Terrible mpg's = new interest in old ideas.

[mhmitszach]

But of course what started as 125 dollars in parts and 75 dollars worth of labor ended up being way more.

Driver side brake caliper was locked up. +30 in parts and 25 in labor.

Power steering hose had a leak. +50 in parts and 25 in labor.

But over all it wasn't too bad.

New fuel filter, pcv valve, rotors, driver brake caliper, belt tensioner.

Cleaned throttle body and maf. Fixed belt from squealing. (Wasn't straight path)

So about 275 in parts and 125 in labor.

[Christ]

Bet ya that caliper was draggin... maybe your TPS reading will go down now.

[Tygen1]

Gotta watch those Caliper pins on the ZX2, they tend to seize again if they were not fixed properly. Mine sized up after only 25K from when I attempted to fix them last time...
Just fixed them again this weekend, they were definatly dragging a bit, however because I recalibrated my SG the GPH is higher at the same TPS. I also cut one coil from the strut springs, that brought it down almost an inch and added a high flow catalytic converter. Inspection is this week, therefore some much needed maint. needed to be done. Hopefully pass the inspection with all the mods that have been done since the last.
Sounds like this mechanic gave you a square deal. Good labor prices on some not so easy jobs, hopefully he didn't short cut it.

[mhmitszach]

Originally Posted by Tygen1

Gotta watch those Caliper pins on the ZX2, they tend to seize again if they were not fixed properly. Mine sized up after only 25K from when I attempted to fix them last time...
Just fixed them again this weekend, they were definatly dragging a bit, however because I recalibrated my SG the GPH is higher at the same TPS. I also cut one coil from the strut springs, that brought it down almost an inch and added a high flow catalytic converter. Inspection is this week, therefore some much needed maint. needed to be done. Hopefully pass the inspection with all the mods that have been done since the last.
Sounds like this mechanic gave you a square deal. Good labor prices on some not so easy jobs, hopefully he didn't short cut it.

Yeah, my passenger caliper was bad when I had pads done about 10k miles ago.

My SG has to be way off. I've yet to break 37mpg on any trip with it even though the tps is reading 20-21 at 55mph at 40mpg. It should be reading a lot higher.

Yeah, he does good work. He is a certified ford mechanic and was out of work for a little bit. He works at a shop again, so he just did me a favor and worked on it over the weekend.

[mhmitszach]

Just not breaking 36 mpg. Drives a lot better though.

So here in about a week, I'm moving 3 hours south. Now, I'm not going to keep driving 55 mph the 180 mile trip back and forth between there and home. I'm still going to try to get good gas mileage. But I can't see myself making the drive longer than it needs to be. I don't expect gas mileage to stay very good.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by mhmitszach

Just not breaking 36 mpg. Drives a lot better though.

So here in about a week, I'm moving 3 hours south. Now, I'm not going to keep driving 55 mph the 180 mile trip back and forth between there and home. I'm still going to try to get good gas mileage. But I can't see myself making the drive longer than it needs to be. I don't expect gas mileage to stay very good.

The difference is only about 30 minutes at steady speed... probably less, honestly.

[mhmitszach]

Originally Posted by Christ

The difference is only about 30 minutes at steady speed... probably less, honestly.

Trust me I know. But the mentality of going 55 top speed over such a long distance will make it such a hard drive. The majority of the trip is rural highway that I really can't go much faster than 55 on any ways.

[Tygen1]

Rural highway in Indiana is prime for Coasting! See how much you can get away with, the SG will tell you if it's working. Don't give up to quick, your likely to see a bump in mpg if you can drive a route that doesn't have too many stop lights.

In order to get the 54mpg I had to drive around 50mph and coast a lot. It takes more focus to drive 50 mph than 80mph, at least I think so. It definatly took me a couple hours to adjust to the slow pace, but it paid off.

I've been averaging 43mpg recently with a peak of 44, I was really hoping to hit 45 this summer, but I wasn't able to get the aero mods done that I wanted to do. Although I do have a trip to SC coming up and and gunning to hit 60mpg However I got a whinning accesory pulley and wheel bearing making some noise....

I've also determined that a 21 TPS is what the car likes to keep going 50 mph in the small rolling hills, 20 TPS on flat ground. I've also noticed a big difference in mpg from the hot air, so I'd say a HAI is going on the list. My IAT's are around 120-140 in the afternoon, and around 100 in the morning and I see about a 10mpg differnce at the same TPS and speed. I wonder how high I can push the IAT's ???

[moorecomp]

Hey guys,

Not to jump on your thread, but consider this a formal invite to join Team ZX2 over at the Ecomodder Team Competition.

EcoModder Team Competition

Finally got a new job after being laid off since Dec. 52 miles one way, but it beats having to move. Most of my daily trips are averaging 44 - 45mpg. EOC when I can and drive 57mph as it seems the MPGuino shows a "sweet spot" there. Have enjoyed reading this thread.

[mhmitszach]

We'll see then. Maybe I'll try it for a trip or two there. It's just the mentality of making a long trip even longer.

I've barely averaged 34 mpg in the last 90 days. I just can't seem to figure out what I'm doing wrong. I still coast down quite a bit, not as much as I used to, but surely not 6 mpg worth of coasting.

I keep trying harder and harder every tank, but it just doesn't seem to achieve much of anything. I think this next fill up will only get me about 36 mpg.