Because I’m not getting it

I have the 2010 sport for about 2-3 months. Each tire is at 35PSI. GAS is Mobile or Gulf 87 Octane. Engine revs to about 3k RPM before its gets up to 20MPH and then its smooth sailing, for a while anyway. Feels like im running on the breaks half the time, but no breaks light are on or anything.

I tried a higher octane rating, no difference. The MPG readout shows 15.4MPG. Far from the 30 or so, everyone else is getting here. I fill up once a week and do the fuel economy calculations every-time I fill up. Last time it was about 146 / 8.3, which equals out to approximately 17.59MPG.

From the way the car drives, it felt like the transmission was slipping or something. I posted an earlier thread a long time ago on this if anyone wants to check it out HERE.

The result was I brought it into a dealer to service, and he found absolutely nothing. It feels like im riding on the breaks halve the time, but no break lights come up.

 

First off, don't waste your $$$ on high octane gas, it won't make any difference. Try pumping your tires to 40 to 45 PSI, mine are 50 PSI max, but I'm doing OK at 45. You probably know the best driving methods for more
MPG, since I'm stuck with the automatic, I try to hit 5th gear quicker by using the sport mode and shifting into 5th asap. I can't go any lower than 30 MPH before that happens.

 

Just read through your other post. You're saying a dealer found nothing wrong, however, did they have any explanation as to the poor MPG's??? How many miles on it? Have you taken a nice afternoon drive out to the North Fork to let your baby spend a day cruising in the sun on a nice straight 120mile stretch of highway?? Avoid the high traffic times/days and enjoy it.

A few hours cruising at 65MPH should show you a reasonable MPG for your ride. Your numbers are way wrong. Ask the dealer to do an idle learn procedure if things don't improve.

 

Thanks for the reply, Jensen Healy.

I have an automatic too. I try to up-shift as early as possible from time to time. It does shows a slight improvement in mpg but that has to be a design flaw if you gotta do that to get the right MPG.

The gas octane was an experiment. I started hearing slight knocking sounds, so I switched to a different station with a higher octane and that went away.

I will try to inflate the tires to 40PSI that might do something. I worry about inflating too much though. I live in NY and the roads are crap. Pot holes galore...

 

Over inflating the tires is not the solution and your worry is well founded, it's like a war zone - right? Keep the tranny in straight auto - forget the sport mode till you understand what's going on.

 

That my friend is an understatement. I swear, the folks who work on the road have Sh!t for brains. no notices, no signs, they guage wholes straight out of the ground and patch up any cracks and broken asphalt with gravel...

Wow, you have a lot of patience Krimson_Cardnal. Thanks for taking the time to go through it. There answer to the poor mpg was that it was too early to judge. I had the car for about a month then.



At the risk of sounding dumb, what will an idle learn do?

 

No risk involved. When your car was prepped the tech goes through a simple procedure to allow the ECU [Electronic Control Unit - computer that's the brains of the engine] to learn the idle characteristics of the engine. You most likely received a checklist of all that was done at purchase. Usually tucked in the Owners Manual Folder.

Look here - you can actually do this yourself: https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...procedure.html
After you do - take that drive East brother.

K_C_ EDIT: Updated ILP link https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...procedure.html

 

More PSI = less resistance = more MPG. Honda's suggested PSI is a compromise for comfort, ride and handling. If you want more MPG, sacrificing a little ride and comfort is worth it. In fact I'm happy with the ride now in my car, and the roads suck here too.

 

If you are happy that's all that matters.

However, there is no reputable authority that even suggests inflating tires beyond 2-3PSI above mfg recommendations let alone to the sidewall MAX. It's crazy - who taught you this?

Empirical data is not anything to risk safety with. Search through the ecco forums here and on the WWW and you will see responsible responses that state if there is any increase in MPG's it's negligible and certainly not worth the cost of sacrificed riding comfort and increased tire wear and the hazard of tire blow-out.

But Jensen if it floats your boat go for it. You wear the red badge of courage.

K_C_

 

It's nothing but common sense KC! In fact thanks to
putting a lot more air in my tires than my dealer originally inflated them
with, my MPG has increased noticeably after that.

 

I'm happy for you.

How's about a little time out now - huh? Nothing personal, but you've been running strong and might benefit from a little rest - Friday and all that you know.

 

Well, I just inflated one of my tires to 40PSI and... the compressor blew out!! loll

I had to drop the tire back down to 35PSI #$@%!!!!! no big deal, 10 bucks later and ill have a new compressor.

 

anime2k3 We call that an omen. FIT is trying to tell you something.

