bad gas mileage in civic cx

[thisisntjared]

Originally Posted by rh77

Lastly, I assume you have drum brakes in the rear -- which need adjusted from time to time. One way is to use the E-brake regularly when parking, or drive in reverse quickly and hit the brakes -- they'll auto-adjust.

interesting.... how does that work?

[SVOboy]

I'm interested too. I have mucho brake work to do.

[Matt Timion]

ACtually it is my understanding that cars get better MPG at higher altitudes, but I can't remember exactly where I read that. Less oxygen equals gas used.

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by rh77

Lastly, I assume you have drum brakes in the rear -- which need adjusted from time to time. One way is to use the E-brake regularly when parking, or drive in reverse quickly and hit the brakes -- they'll auto-adjust.

http://www.gassavers.org/article/parking_brakes_and_fuel_economy.html

[SVOboy]

Well, they're slower at higher altitudes, I know that,

[GasSavers_Ryland]

jack up each corner of the car, and spin the wheel, the front will have a slight drage from the axles, and disk brakes, this is normal, they should be simaler on each size, at the same time check brake pad wear, the inside pad will wear slightly faster, but there should be pad left, if not then your brakes might be draging a little, if your braks are draging enough to make a big differnce, then you will notice that it's hard to turn the tires when jacked up, while are you at it look at your tire wear, should be even acrose the tire, no bals spots on the iner, or outer edges, check tire presure.
read your spark plugs, compare them to each other, if they are black and sooty you are running rich and have a bad o2 sensor, the 92-95 civic doesn't alwas have the check engine light come on for a bad o2 sensor, but you if you have a book (mine is out side in the car) it will tell you how to check the voltages coming off the o2 sensor, but the single wire are cheap enough that you should just replace it every 60,000 miles or so, NGK (NTK?) are what honda uses and are good.
when you had your timing belt changed, did they do it right? it's easy to take the top plastic timing belt cover off, and turn the crank shaft by hand till the marks all line up, for this you want to use your book because each of the 4 engines that they used in 1992 are differnt and there are multiple marks! I had mine "fixed" twice, and finely fixed it my self befor it was right, if you don't have your own timing light barrow one and check your ignition timing each and every time you change a cap and rotor.
if you have $45 and can buy a TinyTac tacomitor (very small digital tac that works with any 4 stroke engine), or buy a civic vx, or si insterment cluster, they come with a tacomitor if you want to get a better idea of engine speed, and how it's running in that aspect.
aftermarket exaust, and air intakes will hurt your MPG's more then anything, and will make your car feel slugish, they mostly make it feel "faster" by making it loud and in the mood to drive in a lower gear and floor it.
a new pcv valve is $3-7, you can clean them with carb cleaner sometimes.
is your engine heating up to the half way mark on the temp gauge? have you tride useing a higher grade of gas? I prefer the fuel system cleaner SeaFoam, add some to your engine oil, and the rest of the can to an almost empty tank of gas, 50 miles or so befor you plan to fill it up for the best cleaning.

you might want to save up for an air dam, the civic vx has one that will fit your car, also you said your wheel/tire combo is lighter then stock steel rims... those steel rims are 4.5" wide reasonably light weight steel rims, like 12 pound rims I think... should be able to get a 22-25 pound wheel/tire combo with stock.

[SVOboy]

12 pound steelies? Are you smoking some of philmcneal's magic potion?

[jerm001]

I think I might need an alignment, my car pulls alot to the left, and is shaky at high speeds. I only have 89 cents as of now, so I won't be able to do anything for a while, I just hope my income tax money comes soon...

[SVOboy]

Tonight I'll post up a nice DIY link for alignment tonight, you can get it decently well.

[n0rt0npr0]

You definately need an alignment. SVO will be telling you how to adjust the Camber side of your alignment, so give it a try if you are inclined. If I was you, however, I'd take it to sears or Goodyear and get a tire re-balance on all four PLUS the four wheel alignment. That added pressure on the steering system will take its toll on your tie rods and tires. Hopefully you have'nt driven over 10,000 miles with it like that.
Also, with your tires being out of balance, your struts, tires and ball joints are taking a wear hit on the negative side.