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I recently clocked my gas mileage from school to my house (22.5mi), and i'm getting... brace yourself for this one... 6MPG!!! A painfully stock 1.8 4wd getting 6mpg really freaks me out. I posted earlier that i was getting like, 16, but it's dropped like a ton of bricks. My first thoughts were a gas leak somewhere, but i don't ever smell gas, and when parked, it leaves the pavement nice and puddle-free. A friend of mine said something about a carb gasket, but wouldn't that leave a pool of gas around the carb?? I've bought so much gas lately that i can't afford to take it into a mechanic, and with the talon sitting in the driveway with a blown head gasket, i don't have any alternative transportation to school!!! This may determine wether or not i may have to get rid of the Luvmachine, so I've come to praying to you, the Luv Gods.

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It's better to have LUV'd and lost than to have never LUV'd at all.

I would check the driveline to make sure something isn't binding.
does the engine seem to work hard?
I would make sure it is running on all cylinders as well.

6MPG is insane for a 4 banger.

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03Cobra

second on that motion.
Also, I know it won't help dramatically but once you find the main culprit, make sure your tires are at the correct pressure.

One last thought... do you have a locking gas cap? If not you might get one and see if that helps. You might be having an unwanted visitor.

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Resident lurker

Locking gas cap has been the best investment I've done for upping fuel economy. For a while I was losing a couple gallons a week before getting a locking cap. When we moved I lost something like 5-10 gallons out of the uhaul truck the night before we took off with it. Locking gas cap was in big letters on the comment card when I turned in the truck.

Other than that, I think the bases are covered. Only other thing I can think of is you might have a sunk float, or something sticking in the needle valve on the carb. You should notice that sitting at idle tho. Pull the air cleaner cover and see if gas is running out of those two tubes sticking out right at the top of the carb throat.

Oh yeah, make sure your brakes are not dragging. Drive it a mile or two and then feel the hub or lug nuts (rotor if you can reach it) in the front, or the drums in the back. If anything is warm it could be a problem, if anything is actually "ouch hot" you know something is wrong. The fronts heat up pretty fast if there is a problem, enough that the lug nuts and wheel warm up pretty quickly. The rotor might be slightly warm normally, but not the lugs/hub/wheel. The rears it seems to take a little more to show up, but if you can put a finger on the drum it will tell you one way or another.

Here is my 2 cents....

If the engine is running okay, not missing or running rough, I wiuld check the vaccum. I should be around 16-18 in. of vaccum. Better the vaccum the more efficent the engine is running.

How the tranny running? A slipping torque converter can ruin the mpg no matter how well the motor is running.

Well, i checked the carb, and everything seems to be in order. the brakes were all recently replaced by the guys at Shcwabbie's, so im sure there's no prob there. I'll check that out next time i head in to school, though. As for anything else... I guess i'm not really much of a mechanic, so those are some things i would have to go get checked out... She seems to idle kind of rough, and i'm still running that craked exhaust at the moment, so it sounds like shit anyway. The engine feels like your average Luv motor (guttless as shit), so its kind of hard to tell if there's power loss with 75hp It's now up to which would cost more: fixing the luv, or fixing the talon...

Thanks for the suggestions, and if anyone else has anything to say, please, keep it coming!

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It's better to have LUV'd and lost than to have never LUV'd at all.

Timing: have the timing checked out w a timing light.i have been working on a customers LUV for the past 2 days.It didn't run at all when i 1st got ahold of it and needed a whole buncha parts.
once running it wouldn't go over about 40 mph, so knowing i got points and plugs gapped properly.i started playing w the timing anf got closer by ear, then HAD to get the timing light out to get it precise.
before i did that this thing drank gas worse than an old caddy, after timing w light, it smoothed right out and the poor man was able to go back to work

So would it be safe to say that timing would be a likely candidate? Checked brakes, btw, and there's only mild warmth after 15miles. I could probably get ahold of a timing light pretty readily, so i'll keep u posted on that one.

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It's better to have LUV'd and lost than to have never LUV'd at all.

Timing can definitely cause rough idle and somewhat poor mileage. Its worth a check for sure.

