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There has to be something wrong...

No way!! Did you get a batch of bad gas? Doh!



Back on topic...

With my '96 ATX, I regularly got 25-27MPG city driving while beating on it. For mileage that crappy, It's got to be your MAF or upper O2 that is messed up.

BTW, I always clean my MAF a couple hundred miles after putting on a new K&N. A little bit of oil from the filter can get on the MAF wires.

HTH,
BP
 
ButtonPuncher said:
No way!! Did you get a batch of bad gas? Doh!
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i dont think its bad gas, although i did fill up at Shell with 93 earlier that day, it didnt have any problems before that run. one thing i did notice was on the scan gauge, since i was doing a performance run, it showed 0-60 in .2 Seconds i believe is what it said. Fastest Contour EVAR. :crazy: :crazy: :laugh: :laugh:
 
Here's what I can contribute: My ATX zetec, which I keep perfectly maintained but is driven by a woman, averages about 26-28 mpg, mostly on the highway.

It's not great compared to the 32mpg i consistently get in my Lancer, which could run circles around the zetec, but the car is paid off and mechanically reliable. I'm not complaining. Any lower than that and I think I'd be concerned. I reccommend using a good scan tool to look at your fuel trim numbers. I have a feeling you'll see that it's dumping extra fuel to compensate for something. A 0% fuel trim is ideal, but anything under 10% or so is ok. 20% will set a rich or lean code depending on which way it goes.

Check that out and let us know. It could end up being something as simple as a bad maf or upstream o2 sensor.
 
striker2 said:
i was driving the zetec saturday (making sure it was ready for SZ) and did a 0-60 run when i suddenly had no power. i limped it home and let it cool off a little. did a compression test later and had 115PSI on cylinders 1 and 2, 70PSI on cylinder 3, and cylinder 4 didnt even move the needle. :cry:

im going to try to tear into this week and see whats wrong. depending on what i find may give me an excuse to buy ohsigmachi's FRPP head and cams though :crazy:
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Sheesh, i wish i had money. lol
 
CustomX157 said:
Sheesh, i wish i had money. lol
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ill have to save for a little bit before i can actually buy the head if i do decide to buy it. as much as i want the FRPP head im actually hoping its something cheap and easy to fix, although im not holding my breath, so i can get the car back on the road.
 
striker2 said:
ill have to save for a little bit before i can actually buy the head if i do decide to buy it. as much as i want the FRPP head im actually hoping its something cheap and easy to fix, although im not holding my breath, so i can get the car back on the road.
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Understandably. Who wants to spend money they don't have to?

As for the gas talk, i just got right around 30 mpg on my last tank and i have exhaust and an ebay intake.
 
mcgarvey said:
Here's what I can contribute: My ATX zetec, which I keep perfectly maintained but is driven by a woman, averages about 26-28 mpg, mostly on the highway.

It's not great compared to the 32mpg i consistently get in my Lancer, which could run circles around the zetec, but the car is paid off and mechanically reliable. I'm not complaining. Any lower than that and I think I'd be concerned. I reccommend using a good scan tool to look at your fuel trim numbers. I have a feeling you'll see that it's dumping extra fuel to compensate for something. A 0% fuel trim is ideal, but anything under 10% or so is ok. 20% will set a rich or lean code depending on which way it goes.

Check that out and let us know. It could end up being something as simple as a bad maf or upstream o2 sensor.
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You speak of fuel trim...last time I checked, my long-term fuel trim was pegged at "25" or something close to that. What does that mean? I don't even know what the units were on that reading...At the time, I was getting a rich code, but it has since been cleared and never came back.
 
I got you all beat. I get almost 40mpg on the highways in my cougar, low to mid 30's in the city, and high 20's to low 30's on the windy side roads(but don't blame the car for the last one:laugh:).

A lot depends on how you drive the car. If you are constantly gunning it from a stop and trying to get up to speed as quick as possible, you are going to notice a decline in mileage. My biggest gas saver was learning to chill and accepting slower acceleration.
 
My ATX Zetec averages about 24 in town and I have seen it get as high as 42mpg on the road at a steady 65mph, but normally gets about 33 at 75-80.

The worst I ever have gotten in it was 20 and that was when it jumped time.

check your thermostat and coolant temp sensor for the computer. the sensor may be giving the computer bad info.
 
texan01 said:
My ATX Zetec averages about 24 in town and I have seen it get as high as 42mpg on the road at a steady 65mph, but normally gets about 33 at 75-80.

