My Mpg On First Tank

[IlyaIlya]

hey guys, I put in 93octane and I drove it in city/highway, about 50/50, with some days with AC sometimes pressing gas pedal quite a bit, and i got 260 mile ,

is that decent? I m going to put in chevron Techron, fuel injection cleaner, and then going to try 89-91octane fuel, and see if my mpg will be better, I think over 250 is decent in city driving especially with AC 70% of time, cause my bonneville/talon was getting about that much, I highly doubt that getting a tune up will improve the mpg much anyways, but maybe next year i ll try if my plugs/wires are bad.

Just curious on your thoughts.

Thanx

[bkchig]

Hi, I have the same issue. I bought a new es330...now with 2K on it...and I average 300 miles per tank. Now, the 'Empty' light comes on early (way early in my opinion) at 260 miles, but at 300 miles it's below the E-line. I was told it had a 18.5 gallon tank, but everytime I fill up, it's only 16 gallons...that's going from below the E-line to topping it off. Do any of you any idea what's going on???

Also, I drive 50/50 city/highway

[steviej]

the fuel gauge is set to read empty with a few gallons left in the tank SO YOU WON'T RUN THE TANK DRY.

Lexus has electric fuel pumps and the residual gas in the tank will insure that the pump is immersed in the gas. Being constantly immersed in gas cools the pump so that it does not overheat and burn out prematurely.

It is very poor practice to let your tank get below 1/4.

As for gas mileage questions, it would help in the calculation if we knew exactly how much gas was used.

Fill the tank, drive until you fill it up again. Divide the total number of miles driven by the number of gallons used to fill it up again. This will be accurate. :D

Don't assume that full to the empty light is 18.5 gallons. You won't like the mileage you get. :(

steviej

[blake918]

How many gallons did you use to go 260miles? That will be the greatest indication of how you're doing...hopefully that wasn't a full tank! I drive my ES in a very spirited manor, and I still get atleast 18mpg(depends on how many times I punch it!)-the a/c is always on to help with this southern heat. The best way to save gas is to go easy on the accelerator. Accelerate smoothly(only pin the gas to dodge a Mack truck or something! lol), and you'll see your gas mileage go up greatly. What I do is pick a rpm limit and don't accelerate past it(I chose 2k rpms, and I went from 16mpg to 20mpg in the city. This is in my LS; the ES always got good gas mileage, so I never bothered trying to increase it!)--in the city only.

I also find the gas light annoying! In my LS, the light comes on with 5 gallons left in the tank which is 100 city miles--a little overkill there! I monitor my gas with the trip odo because I find that the gas needle doesn't move in proportion to my actual gas usage--kinda aggrovating!

[Lexusfreak]

When was the last major tune up on your ES Il? I get between 360 & 380 (mixed city & highway) & I got over 500 miles on a tank on my way to Florida in May! I use Sunoco Ultra 94 gas! (in Canada at least) It's the very best! B)

[IlyaIlya]

lexusfreak, I dont know about tune up, and No i wont be using sunco 94 heh, since its gone here and cost TOO Much, I ll try lower octane after i get injection cleaner, 380 sounds awsome, but your city driving is prolly way diffrent then city driving in nyc, I heard a lot of people getting 16mpg on their Chevy blazers in other city's but my dad only manages 10-11 tops, but on highway only he gets up to 22, so this shows that nyc is pretty bad city driving. I find anything over 16mpg is pretty decent in nyc, especially with AC on,

as for the comment about never going lower then 1/4, I dont know about that, I heard it before, but if it was true, wouldnt it be written somewhere in manual? I dont think there should be a problem going from full to almost empty tank, although i heard people say that at very end you end up sucking up the dirtiest fuel at bottom, ( on some cars) dont know if true or not, I guess I ll just start to fill up when the light comes on, unless i have no time, then i ll drive it few other miles. I ll tell u guys about how many galons that 260 was on when i fill up, that way i ll know for sure, thanx

[IlyaIlya]

OK I filled up with techron stuff and full tank of gas, it came out to be 15.200 galons,

so that comes out to be 17mpg, which aint bad, I ll see how it does with 89, and then 87 fuel ,

[norcallexus]

Hmm, you might want to do as others have suggested and look in to a tune-up. I just filled my tank today. Went a total of 415.0 miles and used 16.50 gallons to fill-up. That figures to be 25.15 MPG and that is also with about 50/50 city and freeway driving.

[kyle0k]

my last tank i got 20 mpg,thats like 85% city.also i gunned it alot in the last 1\4 tank.

afterwards i filled up and right now im getting so good gas milage it seems,like im almost 100 miles and not even 1\4 the tank is gone and thats according to the fuel gauge. so either all that gunning it cleared out alot of carbon deposit which made it run better or my gauge is just wrong.

also i had a question,im a ten so i watch my money spending closely and when i started to have to pay for gas ive stopped using A\C :) and on downward hills i flip my car into nuetral which usually lowers rpms from liek 2 1\2 or 2 all the way to liek 1. is this bad for the car switching back and forth,of course im not accelerating while switching.

