91 Accord fuel economy troubles

[Robin DeRoo]

I am a new owner of a 1991 Honda Accord EX. It has 2.2L 4cyl engine, and
118Km on it. I was expecting better fuel consumption than 13.5l/100km in the
city and 10l/100km on the highway. I have changed plugs, wires, rotor and
cap, air filter, & oxygen sensor. The car seems to run great. I compare it
to my 95 Camry which has 208K with same size of engine, that gets 10l/100km
in the city and 7l/100km on the highway. Am I missing something or is this
the best these cars get? Suggestions appreciated.

Robin

[J Oat]

you should be able to do better than the camry easily. But is the A/C on ?
fan anything ? tire pressure ? any hole in the muffler ?
leaky muffler will suck gas mileage down. is the engine stock ?

is it tuned properly ? in these years, you must bypass the ecm before
tuning otherwise it might seems to run great but the computer already
compensated too much already.

"Robin DeRoo" <robin...@usask.ca> wrote in message
news:a3enps$lsv$1...@tribune.usask.ca...

[Robin DeRoo]

To answer your questions:
No A/C on (winter and summer mileage remains pretty constant)
Fan anything...?
Tire pressure is good
New muffler - although I was wondering about the catalytic (sp.?)
converter..
Standard engine
I will have to check on bypassing the ECM I am not sure if that is done or
not.

Thanks, ... keep the ideas coming :-)

Robin
"J Oat" <bd1...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:u5m0mul...@corp.supernews.com...

[bka...@snotmail.com]

In article <a3enps$lsv$1...@tribune.usask.ca>, "Robin DeRoo"
<robin...@usask.ca> wrote:

That sounds quite low.
On my 91 LX Coupe, the best I ever got on a single trip, steady, level
highway cruising @70-75 MPH on a hot day was 36.26 MPG. 35 MPG was more
typical under those conditions. Cold temps will decrease it 1-2 MPG.
You should be getting similar results to your Camry.

--
To Email me, change snot to hot

[blah]

I'll let you do the conversion, but I get around 20 mpg city and 24
highway on my 92 Accord EX automatic

perhaps your oxygen sensor is shot and the fuel mixture is too rich

[RD]

Geez yours is worse than mine! Unless thats American gallons. O2 sensor was replaced
two tankfuls ago minimal change.

Robin

[RD]

How do you bypass the ECM? Will it run without it?

Robin

[Ricky Spartacus]

One time my coolant temp sensor (TW) went crazy, I began running rich.
Didn't know until the smog station told me that it was going on full
rich (even idles at 750 rpm.)

A muffler with wrong back pressure could reduce horspower, which
increases fuel consumption. Beleive this, more fuel pressure means
more fuel consumption. Get this, you can drive around normally with a
fuel pressure of only 24 psi of the normal 44 psi. (I've done this.)

I don't understand what they mean by bypassing the ecm, but on one car
- it will run rich until you reset the ecm. You will notice a little
drop in rpm to 750, you know you have reseted it (if it's not already
at the 750 rpm.)

-RS

[david schlamowitz]

Hi,
My 90 exi with 164000 km gets 9l/100km city and highway, but I drive
it gently. If you drive it hard fuel consumption drops dramatically.
Get a good Honda dealer to check it out if you haven't been driving it
hard.
118 km on a well treated and properly serviced one of these is
nothing.

On Fri, 1 Feb 2002 12:46:20 -0600, "Robin DeRoo"
<robin...@usask.ca> wrote:

[Robin DeRoo]

A number of suggestions I will follow up on. Is there a way to approach
Honda (the manufacturer) directly? If you ask 6 dealers, you will get 6
different answers!

Robin

[J Oat]

first thing first.

Look at the temp gauge, is it in the middle when driving and stopping with
the engine running ?
if your temp gauge is not in the middle but at about bottom third then your
water thermostat is either of the wrong temp from factory or defective.

this alone will lower your gas mileage by about 10%.

is your auto or manual ?

