Somethings Wrong ?? help

[k3nd4l]

Havent posted here in a while. went to college and left my car home. anyways to the point

i just realized now that i have to put in gas way to frequently in this car and something might be up. After recently(friday) completely filling up my tank i reset the trip meter to see how many miles i was getting.

42.3 miles driven so far .. quarter tank gone. i read somewhere that the 2000 alero 2.4 holds about 15 gallons of gas which equals me only getting about 11.3mpg...

any thoughts on this?

EXTRA INFO:
car is a 2dr. has less than 60k miles on it. no extra weight in car just me(160lbs) & spare tire. no rims/subs/etc..
tires are at 30psi each. auto trans. no lights on in car besides low tire pressure(each tire has been checked repeatedly..30psi..bad sensor there?) & battery light(had battery & alt replaced this year.. light stays on.. no sound system only upgraded speakers & HIDs.. possible bad sensor there too?)

[sleepyalero]

I believe the tires need to be like 32-34 psi.. Check the manual or door jam for that. It can affect mpg.

Changed fuel filter lately?

[k3nd4l]

Originally Posted by sleepyalero

I believe the tires need to be like 32-34 psi.. Check the manual or door jam for that. It can affect mpg.

Changed fuel filter lately?

the door said either 30 or 31 .. i have each tire at what the door says. and no i havent im guessing i should get on that ?

[03glgold]

it says 30 which even people who work for gm says is too low...the general suggestion is to go to 35 psi

[mastershake]

you have to reset the low tire pressure light, like the oil life indicator.

[mmorello82]

Check your air filter. If it has been sitting, there could be a nice little nest in the air box that is plugging the air filter.

[sleepyalero]

Originally Posted by mastershake

you have to reset the low tire pressure light, like the oil life indicator.

You sure? I never have. When I get that light, I fill tires, and it resets on its own once it reads that the tire is at the right psi.

[mastershake]

Originally Posted by sleepyalero

You sure? I never have. When I get that light, I fill tires, and it resets on its own once it reads that the tire is at the right psi.

maybe not, i don't have that feature. i thought i read that somewhere though xD

[sleepyalero]

Hmm interesting. Could be different on different model years.

[a.graham52]

Originally Posted by k3nd4l

Havent posted here in a while. went to college and left my car home. anyways to the point

i just realized now that i have to put in gas way to frequently in this car and something might be up. After recently(friday) completely filling up my tank i reset the trip meter to see how many miles i was getting.

42.3 miles driven so far .. quarter tank gone. i read somewhere that the 2000 alero 2.4 holds about 15 gallons of gas which equals me only getting about 11.3mpg...

any thoughts on this?

EXTRA INFO:
car is a 2dr. has less than 60k miles on it. no extra weight in car just me(160lbs) & spare tire. no rims/subs/etc..
tires are at 30psi each. auto trans. no lights on in car besides low tire pressure(each tire has been checked repeatedly..30psi..bad sensor there?) & battery light(had battery & alt replaced this year.. light stays on.. no sound system only upgraded speakers & HIDs.. possible bad sensor there too?)

do NOT go by this alone. absolutly horriblw way to guess. there are many threads mentioning how the first quarter seems to go like nothing. my 3400 could get roughly 300 miles per tank. first quarter gone in 50 miles. wait till you use more fuel then fill it up, devide the miles on your trip by the gallons you put in and tell us what you get.

[zzyzzx]

I also think you need to measure based upon whole tank fulls of gas, and better to use more than one. That and 30PSI is too low, IMO. That and we have no idea about your driving style. That and cold weather can degrade your gas mileage especially if it's mostly short trips.

[k3nd4l]

Originally Posted by 03glgold

it says 30 which even people who work for gm says is too low...the general suggestion is to go to 35 psi

alright im gonna raise each tire up to 35 and see if i notice any kind of difference.

Originally Posted by mmorello82

Check your air filter. If it has been sitting, there could be a nice little nest in the air box that is plugging the air filter.

the car does sit about 6mos. a year due to me leaving it home when i go up to college since i wanna eliminate the drunk driving possibility. my mom does take it out once in a while to give it use while im gone though.

Originally Posted by a.graham52

do NOT go by this alone. absolutly horriblw way to guess. there are many threads mentioning how the first quarter seems to go like nothing. my 3400 could get roughly 300 miles per tank. first quarter gone in 50 miles. wait till you use more fuel then fill it up, devide the miles on your trip by the gallons you put in and tell us what you get.

okay i actually printed the receipt from when i filled up gas saying exactly how much i filled up and before i left the station i reset my trip meter. right now im a little under half a tank when i turn on the car(not start) with exactly 78.1 miles on the meter. ill look for the receipt to figure out how much i put in on friday.
EDIT: wait i think i misunderstood the last part. you mean next time i fill it up divide the trip amount by the amount i fill up?

