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Ways to improve mpg?

3K views 13 replies 6 participants last post by  mocha907 
#1 ·
Hey i just got a 1996 accord and want really good mileage, ive already ordered a cold air intake, are there any other parts or chips that will improve my miles per gallon?
 
#2 ·
beleive it or not, just simple things. adding "performance" eqipment usually lower MPG, as thepoint is to burn more fuel faster to produce more power.

1. Keep your tires properly inflated.
2. Regular maintenance, especially a fuel system cleaner to help remove the carbon build up in you intake system.
3.Every red light is not a drag race. Your car uses the most fuel try to move 4000lbs from a dead stop that at any other time in it's drive cycle. accelerating gently from a dead stop is the best practice to control the majority of you fiel consumption, and utilize your cruise control as mush as possible at highway speeds.
 
#5 ·
huh never thoght about the wheel weight effecting mpg, you can also find things for cheap like pop can fans its like a lil fan inside a rubber and metal housing that gose inside your intake hose it helps with estimated 5hp and like 3mpg increase but every one knows that every engine is differant so it may git more or less but for like $20 to $30 it may help and pay for its self who knows
 
#7 ·
I had a 90 accord LX. It's already pretty good on fuel efficiency stock.

1. A "real" updated ECU chip doesn't provide better fuel economy. They really help your engine perform their best when they are turbo-charged or have a nitrous oxide system attached. It's a waste of money if you have a normally aspirated engine.

2. High-flow exhaust adds about 3 HP and 0 ft/lbs of torque. 3 HP in an Accord is negligible. You can "authenticate" that experience for free by driving around a race track with a 100 pound person in the passenger seat; and then dropping that person off and driving the same track again. It allows the engine to push out exhaust gases better at the higher RPMs. So, in order to take advantage of more HP, you have to floor it, which isn't really fuel efficient-style driving. Make sense. You aren't getting 3 more HP at idle.

3. Lightweight rims will provide a bit better fuel economy. But in the big picture view of things, you would need to keep that car for years to make back the savings because the rims are going to cost around $400+. But, they'll look good. That's important. :hehe
 
#8 ·
lol true fartbomber dident think about that one
huh so idk all i know is go with stock exhaust or close gas engines run on back presure so there for an open exhaust will rob gas milege,intake,good plugs to make sure that your car is burning as much of the gas it can that is droped into the piston chamber if not it just waisting a lil at a time,good oil can help,proper grounding of the car can help i have heard of people using copper plaits to where the main ground cabel hits the chassy on in between there,know idk about this one but a local racer here in town raps his exhaust.intake hose and fuel lines in header heat wrap...anyone have any views on that stuff and if they actualy help mpg
 
#9 ·
lol true fartbomber dident think about that one
huh so idk all i know is go with stock exhaust or close gas engines run on back presure so there for an open exhaust will rob gas milege,intake,good plugs to make sure that your car is burning as much of the gas it can that is droped into the piston chamber if not it just waisting a lil at a time,good oil can help,proper grounding of the car can help i have heard of people using copper plaits to where the main ground cabel hits the chassy on in between there,know idk about this one but a local racer here in town raps his exhaust.intake hose and fuel lines in header heat wrap...anyone have any views on that stuff and if they actualy help mpg
-what are you talking about? gas engines DO NOT RUN ON BACK PRESSURE. who told you that? back pressure is BAD. you do not want it at all.
- open exhaust will not rob gas mileage either since it reduces back pressure.
-whoever is teaching you about cars, you should stop listening to them and kick them in the nuts... at least 2-3 times.
 
#10 ·
hem weird because it was tought at a school and yes large amounts of back pressure are bad for engines but thats y stock pipping cataletic converter and muffler produce small amounts of back pressure and large amounts of good after market exhaust have that poping or backfiring sound when let of throtle at high rpm if no back pressure is needed then y dose it mess up your engine if you run open header for to long
 
#11 · (Edited)
that's old timer thinking. you mess up your engine because of lack of scavenging and flow velocity. the job of an exhaust is to actually scavenge and extract exhaust from the cylinder head which is why you get an increase in performance with the right exhaust over an open header. that's why the Australians refer to headers as extractors. when you go too big of an exhaust, then the exhaust will slow down do to rapid thermal expansion at lower rpms hence why you lose performance down low, but pick it back up in the higher rpms when your engine is moving more exhaust gas. it has absolutely nothing to do with back pressure. that is a myth that has been perpetuated for +70 years now.

If you look at it logically, why would a negative force working against your engine as it tries to expel exhaust fumes ever generate more power? people are confusing back pressure with flow velocity because the noticed that with a smaller exhaust that they had an increase in performance over much larger exhausts at lower rpms and they just assumed it was the back pressure from the more restrictive pipes giving them the performance boost. not the case at all.

If you ever ask anybody that preaches this myth to prove it with logic, they never can. They were all simply "told" this by somebody and they took it as gospel.

Do they really have teachers teaching you that back pressure is good? auto manufacturers only use back pressure for emissions and noise reduction. not performance.
 
#12 ·
okay but not trying to be rude but like you just said can you prove it with facts? that it dose not help mpg it adds power yeah and with my experiences i have never heard of any performance upgrade not reducing mpg maybe not enuff to notice like for instances my stock 91 accord sedan is gitting 27mpg hwy my friends stock 92 accord sedan with
.25" bigger exhaust only gits 26mpg and his has less milage than mine we found this out by running the tanks completly dry then adding 1 gallon of gas and reseting the trip switch and seing where it landed when bone dry again of course not at the exact same time but still
 
#13 · (Edited)
he has a map car. did he get tuned for the additional parts. did he only get an exhaust? was it a mandrel bent exhaust or crush bent knock off? also putting a bigger louder exhaust on ones car has side effect of making your foot heavier. a mpg difference is negligible and can be attributed to the weather change and your computer hasn't adjusted yet. 1mpg is not a deciding factor. reset ecu and try to do decel coasting and staying around 10% throttle with with full boltons and you should pick up nice mpg even on a stock setup.....
 
#14 ·
mpgs are fickle things. Something as mundane as rolling your windows down instead of using AC under 55MPH, changing your plugs/wires, clean air filter, and a number of other things. I even watched on some car show in speed (can't for the life of me remember the name) that mildly quick acceleration to cruising speed actually helps mpgs since the car is spending less time accelerating. I'm sceptical on that one even though I have since read it in car magazines everywhere. I'm thinking the engine in question might be a big factor ie I can see it possibly working with a car like my old Rio where any acceleration is a burden on the engine but not in my old 92 mustang where in drive with my foot off the brake it wanted to go 30.
 
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