Date: Wed, 17 Dec 1997 04:02:44 GMT From: dontspammenopsamk.net (Barney the dinosaur) Subject: Re: MPG on '97 900 Turbo
On 16 Dec 1997 06:07:14 GMT, carternopsamyopticsXXX.XXXcom (Carter Tomassi) wrote: >I bought my 900 SE Turbo in August and just crossed the 2000 mile mark. >Most of my driving is in the city (San Francisco) and is usually less than >3 miles per trip. My MPG seems awfully low; the console readout says it's >13mpg, which seems to jibe with my tank fillups. At first I thought this >was due to the new engine and using the air conditioner, now I am >beginning to wander. What should I expect under these conditions? It has >an automatic transmission and I try to avoid getting carried away with the >turbo, though that isn't always easy. > >Thanks in advance, >Carter Tomassi A couple of things... First off, you're killing your car only running a few miles at a time. If you're cold starting your car and then only running a few miles, the oil is never reaching proper temperature to burn off moisture and contaminants. This moisture and junk then quickly breaks down your oil, leading to advanced engine wear. Second, this probably isn't good for your cat or your emissions. Your catalytic converter isn't ever reaching the proper operating temperature and therefore isn't able to do it's job. Third, if your car never reaches proper operating temperature, you'll likely never see good gas mileage. This has something to do with open loop/closed loop operating mode for the ECM/PCM. In warm-up mode, it ignores some sensors and just uses predetermined values from a lookup table and therefore, your engine isn't being operated in an optimum manner. IMO, if you're only going a few miles, either walk or talk some type of public transportation. - Wayne '98 Saab 900 SE Turbo '96 Pontiac Formula - 13.36nopsam71