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Low milage reading

2K views 14 replies 10 participants last post by  Kira 
#1 ·
I have a 2013 Chrysler T/C and notice the last few days while driving the average mileage reading on the dash is saying I'm averaging 13-14 mpg. I have never gotten that love of mileage before. The least it ever showed before was 17mpg. I only have around 49,000 on it and service it regularly. Has anyone else notice a big drop off in average mileage on their van? I am going to fill it in a day or so and keep track on paper the mileage and gallons used
 
#3 ·
I sure hope not.
 
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#9 ·
Haven't filled yet, I will reset it when I do, along with the trip meter. Not driving any different than usual. I guess the only way to really tell is to mark down the millage when I do fill and see how much fuel it takes when I fuel again and not totally rely on mileage reading. Just wondered if anyone also noticed a big drop in mileage on theirs all of a sudden.
 
#5 ·
Yup. Same here. Our town average is 14.9. Two tanks did that.
I thought we had a problem, but we took our 3000 mile round trip vacation and I hit 30 mpg and had a low of 20 mpg (I was driving it hard in some hills on that tank). My E85 tanks were even in the mid 20’s on that trip. Overall average was 24.

Our first tank after being home a week: 14.9 mpg.

My guess is the E15 that gas stations are allowed to sell now is in the E10 tanks.
 
#10 ·
That applied to carburetors. Injected ones just cut the fuel back to match the air flow. You might see a slight drop in full throttle power, but mileage won't be affected.
 
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#13 ·
...and the politicians who got their votes.

Don't overlook the effect of failing upstream O2 sensors.

Also, in an age of lesser fuel (the 15% ethanol) you might want to try a couple of tanksful of premium gas.
In warm weather the spark advance will cause the engine to knock/ping sooner. The knock sensor will alert the computer to retard the spark.
Retarded spark results in fewer mpg.
 
#14 ·
I put in new air and cabin filters. Had the oil and filter changed. Gassed it up and ran the trip counter back to zero. Drove it for about a week, but it happened to be mostly highway miles, but averaged out to a little over 24 mpg which is normal for the Chrysler minivan. Now I'm going to see how it does in mostly city driving, as that is where it was showing below normal gas milage. I will say the city mileage came up a couple of mpg after the oil and filter changes. in the few miles of city driving I did. I also noticed going back and reading the last service I had done, they didn't replace the air filter as they were out of stock. Just wonder if a dirty air filter that was causing the low city milage? I guess maybe I'll find out in this tank of gas, as most of my driving will be city.
 
#15 ·
Start a "new zero" and take it from there.
I tally monthly with my car and bimonthly with my truck which is driven much less. I call my months "highway heavy" or "local". It all comes out in the wash (an ancient mathematical expression).

Like everyone else I fill up before a long trip and do "tanksful totals" just to see the high highway numbers.

How many miles were on your old air filter? If it wasn't a number over 50,000 miles, I'd bet the new one won't impact your mileage.

The old 'egg between your right foot and gas pedal' is the best mileage trick.
 
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