Lame Gas Mileage...HELP

[ucantcme]

Originally Posted by Unseenspirit2002

Umm....yes way i get that kind of mileage. We're talking 12.5 mpg and no I'm not going to forget how many miles to a tank because it all counts brother and if your getting better mileage while your rolling through CO then your ECM hasn't had time to compensate for the thinner air, we're talking a 20% drop in HP as opposed to Sea level. I'm from NJ, born and raised and been back and forth 4 times for visits over the past 14 years. Also to answer some more questions, the oil was fresh when I purchased it and I had it changed to Mobil One 5w-30 April 4th and have maybe put 500 miles since then. Also at the time of the oil change I had them replace the air filter. I'm not sure of the last tune-up of the car but the plugs, when I pulled them were clean and the electrodes had no visible wear. The wires, OEM, were clean with no visible breaks or cracks, and a check with a digital ohm meter showed that each was with in the acceptable tolerances. As for the condition of the fuel filter I had that changed last week just to see if it made a difference and thus far, no. So I'm baffled by it, I'm throwing no codes and the engine and whole car is lickably clean, literally. I'm not leaking any fluid and I also had all the brakes replaced with new rotors and ceramic pads, they aren't dragging. I'ver run some fuel system cleaner through it and I'm about to just say screw it and run some seafoam through it too...(SMOKE), so otherwise I'm clueless.

Sounds like everything is okay... I don't see why your getting such bad gas milage.

Maybe you can disconnect your negative battery cable for like a half hour and then start driving it again. So the PT computer can learn (Again) how you drive. Maybe the person that owned it before you floored it from stops and now the PT knows that your going to floor it and therefore acts like you are flooring it all the time.

Sorry if I am of no help - just trying to help!

[lakersfan1]

I don't know why you're trying to free up more fuel and air to fix the problem which is obviously too much fuel. You don't need more fuel or air. You need less.

The only things I can think are the oxygen sensors and/or the ECU.

Did you pull error codes from the computer yet?

[lucy]

I purchased a 2008 PT 2.4L turbo in March of this year, and my gas mileage is no where near the rating. I get 12-12.5(max) MPG city and 18(max) MPG highway. Is this normal? I have only 1,675 miles on the car..I love it, but the gas mileage is driving me crazy!!!

[Unseenspirit2002]

Yeah, I'm thinking it is normal because that's the mileage I'm getting. I get about 12.5 in the city and 18 on the highway. I'm not throwing any codes, if the oxygen sensors were bad wouldn't the check engine light be on and a code be set?

[lucy]

Is yours new too? (low mileage)? I just talked to a mechanic over at Chrysler, and he said that it will improve and get somewhere in the estimated range after about 5,000 mi. He said the engine needs to get "broken in". I sure hope he is right! I'll keep my fingers crossed while I keep pumping in the $4.00 a gallon gasoline in to it! lol

[lakersfan1]

Most cars will not THROW codes for something that doesn't keep the car from running. Sometimes it will just STORE the codes for pulling later.

The 2008 above might just need to break in because they have very tight toleranced from the factory. That one I might wait on a few thousand more miles first. But after 10K miles if you still can't get 20MPG on the freeway ... even with the crappy automatic ..... I'd take that into the dealer and say WTF????

13MPG in the city? You realize a Corvette gets better city MPG than that, right?

[air4cefamily]

This might not make a huge difference, but make sure that you fill up your tank at the coldest part of the day. Gasoline expands with heat, so when you pay for 13 gallons when its 100 degrees outside youre really only getting about 11.5. I learned this working for a convenience. We actually did an experiment lol.

[Hooligan]

Originally Posted by lucy

Is yours new too? (low mileage)? I just talked to a mechanic over at Chrysler, and he said that it will improve and get somewhere in the estimated range after about 5,000 mi. He said the engine needs to get "broken in". I sure hope he is right! I'll keep my fingers crossed while I keep pumping in the $4.00 a gallon gasoline in to it! lol

I got the same kind of mileage at first, I now get 17-19 city (heavy foot) and up to 26 highway. Car has 42K on it now. I manually figure my mileage each fill up, that is the only way you will know for sure.

[Unseenspirit2002]

No, mine is a 2002 with 27,000 miles on it. I don't forsee it improving any, without some form of devine intervention. And yeah I've owned big block chevy's that have gotten better gas mileage then this vehicle gets. However, lets think this over for a second. You don't buy a Harley for the practicality of the machine, do you? No, you purchase a Hog because your down with whatever it stands for, right? You're into the lifestyle that it portrays. As a PT Cruiser owner, do we not fit into this same catagory? Perhaps I'm looking at this all wrong. Perhaps, my approach is all fuggitied up! Perhaps I should just adopt the idea that owning a PT Cruiser is a lifestyle choice and serves no practicality what so ever and as such the sucky gas mileage comes with the territory. As well, I should probably be accepting of the inevitable mystery of the disappearing oil. Not that it is happening, but hey you never know. Yes, perhaps my whole thought process on why I even purchased this vehicle (economy) were wrong. Am I out of line? Oh well.....

[majorstash]

i have a 2003 PT non-turbo with a auto tranny 74,000 miles when i got it a few months ago i was lucky to get 17/18mpg. heres a few things you can try that i'm sure 100 people have told you but worked for me first got rid of the d*mn champion plugs replaced them with Autolite Plats gaped at
.040, replaced plug wires, got on ebay & bought a generic cold air intake with filter $40 total shipped (wanted a K&N but i'm cheap so had to go with the generic), adjusted tires to 38psi & after that i use the cruise control as much as possible trying to keep the rpm's 3000 or under as much as possibe(which never works going up bigger hills) drop it in Neutral & coast to a stop light(hope that dont hurt the tranny??) and when filling up use the slowest pump setting on the nozzle it seems to get more gas that way? but by doing all that i've jumped to 27+mpg which i guess is good for a auto