[bkchig]

260 is on a 16 gallon fill up. Actually, I don't "gun" the throttle at all. It's a brand new car, I bought it with 8 miles on it. Now it has a little over 2000 miles on it. The light comes on at about 260 miles (that's 1/4above the E-line). I can go another about 40 miles until it gets to the "e-line." Now, I do like to go fast. I probably average 85mph on the highway and I'm fast in-and-around town. On the trip-meter, it's always says I average 48 mph. I'm guessing I average about 18.5 mpg. That's not good. What could be the issue?

[steviej]

as for the comment about never going lower then 1/4, I dont know about that, I heard it before, but if it was true, wouldnt it be written somewhere in manual?

Page 46 of my 2002 Lexus Owner's Manual ES 300.

sj

[IlyaIlya]

"

Page 46 of my 2002 Lexus Owner's Manual ES 300.

"

I stand corrected then ; ) thanx for pointing that out,

[IlyaIlya]

"Hmm, you might want to do as others have suggested and look in to a tune-up. I just filled my tank today. Went a total of 415.0 miles and used 16.50 gallons to fill-up. That figures to be 25.15 MPG and that is also with about 50/50 city and freeway driving.

"

well your car is 4 years younger, and prolly has much less miles on it, and i m sure california city driving is like highway driving in nyc ; ) also , did you have AC on at that time?

[Lexusfreak]

Do you know when the last time your car had a tune up Il? if at all? The reason the members are suggesting it is in the long run it's a worthy investment to have the car running at peak condition. If the spark plugs are worn, fuel filter slightly clogged & even the air filter dirty.....it makes a big difference on fuel economy (especially considering the prices at the pumps these days). Do you have a digital tire pressure gauge? It's a $8 - 10 item that is worth it's weight in gold.......keep your tires at the correct pressure will also improve fuel economy. Do all that & I'd be willing to bet you will see a vast improvement even in the NYC area. There are even more things you can do but the ones mentioned here are the basics. B)

[IlyaIlya]

Lexusfreak, Ye i have the the air gauge, and air filter is new, i will be checking plugs that i can get to easily soon, and will prolly just replace fuel filter, but i would probably guarantee that it will not improve gas performance, As funny as it is, all the cars we had in nyc we had problems with gas, dads first car was plymouth voyager, ate gas likea horce and was v4, he replaced ALMOST EVERYthing and still nothing, next was my bonneville, it gotten 14mpg, and at end even with tune ups etc it was getting 12-14, my talon was diffrent, cause i was messing with fuel etc, but it still at like 17-18 mpg, not dads chevi blazer eats 10mpg , and tune up did not do any improvement for him, i think its just the conditions of where we live, since i can be at a light for 2-3 minutes, and see 3 lights like that plus other stops/lights, so thats like 5 minutes of idling even on a 10 min trip, and idling burns gas like crazy too ; ) i ll see how my next gas tank will be, and i ll see how it does on lower octane fuel, usually lower octane lasts 20% longer in all our cars that we had thanx

[Lexusfreak]

Keep us posted. I know that with a tune up, you won't get any less MPG than with the parts you have in there now & I doubt a lower octane fuel will increase fuel economy. I'm a bit suprised you mention that "lower octane lasts 20% longer in our cars", but like I said....let us know. ;)

[norcallexus]

"well your car is 4 years younger, and prolly has much less miles on it,  and i m sure california city driving is like highway driving in nyc ; ) also , did you have AC on at that time?"

My morning commute is all freeway driving and light stop and go traffic. However, the evening return trip is almost all stop and go traffic. Ave. speeds vary from 10 MPH to 65 MPH. But I try not to do jackrabbit starts and stops unless it's a critical hazard situation that requires getting out of the way quickly. And yes, here in the Sacramento Valley in August the temperatures have been near 100 degrees so AC is definitely necessary. I would think you should be getting 20 MPG or better if your car was running at its best with good plugs, clean air filter, fuel filter, etc. Also it doesn't seem to matter for my car if I use 87 octane or 91 octane. Still get around 25 to 28 MPG.

[SW03ES]

260 is on a 16 gallon fill up. Actually, I don't "gun" the throttle at all. It's a brand new car, I bought it with 8 miles on it. Now it has a little over 2000 miles on it. The light comes on at about 260 miles (that's 1/4above the E-line). I can go another about 40 miles until it gets to the "e-line." Now, I do like to go fast. I probably average 85mph on the highway and I'm fast in-and-around town. On the trip-meter, it's always says I average 48 mph. I'm guessing I average about 18.5 mpg. That's not good. What could be the issue?

Its the way you drive, very gas unfriendly. That coupled with the fact that the car is still pretty new it needs to break in, my gas mileage continues to improve and I'm to almost 30,000 miles now.

[kyle0k]

my cars a 1996 and i dont thinnk its ever had a tune up. was thinking about getting one but decided i didnt have 700 dollars to spend one something thats not broken(well dont even have 700 in the first place)