Ridiculous Gas Mileage on 2004 Sonata AT or FUEL LEAK???
Hi Everyone!
I have a 2004 Sonata Automatic w/71000k miles. I drive very little because I take a train to and from work but I recently noticed that my gas mileage on the car is not low but simply ridiculous! Basically, I reset the trip odometer at full tank and was able to drive exactly 265 miles on 1 tank instead of the average 400!!! Upon finding this, I took the car to a mechanic to inspect for gas leaks. He did not find any and said he is sure the car is not leaking gas! He did not see anything obvious that would cause it to use so much gas! AC has not been turned on during the test. Heater only a couple of times. Driving was normal, calm, city driving. I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP! WHAT MECHANICAL PROBLEM WOULD CAUSE IT TO BEHAVE LIKE THAT? P.S. Please, please tell me specifics that could cause this and not "take it to your local dealer", I already know I have that option =) "pay big bucks for diagnostic only to find out I need to invest a couple of thousand in the car". Thanks!!! |
Re: Ridiculous Gas Mileage on 2004 Sonata AT or FUEL LEAK???
<mikeseattle03@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:c81b282f-5d92-48e5-a22f-544856e3daf5@s9g2000prg.googlegroups.com... > Hi Everyone! > I have a 2004 Sonata Automatic w/71000k miles. I drive very little > because I take a train to and from work but I recently noticed that my > gas mileage on the car is not low but simply ridiculous! Basically, I > reset the trip odometer at full tank and was able to drive exactly 265 > miles on 1 tank instead of the average 400!!! > Upon finding this, I took the car to a mechanic to inspect for gas > leaks. He did not find any and said he is sure the car is not leaking > gas! He did not see anything obvious that would cause it to use so > much gas! > AC has not been turned on during the test. Heater only a couple of > times. Driving was normal, calm, city driving. > I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP! WHAT MECHANICAL PROBLEM WOULD CAUSE IT TO > BEHAVE LIKE THAT? > P.S. Please, please tell me specifics that could cause this and not > "take it to your local dealer", I already know I have that option =) > "pay big bucks for diagnostic only to find out I need to invest a > couple of thousand in the car". Thanks!!! Understanding that you trust your mechanic.... Under-inflated tires, higher than normal lube oil level, improperly gaped spark plugs, dirty air filter, dirty fuel injectors, short driving trip, miss-aligned wheels, heavy items in the trunk, short driving trip in colder weather/temperature, etc., etc., etc.......!!! Is this used car new to you with only 71000 miles? If yes, what were the driving habits of the last owner? If not, and all of my specifics are in order, and you do not have any CIL, I would suggest to disconect your battery for 10 minutes, and with the battery disconnected, turn on the head light and then back to the off position, re-connect your battery and take your car on the highway at 60m/h for about 60 miles without slowing down, that should/might reset the "cpu" to a new driving habit and take car of the problem......If not, "take it to your local dealer", You already know you have that option =). TheIceAge05 at www.hyundai-forums.com |
Re: Ridiculous Gas Mileage on 2004 Sonata AT or FUEL LEAK???
> I have a 2004 Sonata Automatic w/71000k miles. Basically, I
> reset the trip odometer at full tank and was able to drive exactly 265 > miles on 1 tank instead of the average 400!!! Why are you complaining? A Sonata is a big car and an auto is going to use a lot of petrol around town. Also the car will use more this time of year as it has to warm up. What size engine is it; must be at least 2.0 ? My 1.6 Lantra with manual gearbox does around 280 on a full tank and mixed driving or 380 on a run. I think 265 sounds about right from what you say. |
Re: Ridiculous Gas Mileage on 2004 Sonata AT or FUEL LEAK???
