We just bought a 2001 Honda Odyssey minivan. The mileage should be 32 mpg. We are getting 16 mpg.
The tire pressure is perfect, with brand new tires. It idles for only a couple of minutes each morning (it’s cold here!).
The dealer is “looking into it” for us, but I wanted to prevail upon the wisdom of the Dopers … what could be some possible causes?
One person has suggested a problem with the fuel injection system?
Any help is appreciated - we’d like to know what to ask the mechanics to check.
Keep detailed records of actions taken by the dealer and look into your local lemon law, just in case you have to resort to that.
How about driving habits of any who drive it. Lots of city, stop and start, driving. Short frequent trips. Rapid acceleration from stops, driving in lower gears, frequent use of passing gear, frequent driving over 60-65. All these can affect mileage, but half the advertised MPG seems extreme.
Does the engine reach operating temperature?
Running cold can really hurt milage.
You either made a typo there on the expected mileage or were seriously mislead. The Odyssey will get low 20’s on the highway, tops. On www.fueleconomy.gov real world users report an average combined mileage of a hair under 20 mpg, so you are not that far off.
Here is the page for the 2001 Odyssey:
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/mpg/MPG.do?action=mpgData&vehicleID=17096&browser=true&details=on
I was unable to find the wording of any Canadian Lemon laws on line, but I seriously doubt that a 7 year old car would be eligible for lemon law consideration. I know for a fact it would not be in California.
32 MPG for a minivan? :dubious: I seriously doubt this number. Who told you that it should get 32 mpg?
If you are converting to mpg from L/100 KM Here is a handy converter. Using the numbers in Baracus’s link you should be seeing between 14.7L/100 km and 11.8L/100KM (16MPG city and the 19.8 reported by owners)
Lastly, the largest single factor in gas mileage is located between the gas pedal and the seat. It is the driver. Some people just flat don’t know how to drive without wasting gas.
Of all the cars I have checked out for poor mileage complaints, I have never found the car to be at fault, it is always the driver.
Also letting your car idle really kills gas mileage. A couple of minutes of idling before driving has a huge negative effect on fuel consumption. Also as the car warms up, it uses a lot more fuel. If you drive just a few miles, then the engine is always using that additional fuel, and never gets out of the warm up enrichment. I’m in Toronto and driving the same model car that I drove in California (same everything, engine, trans, model year equipment) I have been shocked at how poor the fuel mileage is up here in the cold.
My mistake for not reading the OP close enough. I agree that driving habits are often the key to better mileage.
I’m Stainz’ husband piping in. I’m the primary driver here.
The dealer posted the mileage based on the Canadian Government Fuel Consumption guide. Here is the link for the 2001 Honda Odyssey:
Canadian Fuel Consumption Guide
It says 33MPG on the highway and 21 in the city.
We’ve only had the van for 2 weeks. I have put ~600Km on it and filled it up with just over 100 liters. 300 of those Km were highway Km. This works out to just over 14 miles per gallon.
I drive at a constant rate and never put the petal to the metal. I’ll admit I do idle the car in the mornings because it’s been 6-10 degrees below zero but I can’t see that affecting fuel efficiency that much.
MtM
I think I found your problem.
the government of Canada can’t do math. :rolleyes:
Using the L/100km figures from your link and the converter I linked to earlier we get the following
City:
13.3L/100Km = 17.68 MPG, not 21 MPG listed.
Highway
8.6L/100Km = 27.34 MPG, not 33 MPG listed.
:dubious: And Canadians talk about dumb Americans. 
I just checked a second on line converter here and it agrees with the first.
I think those numbers are pretty much impossible unless you are driving in a vacuum. In fact, this article pretty much confirms that…they arrive at the mileage by using a dynamometer, which doesn’t take into account that the vehicle has the aerodynamics of a Greyhound Bus. It also mentions the warm weather/cold weather differences.
To give you some perspective about cold start and warming up the engine the car I am driving has a car that has an EPA rating of 17 city, 25 highway and 20 combined. I consistently got 20-21 in combined driving while in California.
