Fuel consumption, GOOD?

[rcarlos]

How did you find out the thermostat was faulty? My car takes 10 minutes of driving and 15 minutes at idle to warm up so I wonder if something is wrong or if it is just too cold outside.
I realy do get 400 miles on a tank on the highway and never less than 300 combined city /highway putting 60-65 liters in the tank, or 16-17 gallons. I have an auto so it doesn't see alot of rpm compared to a manual.

 

[JoeSchmoe]

Originally posted by rcarlos:
How did you find out the thermostat was faulty?

Im surprised the soup nazi hasnt struck yet, but the link is: http://www.nsxprime.com/FAQ/Troubleshooting/SlowWarmup.htm

It doesnt say very much.

The usual method is to take it out and put it in a pot of water with a thermometer. Then you heat the water up and watch when the valve opens up. Its supposed to start opening at ~170F and be fully open at over 190F.

The thermostat is buried in a mass of plumbing behind the throttle body. It was too much work to take out so I (being a lazy ass bastard) just let the dealer do it. It ran $180 for parts and labor.

My car takes 10 minutes of driving and 15 minutes at idle to warm up so I wonder if something is wrong or if it is just too cold outside.

Well, sounds like what I went through. It took me 5-10 minutes of warmup and a 1 mile drive before its fully warmed up. Kind of a pain since I usually dont rev until after its fully warmed up.

If your car is as old/older than mine (94), you might as well get it replaced. If it hasnt failed already, its just a matter of time before it does. Nothing really catastrophic will happen if you dont, but your warmup will be long and your mileage may be decreased in some circumstances.

Im going to see if my mileage returns to 17+ MPG levels over the next few months.

 

[nsxtasy]

Maybe the 3.2 gets much worse mileage than the 3.0?

My 92 gets 26mpg when doing mostly highway, 21 - 23 mixed and 19 - 20 mostly city. I have 82k miles on the car too.

I drive my car pretty hard and red line it a few times every time I drive it.

I have the exact same experience with my mostly-stock '91 (not counting the track miles).

 

[Lud]

Well, sounds like what I went through. It took me 5-10 minutes of warmup and a 1 mile drive before its fully warmed up. Kind of a pain since I usually dont rev until after its fully warmed up.

Just FYI the car is far from fully warmed up after 5 minutes / 1 mile of driving. The water temp gauge moving to the normal operating range does not mean the car is properly warmed up, it just means that the water at the thermostat is warm.

You should run the car for more like 15-20 minutes to fully warm it up before revving it out.

 

[rcarlos]

For JoeShmoe 17 MPG may be all you can get and it is not so far off the all city mileage of everyone else. Also my highway driving is probably a lot slower on average than the typical US highway driver who does 85MPH.
Thanks for the link. I always forget to check the faq first and risk having no soup.
My temp gauge has always been one notch below level and has never varied except the first time climbing steep hills in fourth (auto) on a hot day and then stopping and idling. Spewed some coolant and was told later to downshift and not lug the engine up hills.
So the long warmup may be due to the temp being below 40F.

 

[JoeSchmoe]

Originally posted by Lud:
You should run the car for more like 15-20 minutes to fully warm it up before revving it out.

Doh, I guess means my commute will have to be rev-free.... how will I ever cope????

 

[ANYTIME]

Only driving my car 1000 miles since I got it, I've gotten 20-22 MPG. City and Freeway driving, some spirited driving and some cruising. BTW it's a 97 bone stock.(for now)