My 1999 RX 300 has a very poor gas mileage, the best I get is 16 MPG, I have a mechanic look at it and they replaced the spark plugs, Tune- up, fuel injection cleaning and throttle body cleaning, it didn't help much, I took it back and they don't know what else to do to get better gas mileage, my wife tells me that it runs litle heavy specially when you turn the car, I didn't feel it, someone told me 99 has transmission issues and that might be a problem. I am at lost now, please help.
Abid
It sounds like it is your wife's driver. If so, I'd swap vehicles for a while to eliminate/expose any driving habit variables.
Additionally, is you '99 RX300 suppose to get significantly better mileage that 16?
What kind of spark plugs were installed?
How many miles on the odometer? It your RX front or all wheel drive?
What type of driving is the vehicle used for? If it is used primarily for very short trips, the engine will not warm up sufficiently to go into closed loop operation.
What are the typical driving conditions? City? Highway? Stop-and-go? What is the terrain like? Are the roads hilly?
What kind of cargo and passengers are typically in the vehicle?
When was the transmission fluid changed and what is the condition of the automatic transmission fluid?
What pressure are the tires inflated to?
Thanks Ray, odometer reading is 104,000, front wheel drive, mostly city driving in Houston, TX, short trips, no hills, mostly no cargo, wife and two kids or all four of us, ATF looks clean but I have no idea when it was changed, I check the pressure and now it is 32 on all
4 tires, coupld of them were low 27/28.Abid
*********** Abid,I think that the mostly short trips, and perhaps a heavy foot, are causing the relatively poor fuel economy, although according to this EPA web site:
I would inflate the tires to 35 or 36 PSI cold to improve tire life and fuel economy.
Thanks Ray, The link really helps, I will inflate the tires to 35.
Abid
********** You're welcome! Try to combine the numerous short trips into fewer longer ones where the engine has a chance to warm up completely. Your fuel economy should improve a little.Abid, I also live in Houston, and my wife's 99 RX gets similar useage as you describe.
We typically get about 17 MPG in town, and about 21 MPG on a road trip, both, of course with the A/C on. Recently the mileage gradually dropped to
14.5/19, and a carbon-cleaning procedure and tune-up restored the mileage to 17/21.See the thread titled "99 RX-300 Ignition Coil Falure " for the full story.
Good Luck!
Good suggession, we will do that, it just that sometime short trips is all we have to do, drop off kid to a friends house, pick up movies or food from Mc Donalds, quick stop to grocery store to pickup milk, stuff like that, but with the gas price these days, we will make fewer short trips, BTW my MB E500 gives me 18/19 in City and 23/24 on High, bigger engine more HP - go figure.
Abid
*************** I'm getting 18 to 19 MPG in suburban driving and 21 ~ 16 in highway driving in my LS 430. I think the bigger engine doesn't have to work as hard as the smaller one, and a light foot results in decent mileage like you are getting in your Mercedes.Oh good grief !!!! STOP WORRYNG ABOUT MILAGE !!!!!! Just go drive like you have to. My grandfather only took one trip a week, about 20 miles, and got excellent milage. He died anyway!!! So just go ahead and burn up the stupid mid-easterner's gas and oil, and then we will sell them ours when the price is really high because by that time we will drill all over the shores and cities and other pretty places because we will feel comfortable doing it at $1823/bbl.
Wow. Something intelligent from McBrewski. Be still my heart, will wonders never cease!
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