I drive a 93 chevrolet lumina and looking to save money

[Regenerit]

Hello, my name is Alfredo. I am from Summit, IL and drive a 1993 Chevrolet Lumina base sedan to and from college in stop and go traffic about 20 miles a day and am looking for ways to improve my fuel economy. After recording my mpg since last summer, I found that my mpg is 17.5. Just terrible. I've been lurking around ecomodder for a week now and seeing how people could achieve such great fuel economies and thinking "I can do that too!" so here I am, registered and ready to get chopping on making my Lumina more fuel effiecient and more fun to drive in an effort to save my money (us college kids are always broke) and learn new things in automotive engineering because truth is, that's what many of us are doing.

[MetroMPG]

Welcome to the forum!

You've probably read by now that the #1 thing you can do to save fuel is adjust the nut behind the wheel, especially since you're doing an urban type commute.

You need to get some instrumentation in the car so you can monitor your fuel consumption on the fly and make your commute a daily "high score" challenge. Unfortunately, your car is too old to use a ScanGauge or equivalent (works on 1996+ OBD-II equipped vehicles only).

Research the "MPGuino" for an alternative to the ScanGauge. (Note: I'm not sure if the developer is still selling completed units.)

I'm sure by now you've already seen these:

65+ Efficiency Mods

100+ Hypermiling Tips

[cfg83]

Regenerit -

Welcome to EM! The Lumina has nice clean lines and a decent curb weight for a mid size car :

Chevrolet Lumina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also called: Chevrolet Z34
Production: 1990–1994
Assembly: Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
Body style: 2-door coupe, 4-door sedan
Layout: FF layout
Platform: W-body
Engine: 2.5 L Iron Duke I4, 3.1 L LH0 V6, 3.4 L LQ1 V6
Transmission: 5-speed manual, 3-speed 3T40 automatic, 4-speed 4T60 automatic, 4-speed 4T60-E automatic
Wheelbase: 107.5 in (2,731 mm)
Length: 1990 Coupe: 198.4 in (5,039 mm)
1990 Sedan: 197.6 in (5,019 mm)
1991–94 Coupe & 1993–94 Sedan: 198.3 in (5,037 mm)
1991–92 Sedan & Z34 Sedan: 199.3 in (5,062 mm)
Width Coupe & Z34 Sedan: 71.7 in (1,821 mm)
Sedan: 71.0 in (1,803 mm)
Height: Coupe & Z34 Sedan: 53.3 in (1,354 mm)
Sedan: 53.6 in (1,361 mm)
Curb weight : 3496 lb (1586 kg)

CarloSW2

[Frank Lee]

It weighs 1000 lbs more than a Tempo!

[larrybuck]

Welcome! Yes, a sleeker body like this helps. (I'm sure you'll want to do highway driving sometime.)

You didn't mention if your car is a stick, or auto drive. An automatic will be harder to get the mpg #'s up, but still plenty of things you can do!

Spend several hours reading up the 100, and 65 tips for better mpg., soak in the driving section to transform yourself, and as I put on my posts now: slow down, and smooth up, bump those tires up! Again, welcome!

[Regenerit]

Thanks everyone for your kind words and help. It's an automatic so I dont have much control over what I can do to it. The most I've done so far is gut my entire trunk of all the trim, mats, spare tire and other equipment i dont need. In place, I have a Fix a flat can although I'm curious as to its effectiveness in temporarily fixing and pumping a tire up to a pressure as well as the willingness of a mechanic to clean the tire and fix it if i were to ever use that stuff.

[NateHale88]

I am impressed by your mpg numbers that is the worst I have ever seen a 3.1l achieve. If i floored my car everywhere I would see around 20mpg at the lowest lmao. Either something is wrong with the car or you go through alot of brakes lmao. Hopefully after looking around on here you can double that number like me . Keep practicing and reading on hear .

[Regenerit]

I currently drive in bumper to bumper traffic on my commute to school at 8 in the morning when traffic is the worst. I try to keep my speed as constant as possible. On my way home traffic isn't as bad but is often as bad. I try to avoid the afternoon commute by leavong earlier around 3pm or often leaving at 7pm or later.
I have winter tires equipped at 32 psi and I try to be light on the pedal. For being about 80 to 90% city driving, driving with winter tires, and me getting 17.5 mpg with EPA city ratings for my lumina being 17 city, it appears to be I'm actually doing at or above the EPA ratings for city driving on my car.
I have used Lucas Fuel Treatment in the past for my car and was able to achieve 20.7 mpg on a tank. Have any of you had success with Lucas Fuel Treatment in the past?

[MetroMPG]

NateHale: Context is always good!

EG: my mom was managing just ~15 mpg from a 4-cylinder Camry in winter conditions driving short trips in the city. And yes, she drives like a little old lady. Makes 17.5 mpg from a V6 Lumina in stop & go conditions look a bit more interesting, doesn't it?

---

I don't think you'll find anyone who's done any controlled testing on that additive. If the product genuinely saved fuel on an otherwise properly working engine, they would have run it through the EPA's approved lab test procedure for aftermarket products and would be selling with that gold seal of approval. (EG: see http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ery-11445.html ) They're not, and that should tell you all you need to know.

[NateHale88]

The winter tires definitely are hurting you a lot. Sometimes city driving can help if you can coast and try and maintain constant speeds but yes aggressive drivers and idiots can and will ruin your mpg with their bad driving.. Get some summer tires, keep driving with with a light foot and get a Mpguino. The instrumentation will help you tremendously. As for Lucas all it will do is cost more than its worth and throw off the math for your mileage each tank. Good luck!