 

1. Be easy on the throttle.

2. Fill up on fuel when you're around the halfway mark, not when your empty light turns on. And fill up when the outside temperature is cool, not hot. More fuel will be pumped into your tank when temperature is cooler.

3. Make sure your tire pressures are at the optimum pressures. I personally run on 33PSI cold all around. Once at operating temperature, the pressures will increase to around 37-38PSI. Increasing the PSI to 35PSI or or higher cold is not good. You are over-inflating your tires, which is bad for MPG.

 

Bring your car to another dealer or have an independent shop look at it. Don't leave until they give you an answer as to why you're getting such poor gas mielage. Your getting worse gas mileage than my modified STi. Unless you're driving it like you stole it constantly, there's no reason you should be getting 18 mpg. Slight changes in tire pressure may have some effect on gas mileage, but it won't double your gas mileage.

 

I am getting over 60 mpg on the highway in cruise 42 mpg average according to my scangauge. There is a lot of misinformation about how premium gas works
1. Some Premium gas does not have ethanol and most premium gas is denser so you need less for the same amount of work.
2. During closed loop the ecu takes reading from all the sensors esp. knock and throttle position sensor. When the car knocks it makes you press down more on the gas pedal to burn more fuel because of loss of power. The ecu counts knock and signals the ecu to cut back timing which then gets stored in long term memory, so the engine never gets full advance until it gets colder or you use premium.
3. All OBD2 motors have a knock sensor and can benefit from premium gas.
4. Not all premium gas is the same and I had a bad tank to prove it. Lots of soot
5. The best way to get good fuel economy is to advance the timing during cruise or lean the fuel air ratio during cruise and the best way to do that is use a good premium gas.

The ecu is programed to give a safe and reliable tune in stock form. 10.4 is a high compression motor even though the owners manual say to use regular or higher. The ecu changes timing to control idle and with regular running richer, using a premium fuel cause the car to advance the timing to lean the fuel, better that way then a car tuned to premium and has to add fuel to prevent knock. Also you dont always hear engine knock and if you do it might be to late. All the mechanic books that I read on the subject says that there is a octane rate increase as the car ages, and that 2 same new cars could need to use different octanes.

 

I'm @ 32 PSI and average 35 MPG. PSI doesn't make a hell of a difference over 30 PSI, except for a bad back when your 60 years old.

Something is wrong with your fit. Sounds like 1->2 gear is slipping bad, but I would think the dealer would catch that. When I step on the gas it actually responds well.

 

Silver - forgetting all the controversy surrounding the misunderstanding of "Premium" fuel how are you getting that kind of mileage???
Year/model/mileage of your ride???

I've spent time in Illinois and know it's all about straight roads and no hills - is that it?

Or do you have a sail hanging off your ride - those winds can blow in one direction for days, as I recall.

Seriously though - it can't be in the fuel or tire pressure - how you do it man?

You're monitoring with a Scangauge - how do those numbers compare to the on-board display?

Best I've seen is 40MPG in my local driving suburban/rural world.

Thanks

 

I'm curious, do you guys hyper mile to get the rates you get?

Here in NY the speed limit is 30-35. At a red light, I rev up the engine to about 3k rpm to push off and get passed 20. After the 20 mark, the engine eases up and I can get to about 35 no problem.

The car feels "sluggish" after I ease off the gas and coast. Problem is, it goes back down to 20-25 very quickly. I have to keep putting more gas into it.

I could take the car into the dealer again, but I’d prefer to avoid an entire day without my car if there is something else I can try. The Honda dealer I went to is the only one within 40+ miles from me. I would have to take it into a mechanic and that may prove costly. Inflating the tires could be practical but like Krimson_Cardnal says, it might be an omen that the compressor busted. I may not achieve much MPG anyway. I’m debating the idle learn procedure.

So far, here is what I got:

• Inflate tires
• Use premium gas
• Fill tank when halve full
• Idle learn procedure
• Take it into another dealer

What do you guys think would be the best option?

 

EDIT: No need to hyperanything to get great MPG's in a FIT

Stick with one Dealer. Call the service guys - explain to them your concerns - schedule a "drive in and wait" appointment so they can take a look at it to determine if there possibly is a problem.

This should be done at no cost to you and if scheduled should be done as you wait, actually you should drive the car with a tech as passenger to be able to demonstrate the issue.

If there is an issue you're well within the Warranty all should be covered - at least that's my guess.

Out of your list - nothing jumps out as anything you need to be concerned with. When you're at service mention the idle learn and see what they say, that was most likely done at vehicle prep. Recommended Fuel - PSI, keep it by the book for now.

Make sure you get an answer and recommendations if, in fact, you might be seeing thing wrong....