28 mpg?

[Altitude]

^^ Keep us posted on that. I don't fill up very often either so if fuel stabilizer helps I might give it a shot.

[Still Learning]

I thought ethanol helped with condensation problems.

[Yury]

Originally Posted by Altitude

^^ Keep us posted on that. I don't fill up very often either so if fuel stabilizer helps I might give it a shot.

Will do. Already put some stabil in. It will be a couple of weeks to see the effect though :)

still learning-no, ethanol makes it worse. It's a big issue with boating. Ethanol cleans, but it comes with many side effects like moisture attraction and mpg decrease.

[thebarber]

You nly need stabilizer when you leave the gas sit for a season

IMO your crap mileage is due to short trips and the auto tranny. If the fluids in the engine and transmission aren't getting up to temperature, in the course of your trips its really nobwonder you get 24 or 28mpg

[Yury]

I dunno....if the gas sits there for a month effectively I wouldn't be surprised if the gas has a bit moisture in it already. I always kind of felt that it starts burning more towards the next fill up, i.e. when the gas was there longest.
During storage you worry about enough water to corrode your tank and fuel lines, which is supposedly quite a bit more (I store my prelude for 4-5 months for example, so that's 4-5 times more than my monthly accumulation in Yaris...presuming it's linear).
That's a theory anyway, I will see if it's true.

Auto in Yaris seems only marginally less effective, so perhaps it's not big factor. Short trips is a factor and I am not expecting too great a mileage. But 24 feels just too low, esp. after a half a tank of 28 with no significant difference in use. Consistent 28 would be fine..

[thebarber]

*shrug*

[Edwin5000]

Yury, the short trips are killing you. Or at least killing your fuel economy. 24-28 mpg under those conditions is to be expected. The good news : you're using a lot less gas than most of us. But your Yaris will thank you if you take it out for a 100 km highway cruise once in a while.

[Yury]

^ perhaps, but I have a feeling there's something else at play here too. Like I mentioned, my TB had carbon deposits and that's on a car that hasn't hit 20.000 miles yet.
I know for a fact that it's been in this 'short trip' mode for over 2 years, so these are very hard miles probably calling for much more maintenance.

I have new spark plugs sitting on my desk waiting to be installed. Will see what happens after that and what condition the original plugs are in.

[enviri]

the short trips definately kill you, and might also be why you're getting deposits in your tb. let your car warm up! let it stand for a min at least. Its like your body when you're cold, you're shivering, having your body burn a little more to keep warm.

Also with low miles, and not letting your car stretch its legs, your engine might not have broken in yet.

(theory) The oil might also be thicker than normal when colder, making your car work harder since it hasnt warmed up and loosened up a little.

atm i get 26-33mpg on winter gas, and I floor it to keep with the 90+mph traffic.

[SpaceShot]

Unfortunately I think the cold and very short trips are both hitting your Mpg pretty hard. My 3 door Hb certainly does much better on my long commute than in town on the weekends.

1. Try to combine at least 2 stops in any trip out from the house and go to the one that is furthest away first, then make your way back home. (more time for engine to get warm)

2. Consider a grille block for either the grille above or below the bumper. (not both) Your area might be cold enough that you could leave it on half the year. I have a Scanguage, to monitor temperature and Mpg, and the grille block does shorten the warm-up time without raising the running temperature any noticeable amount.

3. Even though you won't need it for freeze protection an after market plug-in block heater might be worth trying. If you drive that infrequently, an hours worth of electricity to pre-warm the engine coolant might jump your Mpg up closer to the EPA rating.

[Yury]

put in new plugs.
this is what the old ones look like:

[daf62757]

Originally Posted by Yury

Hi,

Just want to verify something quickly

Winter gas, no highway at all. Quite a few short trips (when the cold temp light only goes off only when the trip is almost over).

Getting 28 mpg. Sounds about normal to you, right?

PS When I do get to drive on the higtway, goes up to 33mpg on winter gas.

I have noticed my winter mileage dropping. I still get 31 MPG in the city, but my highway mileage has dropped from 37-39 to around 31. Nothing really accurate to measure, just general measurements when I get gas at the pump.

This is lowest its been since I have had my Yaris. I am curious if they are using 15% ethanol and not reporting it. That would account for a slight decrease in mileage.

Any thoughts?