QuestionQUESTION: I have a 1994 Nissan Altima with 148,000 miles. I need to figure out what is eating up my gas. The night before last I filled up the car and last night the fuel gauge was at a 1/4 of a tank heading to one notch below that. I did not leave town and my fill ups will usually last a week.
ANSWER: Hi Sagitta -
Can we also rule out someone siphoning out the gas?
Not knowing how many miles you traveled the last 2 days, it is hard to guess what happened. Is this a first time thing, or have you been experiencing poor mileage for some time now?
Do you smell raw fuel at any time? You must drive a lot for fillups to last only a week.
Please get back to me on my question so we can get to the bottom of this -
aloha
calvin
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Hi Calvin. No we can probably rule out siphoning. The tank is locked with no indication of forced entry. I have noticed that the gage is reacting to the cold weather. Once it heated back up (Houston) the gas gage reflected a higher fuel level. Does this fluctuation indicate a problem with the gage or fuel pump? Or is it normal for gage to drop like that with this older car? With regards to the fuel vs mileage. I used to get better gas mileage prior to the ethanol being added to the fuel. Since you mentioned that I may be getting poor fuel mileage will monitor more closely with next fill up. Just for clarity... the gage is working now and this was a first time thing. I have owned this car since July 2008. Thanks Calvin
AnswerHi Sagitta -
Thanks for the info. Yes, track your mileage vs fuel, figure out the Miles per gallon and we can go from there.
If you have not tuned up the car since you purchased it, might be a good time to do that. Cars out of tune can also rob fuel.
How is the power of the vehicle? Transmission slippage could also be a cause for excessive fuel consumption. Do you feel that the transmission is slipping when accelerating?
Thanks
Happy Holidays
calvin
