# Low MPG on '04 1.8s



## slhaas (May 1, 2005)

On my first full tank of gas since purchasing my '04 1.8s from the dealer only got 23mpg. It was advertised as getting upwards of 35 highway. Most of my driving was highway, but some was city. I was hoping for 32mpg average. I drive pretty smoothly, so I don't get it. Is this something I should have the dealer check out as part of the bumper to bumper warranty?


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## dmroberson (Jun 24, 2004)

slhaas said:


> On my first full tank of gas since purchasing my '04 1.8s from the dealer only got 23mpg. It was advertised as getting upwards of 35 highway. Most of my driving was highway, but some was city. I was hoping for 32mpg average. I drive pretty smoothly, so I don't get it. Is this something I should have the dealer check out as part of the bumper to bumper warranty?


you aren't going to get your peak mileage until the car is broken in. That's why if you read your manual, they recommend no long distance driving or rough driving, (no racing) until you put about 1300 miles on. I noticed the same thing when I bought my 1.8s. Just take it nice and easy until then. Then everything will be cool.


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## slhaas (May 1, 2005)

dmroberson said:


> you aren't going to get your peak mileage until the car is broken in. That's why if you read your manual, they recommend no long distance driving or rough driving, (no racing) until you put about 1300 miles on. I noticed the same thing when I bought my 1.8s. Just take it nice and easy until then. Then everything will be cool.


It is an '04 with 17000 miles... it's broken in already.


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## chimmike (Oct 17, 2002)

largely depends on your highway speed, acceleration habits, etc. If you're doing highway miles, but all at 90mph or faster, you're going to get lousy mileage, etc.


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## dmroberson (Jun 24, 2004)

slhaas said:


> It is an '04 with 17000 miles... it's broken in already.


saw your other thread here: http://www.nissanforums.com/showthread.php?t=93204

Since you mentioned it was a rental, the only thing I can say is that THAT is your problem. People that use rentals, drive them like they stole it. Basically they use it, abuse it, and return it, in one piece when they're through.
It's the typical: "It's not mine so why should I care" attitude.


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## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

Checking the spark plugs, airfilter and running a good fuel system cleaner are easy ways to improve mileage.


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## sukebegigi (Mar 5, 2005)

It's kind of an obvious suggestion (which you may already know), but keep them revs between 2000-2500 on the highway and use overdrive if your car has it. That will make all the difference.


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## slhaas (May 1, 2005)

sukebegigi said:


> It's kind of an obvious suggestion (which you may already know), but keep them revs between 2000-2500 on the highway and use overdrive if your car has it. That will make all the difference.


This is hard because it shifts at 3000/3500 on it's own, and unless I want to go 45 on the highway it's hard to keep it under 2500.


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## chimmike (Oct 17, 2002)

yeah you can't do 70 on the highway at less than 3000rpm. 

Out of curiosity, what octane fuel do you use?


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## BlackoutSpecV (May 8, 2002)

chimmike said:


> yeah you can't do 70 on the highway at less than 3000rpm.
> 
> Out of curiosity, what octane fuel do you use?


Good point Mike. A couple of tanks of V*power (or equivelent) will clean up the fuel system. Other than that, you need to check Tires (tire pressure), air filter, spark plugs. If that does nothing, you can take it to the dealer and have them give it the once over to see what they see.


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## Kindfiend (Oct 13, 2004)

BlackoutSpecV said:


> Good point Mike. A couple of tanks of V*power (or equivelent) will clean up the fuel system. Other than that, you need to check Tires (tire pressure), air filter, spark plugs. If that does nothing, you can take it to the dealer and have them give it the once over to see what they see.


I think he's suggesting these cars don't need anything more than 87. When I first got my 01, I put a tank of 93 in. Got pretty crappy gas milage for that tank, IIRC. Still a good idea to check the things you mentioned, however.


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## slhaas (May 1, 2005)

chimmike said:


> yeah you can't do 70 on the highway at less than 3000rpm.
> 
> Out of curiosity, what octane fuel do you use?


Whatever the dealer filled it up with. I'll check the air filter and tire pressure... fill it up with good fuel and an injector cleaner, and see how many MPG I get on the next tank.


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## chimmike (Oct 17, 2002)

don't bother with injector cleaner. 

Just use some 87 octane gas. If you're measuring by the tank you got from the dealer, for all you know, the gas they use is pumped out of the ground in their back yard.

give it a few tanks, and not just one, by the way.


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## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

There are two good injector cleaners; one is Redline Fuel Power and the other is Chevron Techron. I use Techron on a rather regular basis; it is well proven, very safe and does increase gas mileage.


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## Jarek (Mar 29, 2005)

Zac said:


> There are two good injector cleaners; one is Redline Fuel Power and the other is Chevron Techron. I use Techron on a rather regular basis; it is well proven, very safe and does increase gas mileage.


