ok so im working at a bmw dealership for a school credit that i need to graduate. it pays way less than my last job at an auto assembly plant i also worked for a school credit. the bmw dealership is 106 kms away, so thats aprox a 212 km round trip. or 1200kms A WEEK about. i get aprox 450kms to a tank of gas so every 2 days i put 20$ of gas in. gas prices here are aprox 80 cents a litre. i find i just spent over 300$ last month on fuel. so after my expenses im actually losing money. -and that bites.

i just did a tuneup with new plugs, checked the wires, new boshe cap rotor, tps, cleaned the maf, checked egr, cleaned and adjusted iac.

dont thnik theres much i can do but drive slower and even that wont make much of a difference.

soo lesse for the canadians 450kms/100kms=4.5 55lire tank/4.5=12.2 litres per 100kms

for the yankees 276miles/14.53 gallons=18.99 mils per gallon

thats not too bad as i cruise at 120kmphsome days and 140 some other days.

my cruise control doesnt work. i bet if i fix that id get up to 22mpg easy. more if i adjust my tps to perfect. i dont have a digital multimeter.

 

I did fuel injector cleaner, STP in the red bottle I think it was worked the best. Went from 150 give or take to 220 then to 330 and that was using 1 bottle of it. You could try that but I don't think it'll help that much as your already doing good on gas milage. Get a 4cyl Toyota, that'll help gas milage.

 

I LOVE the red bottle!!!! I tried 'em all when I first got my car, even the $15-$20 ones, but that $1.50 STP Gas Treatment bottle is the best!!

19 mpg? Seems pretty damn good to me. Don't forget it's a heavy car! I honestly doubt you'll see better kmpg's...

 

It may be heavy, but my GTA saw 19mpg easy even with the crappy state of tune it was in! And before that I'd score about 24mpg on the highway.

9D1burds 91 Firebird v6 used to run off about 24mpg consistantly, and he's said almost 30mpg on highway trips.

I'd say something is wrong.

 

I consistently get 25MPG in my '89 Camaro RS (2.8L w/ a 5-speed) and my '87 Camaro (2.8L w/ 5-speed). I drive 30 miles to and from work each day, about 4 miles of that is in the city. Although, it is at 30-45MPH in the city when moving, and I have to go through about 10 stop lights, and only get stuck at about half of those.
I've gotten around 27MPG on all-highway trips, about 400 miles round trip. I was making one every weekend with one of the Camaros for a period of about 4 months last year. I just keep them both in good tune (plugs, wires, dist. cap and rotor, ignition coil, filters (air, fuel), O2 sensor, PCV, oil changes, fuel injector cleaner, etc.).

 

I get high teens, to low 20's depending on my foot, and traffic.

Highway, I got 32.5 ONCE. Rest of the time I get high 20's.


Make sure tire pressure is right, alignment is right, take anything un-needed out of the car.

Also, hes in canada, so he has tad colder air then some others, which we all know takes a bit off mpg also.

 

yes... make sure all of that is in check. my 90 gets just under 20 most of the time, but i'm a lead foot..

 

Hows that WS6 suspension treating you there 90firebird?

9D1Burd just put lots of WS6 stuff in his bird because he swapped a TPI into it and the v6 springs were freaking out. :lala:

I love the way my car handles, but I can only imagin what it would handle like if i had about 150lbs less in the front end.

 

Holy crap.... I get 25 MPG with the A/C on going up mountains around the Peninsula. In town is different...

IMHO and what I read in another forum, "It's all about the tune". Your V6, if it's a 3100, should get about 28-30 MPG (sorry I don't know what that is in kms).

There has to be another problem somewhere if you've changed plugs, wires, etc. Was your timing adjusted?

 

i idle really rough, sort of shakes and sounds like a big block

 

Yeah, I'd say you got some problems then.

How about your fuel filter, perhaps the injectors are begining to give up the ghost after all these years.