I have factory manual for a 93 accord and has been using it to trouble shoot
91-95 accord. I could look up things for you if you want to sort this out
yourself.

be warned I am not a mechanic, I do not know anything about car. what I am
is an electronic person and so far I sorted most of my car problem with this
knowledge.

"Robin DeRoo" <robin...@usask.ca> wrote in message

news:a3m9v4$cg5$1...@tribune.usask.ca...

[Ryan Mahlberg]

Mine also gets about about 22 mpg city and 26 mpg highway (70-80 mph).
This is about the Honda spec for the 90-91 accord, and the honda spec
for the 92-93 accords is a bit worse. Sorry, I don't know what units
you're working in so I can't make the conversion to tell you if you
car is normal. My units are miles per gallon (US).

I was a little shocked at the poor fuel economy of the accords because
I used to have a 81 civic 1.5L, but still peppy for the weight of the
car, and I got atleast 30 mpg in town, and usually 35 mpg highway, but
as much as 50 mpg on highway. I also had a 87 civic 1.5L (4WD) that
got 28 mpg all the time.

Ryan

bl...@blah.com (blah) wrote in message news:<3c5b4455...@corp.supernews.com>...

[Kev]

i've got a 92 Accord, the only way I can get 10l or less per 100km in
mileage is if I am mostly driving alone with no passengers and I've
also removed the spare tyre.

This car really gulps the gas if you drive it anyway near hard. A
friend used to have a 91 EX with 4WS and sunroof and all the bells and
whistles, and he used to only get about 350km out of a tank, but he
always had it in Sports mode and he drove it hard all the time.

[J Oat]

unless he smokes the tire from green light and lay rubber to red light at
the next block, he should get better mileage than that.
does he ever checked his tire inflation properly ? does he have stock
everything including the tire.

"Kev" <kevst...@iname.com> wrote in message
news:2c3efb8f.02020...@posting.google.com...

[Robin DeRoo]

Nothing stock on my car. It is as standard from the factory as you can get:
4 sp. AT, A/C, 2.2L, 118K.

Robin

"J Oat" <bd1...@yahoo.com> wrote in message

news:u62uoi9...@corp.supernews.com...

[Cam]

I agree with you, I have a 1992 Accord automatic with the 2.2 engine
and I am not impressed with the gas mileage. I have replaced
everything possible to improve fuel economy. I guess that is the way
these car are made, a little sacrifice for such a reliable and fun to
drive car! I now have 168,000 km on the car and it has been trouble
free. If someone has a magic solution to these fuel economy problems
it would be nice know.

Cam

"Robin DeRoo" <robin...@usask.ca> wrote in message news:<a3s8gb$n5p$1...@tribune.usask.ca>...

[Ricky Spartacus]

I have a magic simple solution. Remove the one way check valve from
the cruise control vacuum tubing and install it between the FPR and
the intake. Remember to plug up the cruise control tubing. This
reduces the fuel pressure by about 15 psi. This equals to a moderate
fuel savings at low speed cruising.

-RS

[J Oat]

I got a 93 Accord EX-R 4dr auto 2.2L, tire pressure at 36psi. Since new I
got about 27MPG US in mixed driving city and highway.
I get at least 24MPG in stop & go city traffic.

The 92 4dr auto 2.2L EX get about 31MPG US for the same route as the 93.

93 - 9.5L/100Km = 27MPG
92 - 7.3L/100Km = 31MPG

"Cam" <dal...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:b106864a.02020...@posting.google.com...

[xxxxxxxx]

J Oat <bd1...@yahoo.com> wrote in message

news:u65jj9s...@corp.supernews.com...

