Need to improve '02 Accord economy, suggestions?

TossL1916

Hi, I have a 2002 Honda Accord 1.8 VTEC, and the fuel consumption is dire, even when driving with a light foot. Is there anything that can be done to improve the economy? It's going to be serviced for its N.C.T. soon, so is there anything I can ask the garage to look out for when I bring it in? Is remapping an option?


Cheers

Alanstrainor

How dire?

who_ru

TossL1916 wrote: »

Hi, I have a 2002 Honda Accord 1.8 VTEC, and the fuel consumption is dire, even when driving with a light foot. Is there anything that can be done to improve the economy? It's going to be serviced for its N.C.T. soon, so is there anything I can ask the garage to look out for when I bring it in? Is remapping an option?


Cheers

is your tyre pressure correct?

TGi666

check tyre pressure, clean out all crap and are the wheels standard or huge after market ones?

Mick ah

Terraclean it. Mind you, for 160+ yoyos, you'd want to be doing a fair bit of driving to get back the money on the petrol you'd save.

Mr Benevolent

The Irish 'dire' is very different to the rest of the world. An '02 Accord would be expected to get 30mpg in light urban and 40 on the motorway.

mickdw

Give us some indication of what mpg you are getting and the type of driving you are doing

shinkansen

TossL1916 wrote: »

Hi, I have a 2002 Honda Accord 1.8 VTEC, and the fuel consumption is dire, even when driving with a light foot. Is there anything that can be done to improve the economy? It's going to be serviced for its N.C.T. soon, so is there anything I can ask the garage to look out for when I bring it in? Is remapping an option?


Cheers

what do you get on a tank? i get approx 260~ on a full tank with city driving, short runs., probably more with the reserve tank.

long hauls its over 400miles. that's with the 2.4.

have you serviced the car well.?

Cee-Jay-Cee

If the car has been regularly serviced and the poor economy is are net thing then I'd guess at the O2 sensor needing replaced

peter barrins

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peter barrins

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Mr Benevolent

peter barrins wrote: »

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Wow, those numbers are poor all right. 24mpg around town? Awful for a 1.8.

langdang

Confab wrote: »

Wow, those numbers are poor all right. 24mpg around town? Awful for a 1.8.

I would have thought your original figures were well achievable confab. Not a heavy car and a fairly sedate one. But we still dont know if it's actually "dire", suggesting an issue or the more common "tenner petrol gets me NOwhere, must buy a diesel".

Remap? No. Terraclean? Wouldn't bother. A once over from a good mechanic is your best bet. You could nct it first maybe, see what that shows up.

BigEejit

The problem with those VTEC engines is if you have a heavy right foot it murders fuel economy. Taking it easy helps, but to be honest they were never high mpg machines.

langdang

BigEejit wrote: »

The problem with those VTEC engines is if you have a heavy right foot it murders fuel economy. Taking it easy helps, but to be honest they were never high mpg machines.

Civic 1.5 vtec? Not all vtecs are about whopping power and screaming red lines. Variable valve timing is used by all new petrol engines to optimise the engine for its intended use over a wider rev range than you can achieve without variable valve timing.

BigEejit

We are talking about 1.8's and 2 liter accords. A far heavier car with a higher cc engine ... I still have my 2001 2 liter accord and my mpg varies hugely depending on how much of a hurry I am in.

shinkansen

the ivtec engines use different methods to invoke vtec than the screaming vtec engines found in eg: type r's, the vtec range for the i-vtec engines is less than 2k rpm, but it does shift when you get there, also fuel consumption drops down at an alarming rate.

what does the op get out of a full tank as we have not been told how bad this economy is.

langdang

BigEejit wrote: »

We are talking about 1.8's and 2 liter accords. A far heavier car with a higher cc engine ... I still have my 2001 2 liter accord and my mpg varies hugely depending on how much of a hurry I am in.

