I just picked up a 95 Civic to try and save money on gas. I was just looking at some folks mpg and they seem to be getting the mid 20 to 30's.

Not sure if something is wrong but last week I filled the tank and reset the trip odemeter, I filled up again yesterday and with 333.8 miles I only needed 7.12 gallons. Thats 46.8 mpg. The previous owner said the only mod to it was a k&n drop in filter, it has 173,000, standard and my driving would be considered mostly highway. It's a 15 mile drive to work with 1 yeild and 2 traffic lights. Any one ever heard of the Civic getting that kind of mileage?

wat kinda civic first of all? No one would expect an Si or EX or even LX/DX to get that kinda mileage. The only one that has that potential is a CX (?) with the economy VTEC-E i think.

I just checked, it's a LX with 1.5l engine. How do I know if it is a cx or vtec engine? I've seen many things posted here about Bxxx and Hxxx engines, how do I find which one mine has?

vette_7t9,
"No one would expect an Si or EX or even LX/DX to get that kinda mileage. "

Careful before you make a statement. I have a 92 DX Civic, all stock with 240,000+ miles. Every fill up I get above 38mpg in the winter and 44mpg in the summer. These are a mix of highway and city driving. I am guessing that people who get low mpg have either moded their car or their valve clearance is way off. I keep track of my mpg and when it starts to drop, it's time to adjust the valves.

jetaylorpb,
It should say on the front of the engine.

Yep, my Si EVEN at the near 300k line still gets roughly 38-42mpg on any given day as long as i don't have a lead foot. And my exhaust manifold is cracked :rofl:

Aren't hondas just... the greatest?

Maybe i should adjust my valves....and i drive pretty high rpms all the time hehe. I just figured from the EPA mileage ratings since i havnt seen any above 40 mpg ratings for any civic other than the CX that the others cant get that kinda mileage...i think maybe i are wrong =(

Holy crap! I get around 240 miles from topped off tank to 98% empty tank (yes I know its bad driving below E) How in the hell? ERRR and no one has ever been able to help me on why my milage sucks. I just redid my valves + timing myself and DAMNNNN does my car pull harder! I have not filled up since yet to retest my gas milage since the adjustments, so that 240 may have gone up. I have also just ordered a grounding kit + electric stabalizer which will get here next week. I'm looking for as much milage I can get. I dont need power in my civic, thats why I have my GSR. I did not expect that by just redoing my timing and valves, my car would pull that much harder though. Ohhh I hope my gas is better now. I am going to fill up now just to see. What is the formula again for finding MPG? I used to get MAX 160 miles to the tank when I first got my car (O2 sensor was bad) and then that number jumped up to 277 (for a lil while) I'm jelous of everyone here :( My car is a 92 LX with a D16Y7 engine using old throttle body. It is stock except for intake and exhaust (no header, just stock manifold) I live in Tampa, FL and I have an automatic. Car has 136,000 miles on it but engine has about 70,000 miles on it.

Hey sageuvagony, I was just wondering, how do you go about woning two cars. Doesn't the insurance at the least bother you to some point? I've been thinking of having an 00 civic si then later buying an 06 rsx-s and wondered how others with multiple running cars for just themselves are pulling through.

Glad to see that it helped.

Drive on with a hard on.

Hey sageuvagony, I was just wondering, how do you go about woning two cars. Doesn't the insurance at the least bother you to some point? I've been thinking of having an 00 civic si then later buying an 06 rsx-s and wondered how others with multiple running cars for just themselves are pulling through.

I live in NH so I am not sure if it works different in other states. Here when insuring cars they understand that both vehicles will not be driven at the same time. They ask which car is going to be used to commute the most and how many miles you expect to put on each one in a year. They then base your rates on that ratio. Use the cheaper less sporty and non-4x4 truck as the primary and you will have cheaper rates. Many places also offer a multi-car discount on top of using the ratio for giving rates.

Heres a tip I found to make your insurance cheaper. I had a Blazer and bought a cheap 80's Dodge Shadow for a commuter for some time. The Shadow died (doing jumps with it didn't help) and was scrapped. I was amazed to find when I went to remove it from my policy that my rate went up. Turns out the $ amount to insure the shadow was less then the multi-car discount given. So even though I no longer had the shadow and it was scrapped I insured it for the lowest limits I could (comp only, no collision, highest deductibles allowed). So the insurance I had to pay for it was less then $200 a year but the multi-car discount given on my policy was like $400. I lowered my annual insurance bill by insuring a vehicle I no longer owned and was being used for scrap metal.