 

well fuel filter was done about 20,000kms ago, and ive put 6,000kms in the past 2 months on the car. ran some desiel through the injectors to clean them


i do drive at 130kmph im just trying to squeese every mpg out of it i can. cruise control will have to be fixed on sunday

 

Thirdgen89GTA: the suspension is great.. car handles like its on rails.

on a side note, if your car idles rough liek that, then something isnt quite up to par, and it'll cost you in terms of mpg, or whatever it is in metric terms

 

buy a cavalier ecotech.450kms per tank is good,I drive a fullsize sierra everyday and it costs $90 to fill.If you want gas milage a third gen is the wrong tree to be barking up.

 

yeah. and i just bought a 302ho for my towncar too

 

Luckily I spent time in germany, so all the kilometer talk I can understand. the liter thing still messes me up though.

Checking the timing would be a good idea. Tire pressure, alignment, all of it.

I did the math a couple days ago for my car. 13gallons/375.5 miles = about 28.8mpg That was 'all of the above' driving. On the freeway I get almost 34mpg. Once I fix my exhaust leak and cruise control, i'm hoping to reach the legendary 35mpg mark. Some say it can't be done, but I think a few claimed to have done it. I will be one of them soon.

I check my tire pressure every couple days (temp is dropping effecting them I think, or they're finally getting small leaks).
10.5* i think on the timing
rebuilt dist
8.5 wires (time for new ones though I think)
.048 gap for plugs
Msd 6A, blaster coil (stock module at the moment)
custom intake (not really cold air or ram air though yet)
underdrive crank pulley
synthetic oil
2.5 in high flow cat, 2.5 I-pipe with 2.5 dynomax muffler (headers and Y-pipe eventually)

And ummm......make sure your TV cable is adjusted if you have an automatic tranny (not sure if it would make a difference but what the heck)

 

i recon a larger tire size would increase the mpg as well,

i have quite a large manifold leak on my heads (both sides are blue and warped)

 

That's what I'm talking about; that's why I think 19 mpg is pretty damn good. I rarely pay attention to gas mileage anyway.

But that manifold leak is probably also killing you. Do you have an automatic trans? If you do, do you know for sure if the TCC (Torque convertor clutch) is engaging?

 

yeah its an auto
i can feel the car almost shift into another gear halfway through each gear when im on the highway, i think thats the tcc locking

 

When you're doing highway speeds, about 100 kmph, with low engine RPM (you're just cruising along, not racing anyone), keep your right foot steady on the gas pedal. Take your left foot, and gently press the brake pedal down- press it down only enough to turn on the brake lights, but not to slow the car down. You should hear the engine rev up a few 100 RPM's, and of course, if you have a tachometer, you should be able to see this.

If the RPM's go up, let off on the brake again with your left foot. RPM's should drop back to what they were.

So if all this happens okay, yes, the TCC is going into lockup.

If the RPM's stay the same for everything, you need to fix the TCC system.

 

is there an easier way to tell? my tach is digital and bounces all over the place

 

Well, damn, that IS the easiest way possible! Like I said, you don't need a tach. I guess you could pay for my flight out to Canada, and I could check it for you- that'd be easier, I guess.

 

Have you tried to find a closer job that still gets you school credit??? a close by quick lube for even less money but making more without the gas expense.

 

nope, i need dealership experience if i ever want a dealership job in the future in my city. and because the automotive institute is located here auto jobs are impossible to get. so i have to commute.

i been driving a wholesale carolla from the dealership for the past 2 days because my breaks blew out.. gutless as hell but great on fuel. its sold already though. i miss the camaro.

the 2.8 is slow but trust me you do NOT want to drive a 3 speed auto corolla.

 

i used to drive a 50 mile round trip to work and was filling up 3x a week, i only get get like 17/20....

now i work 5-7 miles from homw with a 10-14 mile round trip plus i got married and drive my wifes car everywhere except work adn put 20 $ in every 2 and a half weeks...

the sad part is my wifes car is a 90 corsica with the same 3.1 i have and its faster and gets the same gas milieage as my camaro when i just drive to work :-(

 

today i got yelled at by some b**** for doing my job

 

buy a mileage vacuum gauge. $20

you can't really feel with just the pedal where the best mileage is.

a normal vac gauge can be used too.

mount it where you can see it easy all the time.

I have a mini vac gauge I use for that. Helps.

 

is ur TCC locking up properly? Give it a check , brake pedal while under cruise condition on the highway. Took me from 22mpg w/o it locking, to mid 30's on every highway drive i do. However, my in-town is still severly sucking, definately in the teens on that one.

