1999-2009 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
[Main 95 Bulletin Board | BBFAQ |
Prev by Date | Next by Date | Post Followup ]
Member Login / Signup - Members see fewer ads. - Latest Member Gallery Photos
Oh no! What happened to my gas mileage? (longish) Posted by NP [Email] (#244) [Profile/Gallery] (more from NP) on Thu, 25 Aug 2005 22:56:02 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
I just went through my first full tank of gas on my new-to-me 2000 2.3t wagon. I watched very closely the SID gas average info the whole time. I was impressed-it looked like I was averaging close to 30 mpg. The thing is, the SID is missing a bunch of pixels, so the readout usually looked something like x7.9 mpg, where the "x" resembled a 2. I watched on the highway as the number rose to what should have been 30 mpg. The "x" spot now looked more like a 2 than ever before. Anyway, I was feeling pretty good until I calculated the miles driven against the number of gallons used: 308 miles on 15.65 gallons, or fewer than 20 miles per gallon.
Huh? About 120 of those 308 miles were on the highway, at cruise speeds of around 75 mph. The rest of the miles were short trips around town. I live in Iowa, so it's incredibly flat. It's been hot, but rarely over 80 degrees, and I use the A/C sparingly. I don't drive very aggressively or flog the engine, but I do keep the automatic transmission in Sport mode the majority of the time. I usually accelerate out of dead stops briskly, but no more so than the rest of traffic. I drove without passengers or heavy loads, and have my tires at 32 psi. I used 87 octane on the tank of gas in question. I filled up with 93 this time to see what difference that makes. Unfortunately, my car has no boost gauge, so it's for me to tell exactly how much turbo boost I'm using at any given moment.
This mileage worries me. I smell more of a gas smell with the windows rolled down than on any other car I've driven. I hope there's no mechanical problem. One question I do have concerns the relationship of the SID miles to empty and the regular fuel gauge. It seems like the gas gauge spends a long time near full, and then drops drastically towards empty. One time the fuel light went on and the needle was close to empty, while the SID read 30 miles to empty. A few hours later I turned the car on and the needle showed the gas tank as being FULLER and the SID told me 50 miles to empty. Shouldn't the fuel gauge operate independently of the SID's computer? Or is the SID computer telling the fuel gauge how much fuel is left? Should I be concerned about this mileage?
NP
2000 9-5 wagon 2.3lpt
posted by 172.152.163...
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.