hey everyone, i'm in desperate need of some help. i've got a 1990 RS with the 3.1L v6. it runs just fine, but the problem is the gas milage. on the highway at 75 mph, i'm getting an average of 3.5 mpg! in town it is horrible, right at 3 mpg. i rarely rod my car (unless to kill some ricer), and i don't know what's going on.

 

[:'(] whoooaaa something obviously aint right. lets start with some more info. how does the car run?? lots of black smoke?? lack of power?? is 75 as fast as it goes, how long does it take to get there( longer than it used to)?? you have to have some other symptoms you just cant get that bad a mileage and not have something else going on. sure its not a bad speedo or odometer?? how many tankfulls has this been going on?? need more details as my first impression may be the catalytic converter getting plugged but that should exibit signs like slow acceleration real lack of power especially getting on the freeway etc. things cant be running great with this poor a mileage unless your buddy is helping himself to your fuel(could someone be steeling gas from you) kurt

 

the car runs fine, actually pulls really good all the way past 115. doesn't smoke or anything, i seriously don't know what's going on.

 

i would think.. gas leak. but that seems like something you would notice. You could park it on a dry, hard surface for the night, see if there are any signs.. Maybe let it run for a few min and see if anything changes..

 

sounds like stolen gas or a gas leak. you should be getting better than 20. how are you calculating the mileage? i do it from a full tank to the next full tank.

 

it doesn't leak anything at all, and it's always parked in my garage, which i keep locked up. i reset the trip odometer everytime i fill up, then divide the # of miles traveled by how much gas i put in the next time i fill up

 

either its a miscalculation or something else is wrong, if its that bad you would notice the guage going down rather quickly

 

the gas guage doesn't even work, along with the oil pressure, and charging guage, plus the tach reads about 1800rpms off what it should. i just guess when i should go fill up

 

[>:] there has to be some more obvious sign accompanying this poor a mileage. your missing something here. there are two options, bad calculations or a sign somewhere of stolen or lost fuel. you cant possibly run that much fuel through a v6 and not have problems so my guess is its going elsewhere. how many tankfulls has this been going on?? if it was hittin the ground i cant imagine not smellin or seeing it running or sitting. how secure is its storage spot?? live with anyone who never seems to have gas money ?? kurt

 

ya, i found the problem. torque converter doesn't lock up at all![:@] i hooked it up to an diagnostic tool and watched the rpms. there's no way it should be running 6000rpms for driving 35 mph!