I know you drive an SE-R so... its nothing compared to my 1.8.. but in our user manual, it says that use of any kind of fuel additives such as injector cleaners can be harmful or damage our motor (qg18) ... so that kind of leaves me wondering about the SE-R...

so slhaas take mikes advice forget the injector cleaner


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## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

Jarek said:


> I know you drive an SE-R so... its nothing compared to my 1.8.. but in our user manual, it says that use of any kind of fuel additives such as injector cleaners can be harmful or damage our motor (qg18) ... so that kind of leaves me wondering about the SE-R...
> 
> so slhaas take mikes advice forget the injector cleaner


I have always been told that polyether amine is safe on all injectors??? I know quite a few people that run Techron on a daily schedule with much satisfaction.


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## Jarek (Mar 29, 2005)

Zac said:


> I have always been told that polyether amine is safe on all injectors??? I know quite a few people that run Techron on a daily schedule with much satisfaction.


Right, im not saying stop using it, just i have yet to see some hard proof of injector cleaner benefit on my particular car... especially if the user manual warns against its use. just like how running 'premium' 91+ gasoline in my car is a waste of money.. since the QG18 was tuned for 87 octane. 

Another thing to note, you have a QR25 motor... im not as familar or even drive a vehicle with that motor..needless to say... the QR25 and the qg18 are very different so i cant say whether or not if the additive is or is not beneficial to the QR. slhaas has a qg18... so im only advising them on what i know from simple research.


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## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

Jarek said:


> Right, im not saying stop using it, just i have yet to see some hard proof of injector cleaner benefit on my particular car... especially if the user manual warns against its use. just like how running 'premium' 91+ gasoline in my car is a waste of money.. since the QG18 was tuned for 87 octane.
> 
> Another thing to note, you have a QR25 motor... im not as familar or even drive a vehicle with that motor..needless to say... the QR25 and the qg18 are very different so i cant say whether or not if the additive is or is not beneficial to the QR. slhaas has a qg18... so im only advising them on what i know from simple research.


The only problem I could imagine is particles becomming loose that are located before the fuel filter, becomming trapped in the fuel filter and necessitating replacement. If the manual says not to run a cleaner, I would obviously follow that. At the same time, Techron is in all Chevron gasoline, which is commonly agreed to be the best and was the only gasoline that did not need revisement to make the cut for the Top Tier. The Techron additive is about 8-10 times stronger though than what is in the gasoline. Crappier gasoline will build deposits on fuel injectors and intake valves which can cause decreased fuel mileage, hard starting problems and over time, decreased drivability. It is worth calling the dealer obviously before doing anything the manual reccomends against, but Nissan even sells an injector cleaner. Unfortunately I cannot find it online to see what is in it.

If your car can use a good fuel system cleaner, you will see results as they are noticeable in any vehicle that has ran poor quality of gas (about 50-60% of all gasoline). Just running Chevron gas alone will increase mileage by a noticable margin.


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## BlackoutSpecV (May 8, 2002)

Kindfiend said:


> I think he's suggesting these cars don't need anything more than 87...


I was not suggesting it for the octaine or to increase gas milage. The V*power and Techron (93 octaine) contain more cleaners than you could ever use. Three tanks of that will do every bit what a bottle of injector cleaner can do.


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## NIUPonyBoy (Mar 11, 2005)

Also the last quarter tank of gas is not like the first... in my 02 1.8 I can go over 200miles on the first half a tank of ga and then the last half on the exact same stretch of road at the same speeds etc I only get half or less. And my sentra just rolled over 30k.

John


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## 05SpecVicious (Mar 13, 2005)

Jarek said:


> I know you drive an SE-R so... its nothing compared to my 1.8.. but in our user manual, it says that use of any kind of fuel additives such as injector cleaners can be harmful or damage our motor (qg18) ... so that kind of leaves me wondering about the SE-R...
> 
> so slhaas take mikes advice forget the injector cleaner



Your right injector cleaner is'nt supposed to be used on the QR25's , but I'm sure you can. I'd like to ring my own bell for gas milage I had it up to 38mpg 6th gear going 60. I love it 93 octane by the way. No Ethanol <BAD


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## slhaas (May 1, 2005)

UPDATE:

I ran through a full tank using gas of my choosing. I checked the tire pressure and tweaked my driving patterns a bit and got it up to 32mpg. I'm going to swap out the air filiter, and soon there will be a fuel injector cleaining done by the dealer, so maybe I can get it up to about 35/38 highway.


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## AsianJKim (Dec 15, 2004)

slhaas said:


> UPDATE:
> 
> I ran through a full tank using gas of my choosing. I checked the tire pressure and tweaked my driving patterns a bit and got it up to 32mpg. I'm going to swap out the air filiter, and soon there will be a fuel injector cleaining done by the dealer, so maybe I can get it up to about 35/38 highway.


Congrats. When changin driving habits to make you get more mpg it does you good.


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## slhaas (May 1, 2005)

35 on the last tank.


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## chimmike (Oct 17, 2002)

there ya go  the car is definitely capable, you've just gotta have the restraint to drive like grandma


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## Jarek (Mar 29, 2005)

chimmike said:


> there ya go  the car is definitely capable, you've just gotta have the restraint to drive like grandma


yeppo! unfortunately i have to make this a habit now... im trying in my 1.8s for an SE-R, my cousin whos a nissan sales manager is trying to snag me one super cheap! wo0t! im excited! Jarek meets QR25


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