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Bad Mileage


catt14

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Eleven months ago I bought my first lexus. It's a 92 LS400 and had 208K miles. I was impressed by the good mileage I was getting, about 23-24 all city driving. Throughout the winter however I noticed a decrease to about 17mpg. This wasn't a gradual decrease, I just happened to notice that was the best I was getting. With the changes in temp. very cold here often zero degrees and colder, using the auto start on the coldest days, and driving on winter tires....could this have caused my drop in mileage?

Talked with mechanic today during oil change and had the air filter changed then added fuel system cleaner. Along with with these changes and warmer temps in the coming weeks I'm hoping this will help bring my mileage back up. My next step I guess would be to change the fuel filter.

Now here's my question. Where exactly is the fuel filter on a 92 LS400? Someone once told me it was in the gas tank....which would be quite spendy. I'm hoping I was misinformed but if that's the case I need to budget accordingly for this next repair. I've seen lots of post of fuel filters, but never one for the 92.

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Eleven months ago I bought my first lexus. It's a 92 LS400 and had 208K miles. I was impressed by the good mileage I was getting, about 23-24 all city driving. Throughout the winter however I noticed a decrease to about 17mpg. This wasn't a gradual decrease,  I just happened to notice that was the best I was getting. With the changes in temp. very cold here often zero degrees and colder, using the auto start on the coldest days, and driving on winter tires....could this have caused my drop in mileage?

Talked with mechanic today during oil change and had the air filter changed then added fuel system cleaner. Along with with these changes and warmer temps in the coming weeks I'm hoping this will help bring my mileage back up. My next step I guess would be to change the fuel filter.

Now here's my question. Where exactly is the fuel filter on a 92 LS400? Someone once told me it was in the gas tank....which would be quite spendy. I'm hoping I was misinformed but if that's the case I need to budget accordingly for this next repair. I've seen lots of post of fuel filters, but never one for the 92.

on an ES, i could tell you where the filter is, but on an LS, im the worng person. i do know it not in the gas tank though.

as for your drop in mileage, check your tire pressure. believe it or not, that has alot to do with fuel mileage.

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are up sure you had the mpg figured out correctly when it was warm? i have never known a 92 ls to get that good of mpg in the city, driving in any kind of weather. 17 in the city, in the winter, sounds excellent to me. i don't think the car was rated much more than that for city driving when it was new :unsure:

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I agree. If I got mileage like that I think I'd faint.

I only get lo-mid teens in the city with a 1990 with 138k.

glenmore

1990 LS400

1991 300CE

are up sure you had the mpg figured out correctly when it was warm? i have never known a 92 ls to get that good of mpg in the city, driving in any kind of weather. 17 in the city, in the winter, sounds excellent to me. i don't think the car was rated much more than that for city driving when it was new :unsure:

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I drove a 90 LS through 13 winters (to 183,000 miles) and 17 mpg sounds quite good for winter/city driving. The later LS400's with 5-speed automatic transmissions get a bit better mileage. I think the best highway mpg I ever got on my 4-speed 90 was about 24.5. On my 5-speed 00 LS, tank mpg has exceeded 29 mpg more than once although this was done by setting the cruise on 65 mph and driving very conservatively.

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Yes I'm sure I figured my mileage correctly. Was getting over 400 miles on a tank and pumped between 17-18 gal. when next filled her up. Seems from all of your feedback that I'm doing just fine for the winter months and once it warms up and I get my summer tires back on I should back up to the low to mid 20's.

If not, I will look into having the fuel filter changed, as I don't know when/if it was ever done.

Thanks

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Your fuel filter isn't going to cause you to get poor gas mileage. It's more likely that your gas mileage decrease would be because of a bad O2 sensor.

The colder the air the richer your car runs = decrease in MPG.

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Eleven months ago I bought my first lexus. It's a 92 LS400 and had 208K miles. I was impressed by the good mileage I was getting, about 23-24 all city driving. Throughout the winter however I noticed a decrease to about 17mpg. This wasn't a gradual decrease,  I just happened to notice that was the best I was getting. With the changes in temp. very cold here often zero degrees and colder, using the auto start on the coldest days, and driving on winter tires....could this have caused my drop in mileage?

Talked with mechanic today during oil change and had the air filter changed then added fuel system cleaner. Along with with these changes and warmer temps in the coming weeks I'm hoping this will help bring my mileage back up. My next step I guess would be to change the fuel filter.

Now here's my question. Where exactly is the fuel filter on a 92 LS400? Someone once told me it was in the gas tank....which would be quite spendy. I'm hoping I was misinformed but if that's the case I need to budget accordingly for this next repair. I've seen lots of post of fuel filters, but never one for the 92.

Winter tires probably have more rolling resistance than summer tires.

Warming your car up in the winter takes longer especially when you want the

cars interior toasty warm. autostart+10min. warm up . burning gas going nowhere

is bound to drop mpg.

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your fule filter can and will affect your mileage and you should change it with the OEM filter which is around 25$ at the dealer, the filter is located next to your rear differential and its really hard to change without the lift. i would recommend going to mechanic to change iit. this way you will save yourself some time and prevent gas getting into your eyes. :D

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On my 5-speed 00 LS, tank mpg has exceeded 29 mpg more than once although this was done by setting the cruise on 65 mph and driving very conservatively.

Driving conservatively is the only way to go. Year round I get 20/26 mpg in my old, high mile '95 because I accelerate very slowly and use nothing but cruise control on the freeway. These cars get as little or as much fuel econ as you decide(so long as they are in good repair).

i would take it to the dealer

Not if you want the fuel filter changed; two of the three dealers in Louisiana wouldn't change the fuel filter on my '95-it's "lieftime." :wacko: Nothing was wrong with it; I wanted it done just because. BTW, where is Ramrat, TX? I can't seem to find it on MapQuest, google, Lexus.com etc. <_<

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