Great Mileage Hwy (27) Horrid City (14) Help

[mrbutz1]

New Member with 1994 ES300, 125K miles, bought from mom a couple months ago.

This forum is excellent, so much knowledge.

Here's my question, I'm getting about 14mpg city and I drive nice and smooth and slow all the time. Took recent trip on hwy and got about 27mpg...that's not bad.

bank 1 sensor 1 O2 replaced a couple weeks ago, engine light now off, but it had been ON with the bad O2 sensor for at least one YEAR before that (according to Mom!)

Power is okay, but not great, otherwise engine runs very smooth, no problems.

Based on reading through the threads here I plan to:

Change spark plugs (must wires be changed too, or can I wait on that?)

Check air pressure

(Air and Fuel filters replaced about 2K miles ago)

Perhaps try the Seafoam I keep reading about here.

How do I know if car is in "limp mode"?

Final question: can someone direct me to online manual-type thing with pics on how to change the spark plugs and how to locate carb, etc...so I can use the Seafoam.

THANK YOU!!

--mrb

[amf1932]

and how to locate carb

There's no carb on your engine.......it's fuel injected. :)

[mrbutz1]

and how to locate carb

There's no carb on your engine.......it's fuel injected. :)

Ah...my complete and total ignorance of engines and all things car-maintenance related has been exposed!

I presume the Seafoam treatment is still a good idea?

Why on earth would this thing get such good mileage hwy and such lousy city?

My wife is going to make me drive our Civic if I don't solve this problem!

[Rx330driver]

Do you live in a hilly area? If you still have the sticker from when your mom bought the car, you should check what city mpg it got when it was new. Now even when bought new, expect at least 2 mpg lower...and then take into consideration that its not new anymore. I would maybe try more coasting and just let the car roll. Are you doing this by calculation gallons by miles at the fuel station or is this by the car's computer? theres no possible way to truly get an accurate number unless you time it by full to when the light turns on.

[mrbutz1]

Do you live in a hilly area? If you still have the sticker from when your mom bought the car, you should check what city mpg it got when it was new. Now even when bought new, expect at least 2 mpg lower...and then take into consideration that its not new anymore. I would maybe try more coasting and just let the car roll. Are you doing this by calculation gallons by miles at the fuel station or is this by the car's computer? theres no possible way to truly get an accurate number unless you time it by full to when the light turns on.

Live in Chicago, not too many hills but hot, a/c, and lots of stops and starts. I drive pretty easy, especially once I realized I was sucked gas down. I calculated by # miles driven to how much gas I consumed, 94 Lexi doesn't have the cool little computer unfortunately. Weird, but I'm trying a few things (posted on them already) to see if I can knock it up. Otherwise it's back to my Civic according to the wife! Nooooooooooo!

[Rx330driver]

lol, my rx is suppose to get 18 in town and i get 13 at best...yes i know it hurts me every time i pull into a gas station. On the other hand, the 24 its suppose to get on the freeway actually is accurate. getting from 0 to 30 miles is the most fuel consuming part of acceleration. If theres a lot of that action, then theres no way to help it.