Interesting crappy gas mileage story

[Joey]

Hello all,

I have a 2004 4 cylinder accord w/ 118,000 miles. It gets 14 mpg on the highway.

It does not have a check engine light. It smells like it’s running rich. I suspect it may be an oxygen sensor that has gone faulty but it is very hard to diagnose because there are no error codes to speak of. What in the name of banana should I do? It gets worse gas mileage than an escalade.

I know somebody is going to ask if the tires are inflated, if the air filter is changed, if the spark plugs are new (and proper NGKs) and blah blah blah. YES is the answer for all of them. It recently went in for a MAJOR tune up. It was getting this bad gas mileage before it went in for the tune up and after. No change whatsoever. Just crappy gas mileage.

Thanks in advance for help!!!!

Topic

[Bill]

You need a scan tool that can read live data especially fuel trim numbers. They will determine if there is in fact too much fuel being used.

[dan]

with wysetech, you need too be able too view the live data of this vehicle, and check history codes… just because you have not had a engine light set doesn’t mean there isn’t codes… when it comes too fuel economy concerns TONS of things can cause issues and the best way too see what is causing poor fuel economy issues is too view fuel pressures as well as…

viewing fuel trims

observing O2 sensor data

observing the operation of all the sensors such as MAF and MAP sensors, coolant temperature sensors, IAT sensor, so many things can cause bad fuel economy the best way to narrow it down is with a scan tool but its also important too note other things can cause bad fuel economy such as poorly inflated tires, stuck breaks, ect…

and this may also help.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/finding-and-fixing-the-causes-of-poor-mpg

[EricTheCarGuy]

In addition to what’s been mentioned above you might want to check out the information in this article I wrote as it contains information on how to address a problem like this.

http://ericthecarguy.com/faq/finding-and-fixing-the-causes-of-poor-mpg

There are other mechanical issues that can cause poor fuel economy that might not show up with a vehicle scan.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Author]

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