Hi, I am new to the Green Hybrid forums and need advice. I am the original owner of a 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid and I live in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. My car has about 48000 miles and up until September 08 I averaged about 50-53 MPG’s in the warmer temps and about 41-49 in the cooler temps, just depends on how cold it is. Currently I am averaging 34.

Back in June 08 I had to get new tires because a nail had punctured an area that made it impossible to repair. I did a lot of research and finally decided on Bridgestone Insignia SE200 bought at Firestone. I was expecting the MPG’s to go down, but it didn’t, it pretty much stayed the same. In September, I brought my car to Firestone thinking an oil change and alignment would be cheaper. Right away my MPG started acting funny. I gave it a couple weeks to see if it would somehow work itself back to normal. I wasn’t confident that Firestone actually put the correct oil in and not seeing any change, I brought it to the dealer to have the oil changed.

Other things I have tried:
Changed the air filter (found 2 pieces of corn in the housing), tires are at 40 (max is 44), checked the oil level to make sure it isn’t overfull, brought back to Firestone to check the alignment – it was fine and they used the same standards as the dealer.
Brought it into the dealer and had them hook it up to diagnostic and they downloaded some kind of update, but found no other problems. Checked the EGR, parking brake, made sure there were no obstructions beyond the air filter, and finally an alignment.

The people at the dealer could probably care less. I voiced my concerns and all they can say is it’s the winter weather and the ethanol and additional additives in the gas that are causing the MPG to drop, “there is nothing we can do”. He also said that if anything was wrong, the check engine or IMA light would come on because of the sophisticated computer system. My question is why didn’t my mileage go down last winter (average 42 when the temp was -14 for days), why after filling up did my MPG’s race to 60 or more then come down to around 50 and now it barely makes it to 40, and why did the mileage start getting bad in September. I don’t know when MN changes to winter fuel mix, but it was still pretty warm here then.

Could a hose have been knocked loose and not register on the computer? Does anyone have any other suggestion on what the heck is going on? Anyone else from Minnesota? I love my car and have tracked the mileage on a spreadsheet from day one. I drive the speed limit, coast to a stop, don’t use my AC, and slowly accelerate…I am like a mileage junky; 2 years ago I was able to get over 600 miles on 1 tank of gas and ever since then I am always trying to get more miles out of a tank of gas then the last. Needless to say, this is driving me crazy.

Thank you for any advice in advance.
Kelly

 

I'm wondering if the tires you bought are a different size than the original equipment tires that were on the vehicle. I looked up the Bridgestone Insignia SE200's that you mentioned and at least according to Tire Rack's website link, they don't come in the size designated for the 2005 HCH I (185 70 R14). I wonder if this is contributing to the difference in mpg you are getting.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.j...irePageLocQty=

Other than that, all I can guess is that maybe the gas this season has a greater percentage of ethanol in it?

(My first guess was that the oil was the wrong type, since the changes seem to have started after the oil change. Hopefully the dealership put the right oil in there after you went back for another oil change after the job at Firestone.)

 

I'll check with my uncle (lives in the Twin Cities) to see what he gets on longer drives, but I think with the sub-zero weather you're having, 34mpg is about right. Have you tried any of the "extreme weather" boost techniques (block heater, 3/4" pipe foam, etc) to help your engine get up to temp faster?

Edit: Word back is that 34mpg is pretty typical for winter with my fam up in St. Paul.

 

I am scheduled to get a block heater this weekend and will put on the pipe foam afterward. I really don't want to be lectured from the service people about it.

34 MPG normal!? I have NEVER, in my 3 years of owning the car, averaged 34! That is why this is so frustrating. I have tracked my mileage from day 1 and have never seen these numbers before...last year we had temps of -14 for almost a week and I averaged 43.

 

I checked my tires and they are 185 70R14. I really dont think the problem is the tires because I did not see a change for 3 months after I bought them. Unless it took time to "wear" them in.
Your right, the problem could be the gas. But, how much different is the gas from last year?

I am about to give up and just wait to see what happens in the spring when the weather warms up.

 

Yeah, I figured it probably wasn't the tires since you'd had no problem for 3 months with the new ones.
I've never gotten a high as 50 mpg yet with my HCH (my best tank came in at 48.9), and in winter I get the unfortunate low of about 34 mpg. I do use snow tires on it in winter however.

I read that in Minnesota they do have a lot of ethanol in the gas, you might want to check to see what percentage of it is in the gasoline you use. They should post it on the gas tanks so people know if it's E10, E30, or whatever. I've heard where too high a percentage of ethanol has done damage to some people's boats and some cars.

Your case still makes me wonder if they did something unusual with the oil changes, since the drop in mpgs started in September.
The only other thing I can think of is if you had some change in driving habits, like making more trips of short duration as opposed to longer drives previously.

Good luck. I hope the mpgs come back up when the warm weather returns.