I purchased a new 2001 Honda Civic LX one month ago (1.7 SOHC 116hp) to drive as a daily beater. Everything seemed fine at first. My second tank of fuel gave me 315 miles which I considered to be very good given that most of my driving is in the city and not the highway.

HOWEVER, my last two tanks have given me 180-200 miles each TOTAL. Both times, I fueled up with 87 from different gas stations. At first I thought it was my driving style, because I unintentiionally used to push the car (too used to driving my stook). But even after I have slowed down and am now driving very soberly - the gas mileage still sucks. I think right now it works out to something like 18mpg which is RIDICULOUS for a civic!!



Otherwise, the car drives fine.

Any ideas, please?? What could be wrong. What pisses me off more is that the first tank I got great mileage. What has happened now??

Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

It could be a combonation of things. Bad gas, driving style, etc. When you drive, make sure you are accelerating briskly. Somewhere around 2/3 throttle through your upshifts will yield you the best mileage. Maybe driving it more like your S2K is what produced your initial mileage. Another thing to consider is the gasoline. It's possible you just got a couple of bad tanks of petro. Maybe it had some water contamination or maybe the tanks at the gas station had just been filled. If the car is still performing like it should, everything is probably okay. HTH.

 

THanks for your input Knowledge. I am hoping it is something simple as you have indicated.

Any other sinister possibilities. Could something be wrong with the ECU??

SHould I have the dealer check it out??

 

Check your O2 sensors.

 

Forgive my ignorance, but how do I do that?? Is is something like the MAP sensor on the S2K or something I would find on the air intake?

Thanks