Sup everyone! Im new to the forum, just got my first Mazda about a couple weeks ago. 04 Mazda 3 hatch with the 2.3 in it. Really fun car to drive! But for some reason, if my calculations are correct I am not getting the normal gas mileage... its super low, about 16. And its not like im gunning the motor a whole lot.......? Any suggestions

 

Not enough information to go on here...

• How are you calculating your fuel economy?
• What kind of driving are you doing when you are only getting 16 mpg?
• Does your car have an automatic or manual transmission?
• Do you have the maintenance records for your car?
• How many miles are on it?

 

Well the way that I have been estimating my fuel economy is by recording how far I travel in miles on a tank of gas and then divide by how many gallons I put in.
• I would like to say that I normally drive 50/50 city/highway and the only time that I am doing high rpm revs is to get on the highways, or going up hills.
• it has an automatic tranny
• i bought the car second hand, so i dont really have any maintenance records... I know, sucks right?
• the motor has about 135k miles on it

Thanks for your time!

 

I'd be inclined to have a look-see at the oxygen sensor(s); if they're exhausted they could be telling the computer to run too rich.

Beyond that I'd recommend you take your car to a profesional for a complete once-over, have the codes read (if any), possibly a tune-up as well; could be that your car has the original plugs and such still in place.

 

Thanks For that info! Yeah im thinking now that maybe the engine is burning a little too rich... there is some build up a round the tail pipe so we'll see what the mechanic says. I should probably also get the plugs checked! Thanks For the feedback... much appreciated!