Bad economy after car sat for 70 days. Changing plugs. Ruthenium? Other Suggestions?

[mohammad]

Oh I'm pretty hypermill-y. Don't even put the heat on unless its -20. No hard breaking. I will check the oil too, though I don't think that's one of our problems.

How do you defog the windows without turning on the heat?

[Spadesheart]

How do you defog the windows without turning on the heat?

Turn on for a few seconds as needed to defrost the windows. The car has a PTC for heating so it heats up very quickly. Maybe 3 minutes on during an hours drive as needed? I do use the seat warmer, which if you have one with a seat warmer is surprisingly intense.

[Spadesheart]

That doesn't sound good. Hope you get it all back to normal Spadesheart.

This has been happening for years now, more as the weather gets colder. If it is just the spark plugs, I'm an idiot and probably would have saved like $1000 on fuel by now.

[Fummins]

You could always do what I did and replace the engine and transmission with ones from a low mileage(under 6000km) 2017. I went from 8.5l/100km last Feb to 5.9l/100km this month. I also changed the air filter and stopped idling for 30 mins most days.

[Spadesheart]

You could always do what I did and replace the engine and transmission with ones from a low mileage(under 6000km) 2017. I went from 8.5l/100km last Feb to 5.9l/100km this month. I also changed the air filter and stopped idling for 30 mins most days.

What makes this particular engine so prone to economy degradation? I can't say I've encountered such a steep decline in any other car percentage wise. The sentra had consistant usage the whole time I had it, in fact.

[mohammad]

What makes this particular engine so prone to economy degradation? I can't say I've encountered such a steep decline in any other car percentage wise. The sentra had consistant usage the whole time I had it, in fact.

my best guess would be a slow loss of compression in the engine and the cvt fluid going bad, remember as the paper cvt filter begins to clog up, it takes more fuel/force/effort to push cvt fluid through that filter. Ive got a youtube video linked below that teaches you how to change the cvt fluid and both filters.

The other obvious causes talked about on the form are tire ages, tire sizes, sticking brakes due to rust. And broken fuel injectors causing fuel to spray unevenly. Alot of people on the form recommend Techron https://mirageforum.com/forum/showth...ll=1#post92647

[AtomicPunk]

my best guess would be a slow loss of compression in the engine and the cvt fluid going bad, remember as the paper cvt filter begins to clog up, it takes more fuel/force/effort to push cvt fluid through that filter. Ive got a youtube video linked below that teaches you how to change the cvt fluid and both filters.

The other obvious causes talked about on the form are tire ages, tire sizes, sticking brakes due to rust. And broken fuel injectors causing fuel to spray unevenly. Alot of people on the form recommend Techron https://mirageforum.com/forum/showth...ll=1#post92647

I agree with running a bottle of techron through it. Not expensive, and just may help.

[Fummins]

What makes this particular engine so prone to economy degradation? I can't say I've encountered such a steep decline in any other car percentage wise. The sentra had consistant usage the whole time I had it, in fact.

I forgot to mention that my economy went to 5.7-5.9 from March to June. Weather makes the biggest change my fuel economy. I don’t know how you used to average 53mpg in a cvt, I saw some of you Fuelly log from 2018, that looks more realistic but still really good.

For those that don’t know, he’s got a 2014 cvt Mirage and is somewhere in Ontario and who knows how many miles are on it. Same goes for the weather for the last 4 tanks(800kms?)…..

[Spadesheart]

I forgot to mention that my economy went to 5.7-5.9 from March to June. Weather makes the biggest change my fuel economy. I don’t know how you used to average 53mpg in a cvt, I saw some of you Fuelly log from 2018, that looks more realistic but still really good.

For those that don’t know, he’s got a 2014 cvt Mirage and is somewhere in Ontario and who knows how many miles are on it. Same goes for the weather for the last 4 tanks(800kms?)…..

The first two years I had the car were mind bogglingly good. I bought it with 28000 km so it was more or less new. I drive mostly highway, and I drive with fuel economy in mind. No hard breaking, LRR tires (on the front) in the summer, minimal AC in the summer, minimal heat in the winter, acceleration downhill when possible, etc. I forgot I even had fuelly, but I started tracking when the decrease in economy was becoming apparent. I just looked and yeah, I remember that the average I had there would have been almost 0.5 L/100 km higher than it was the year before.

The car is admittedly middle aged at 208000 km. Car started with a half tank of old gas which I was expecting bad economy out of but I've done 3 fill ups since. It appears to be marginally better? I assume that's because it warmed up, but I'm still in the mid 7s, which is much higher than usual still.

[7milesout]

Whoever brought up the brake dragging, I'm still on board with that. Just a mild bit of brake dragging. Not brake smoking dragging ... just a little. But it adds up. One time I went bicycle riding with a group of friends on a borrowed bike. I noticed before we took off that the one I was using had just a tiny bit of rear brake drag. But it was hella minor. So I rode with them. I trailed the whole time. I struggled and huffed and puffed the whole time.

I switched bike with my brother and his bike felt like it would coast going uphill! And it was then we realized just how much energy those slightly dragging brakes were wasting.

Anywho - I might be sending you off on the wrong track, but it's worth a check.