[DARKCREEP's ROAD TO HIGHER MPG! 1997 ACCORD Ex!]
 

1997 Accord Ex
Original F22B SOHC VTEC
224,xxx miles
5 speed

How I calculate mileage: Fill up with 87 octane, drive around till half a tank, then fill up again. Divide the miles driven, by the amount of gallons put in on second fill up. My driving consists of mixed highway and city, although I wish I did more highway.

When I purchased the car it was in poor shape cosmetically. The interior was beyond dirty and the paint definitely needs TLC. I ripped out the front seats to get a deep clean in there and remove that "90s smell". I got most of it off. The engine is in decent shape considering the amount of miles it has, it doesnt smoke at WOT or any of that stuff. It is leaking oil, but Im not sure where exactly. Ill be doing the oil pan gasket next week and ill see if its leaking from the rear main. As for extra weigh, I put the wipers in the trunk and my interior only has the essentials like insurance, registration and gum. I also have a 12" sub in the trunk with an amp under the seat, so nothing "excessive".

Without doing anything to it, I was getting 21 mpg.

Spark plugs
VC gasket
Fram air filter
=22 MPG

Dizzy cap and rotor
Oil change
=24 MPG (and a noticeable torque increase)

I believe the timing is off so Ill get that checked out along with a compression test.


What else do you guys recommend I do to help bump it up? I would to be in the 30's, specially 35's highway.
Ill keep editing this thread with more stuff I do to see if it goes up.

my 97 gets 30's all the time.

What helps a lot is buying no ethanol gas.

I get a good 3-5 mpg more from the no ethanol gas.

I get over 500 miles per tank

How would I find no ethanol gas? Valero is the cheapest here, I really dont want to pump Shell into an Accord lol.

When I had a 1995 Accord EX, automatic, my average mpg was around 25 mixed street and highway. If it was more highway, it would get around 27-29 mpg. Probably 32 mpg if straight highway. Never got close to 35 mpg on the automatic, even when it was new.

A properly tuned 5-speed probably would get better.

I always ran the car on the Michelin Energy tires on the OEM alloys. Michelin Energy brand tires are suppose to be low roll resistance (LRR tires). (I even saw an average 2 mpg increase when I switch to Michelin Energy tires on my current 2009 Accord.)

On my 1995 Accord, I saw an average 2 mpg increase after putting in a new pvc valve, mainly during highway driving (that's where the mixed street/highway driving avg. mpg went from 27 to 29 mpg).

You have to look around

There are a few places around my house that sell it.

The one close to where my girlfriend works at sells it and it is around $.20 - .$30 per gallon more but it is still worth it.

Now by the lake (cause boaters do not like to run gas with ethanol in it) the price is the same as gas with ethanol in it.

That is where I just filled up last week at. I am just below 1/2 tank and have gone over 300 miles. This is looking like my best tank yet plus I recently went from an auto trans to a 5 speed so that seems to be helping with MPG's

What is the Ethanol's purpose in gas??


My next "tune up" will consist of

Fuel filter
oil pan gasket
PCV valve

Opinions?

type that into Google and find out.

It is very interesting.

Indeed it is. Ethanol is not good for motors, especially small engine(motorcycle, lawn mower etc).

But the good news is they are going to up the ethanol content!

Base timing isn't adjustable on your OBD2 engine but it wouldn't hurt to check it and the compression. You may want to consider replacing the oxygen sensor if the 200K+ original is still in there.

Great thread.

I too have a 97 Accord EX but mine is a wagon. I purchased it about 2 months ago. I have been a little disappointed in my MPG. I calculate it at every fill-up -- miles driven divided by gallons pumped. My MPG numbers have been pretty consistent over the 5 or so fillups I've had so far: 22 - 24 miles per gallon. I'd say my driving breaks down 70% city, 30% highway so I don't expect it to break 30 or anything like that. Still, my goal is to move overall MPG numbers to 25 or above.

So far I have changed the plugs and wires, changed the air filter, got new tires (Michelin Primacy MXV4) and alignment done. None of these things have helped much. I have noticed I have a hairline crack in my exhaust manifold. I have heard that can affect MPG so I'll be changing that soon.

Looking for any and all tips for things I can do to the car to help my fuel miserly ways.