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curious if anyone could shed some light. on my 144 mile drive today i got 23.6 mpg. not even a week ago i did new plugs wires cap rotor all filters oil change. i have a ea82 spfi with a dr 5 spd. is this the average mpg or is there something else i could be missing? thanks in advance for any help

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Too short of a drive to determine that you actually have low gas mileage. Average it out over the next few tank fulls.

 

FYI, my 88 SPFI D/R got only about 22 in the city, but I could get upwards 30 or so on the highway.

 

What kind of driving was this 144 mile trip?

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what kind of oil?? did you use heavier weight oil?

 

Did you change tranny or diff fluid at the same time?? if you put heavier oils into any of those three cases (engine, gearbox, diff) than they had in them, you will experience mileage decrease..

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Eeeesh. The only time my D/R SPFI EA82 has gotten that low was plowing through deep snow for almost the whole tank. I average about 28 usually, but the last three tanks, I gotten a little higher than 30. Alot of highway driving, and some mountain and offroad, but very little city traffic. The only thing different than normal is that I've been driving faster recently -- you'd think that would make it go down....

 

Z

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i have been noticing a decrese in mpg for a while. so today i did the math. it was mostly highway driving in town about 20 miles at most on this trip. im running 10w40 and 80-90 for tan/diff i belive. i know i am over my trans and diff change by about 5k. but with gas prices as they are does anyone have any idea or tips that could help produce better mpg? maybe a better air intake... :confused: also my trans has 300k+ on it but only 165k on the engine. maybe having bad alingment could contribute?

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for good mileage, you need..

 

Proper oils in their spots,

well greased bearings on all hubs, driveshaft carrier, EVERYthing,

Fairly well matched tires (at least) at their proper inflation

proper wheel alignment

properly functioning fuel injection/ignition system (filters, no codes, plugs wires cao and rotor, etc)

 

You might see a difference in retrofitting a second electrical fan in place of your clutch fan... but I dont think it would be much..

 

Any of these things I mentioned, along with any others mentioned above, need to be inspected and working properly or they will contribute to loss of fuel mileage.

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I second what dearon said..specially checking the bearings..my 92 EA82 SPFI FWD 5 spd...can get into the high 30s-low40s highway..but as his rear wheel bearings started to go that dropped drastically. A friend of mines Legacy did the same thing when the wheel bearings went.Just a thought.....also my XT6 ER27 5 spd Full time 4WD gets 26 highway...so something is definatly off.

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but as his rear wheel bearings started to go that dropped drastically.

 

My driveshaft carrier bearing was going out for the last year or so -- and I just had it replaced. Maybe that's the cause of the 2 - 3mpg jump I just observed. Certainly got rid of alot of vibration.

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I am going to replace the rear wheel bearing this weekend, replaced the front onw two weeks ago. I can't find anyone local who carries the drive shaft carrier bearing. Where do I look? 1987 GL Wagon, D/R 5 Speed, EA82 with a carb.

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I am going to replace the rear wheel bearing this weekend, replaced the front onw two weeks ago. I can't find anyone local who carries the drive shaft carrier bearing. Where do I look? 1987 GL Wagon, D/R 5 Speed, EA82 with a carb.

 

Apparently the driveshaft center bearing cannot be replaced. You need a new driveshaft.... I got a used one for mine, for $100 instead of $275 for a new one.

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Honestly, 26 doesn't seem that bad to me. I've never had an SPFI EA82. But all of my Carbed ones, 25-28 was the best I could ever get. And that was on long, exclusively highway trips cross country. When I delivered pizza for a while in my 86 carbed, I would get around 19-23 depending on how much I rushed it that night. That was all city driving. All of the suggestions here(bearings,fluids,draggin brakes, etc.) are good but I don't know how much more you'll really get from it. It is 20 years old as well. Mileage will go down on any given engine overtime, regardless of all other factors.

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curious if anyone could shed some light. on my 144 mile drive today i got 23.6 mpg. not even a week ago i did new plugs wires cap rotor all filters oil change. i have a ea82 spfi with a dr 5 spd. is this the average mpg or is there something else i could be missing? thanks in advance for any help

 

My '92 Loyale wagon is SPFI with 5spd 4wd. Most driving with it is around town and has been about 18-22 mpg. On a long trip where it is all highway I typically get 30+ mpg. So personally, I think there is probably some reason yours is getting worse than this.

 

I wonder about the 10w40. I thought the recommended oil was 10w30. Maybe the thicker oil could cause you to lose a bit of mileage.

 

It also wouldn't hurt to check your Mass Airflow Sensor. Some here have reported improvements by cleaning a dirty one. It's also possible that some other sensor like the O2 sensor could be marginal enough to cause a decrease in mileage, but not generate an engine code.

 

One other thing you could try is to reset the computer. It seems that the ECU uses some adaptive control systems and "learns" the engine and demands placed on it. If driving habits have changed or if a bad sensor has been replaced then resetting it will cause it to readapt to current conditions.

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I wonder about the 10w40. I thought the recommended oil was 10w30. Maybe the thicker oil could cause you to lose a bit of mileage.

 

 

I've started running only 5W50 synthetic in mine -- and it makes a noticeable difference in how the engine feels. With 10W40, it feels sort of sluggish, and with 10W30 it burns a quart every tank of gas.

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I've started running only 5W50 synthetic in mine -- and it makes a noticeable difference in how the engine feels. With 10W40, it feels sort of sluggish, and with 10W30 it burns a quart every tank of gas.

 

how many miles did you car have when you started running synthetic and does it leak like crazy now? i have no leaks and tend to keep it that way. and GD ill replace that sensor. any chance you can help me finish the wiring on my tranny?

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how many miles did you car have when you started running synthetic and does it leak like crazy now? i have no leaks and tend to keep it that way. and GD ill replace that sensor. any chance you can help me finish the wiring on my tranny?

 

About 195k when I switched, and 227k now It didn't leak at all then (the subaru shop was astounded), and it still doesn't leak. I must have gotten the only one. :cool: Every other suby I've owned has leaked a bit....

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how did the synthetic treat your lifters?

 

Much quiter on startup. I never had TOD on this one, except on cold startups after sitting a few days. I did try synthetic in my '85 wagon that had pretty loud TOD, and didn't make a bit of difference.

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