Local Dealer and BAD, BAD, BAD Gas Milage...

[liquid_dj]

hi gals, and guys,
I'm a young dj from canada, and i would like to ask fellow PT Cruiser owners to help me out. I use my vehicle for business purposes and while it does great deal of advertising for me, it's been burning a deep hole in my pocket.

It's '01 "Classic" with an automatic transmission and I get about 440km/tank (275mi). After calculating my gas milage, i'm getting estimated 22mpg. (80% hwy driving!). After long discussions with my "friendly" dealership, i've been told to expect that sort of performance.

My questions are:

What are the official EPA milage figures?
What have most of you been getting "in real world" conditions?
How do i convince my dealer that a $250 "spark plug change" will not cure the problem?

I was also wondering if and how many of you had similar problems with your Cruisers? any horror DEALER stories?

Thanks for all possible help on this matter!

Pat, Liquid DJ
www.liquidentertainment.ca
The Ultimate Entertainment Experience!
'01 PT Cruiser "Classic"

[ElectricBlueGT]

Pat,

Consider yourself lucky with your gas mileage. My 2002 Touring Edition would normally get ~15 MPG (70% city, 30% highway miles).

Is your ECM (engine computer) flashed with the latest software? The latest software was meant to address (slightly) transmission shift quality and mileage issues. My ECM reflash bumped my mileage to ~17 MPG. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it helped... Driving style is the most significant factor for mileage. Using the cruise control helps immensely on PTs. On my long trips, the PT would get ~26 MPG @ 70 MPH with the air conditioning on the whole time when using the cruise control.

EPA mileage numbers don't mean squat when translating to "real-world driving." I believe an automatic PT was rated at 20 MPG city, 25 MPG highway. Clearly, I never made my city number, but I beat my highway number.

Check your PCV valve. PT Do-It-Yourself has a great How-To section on how to change your own spark plugs. This will save you a lot of money!

My dealer was very sympathetic to my concerns about mileage. They replaced my spark plugs under warranty (they were a bit off spec) and reflashed my ECM with the latest software. With no codes to troubleshoot and everything else seemingly ok, I think this was the best they could do.

I think basic maintenance and a lighter foot go a long way... LOL
But, where's the fun in that? (The light foot, that is...)

You can also clean out your throttle body. It may not help much, but the amount of carbon you will clean out is unreal!

Let us know how it turns out.

Scott

P.S.-- My new (now 5000 miles) PT Turbo is getting about the same mileage as my Touring Edition did.

[teves09]

Hay guys,
Hate to burst your bubble but my wife and I did a drive last month to Shreveport, LA from Houston and I got 27.5 mpg there and 26.9 back. Why? Well I would say it is because I replaced the p.o.s. restrictive Chrysler exhaust with Borla. I have a led foot so don’t think I drove 45 mph or something; I went on average 75 mph. Now in town is another story I normally get about 255 miles on a tank (in day to day bumper-to-bumper) which works out to about 21.5 mpg. My next upgrade will be a balanced header, we will see what it does.


Big Ern-
The Loan PT
http://www.thelonept.com

[GTcamster]

maybe try a differnt gas station. I notice a diff. when i go to shell, esso, huskey. the best one ive found is petroCanada. shell and esso are the worst.

Deep Cranberry Pearl Coat GT ~ 5 speed