robin mary

Hi guys,

Hello from New-Caledonia country (french island in the pacific), where I live. I drive a stock 1997 Z28 camaro with 3.23 rear and A4, that I bought 2 months ago with 30 000 miles (I'm third owner). 11 years old but low miles, 2 previous owners were old people driving slowly.

On first tank I made 18L/100km, so 13 mpg, but, it was the first "enjoy !" tank so I didn't pay attention. But anyway, trying to drive on torque below 2500 rpm very cool to test max mpg, I'm still about 14 mpg...(city driving only, A/C on).

I don't care of mpg buying this car, but, if there is over consumption, I would prefer fix it instead of burning unecessary gazoline !

if you think that my mpg is too low, what would you recommend me to verify ? Fuel filter, O2 sensors, MAF, plugs,...? maybe 16 mpg city could be possible if everything is clean and works fine...I've heard that mods like pulleys, electric water pump, electric fans, headers, CAI could improve MPG, is it right ?

Thank you very much for your answers. I have AutoXray diag, so if you have some values you want me to check, don't hesitate, I would be pleased.

Robin

twcblackhand6970

I usually get about 11 city and 18 highway, but I have a 4.11 rear. I'm still trying to fully restore the engine bay from previous owner neglect.

Injuneer

It all depends how long your trips are. 14 MPG on a lot of short-trip city driving isn't all that bad. If you only went 100KM (62 miles), it sounds like you are making very short trips.

Why do you assume that old people drive slowly? I don't.

bottjeremy

I recently took a trip in my 95 A4 with stock rear end, think 3.73 gear. Trip was 250ish miles, and got 23 mpg. All highway of course, on cruise control. So if you drive nice, you should get good mileage on the lt1.

robin mary

By stock rear end, you mean 2.73, not 3.73 ? I think that only 2.73 or 3.23 were stock rear end available on Z28 A4...?

robin mary

Sorry, I change the sentence :"11 years old but low miles, 2 previous owners were old people , who used to drive slowly." lol.

Yes, I make short trips, My city is small and very hilly, with a lot of hill starts with A/C, red lights...So, even with smooth driving, mileage is quite affected. And A/C don't help matters. I should test a 50 or 100km trip and calculate mileage, it should be much better, I hope.

"If you only went 100KM" : you mean, for 18L gazoline ? yes.
Since I have it, I made 1300 kms, maybe few more...spinning.

Thanks

Robin

sbs

When I first got my vette it got mileage like that - around 5 mpg less than what I expected based on the EPA ratings. That's after replacing all the basic tuneup parts except the distributor cap/rotor.

I asked on the corvetteforum and everybody said "normal" which seemed like BS but what did I know. I suspected the distributor, but everybody on the various LTx forums said when those go out you really know it - it throws codes, causes major driveability problems, etc. That also seemed like BS because distributor caps/rotors are 20-30k mile items, but again what did I know...

A year later the opti bearing started squealing, and with the new opti the mileage went up about 5mpg to around what I originally expected it to be.

Main lesson being - don't let people convince you it's normal.

Start with a basic tuneup.

izzyz28

In this case it is normal. Conditions really couldn't get any worse for him, hills, slow speeds, short trips, A/C on, etc... when you take all of that into account, I'm honestly surprised it's not even lower. I average 11-13mpg in city driving, which is only 1 or 2 mpg less than I averaged when I had the 6-speed.

Wild Willy

Even with that low of mileage, at those years, I would think a tune-up should be done- the whole high-tension side of things- plugs, wires, rotor and cap if not the whole opti-

While doing routine maintenance, also good time to do a fuel filter-

What kind and weight of oil are you running? A lower viscosity might help a little bit- 5W-30 is called for, I think-

robin mary

Hi, my camaro didn't have any maintenance since I bought it, and I doubt it was made correctly by last owner that was very "near of his money" (as we say in french) and spent the minimum for his car. So I scheduled a complete maintenance in few days, with all fluids renewed (engine, trans, axle, cooling, braking, PS), 5W30 oil (I dont know which one is currently running), and all filters including fuel one. High tension system is quite heavy operation to change, maybe wait for optispark or plug problem to change all parts. Do you know how many time it takes to change at least only plugs ? I don't know but it seems not easy access.

Thank you for your reply.

Regards,

Robin

robin mary

Hi,

Actually, fuel mileage in the city is not representative of real fuel consumption, and the best thing to try is doing some highway with constant cruise speed for 50 kms and calculate mileage. I will test that. City driving with stop & go, hills, slow speeds don't give indication of overconsumption, considering that speed constantly varies from 0 to 30/40. Then, my mileage in city dont seems so bad compared to you, will report higway mileage to compare. THanks

sbs

You can probably do all the fluids, filters, sensors, optispark, wires, plugs, water pump, belt yourself for not much more money than you're getting ready to pay somebody to do just the fluids and filters.

At the very least you need plugs. If it has the original ones in it the pucks are going to be missing.