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I have a 2003 auto civic ex. Only 8500 miles on it. Had oil changed at 3500 miles. Maintenance required light came on at 8000 miles. Checked manual and this is normal. Turned off by holding in trip meter and turning key to acc.

Ever since getting 22 mpg. Was getting 29-30 mpg. Did I do somethig wrong?

 
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it depends on how you drive, and where you drive. I live in NY and (city driving mostly) I get about 24mpg compared to 32~4mpg when I was in st.louis.
and the Maintenace Required thing is nothing, the light turns on every 10,000miles i think? but it aint nothing, don't worry about it if you took care of your car(oil change and all)

 
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That mileage is normal. The way to measure your best would be to drive all highway miles constantly and then calculate mileage based on how much gas you used when you fill it up. Last time I checked, I got 20mpg city and 36 highway. But it varies alot with humidity, temp, driving, tire pressure, etc.

 
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listen to the moderator... up there.

 
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mm.... EPA ratings on fuel economy is pretty much the highest you'll ever see driving all city or all highway.

My milleage this tank sucks, but then again I also realise I have driven a lot more local traffic and floored it from 50-90MPH the other day and on some other occasions to pass yellow lights so..... depends.
Last month I drove granny style (shifted at 2000 every time, cruised at 58, etc) just to see if my milleage is just bad or is it just my driving... it's my driving.........

 
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If you guys think that's bad, I once got 15 mpg. Don't complain

 
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^^So its not enough that the car is anemic as hell, its also a gas guzzler...****!!

 
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Have not changed driving habits since I bought the car. Always got 200 miles per 1/2 tank or 7 gal. Strangely I got slightly less than the above mileage when I made a 100 mile round trip on freeway at 65 mph. Thought that was strange and all of a sudden the last two fill ups only gave me 150-55 miles for the same 1/2 tank or 7 gal. instead of the usual 200. Have read about crappy fuel gauge but mine appears to be accurate.
Concerned due to the really sudden drop with no change in driving habbits. Due for oil and possibly transmission fluid change and am afraid dealer will quote driving habits.

 
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I think it just depends on driving habbits road conditions.

I live in LA area and I used to get 27mpg city driving, but now I drive on freeways alot, and i get nearly 36~38. I have 2001 LX 5spd.

 
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Interesting. have you chnged brands of gas?

In the era of high gas prices, I wouldn't be surprised if the fix was in on the pumps. the CA bureau of wts and measures uses a car fitted with a 10 gal can on the end of the fill tube to test if the stations are dirty.. maybe you might want to try the same thing?

I would also check to see if your air filter is bad... try also resetting the ECU?

 
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Reddawnman ...Same brand of gas used and same station. Friend of mine suggested the air filter. How do you reset the ECU ?

 
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Pop the fusebox in the hood (passenger side) look at the diagram and find the small fuse that's called ecu (i think) and pull it. i think its a 10 amp? blue if I remember correctly.

Pull that fuse for 30 seconds, pop it back in, and your engine controller reads new values.

I also thought of something.. make sure your mass airflow / intake temp sensor is clean (if you over-oil a K&N it coats it sometimes)

Can't think of anything else, other than maybe making sure that you don't have a fuel line leak somewheres or if your injectors aren't clean, but with that few miles I can't imagine why they would be. maybe try a bottle of techron concentrate?

Let me know how it goes. this is an interesting problem, although if you've tried the usual stuff maybe it's like a lube issue. Since you said you are due for a lube change and tranny fluid (Why tans with so few miles?) it's probably the oil. if you put 8K miles on the standard break in oil, that's a bit much, even though they recommend it. your pmg will go up probably a lot after the oil change. I'd highly recommend either German Castrol synthetic, Mobil 1 syn, or redline 5w-20 syn with a mobil 1 oil filter. I found I get about .5 - 1 mpg boost on a new oil change, and the engine definitely feels better.

One other thing I can think of is brakes... if your pads are dragging or if the caliper piston sticks or isn't retracting you'd have the discs dragging on your without really pushing the brakes down. has it been feeling weird on the pedals lately? Possible causes of that could be like hard driving or a brake job gone wrong.

 
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as winter comes, for those that have real winters.... gas milleage will go down.... and gas prices are still going up.............. = (

 
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Yup mine went down to 32 from 38 in the summer.

 
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38 was pretty good!

Hasnt been too cold lately (65 high, 45 lows), but I'm kind of struggling to get past 34 already.

 
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so what was your mileage for driving like that?

 
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Driving like grandma? 38 going through my usual routes and speeds but with less acceleration. Usual driving... 34-36.

 
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I miss driving in st.louis...
NY roads are horrible.. the city is too crowded
I even got new shocks (tokicos) with stock springs..lol

 
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Also I'd check your tire pressure, I was running like 15 psi in my rear tire once so my car was just draggin A$$. Filled up the tire and gas milage improved by 10mpg.