While we're on the topic of adjusting the valves. Anyone have a DIY write up on it? Sounds like it could be useful to do.

Haynes manual. Haynes manual. Haynes manual. =)

cool. i will adjust my valves monday or tuesday. any special tools involved? like that gapper tool......can i use my spark plug gapper? lol

Spark gapper is to large. Flat head screw driver, ratchet with a large socket; around 20mm and some time.

Spark gapper is to large. Flat head screw driver, ratchet with a large socket; around 20mm and some time.

so no gapper involved?

You use a feeler gauge. The manual will tell you the sizes. The intake size is different than the exhaust size, so be careful to use the correct one for each valve. Civic has 16 valves; 8 intake, 8 exhaust,

sageuvagony - you'll get a little less mpg because you have an auto tranny, if you had a manual it'd go up a little bit more.

But I've been checking this week with my CX and I seem to be getting right around 50mpg. I'll fill it up with 2 gallons and drive it almost til it's out of gas, and get about 100 miles out of it (mostly highway; 65mph). I'm going to try and adjust my valves and replace my air filter in the near future, so I should get even more.

holy wow....high fuel economy

I'll fill it up with 2 gallons and drive it almost til it's out of gas, and get about 100 miles out of it (mostly highway; 65mph).

All you have is a 2 gallon gas tank?

I don't think that is what he is saying. 2 gallons gets him 100 miles. In europe that don't say mpg, they say "x liters per 100 kilometers"

same up north here in igloo land.

He must be a misplaced European, his profile says he lives in NY.

No, I have the stock 10 gallon tank. But with the price of gas ($2.95+), most of the time I only have like $5-$6 to put in. I'm a cheap ass.

i just did my valves. 0.008" on all intake and 0.010" on all exhaust. dont feel much difference...but then again i my valves weren't very off either. most of the off ones were only 0.001" outside the spec range when i checked em.

You might not feel a differance, but you may see it @ the pump. I adjusted my valves once and my mpg went from 36 to 41.

My 5 speed 94 DX's (196K) best tank/MPG was 51.5 mpg that was 10.206 gallons over 526 miles. At that rate I could have got another 87 miles before I ran out of gas. I'd say it was 90% highway 10% city driving. I average about 45.It is amazing what a light foot gets you. I've gotten 34 mpg in my 1998 olds cutlass with a 3.1 liter on highway trips.

most of you guys complaining about MPG on here I bet are the same guys who floor it to pass everyone only to catch the next red light. Can't get good MPG driving like that.

Do you think adjusting the valves will help with gas mileage, but still leave the horsepower and the torque the same?

adjusting the valves brings hp and torque back up to factory standards at best. hehehe. a good runnin engine = good mpg and performance. and lots of people neglect their engines for other things such as body kit or w/e...tsk tsk. and yes, light foot helps mpg substantially. i was running out of gas.....and too lazy to gas up. then i drove with a light foot......holy cow did that last 1/4 of my tank last!!!! insane!

So if I took my civic to an auto shop they would adjust it for me right? But that would be pretty expensive right because they gotta go through the valve cover, and then after their done they gotta replace the valve cover gasket.

if the gaskets ok, they shudnt replace it unless youre gettin ripped.

Gasket is only $10-$15. I found that everytime I would reuse the old one, I would get a leak in the corner. I use a sealant called ATV (or is it RTV?). Works very well. Valve adjustment costs about $300, so to get a new gasket, is pennies.

So if I actually take it to the shop they can do a valve adjustment? Or would it be easier to do it by my self?

They should be able to adjust your valves. Not sure if it would be easier, but it is straight forward; remove valve cover, turn crankshaft four times (once for every cylinder) put cover back on. Of course there is the adjusting, etc but this gives you an idea.

The way I determine if it pays for me to do something on my own, like valve adjustment, I see if I can make that much $$ doing a welding job, which is my side business. Something like framing a house. I would hire that out because as far as time is concerned, I can make more $$ welding and paying a company to frame rather than frame a house alone. Make sense? So if your job lets you work O.T. or if you have a side business, you can look at it from that point of view.

Second, it is nice to know that you did the work yourself and didn't cut corners, like not adjusting them at all!

it costs bout 300 bucks cuz of the time it takes....adjusting valves isnt sumthing like an oil change where they can just throw stuff around. considering about 60-80 bucks per hour for labour, and the other surcharges thrown in, and if the book says it takes 3 hours to do, then u haf a pretty hefty charge. but if u can do it yourself and u are a DIYer, its worth it to do it on your own.