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New Contour owner. Bought it at a public auction for a great price. Not so great deal after having to get the transmission replaced, though!! Oh well, live and learn. Anyway, it's a '98 SE (2.5l Duratec). So far, I'm really pleased with the ride quality and performance, but DANG!!! it gets bad gas mileage. My commute is ~35 miles and I bought this car thinking it would be decent on gas. It is only getting 20 mpg. My old BMW 535is gets 25! and it's got a 3.5l !!
Is this normal fuel economy? If so, it's gotta go.
One small tidbit of info: The CEL comes and goes. I had the codes read at AutoZone and sure enough, it is indicating a problem with one of the O2 sensors (out of range-high).
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to start nickle and diming this thing to try to improve mileage, if this is the best I can expect.
Thanks,
Jason
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Originally posted by jrc:
New Contour owner. Bought it at a public auction for a great price. Not so great deal after having to get the transmission replaced, though!! Oh well, live and learn. Anyway, it's a '98 SE (2.5l Duratec). So far, I'm really pleased with the ride quality and performance, but DANG!!! it gets bad gas mileage. My commute is ~35 miles and I bought this car thinking it would be decent on gas. It is only getting 20 mpg. My old BMW 535is gets 25! and it's got a 3.5l !!
Is this normal fuel economy? If so, it's gotta go.
One small tidbit of info: The CEL comes and goes. I had the codes read at AutoZone and sure enough, it is indicating a problem with one of the O2 sensors (out of range-high).
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to start nickle and diming this thing to try to improve mileage, if this is the best I can expect.
Thanks,
Jason
thats prob the problem...the mpg on these cars is greatly affected by cel's...with no o2's i pushing 30mpg
"Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and drunkenness sobered, but STUPID lasts forever."-Aristophanes.
--93 pgt,headers,intake,borla=14.9 1/4mile
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OK. Thanks. I don't guess it will kill me to replace the sensors and see if that helps. Are these cars like all others in that the O2 sensors in back of the CATs don't change anything? Only the ones before the CAT affects the mixture, right? The code I got wasn't specific as to which sensor it was.
BTW, your reply says that you have NO O2 sensors. Do you mean that they simply aren't generating an error or have you taken them completely out of the loop?
Thx,
Jason
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He has eliminated the downstreams (the ones after the cat, which don't affect mileage, or mixture, so his statement has no bearing on your situation.  ) You should be expecting mid 20's with mixed driving and a heavy foot. Cut it down to 3000rpm shifts (before the secondaries open up) and you can improve on that... Highway's can see above 32 on a well maintained car. Get that code number from Autozone when you see the CEL again. Post the number itself and we can greatly educe the guesswork of what to replace. (The 2.5 has 4 o2's. two upstream and two downstreams) Ray
'99 CSVT - Silver #222/276
In a constant state of blow-off euphoria.
Originally posted by Kremitthefrog:
I like to wear dresses and use binoculars to watch grandmas across the street.
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my bad i meant NEW sensors improved mpg 
"Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and drunkenness sobered, but STUPID lasts forever."-Aristophanes.
--93 pgt,headers,intake,borla=14.9 1/4mile
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I've got a similar problem...I'll have to do the math to convert from litres to miles (Canada here), but driving a 98SE 2.5L I'm getting pretty lousy mileage.
I just replaced the 02 sensors as well, so I don't think thats it. My CEL has been on for awhile. I replaced my ignition coil when cylinder 4 stopped firing, and the CEL went out for about 24 hours and it came back on.
**EDIT** I'm getting about 21mpg
Last edited by Ataris; 08/14/05 12:16 AM.
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Any means to diagnose that CEL? Scanner, etc, in the North?
Ray
'99 CSVT - Silver #222/276
In a constant state of blow-off euphoria.
Originally posted by Kremitthefrog:
I like to wear dresses and use binoculars to watch grandmas across the street.
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CEG\'er
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My own 2.0 Liter DOHC 1998 ATX Zetec gets 25 around town and 33 on the highway. It runs perfect. My fatherin law's 2.5L SE ATX 1998 with only 22,000 miles and no problems gets 20 to 22 in town. I dont believe anyone claiming fantastic mileage for these cars. MPG claims might sound attractive and get you to buy, but the reality is always lower.
Anyone ever heard of water injection to help mpg?
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Originally posted by sdowney717:
Anyone ever heard of water injection to help mpg?
Huh???????????
"Always do the cheap and easy ones first."
1996 V6 ATX 96K miles
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