<mikeseattle03@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:c81b282f-5d92-48e5-a22f-544856e3daf5@s9g2000prg.googlegroups.com... > Hi Everyone! > I have a 2004 Sonata Automatic w/71000k miles. I drive very little > because I take a train to and from work but I recently noticed that my > gas mileage on the car is not low but simply ridiculous! Basically, I > reset the trip odometer at full tank and was able to drive exactly 265 > miles on 1 tank instead of the average 400!!! OK, here is a specific. Your driving habits. My last car used to give me 25 to 27 mpg consistently. I bought a new car and my wife now uses the old one. She drives short trips around town, never goes on the highway, never drives long enough for the car warm up to normal operating temperature. That 25+ dipped to about 17 mpg. Your daily trip to the train station, possibly in traffic, is murder on mileage. Unless you were getting 400 miles under the same conditions, nothing is wrong. Take a nice long ride on country roads where you can cruise along non-stop at 45 mph and watch the numbers come up. Also, did you run out of gas at 265 miles? How many gallons did you actually put in the tank at fill up afterwards? |
Re: Ridiculous Gas Mileage on 2004 Sonata AT or FUEL LEAK???
On Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:54:16 -0800 (PST), Ed Gasket
<andrewball20@yahoo.co.uk> wrote: >> I have a 2004 Sonata Automatic w/71000k miles. Basically, I >> reset the trip odometer at full tank and was able to drive exactly 265 >> miles on 1 tank instead of the average 400!!! > >Why are you complaining? A Sonata is a big car and an auto is going to >use a lot of petrol around town. Also the car will use more this time >of year as it has to warm up. What size engine is it; must be at least >2.0 ? >My 1.6 Lantra with manual gearbox does around 280 on a full tank and >mixed driving or 380 on a run. >I think 265 sounds about right from what you say. 280 on a full tank for an Elantra? That's crappy. I can get 280 on just short of half of a tank on my 08. |
Re: Ridiculous Gas Mileage on 2004 Sonata AT or FUEL LEAK???
On Nov 15, 5:13 am, IceMan <n...@nobody.net> wrote:
> On Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:54:16 -0800 (PST), Ed Gasket > > <andrewbal...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote: > >> I have a 2004 Sonata Automatic w/71000k miles. Basically, I > >> reset the trip odometer at full tank and was able to drive exactly 265 > >> miles on 1 tank instead of the average 400!!! > > >Why are you complaining? A Sonata is a big car and an auto is going to > >use a lot of petrol around town. Also the car will use more this time > >of year as it has to warm up. What size engine is it; must be at least > >2.0 ? > >My 1.6 Lantra with manual gearbox does around 280 on a full tank and > >mixed driving or 380 on a run. > >I think 265 sounds about right from what you say. > > 280 on a full tank for an Elantra? That's crappy. I can get 280 on > just short of half of a tank on my 08. Hi! Thank you everyone for responding! I was "complaining" because, even though I know city stop & go driving uses much more gas than freeway driving, I didn't think it's such a HUGE difference! This car goes around 400 miles on 1 tank (17.2gallons?) on the freeway, so if it was 350 miles city driving I would understand, but I was able to drive 265 miles on 1 tank...so that's~15.4 MPG. If there's anyone here that has an '04 Sonata AT and gets the same gas mileage in stop&go city driving, then I'll calm down =) Thanks! |
Re: Ridiculous Gas Mileage on 2004 Sonata AT or FUEL LEAK???
<mikeseattle03@yahoo.com> wrote in message Hi! Thank you everyone for responding! I was "complaining" because, even though I know city stop & go driving uses much more gas than freeway driving, I didn't think it's such a HUGE difference! This car goes around 400 miles on 1 tank (17.2gallons?) on the freeway, so if it was 350 miles city driving I would understand, but I was able to drive 265 miles on 1 tank...so that's~15.4 MPG. ************************************************** ******* The tank may hold 17.2 gallons, but how many did you actually put in to fill it back up? Surely it was not 17 unless you ran it dry until the car stopped. Let's deal with fact rather than supposition. Your actual travel distance sounds about right for a tank getting down to about a quarter leaving 3 to 4 gallons. If a fillup was 14 gallons you are getting closer to 19 mpg. If it was 13 gallons you are getting 19 mpg. That is very respectable for city traffic. |
Re: Ridiculous Gas Mileage on 2004 Sonata AT or FUEL LEAK???
