Hey everyone.
Thanks for the tips, and a few more questions. If anyone has even more tips for better mileage, I'm all ears.
First of all, I'm going to change my air filter. It sounds like CtlAltDel does this fairly often, and he gets good mileage (in KC, which is a hilly town (and my hometown)). By the way, the car has no mods that I know of or can see.
And regarding the tips from Mr. Arslanyan,
I should, but probably won't, put headers on because I'll want to take them off to get smogged (CA has, let us say, a non-intuitive way of looking at smog requirements, and you have to "smog" the car every two years. I don't know anything about NJ requirements. They may and probably do make more sense, and allow more leeway for responsible owners to mod their cars.)
But the electric water pump intrigues me, since the belt-driven (I assume) water pumps on the Contour are supposed to be bad anyway. Would you tell me what kind of electric water pump you got, and was it difficult to install? I probably won't do the work myself (two small kids/full time job), but I will get it done for the right price if I know what has to be done. Would you email me about the electric pump?
dfrank1@cox.net One of the things I assumed would be true when I got the SVT was a mileage improvement over my 86 Maxima, making up for the premium fuel price. Well, that hasn't happened. Part of the problem is "SVT". You want to put the pedal down now and then just for fun. You can't "not" do it.
But 17 to 18 mpg is really not very good at all, and that's what I've been averaging (reading the trip odometer and the gas pumped in at fillup). I want 20 mpg.
Originally posted by Chris Arslanyan:
Headers got me almost 2pts and the electric water pump got me 4mpg! I am now average 26mpg highway and 22mpg city.
