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hey fellaz,
i have a 2000 accord v6 3.0L with 220k miles. car runs great!!! when i turn on the a/c i go from 170miles per half tank to about 100-110miles per half tank. is this normal??? and when the a/c is on the car seems to have lil power and is sluggish and doesn’t like to shift in 1st or 2nd till about 4000+ RPMS. almost like taking a truck out of overdrive with towing on.
is all this normal? just moved down to Florida and and use the a/c 80% of the time and getting horrible gas milage and i try to drive the car easy with 220k and drives me crazy how it wont shift until 4000+ RPMS with a/c on.
thanks guys
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Using the AC puts a “load” on the engine.
You should expect a significant drop in fuel economy when AC is heavily used.
There will be some loss of acceleration speed because placing a load on the engine saps some engine power.
Still, your car may benefit from checking and fixing some things..
ETCG created a series of pages detailing things to check/change in order to improve fuel economy and performance:
https://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/finding-and-fixing-the-causes-of-poor-mpg/finding-and-fixing-the-causes-of-poor-mpgEven where AC use is essential, in addition to the ETCG ideas , you can improve the MPGs somewhat, by parking in shaded areas, open the windows to let hot air out when first getting into car, run AC to recirculate the air instead of bringing in fresh air (read owner’s manual for setting–sometimes it’s MAX)
Hey thanks for the input I really appreciate it. I understand that using AC will reduce my miles per gallon and puts a load on the engine which will make it run differently but is it normal to lose 120 miles per tank when I use the AC? Also is it normal for it to not want to shift until 4000 RPMs?
It’s normal to see a decrease of 25-40% mpgs.
I would go over the items listed in the link to ensure that your mpg loss is on the lower end rather than the high end.
Delayed shifts will also increase gas consumption.
You should be sure to check the automatic transmission fluid level, as it can cause delayed shifting.
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