a 08 fit sport last Monday and the owner said he did spark plugs and coil packs. Well just 1 day later I get a cel, bad gas mileage and a gas smell.. I did alot of research and decided to check the work that he said was done. Come to find out he changed 1 coil pack out of 4 and had 2 different brand spark plugs. Anyways I read to use the oem coil packs and nkg plugs. What kind did you use? BTW I changed the 4 packs and 4 plugs and so far today it's been driving good and I notice gas needle is moving much like it was last wk.

 

I would go with oem recommended materials if I want to keep the car

 

I bought the cheap $90 coils from amazon and ngk spark plugs, besides the bad cold starting issue and the poor gas milage, the car runs fine.

Yes, 8.7 gallons

Interesting. I will give that a try, maybe this car has always used regular gas


On a diferent note:
i tried to post pictures but looks like i need to have a minimun number of post for me to be able to do that