poor mileage 86 740 gle

Plenty, blocked or leaking exhaust or ignition timing are possible preliminary suspects. It has been suggested (though I haven't noticed myself) that with current high petrol prices and supply problems, there might be some adulteration. On that subject, has anyone heard of using small amounts of acetone to improve engine performance?

Have you checked the thermostat in the air cleaner to make sure that the hot air from the heat riser is shut off during normal operating temperatures?

Could a stuck-open cooling system themostat cause the motor to run too cold, fooling the computer into thinking it needs a richer mixture?

Have you changed the air filter lately?

Have you checked the brakes? Could be a stuck caliper or dragging e-brake shoe. Maybe a rusty e-brake cable

How poor is the mileage?

__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"

I've heard of people doing this, apparently it boosts the octane, but it can also break down the gasoline, as well as it's an excellent solvent and will quickly rot out rubber and plastic components in the fuel system. I'm sticking to plain old ordinary gasoline in my cars.

Risking burning a $4000 car to the ground against an octane point or two is just bad math.

Speaking of cars and math, Redd Foxx said, "I ain't gonna crash my car dodging no damn cat. The way I see it, a $28,000 Cadillac goes over a

28 cent cat once with nothing left over."

__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"

Risking burning a $4000 car to the ground against an octane point or two is just bad math.

Speaking of cars and math, Redd Foxx said, "I ain't gonna crash my car dodging no damn cat. The way I see it, a $28,000 Cadillac goes over a

28 cent cat once with nothing left over."

__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"

Of course. I haven't tried it but wondered if anyone had without any problems so I don't take any risks. If one could bank on nothing more than saving fuel then it would be worth it, but not without a lot of positive comments I'm not about to. Thanks for replies.

check catylatic converter to see if it clogged could be part of problem

I've had a couple of plugged cats - the most obvious symptom is that the accelerator operates normally up to maybe half throttle, then nothing happens when the accelerator is pushed more.

Mike

i had the air filter changed abut a minth ago and the brkes also im getting maybe 14 mpg but its not running rich hardly anysmoke form tailpipe

Either it's running rich, something is causing a LOT of drag, or it's leaking fuel. Half your gas is going somewhere and it's not simply vanishing into an alternate universe. There could be a bunch of unburned fuel dumping into the exhaust and burning up in the cat but you should be getting at least 24 mpg, probably higher.

if it was running rich wouldt i be getting alot of smoke and i havent seen any puddles under my car could a clogged converter be causing this + i just had the muffler replaced cause it blew up

Here's another data set from the other side of the box:

-Odometer reading is incorrect

-Bad math

-Some else is resetting the trip odometer mid-tank

-Someone is stealing gas from it

__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"

Running rich won't necessarily make it smoke, the cat will burn up the excess fuel, often it will even get red hot. If the converter is clogged it's usually the result of running rich and melting down.

the odometer is broke but i have drove to school usually in a diff car and it is 18 mile 1 trip and i am getting maybe 10 trips to a tank

Fixing the odometer would be a good place to start, but yeah I would expect

15-20 trips depending on whether it's highway or around town. If I do entirely around town I get about 18 mpg, 25 on the highway, I've gotten a bit higher in the past but I'm overdue for a tuneup.

i just took it for a spin and looked at the cat converter and it wasnt red