I just discovered that one of my rear brakes is dragging a bit. I don't feel it going down the road, but after 20 miles the drum was what I call "ouch hot". Not hot enough to burn ya, but hot enough you go "OUCH". The lugs were hot enough to not be comfortable to hold onto. When I filled the tank tonight I figured my gas mileage to be around 17, probably 80% due to brakes, and 20% due to a the rich running weber carb I have on it right now. My last truck got around 20-22 for comparison. Not as much of a factor as I thought it might be, though my sticking brake could be intermittant. Looks like this weeked I'll be taking that drum off and checking things out.

A good test would be to check for a missing cylinder. These things run pretty smooth even on three out of four, so it could be missing. Pull each plug wire one at a time while it is running. If you find one that doesn't make it run much rougher, you have found your problem. If grabbing energized plug wires makes you nervous, use a glove but I haven't gotten shocked doing it except when I had a broken wire. The cause could be bad wire (try swapping wires between two cyls, if the miss moves its the wire), bad plug (new plugs never hurt and they're pretty easy to do), bad cap, or valve adjustment. Valve adjustment requires just a few wrenches to take off the cover and a feeler guage. The Haynes book describes it pretty well except you need to put the feeler guage between the valve and rocker arm, not the rocker and cam as they say. (Unless you have a 75 and older motor, their info is actually correct for them) It helps to have the cover gasket, but unless yours is very bad it should go back together leaking not much more oil that it started out.

My roomie in college had a bad plug in his old junker honda civic. He was complaining that his gas mileage was only like 30MPG instead of the 45 he was used to. New plugs did the trick, but that tells you how much difference it can make if one hole isn't firing.

if its running rough then you probly either have a bad plug or a vac leak. I would check out all your wires and such too. Just clamp a timing light onto each wire in turn and see if it flashes good and strong if it does then the wire is probly good. Good luck.

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1980 LUV 4x4, going under re-construction...

Well, i went ahead and checked the plug wires. Each one i unplugged made the engine run a whole lot sketchier. Just a note... rubber gloves strongly suggested in my book... those sparks jump !! Like i said, i'm gonna try and get ahold of a timing light. Right now, i really can't afford a mechanic, so it's gonna be up to me and whoever i can get to help. (All dontaions gladly accepted ) heh, jk. Thanks again for the help!!

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It's better to have LUV'd and lost than to have never LUV'd at all.

I've got an '80 Mikado, also. On mine over the past 3 years, I've found
a leaking spark advance diaphragm, a leaking diaphragm on the cold air shutoff valve in the breather gooseneck, worn brass bushings on the primary throttle plate so it sucked air, bad 1/4 inch vacuum hoses, carbon encrusted EGR Valve seat. Get the idea? They'll make the engine run bad.

Have you removed the belt from the smog pump yet?

You could also pull the valve cover and do a quick valve adjustment. If your cam is worn the valves may not be opening as far as they should...

-DK

**UPDATE**
The front brakes = DEFINITELY HOT! That's really weird, because when i checked the first time, it was just mildly warm. When i touched it today, i think i left some of my finger ON the brake. Yeah, that hot. Any home remedies, or am i just gonna have to take er back to shwab's? And i checked reciepts and such, and it turns out the prev. owner only had the REAR brakes worked on, so the front are apparently old.

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It's better to have LUV'd and lost than to have never LUV'd at all.

You can do one of the following:

A> Buy loaded calipers from a parts store, install and bleed them
B> Buy Caliper rebuild kits and pads, rebuild them and bleed them
C> Pay someone to do the work for you. (About $60/hr + parts)

Brake pads are about $14 a set
Loaded caliper pair is about $82
Single calipers are $36-$45
Rebuild kit is about $9

These are all Autozone prices for my '79 4x4 LUV. Your prices will of course vary.

I'm rebuilding mine. If they don't work out, I'll buy a loaded pair of calipers.

-DK

this might sound stupid but is the e brake on... if not then i would go with the above post

i thought e brakes were only on the back

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I said no to drugs....But they just wouldn't listen!

No matter how good she looks, some other guy is sick and tired of putting up with her crap!

Yep only the rear...

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Resident lurker

well im still learning about cars so... Now i know

Funny story... The talon's a clutch, and i've been driving that thing around for like, 2 yrs, so i totally had the whole clutch thing down. When i got the luv, i was completely embarassed because 70% of the time i would launch, it would just lurch to a stop and die. Turns out, after u take out the E brake, you have to jiggle it a little bit, because the brake light will go out, and the brake appears to be off, but it's still clamped on a bit. Live and learn...

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It's better to have LUV'd and lost than to have never LUV'd at all.