On Nov 15, 2:55 pm, "Ed Pawlowski" <e...@snet.net> wrote:
> <mikeseattl...@yahoo.com> wrote in message > > Hi! Thank you everyone for responding! I was "complaining" because, > even though I know city stop & go driving uses much more gas than > freeway driving, I didn't think it's such a HUGE difference! This car > goes around 400 miles on 1 tank (17.2gallons?) on the freeway, so if > it was 350 miles city driving I would understand, but I was able to > drive 265 miles on 1 tank...so that's~15.4 MPG. > > ************************************************** ******* > > The tank may hold 17.2 gallons, but how many did you actually put in to fill > it back up? Surely it was not 17 unless you ran it dry until the car > stopped. Let's deal with fact rather than supposition. Your actual travel > distance sounds about right for a tank getting down to about a quarter > leaving 3 to 4 gallons. If a fillup was 14 gallons you are getting closer > to 19 mpg. If it was 13 gallons you are getting 19 mpg. That is very > respectable for city traffic. I would say I *almost* ran it dry this time for the purpose of testing how many miles I can go on 1 tank. The arrow was in the red zone, on "E". Mike. |
Re: Ridiculous Gas Mileage on 2004 Sonata AT or FUEL LEAK???
<mikeseattle03@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:27896dc3-c4c2-42ab-b12a-781f665d4ddd@d10g2000pra.googlegroups.com... On Nov 15, 2:55 pm, "Ed Pawlowski" <e...@snet.net> wrote: > <mikeseattl...@yahoo.com> wrote in message > > Hi! Thank you everyone for responding! I was "complaining" because, > even though I know city stop & go driving uses much more gas than > freeway driving, I didn't think it's such a HUGE difference! This car > goes around 400 miles on 1 tank (17.2gallons?) on the freeway, so if > it was 350 miles city driving I would understand, but I was able to > drive 265 miles on 1 tank...so that's~15.4 MPG. > > ************************************************** ******* > > The tank may hold 17.2 gallons, but how many did you actually put in to > fill > it back up? Surely it was not 17 unless you ran it dry until the car > stopped. Let's deal with fact rather than supposition. Your actual travel > distance sounds about right for a tank getting down to about a quarter > leaving 3 to 4 gallons. If a fillup was 14 gallons you are getting closer > to 19 mpg. If it was 13 gallons you are getting 19 mpg. That is very > respectable for city traffic. I would say I *almost* ran it dry this time for the purpose of testing how many miles I can go on 1 tank. The arrow was in the red zone, on "E". Mike. ************************************************** ********* Almost is not a very accurate term. I'd guess there were at least 3 gallons left, meaning you used about 13. That translates to a very respectable 20 mpg. Pretty good under short trip driving conditions. On my Sonata, the warning light comes on and I can go another 50 to 60 miles on what is left. |
Re: Ridiculous Gas Mileage on 2004 Sonata AT or FUEL LEAK???
Ad Edwin says, look at your receipt if you have it, and determine your
actual economy. Discussions about what maybe wrong with the car and why fuel economy is poor are pointless without determining an actual measured fuel economy in the first place. And yes, city vs. highway will cause a huge variation. In my 3.0 liter Taurus: Highway 24-29 Mix 19-23 City 17-20. -- Message posted using http://www.talkaboutautos.com/group/alt.autos.hyundai/ More information at http://www.talkaboutautos.com/faq.html |
Re: Ridiculous Gas Mileage on 2004 Sonata AT or FUEL LEAK???
The way to check your fuel consumption is not to rely on the gauge, but to
fill the tank right to the top, note the mileage, drive until the tank is nearly empty and then re-fill it to the top and note how much fuel you put in and the new mileage. This way you will have a much better idea of how much was actually used. Regards Jeff "hyundaitech" <notpublic@not.public.com> wrote in message news:5f5570077b250bbfbc343b102f5523d1@localhost.ta lkaboutautos.com... > Ad Edwin says, look at your receipt if you have it, and determine your > actual economy. Discussions about what maybe wrong with the car and why > fuel economy is poor are pointless without determining an actual measured > fuel economy in the first place. > > And yes, city vs. highway will cause a huge variation. In my 3.0 liter > Taurus: > > Highway 24-29 > Mix 19-23 > City 17-20. > > -- > Message posted using > http://www.talkaboutautos.com/group/alt.autos.hyundai/ > More information at http://www.talkaboutautos.com/faq.html > |
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