I'm your average joe who can change his oil, basic fluids, spark plugs, battery and have done a head gasket and replaced my exhaust manifold. My experience set, I'm looking for good maintenance methods that you do on your car to keep it running clean and near expected MPG.

I drive a 1998 Toyota Celica in great condition. I record my mileage to track gas usage. I factor in the fact that sometimes I drive it hard and that burns more gas. I usually get 25-32mpg depending on how hard I drive. Lately I've been getting 22-27mpg.

I always get premium gas (most expensive), change my oil ever 3000-4000 miles using full synthetics. I recently used some engine treatment to clean the engine gunk out but it's still giving me 22-27mpg after 3 treatments.

What else would you check for this? What other things do you do to keep your car runing smoothly? I appreciate any help!

6/7/2006 11:57:20 AM

how many miles on it?

6/7/2006 12:02:06 PM

do you run the a/c a lot in the summer?

6/7/2006 12:07:45 PM

why run premium gas if your car does not require it?

6/7/2006 12:11:33 PM

you're wasting a ton of money on synthetic oil if you're changing it every 3-4k

6/7/2006 2:08:24 PM

air filter, fuel filter, spark plugs/wires/cap/rotor

6/7/2006 3:29:04 PM

can't replace metal on the cylinder walls or piston rings, or on the cam and valve seats, shit just isn't as effiicient when it gets old

6/7/2006 3:41:40 PM

you will spend more money fixing stuff that doesnt really need to be replaced than you will save after replacing them

6/7/2006 4:04:48 PM

71,000 miles,

No i usually don't run AC that much

I run premium because it makes the car run smoother. More power.

If a ton of money is $10... then okay.

6/7/2006 4:19:42 PM

you need a new ngr valve, paging baonest

[Edited on June 7, 2006 at 4:31 PM. Reason : penis]

6/7/2006 4:31:15 PM

Shitty summertime gasoline

6/7/2006 6:59:26 PM

bleach in the oil, it worked well on mythbusters

6/7/2006 7:03:34 PM

check your O2 sensor!! If it get worn out then your engine runs too rich and you wind up with bad gas milage and fowled spark plugs.

6/8/2006 11:11:05 AM

Quote :

"you need a new ngr valve, paging baonest"

how can i be of service to you nigs?

6/8/2006 11:13:36 AM

^^ we have a new gargs

6/8/2006 1:29:01 PM

You doubt the toast?

http://www.autohausaz.com/html/emissions-oxygen_sensors.html

Quote :

"As an oxygen sensor ages, contaminants from normal combustion and oil ash accumulate on the sensing element. This reduces the sensor's ability to respond quickly to changes in the air/fuel mixture. The sensor slows down and becomes "sluggish"."

Quote :

"A dead sensor will prevent the onboard computer from making the necessary air/fuel corrections, causing the air/fuel mixture to run rich in the "open loop" mode of operation, resulting in much higher fuel consumption and emissions."

Have you ever replaced or checked that O2 sensor Raige?

6/8/2006 2:10:45 PM

err no. That's what you and Chris are for lol.

6/8/2006 2:12:04 PM

pshhh...

I'll probably just replace it with a remote control device to stall your car incase you or your lead foot female friend start getting close to my times at the next autoX.

;P

[Edited on June 8, 2006 at 2:27 PM. Reason : aye cnt' tyep godo]

6/8/2006 2:26:36 PM

on a 96+ car, the diagnostic system should be able to tell and throw a code if your 02 sensor is acting up. w/ only 71k on a Toyota, the car is probably fine. try some lower octane, but good gas and see what happens. lower octane will burn hotter and could give mo POWA. you basically want to run as low as octane as you can get away with w/o predetonating/pinging

6/8/2006 2:28:37 PM

make sure you drive the car easy when it's cold obviously

i wouldn't use more octane than what the manual recommends since your car is pretty much stock

6/8/2006 8:57:42 PM

Quote :

"change my oil ever 3000-4000 miles"

6/8/2006 10:06:20 PM

Quote :

"The power output of an engine depends on the energy content of its fuel, and this bears no simple relationship to the octane rating. A common myth amongst petrol consumers is that adding a higher octane fuel to a vehicle's engine will increase its performance and/or lessen its fuel consumption; this is mostly false—engines perform best when using fuel with the octane rating they were designed for and any increase in performance by using a fuel with a different octane rating is minimal."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

6/8/2006 11:03:04 PM

Quote :

"fowled spark plugs."

When you see feathers coming out the exhaust...

6/10/2006 6:11:14 PM