Originally Posted by zzyzzx

I also think you need to measure based upon whole tank fulls of gas, and better to use more than one. That and 30PSI is too low, IMO. That and we have no idea about your driving style. That and cold weather can degrade your gas mileage especially if it's mostly short trips.

i do plan on measuring with multiple tanks i just posted this now to see what causes could be since i dont think there should be any reason for my gas to go this quick. My driving style since i filled up has been a 15 min drive to work n 15 mins back with no heat or ac on going aprox. 30mph doing everything possible to not use my breaks.

[k3nd4l]

took a look at my air filter to see if i could see anything visibly wrong.. i have no idea so here are some pics (sorry for the quality but its dark out)

should i just replace this shit and go with a WAI ? i get paid on friday so thats a possibility..

[xXManwhoreXx]

Its the transmission for sure....

[k3nd4l]

Originally Posted by xXManwhoreXx

Its the transmission for sure....

is that a serious answer or sarcasm? as i said i have no idea whats going on with this right now so details/explanations would be helpful...

[xXManwhoreXx]

Shit idk man try the fuel fiter hut I would wait at least a full tank before you do anything. If its still bad try some fuel treatment than next step is filter.

[k3nd4l]

Originally Posted by xXManwhoreXx

Shit idk man try the fuel fiter hut I would wait at least a full tank before you do anything. If its still bad try some fuel treatment than next step is filter.

haha alright. and this has been happening for a while now. im usually down to pretty much E after 6/7 days of driving back and forth to work. I used to think the alero's just have horrible mpg but after some looking around online it seems my estimated mpg is just shit..

also any ideas on why my battery light stays on? after replacing the alternator the light went off for about 15 mins then came back on. when i start my car the light is off but before i can even make it down my block its back on and stays on.

[billytheman1188]

He's being an ass.

As far as calculating the mileage i think you got it kind of wrong.... fill up the car, reset trip meter....then when you go to fill it up again take the mileage and divide it by the number of gallons you put in....like 10.6 or w/e...just round up or down.


As far as the bad gas mileage....tire pressure will def make you get a little worse mpg's....also that filter prob should be replaced...i mean it's not horrible but i would. Also, bad spark plugs and O2 sensors could cause it. How are your driving habits? Do you really get on it a lot? If so you might want to look into getting an intake....it will help a little with gas/performance. A full exhaust will really help....i get about 27mpg city/highway in the summer and 32 highway (with cruise on) with a 3500. So there's no way you should be getting that low of mpg.

Good luck! Gotta love cars...if aint one thing it's the other.

[k3nd4l]

Originally Posted by billytheman1188

He's being an ass.

As far as calculating the mileage i think you got it kind of wrong.... fill up the car, reset trip meter....then when you go to fill it up again take the mileage and divide it by the number of gallons you put in....like 10.6 or w/e...just round up or down.


As far as the bad gas mileage....tire pressure will def make you get a little worse mpg's....also that filter prob should be replaced...i mean it's not horrible but i would. Also, bad spark plugs and O2 sensors could cause it. How are your driving habits? Do you really get on it a lot? If so you might want to look into getting an intake....it will help a little with gas/performance. A full exhaust will really help....i get about 27mpg city/highway in the summer and 32 highway (with cruise on) with a 3500. So there's no way you should be getting that low of mpg.

Good luck! Gotta love cars...if aint one thing it's the other.

thankyou for the detailed answer! as for the mpg calculating next time i fill up (probably friday) i will post my calculations again to see. i also think im going to wait til friday then fill my tires up to 35psi each and go another week of calculations. As for the filter if it needs to be replaced i'd rather just go wai + k&n filter ( i like the look + i do like to get on it once in a while since my town is full of empty backroads) As for a full exhaust that'd run me about 5/600 right? if so i might just upgrade all at once (exhaust + intake)

and yea this car is my first and idk i was thinking turbo this and have fun or my other idea(leaning towards) was a manual eclipse gsx or gt since i can find them for around 2k/2,5k(same price of turboing the alero?) and then work it up from there with mods

[xXManwhoreXx]

Gsx all day but do a 6 bolt swap. Same motor but it wont nuke itself