The worst I ever have gotten in it was 20 and that was when it jumped time.

check your thermostat and coolant temp sensor for the computer. the sensor may be giving the computer bad info.
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LIES.
 
when you accelerate hard does alot of noise come from the engine bay? It could be a VCT issue and bad timing.

I got under 20MPG with a VCT issue fixed it and getting alittle better the 25 now(i drive with a lead foot at on ramps and during stop and go city driving). Mine is an ATX too (headers, intake and exhaust work though)

also, you could find a tranny cooler kit on ebay for less then 20 and install it does wonders for the poor tranny. I got a fluidyne for like 15bucks, just needed to buy fittings.
 
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you guys also have to keep in mind the different refinement of fuel per state regulations.

In Michigan we get a winter mix of fuel that is designed to further prevent gas freezing, in some cases some states just leave the same mixture year round. Whenever I go to canada my gas mileage decreases by about 2-3 mpg when I use their gas, dont know why, just happens.
 
pre98zetec said:
Car ran like crap the day we got it off regular, same with the other, always pings in the upper rpms and gas mileage went down the crapper.. Premium has always ran good, its worth the 30c extra
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that's very weird... mine stalled about 3 times(when coming to complete stops) when I ran it on premium. When tank was half empty, I put regular to blend it in a bit because I had no idea what the hell was going on.

I too average 20-23 mpg, regular oil changes, sea foamed her ass last oil change, clean K&N...rarely stump on it. :help: :help: :help: :help: :help:

edit: might as well add this in: when the engine's cold, it sounds like a diesel; engine passed emissions with flying colours
 
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alex894 said:
that's very weird... mine stalled about 3 times(when coming to complete stops) when I ran it on premium. When tank was half empty, I put regular to blend it in a bit because I had no idea what the hell was going on.

I too average 20-23 mpg, regular oil changes, sea foamed her ass last oil change, clean K&N...rarely stump on it. :help: :help: :help: :help: :help:

edit: might as well add this in: when the engine's cold, it sounds like a diesel; engine passed emissions with flying colours
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Sounds exactly like mine.
 
Oh, I've got to get in on this thread. The wife was complaining of poor gas mileage (about 20mpg, all highway, down from 32). I work out-of-state so I took a look at it when I got home. No power; had to mash it or get run over. I lurked around here and got some wonderful input (Y'all are the BEST!). So I changed the coil pack first. Ran a bit better. Next time I came home it sounded like an old Johnnie Popper tractor. Changed the plugs (Autolite Double Platinum). Looked like 4 was the only one firing! The other 3 were quite wet. At least now it sounds like a vintage VW Beetle. Guess I'm getting closer. :crazy:
 
i know a lot of this has already been said, but i say change the spark plugs, wires, coil pack, pour sea foam in ur gas and in ur TB and run it around, also check the O2 sensor or just replace it, make sure ur Cat isnt clogged, i know that killed my power and gas mileage. i started off getting around 22-24 in my zetec. right after i hollowed the cat i was gettin about 28-30, and now with the chopped off exhaust and K&N cone filter i'm gettin 33-36 highway. i average 430 miles a tank.
 
AliasJerk said:
you guys also have to keep in mind the different refinement of fuel per state regulations.

In Michigan we get a winter mix of fuel that is designed to further prevent gas freezing, in some cases some states just leave the same mixture year round. Whenever I go to canada my gas mileage decreases by about 2-3 mpg when I use their gas, dont know why, just happens.
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Yeah. And the mandatory 10% ethanol here definately pwn3d my gas mileage. Just checked it yesterday on fill up, 20.21 mpgs, all city. Usually, I get about 17 winter city, 20 regular city, 22 mix, and 26 all highway.
 
Youngkidwithnomoney said:
Alright, how would I go about checking if my CAT is clogged? I'm probably going to get a Magnaflow res/muffler (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MAGN...VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247)

Any help with this would be great :)
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you're cat isnt clogged, its fine.

Zetec cat failure is as rare as a honda civic spinning a rod bearing under 100K miles. If your cat failed the car would be throwing a CEL for an inefficient catalyst, plus the car would run like :censored::censored::censored::censored:.

that resonator isnt a replacement for the cat BTW, I dont know if we were on the same page or not, the cat converter on the zetec is BOLTED directly to the exhaust manifold, I saw one on a pre98 that I just removed the other day with 160K miles on it, looked brand new still, the zetecs dont have carbon build up issues like the duratecs do (something to do with Zetecs being Iron blocks with aluminum heads).
 
That helps. What part of the exhaust will that res replace?







Yes, I know I'm a r-tard when it comes to cars, thats why I'm trying to learn as much as I can.

Thanks for your patience and help guys.
 
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