hello all

i am new here! I just purchased a 2005 camry from a mazda dealership that was a trade in. it has under 80k on it and i am only getting around 300 miles per tank. last week my brother changed the pluggs and the air filter, the oil is clean. the tire pressure is good. what would you suggest? would dirty transmission fluid kill my mpg alot? i usually use one tank of gas per 3 or 4 weeks as i only drive to and from the gym in the evenings in the city in heavy traffic. i baby the thing and never floor it. any thoughts? i havent had an emmisions test yet so i should probably do that, what would that tell me?

 

What is the actual MPG? How far to the gym, does the engine have time to warm up?

The emissions test can be of use, however you need to have the results. As is one or more exhaust gases might be higher then normal.

Dirty trans fluid is not going to cause an issue with MPG unless the trans stops shifting correctly. If the fluid is dirty and your going to keep the car suggest changing it.

 

Capecodcamry,

I am an ASE certified mechanic and just happen to have the same year and approximate mileage as your Camry!

Here are my thoughts on what is causing your poor mileage.

1. You said you are driving in heavy traffic. My guess is your are probably in a lot of stop and go traffic, which absolutely kills gas mileage. Your gas mileage in the city will be much, much lower than on the highway. Have you taken a trip on the highway with your car? I get about 33 mpg on the highway and I have a heavy right foot!

2. Emissions are an unlikely cause of poor gas mileage unless you have a CEL, also known as a check engine light illuminated on the dashboard. If there is no CEL illuminated, you should be fine in that area.

3. Regarding the oil. I would recommend changing the oil, if it has not been changed since you bought the car from the dealer. I always do this when I buy a new car. Make sure you use a quality conventional or synthentic oil. I prefer Castrol or Mobil oil.

4. Around the time you change your oil, try adding a fuel system cleaner such as Techron fuel system cleaner to your gas. I believe the 12 oz bottle will is good for 12 gallons of fuel so you will need to use 1 and a half bottles of this. Make sure your gas tank is nearly empty when you add this to your fuel and fill up your car immediately after adding the additives.

If you have any other questions please feel free to personal message or email me.

I hope this helps.

Will Knight

 

Hi,

I just got my 2005 Camry SE 4 cyl with 49.5 K miles on it. I noticed that on the highway, it gave me just 22-23 mpg, not much stop and go. No CEL, oil change just done. Just now I added a fuel injection cleaner and filled it up with premium (93 octane) fuel. Hope to get better gas mileage. Any other tips to improve the miles per gallon? What grade of fuel do you recommend?

 

well, it's not that bad actually:

• Fuel type: gas
• Fuel type: regular unleaded
• Fuel tank capacity: 18.5 gal.
• Range in miles (cty/hwy): 388.5/555.0 mi.
• EPA mileage est. (cty/hwy): 21/30 mpg (so average is 25?)

you will not achieve much with premium, except making gas company richer.
my experience with Hondas and Toyotas is they do not like fancy gas. besides, it takes ECM several cycles to reset everything to match octane rating.
1. I equip all of my cars with K&N air filter. it will be argued, but I found, based on long term mileage log, that I have about mile to a gallon improvement.
2. at 40 000 miles, your spark plugs might be a good idea to be replaced. or, at least, inspected, to make sure there's no deposits on them
3. air filter has to be inspected and replaced (read #1)
4. I run my cars on synthetic oils only. this improves mpg too.
5. in ECM controlled fuel injected engines, most of the time poor mileage is caused by engine running rich. this, in its turn, is caused by O2 sensor and mass air flow senor readings.
6. coolant temperature sensor can cause rich mixture either.
7. ALL TIME CAUSE FOR POOR MPG IS BAD DRIVING HABITS. read about hypermiling and try to practice it.
8. leaking fuel injectors will cause bad mpg. once again, it goes down to spark plugs inspection. silly as it is, exhaust smell can tell you a lot. if it smells of unburnt gas, or burnt oil, or rotten eggs - there's problem with your engine and cat.

9. if you decide to switch to high air flow filter, or even to synth oil, or do any other sensors replacements, when done, pull ECM fuse overnight out. ECM develops a set of procedures for power train operation, based on it's programming and your engine operation, times your driving habits. ECMs now have "learning" feature. every time you do any changes to engine operation, you want ECM to learn the NEW habits, and rid of the old ones.

 

Tried putting Gumout fuel injection cleaner,premium fuel ans hypermiling too, but the highway mileage does not seem to cross 22 mpg. Gonna try Techron fuel system cleaner now.