Civic EG

Got a stock PH16 engine (16 valve), fuel consumption is not satisfactory, let's say 1L:8kms, does anyone have suggestions on what to do to decrease the consumption? had my spark plugs changed to NGK platinum though no significant change in the consumption.

don't want to resort to engine swap, maybe there are other suggestions for me to try first. thanks a lot!

Well i just recently went from avg of 37mpg to 30 mph and it was mainly cause i had been really low on oil and needed new spark plugs. and now my mpg has gone back up to just as good maybe better. First check your oil, are you burning? leaking? or just low? If so id recomend changing it. Next, basic NGK plugs are the best really. its what Honda mandated for us in the states to be put in and they work great. Also do a compression test and see if any of your cylinders are not up to par.

When was the last time you did a full tune-up?
Cap, Rotor, Plug wires, Air Filter

@ Joplies
my engine oil is ok. no leaks and change it 2 months ago. haven't done the compression test yet. do i have to change my spark plugs to regular NGKs? thanks!

there were about 3 times that i was close to have an engine overheat. the intervals were about 2 months (on the average) and for those times the temperature gauge was at 70-75% before H. what i did was, i turned off the engine and let it cool down for hours and filled the radiator. --- telling you this maybe because it has to do with the fuel consumption, what do you think?

@ teal_dx
thanks for the PM man. well, the last tune-up was about 3 months ago. had my mechanic check the engine and did some engine gasket cleaning, put some silicon and did repairs on some oil leaks. no more leaks right now.

tune-ups are done every year? twice a year? and what should be checked when having my car tuned-up?

thanks again guys! really appreciate it.

Like Teal-DX said make sure the spark plug wires are new the distributor cap and the rotor which is inside the cap and spark plugs. The air filiter is another thing as well. All of these things are very easy to do by yourself. Tune ups should be done I believe every two years you may need to do it sooner depending on the use of the vehicle. For example if you drive down dirt roads a lot your air filter will need to be swapped or cleaned (if you have a K&N or something like that) more often. Check your wires for any damage to the insulation around them and check your spark plugs for damage make sure they are gapped correctly. You can actually tell a lot about the quality of combustion from the way your spark plugs look, so checking them occasionally is a good idea. I have heard that you can put soapy water on your wires and let the car run in the dark with the hood up and you can check for arching between the wores which looks like little lightening bolts lol I have never done this When you check your distributor cap you will want to look for cracks in the plastic that could alow moisture to get in the cap where the rotor is. Check the points in the cap to make sure you don't have corrosion built up on them. You can clean up the corrosion by scrappin it off and using a brush to clean them up. Check the rotor for corrosion or physical damage. Oh one little detail do not scrape actual material off points or you may not get good conduction between the points and the rotor. I would check your injectors and make sure you are gettin a healthy mist of fuel not a stream of any kind. A good fuel air misxture requires clean injectors and can effect horsepower = less fule economy. I generally run fuel injecrtor cleaner through my gas tank at least once a year. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong on any of this I am not an expert but spend a lot of time reading about and working on cars

If thats occurred you may want to check to see if anything is warped or any crusty burned oil/shit is crusted onto your block, that could cause issue but idk about how much it would effect mpg...hmm...
No no need to change back to regular, you can but you should be ok. There are alot of spark plugs out there though that say they improve HP and MPG or the ones that have like 4 little (umm i forgot what there called haha) and alot of them do is just waste your gas. Im pretty sure yours though are just fine.


Air filter is a great thing to change to improve your MPG as well, may want to check it and replace it. No need for anything special just get a basic K&N or somthing.

@ JDUBB025

thanks a lot!:) noted all your suggestions. will have to figure out some of the engine parts, not really familiar with those parts mentioned. and im not hands-on when it comes to the maintenance, but i really wanna learn. thanks again!

@ Joplies

thanks! the NGKs i got are good, it gives more power, i think. and i got the stock air filters. but i would like to get the K&N, what model should i get?

thanks again man!

merry christmas to you guys!

you may want to have a mechanic take a look at your engine timing. that's what he adjusted in mine when i complained that my consumption is way high. using a timing tool, he found that my timing was delayed.

@ badoochi

oh yeah, i will too. thanks!

maybe check your o2 sensor..are you experiencing any lack of performance maybe?? That COULD be your problem. Excessive fuel consumption could be a number of things.. I agree with the others..I would start with a complete tune-up, plugs, wires etc..and go from there

@ jrhdominos

yes i sometimes experience lack of performance especially when i am using the AC. and usually when i rev to 1st gear from full stop.

thanks!