Tom, just noticed that you said the same thing earlier, i was gonna read the whole thing and thought it was just too damn long, so i posted anyway.

You should be able to feel it, it's a definate feel, i "thought" i felt it when it really wasn't working, trust me, you'll feel it when it locks up. It won't lock when accelerating (least i don't think so) another way to check is to hook up an on-off switch between the uppermost left and uppermost right terminals of your ALDL connector, with the switch engaged, start driving the car. IF you feel a "super shift" (it'll bog really really bad) when you hit second gear, it's working, if it doesn't bog, then it's not working. If you don't feel like buying a switch, then, use the paper clip method in the same way that you would trip codes on your aldl w/o a reader. STick the clip between topleft and topright, then do the same thing. REmember not to drive the car like this for ever, or even longer than the first test run, as you might just blow ur tranny up. if ther'es no supershift, get back to us, that'll be ur culprit and you can either search to fix it, or we'll tell u.

 

LOL! Yah I have a tendency to ramble on!

He's gotta get that intake manifold leak fixed first!

 

its not intake manifold - its exhaust manifold


so anyway today i was going to work and a civic doing 140 comes flyin up on me so i floor it, of course i forgot thet my overdrive was scerwed so i comes out of gear, so i try to put it in regular drive and over my music i hear the loudest grinding noise ever.
so now my trans makes a ticking noise on top of the cat strangleing and chain dragging noise.

im going to drive it till it explodes. the guys at the bmw dealer i work at sayd to bring the car and bring a trans and they will put it in cheap if i have to

 

You most have serious problems! I drive 170 miles round trip every day to and from work. Some times more. I just did the math and I get 23.6 mpg (can't figure out how to do the conversion). I used to get about 38mpg, but I now have about 308,00 miles on it so I am glad to get 23.6. I drive a mix of highway city street and twist mountain roads.

Defently get the intake leak fixed!!!

 

Bad exhaust manifold leaks arnt good for your valves. You will, probably burnt up the exhaust valves so they do not seal well and are leaking on the compression stroke. Pumping gas out the exhaust.


Just fixing the exhaust manifold leak probably wont help much.
Need to get some used head re-done.

 

what ifn i slapped on some exhaust gaskets? i know the heads didnt come with em but ya think itd work?



edit sorry im drinkin lone star i type like that after a few of those. cant afford corona no more

 

ok i forgot a minute ago i just spent 200$

this weekend cause i got lots of time and no family im going to work on the car

i had been using mobil1 but -man at the bmw dealer i work at the bmw's go 22,000 kilometers without an oil change !!

i change mine every 5000kms and it comes out dirty

so i got some seafoam type stuff
plugs
oil filter
vavoline max life 4.73L
a litre of cheap 1$ oil to flush the old oil out when im draining it
a digital multimeter to check plug wires again and tps
lucas tranny fix to try and get the most out of the sucka i can
and 2 paper air filters. maybe my k&n's are letting too much dirt in.

so im gonna pour some seafoam into a vacume tube and into both valve covers let it run and die then sit.
then change and flush out the oil
change the plugs and check wires
blah blah
im rambling

 

Id do some compression / leak down test. if the valves are burnt, they are burnt. Though it may only be 1-2 cylinders and new gaskets would help save the others.

 

damn that would probably explain the smoke on startup im getting now


and if any thinks their job sucks and hates traffic it took me 3 hours to get home last night

 

k well, my roomate has a civic with no motor sitting in the garage so i couldnt do the oilchange today
my power steering fluid was just about gone so i filled that up. i dont think i had ever checked my power steering fluid. my last car didnt have powr steering so i never thought about it. i feel dumb and embarrassed
so i took some of that seafoam alcohol and mixed it with hot water, sprayed it into the throttle body until the car ran read rough, then i let a vacume tube from the back of the plenum drink the rest. no smoke though... was looking forward to pissing off the neighbours with it.


i also used the multimeter to adjust the tps.. it was 6.10 somthing at closed and 3.18 at full open this is correct right?

 

New car:

$1500 Canadian for Red Engine Red Camaro

Best I could do.

 

uh, i guarntee you my car is in better shape than that one and with less miles