> I got a 93 Accord EX-R 4dr auto 2.2L, tire pressure at 36psi. Since new I
> got about 27MPG US in mixed driving city and highway.
> I get at least 24MPG in stop & go city traffic.
>
> The 92 4dr auto 2.2L EX get about 31MPG US for the same route as the 93.
>
> 93 - 9.5L/100Km = 27MPG
> 92 - 7.3L/100Km = 31MPG
>
>
> "Cam" <dal...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:b106864a.02020...@posting.google.com...
> > I agree with you, I have a 1992 Accord automatic with the 2.2 engine
> > and I am not impressed with the gas mileage. I have replaced
> > everything possible to improve fuel economy. I guess that is the way
> > these car are made, a little sacrifice for such a reliable and fun to
> > drive car! I now have 168,000 km on the car and it has been trouble
> > free. If someone has a magic solution to these fuel economy problems
> > it would be nice know.
> >
> > Cam

> I have a `92 and the mileage is super good dont know exactly as I nevvewr
had cause to get the figures ? but I am very staisfied with the car
ed/ontario

[Robin DeRoo]

All of this talk on mpg , l/100km etc.. I thought I should lay some ground
rules down. I have went to the trouble of a conversion table to get everyone
on a level playing field. As you can see below it makes a huge difference
where you live. I reside in canada and we use the UK gallon which is larger
than the US gallon. So when I say I get 22mpg that converts to 18.3 miles
per US gallon (you travel less distance on a smaller quantity of fuel). With
the metric system the smaller number is better (quantity of fuel required
over a given distance ie - 100km) SEE THE TABLE BELOW:

Conversion factors are as follows for anyone who cares to check my
calculations:
1 litre = .219692 UK gallons
1 litre = .2641721 US gallons
1US gallon = 3.785412 Litres
1 UK gallon = 4.546092 Litres
1 km = .621 miles
1 mile = 1.6093 km

Of course cost of fuel is also different because of different volumes so be
careful there if comparing costs across borders.

US Canada
L/100km mpg mpg
282.5 0.8 1
141.2 1.7 2
94.2 2.5 3
70.6 3.3 4
56.5 4.2 5
47.1 5.0 6
40.4 5.8 7
35.3 6.7 8
31.4 7.5 9
28.2 8.3 10
25.7 9.2 11
23.5 10.0 12
21.7 10.8 13
20.2 11.7 14
18.8 12.5 15
17.7 13.3 16
16.6 14.2 17
15.7 15.0 18
14.9 15.8 19
14.1 16.7 20
13.5 17.5 21
12.8 18.3 22
12.3 19.2 23
11.8 20.0 24
11.3 20.8 25
10.9 21.6 26
10.5 22.5 27
10.1 23.3 28
9.7 24.1 29
9.4 25.0 30
9.1 25.8 31
8.8 26.6 32
8.6 27.5 33
8.3 28.3 34
8.1 29.1 35
7.8 30.0 36
7.6 30.8 37
7.4 31.6 38
7.2 32.5 39
7.1 33.3 40

[Ricky Spartacus]

A super radial tire with no track (I'm talking bald tires) could
really get good mileage. Combined with Mobil 1 ATF, it's like riding
on rails.

-RS

[xxxxxxxx]

Robin DeRoo <robin...@usask.ca> wrote in message

news:a3uto9$bj2$1...@tribune.usask.ca...

> All of this talk on mpg , l/100km etc.. I thought I should lay some
ground
> rules down. I have went to the trouble of a conversion table to get
everyone
> on a level playing field. As you can see below it makes a huge difference
> where you live. I reside in canada and we use the UK gallon which is
larger
> than the US gallon. So when I say I get 22mpg that converts to 18.3 miles
> per US gallon (you travel less distance on a smaller quantity of fuel).
With
> the metric system the smaller number is better (quantity of fuel required
> over a given distance ie - 100km) SEE THE TABLE BELOW:
>
> Conversion factors are as follows for anyone who cares to check my
> calculations:
> 1 litre = .219692 UK gallons
> 1 litre = .2641721 US gallons
> 1US gallon = 3.785412 Litres
> 1 UK gallon = 4.546092 Litres
> 1 km = .621 miles
> 1 mile = 1.6093 km
>
> Of course cost of fuel is also different because of different volumes so
be
> careful there if comparing costs across borders.

I have gone on several cross country trips with my`92 Accord and have always
been able to get at east 625 k (400+miles)on 3/4 of a tank of gas . I do not
know the tank capacity but believe this is great gas mileage when you
consider the legal speeds of 65 mph to 75 mph?and +...

ed/ontario