What would have been more economical solution in them? Old school non variable timing? By itself or combined with bigger engine size to offset the narrower power band?
It is interesting that the crv of the same era used a different 2l to the
Accord and didnt have vtec. 31mpg achievable on long runs without any weird driving techniques.

For what the accords with those 1.8 engines are, they're fine and not dire on petrol. Based on my own opinions and expectations, of course

langdang

shinkansen wrote: »

the ivtec engines use different methods to invoke vtec than the screaming vtec engines found in eg: type r's, the vtec range for the i-vtec engines is less than 2k rpm, but it does shift when you get there, also fuel consumption drops down at an alarming rate.

what does the op get out of a full tank as we have not been told how bad this economy is.

The ivtec and the 2.4 engine mentioned previously were not available until the new model in 2003(i think). It's just basic sohc variable valve timing in the 98 - 02. Open to correction

JJJJNR

We had an auto one (1.8) and it was very bad on fuel, I think we were getting 20mpg out of it.

Such a nice car to drive though way ahead of it time, but that was when petrol was 1 euro a litre, can you convert it to LPG.?

Heres a converted one for sale in the uk so its possible to convert to LPG.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/used-cars/honda/accord/used-honda-accord-1-8i-vtec-s-5dr-romford-fpa-201212074546600

BigEejit

langdang wrote: »

What would have been more economical solution in them? Old school non variable timing? By itself or combined with bigger engine size to offset the narrower power band?
It is interesting that the crv of the same era used a different 2l to the
Accord and didnt have vtec. 31mpg achievable on long runs without any weird driving techniques.

For what the accords with those 1.8 engines are, they're fine and not dire on petrol. Based on my own opinions and expectations, of course

Hold on, you seem to be disagreeing with me by giving examples of different cars with different engines. I was replying to the OP about how he could improve his MPG on a 1.8 accord ... granted my car is a 2L accord but my sister had a 1.8 accord of the same year as the OP and I drove that too when I was back on hols.


Back on topic, I would suggest the OP investigate LPG (check local LPG prices to make sure they aren't stupid first)

langdang

Your initial post suggested something inherent to those engines which made them relatively uneconomic.

I'm saying that they are not usually dire on petrol, based on reasonable expectations of that type/age of car and in comparison to competitors or other petrol engine options.
So the question for the op is, actually dire (suggesting an issue) or no sums done but "tenner gets me nowhere on" dire.

edit - sorry if some of my posts appear blunt or argumentative, I was typing from a phone and the bluntness was a side effect of trying to be concise.

shinkansen

converting a 1.8 petrol to lpg. :O

says it all really.. only in Ireland.!

langdang

shinkansen wrote: »

converting a 1.8 petrol to lpg. :O

says it all really.. only in Ireland.!

I would be of the same opinion as yourself here!

A service, a once over from a good mechanic for other issues that could affect economy and drive the thing until it dies!

BigEejit

Without knowing how many miles a week/month/year the OP is driving and what mpg he is getting i dont think you can rule out LPG. Buying a car that is as reliable as a accord which has better mpg figures than a 1.8 running on LPG is not going to be cheap.

JJJJNR

shinkansen wrote: »

converting a 1.8 petrol to lpg. :O

says it all really.. only in Ireland.!

Only in Ireland do people have such narrow attitudes towards LPG, in the UK everything from a 1.2 micra upwards is converted and most people wouldn't bat an eyelid, I might change our 1.4 307 over you'd be getting a full tank for 50 euro! its a no brainer!

shinkansen

LPG is a waste of time in Ireland, AFAIK trying to get LPG is like waiting at the local for elvis and the pope for a round.

plus the cost involved in changing a 6th gen accord into LPG in the first place is pure lunacy.

but hey each to their own.

Green Hornet

I had one for 2 years and it wasn't light on fuel but it wasn't dire either. About 35mpg on 80 mile daily round trip. Short journeys and town driving were a killer alright though.