I’m now in Toronto where it is -4C, my combined fuel consumption is 16.7L/100km which works out to 14.08 MPG.
Same exact car (only the color is different), with the same driver. I refuse to believe that Toronto traffic is that much worse than LA (It isn’t). The only difference is that it if fricking cold here. I am warming up the car for 2-3 minutes every AM while I brush off the snow.
Also IIRC BC uses oxygenated fuels in the winter which is about a 10% hit in fuel mileage.
They can do math, it’s just that they’re using Imerial gallons instead of the US gallons you calculated. Imperial gallons are 20% larger than US gallons.
So, to summarize, everyone who has posted here would have NO issues with this kind of mileage? 14 mpg seems awfully low, especially when the majority of the miles/kms put on the van have been highway.
Anyone want to pipe in on the idea of a fuel injection issue?
How old are the spark plugs?
My Ranger picked up about 3mpg after I replaced them.
Looking at Consumer Reports, their average mpg for the '01 Odyssey is 19 and the city/highway is 12/30. So, yes, you’re on the low side, but not by a terrible margin. The temperature outside probably has a lot to do with that.
Wear lighter shoes when you drive. The further down the long pedal on the right goes, the worse the mileage gets. Heavy shoes may fatigue your leg and cause it to depress the long pedal too much.
The first thing to do is to make sure the calculated mileage is correct. The second is to verify what real-world mileages are (we have talked around that in this thread, but I’m not sure we’ve nailed it down).
If after the above there is reason to suspect a problem, then the first thing to look for is any external fuel leakage. Usually this would result in gasoline odor being smelt sometimes, but even without the odor it’s worth checking to make sure you don’t end up chasing a ghost.
Next check for performance-related items that are in obviously bad condition. Badly worn spark plugs and a clogged air filter are at the top of the list.
Then look for any sign of the engine running rich. The color of any deposits on the spark plugs’ electrode insulators is one clue. Data from the onboard computer should be evaluated, especially fuel trim and oxygen sensor readings.
There are any number of things which could cause poor mileage, but with modern vehicle electronic control systems it’s pretty hard for them go undetected by the computer. I would think it virtually impossible for a properly working system to not set a code if the mileage were actually half of normal, hence the importance of the first two steps I mentioned.
Since you’re Canadian:
Does the heater start working in a reasonable distance, and provide plenty of heat? A stuck-open thermostat will hurt milage and the heater will barely keep the windshield clear.
Not for a van. I’d take my car in, but I already have first hand experience knowing it’s better than than. My last SUV, though, got about that, so it’s not a big deal.
If it were a fuel injection issue, shouldn’t you get a code? The fuel injection system works by monitoring a whole lotta stuff, but it basically comes down to adjusting the ignition timing and injection timing based on all these data. It’s job is to deliver the correct fuel given all of these data, and so wouldn’t it either (a) deliver the fuel required by keeping the injector open longer, or (b) identify that it’s not able to do so, run in limp mode, and give you a warning? I’m not asking that as a hypothetical; I hope Rick or someone actually knows.
Overall, how’s your acceleration? Will it accelerate normally? What if you try to be aggressive? Is it what you expect? If so, your injection system is probably working okay, because it’s dumping a whole lot more fuel into the cylinders at that point.
Do you guys have that crappy oxygenated gas? That hits me for 5% to 10%. Plus, it’s a van. Lots of wind resistance, especially at highway speeds. Remember your horsepower requirement quadruples when your speed or resistance to speed doubles.
Since you don’t seem to have a built in fuel use indicator, you could try buying one of those that fit into your ODB-II port. It’s pretty accurate, and maybe you can see where the gas is really being consumed.
The only similar experience that comes to mind is with our Golf. We were getting HORRIBLE mileage - 500 km’s a tank when we were used to getting 1000 km’s a tank. Turns out the EGR Valve was very dirty and clogged. Following a short improvement after it had been cleaned, it went on the fritz again.
We disconnected it (not recommended, you should replace it if that’s what it is), and our mileage is back to normal.
However, we did experience other ‘symptoms’. The vehicle stuttered a lot in the lower, idling RPM’s. Not sure if this is common in all cases.