Newbie and a question about fuel mileage..

[Jtels2593]

Hey all, just signed up on the forums. I'm not new to F-bodies but recently purchased a black 2000 Camaro T-Top.

My question to everyone who has a 3800 V6.. what kind of fuel mileage are you receiving? My previous '96 Z28 was getting 21-22 mpg and my 3800 V6 is getting 22-23. My driving is about 80% highway. I had hoped that this car would do better. I recently gave it a complete tune-up (plugs, wires, coolant flush, air filter etc..). The mechanics are stock.

Thanks, Joe

[TheGr8Schlotzky]

Re: Newbie and a question about fuel mileage..

Welcome to the site!

The search feature is very useful and should answer your question. Here are a couple threads you should take a look at:

What kind of gas mileage do you get?

All things that can cause bad gas mileage

I'd say you could do better if your driving mostly highway.

Moving to Lounge.

[ssms5411]

Re: Newbie and a question about fuel mileage..

Welcome, the stock programing is very rich even with the 22LB injectors , with 65LB injectors and running a mild cam and all bolt-ons I get 26-28 MPG mixed city/ highway also about 300-400LB weight reduction. I would say if your going to keep it awhile a wideband and Hptuners would be a good investment and might even pay themselves off in fuel milage over a long peroid of time. Or see if you can find someone with hptuners in your area to tune it.

[Opontee]

Re: Newbie and a question about fuel mileage..

Stock 94 3.4 a4 bird gets 25 on the highway. Just rolled 264,000 miles.

[kristen]

Re: Newbie and a question about fuel mileage..

when my camaro was stock she got about 31 mpg.

she has a few mods now;) and gets about 12 mpg

[whitdog54]

Re: Newbie and a question about fuel mileage..

That seems low. My firebird a4, with 3.42s/LSD and 245 tires is getting almost 30mpg on the highway. It has bolt ons and has weight ADDITION, lol. How many miles do you have on your car?

If its a high mileage car more then likely a bad 02 sensor. Come to find out, these cars will only trip an SES code when things are real bad. When I hooked up my car to hp tuners I had 4-5KR and was getting cyl4 misfires.....but no SES codes. This was killing me from dig launches and causing stutters. I suggest you find someone local who owns hp tuners

[Jtels2593]

Re: Newbie and a question about fuel mileage..

Thank you for the info. Every once in awhile the car will stutter on first take-off. The SES light came on last week and was on for about a day and shut off. I haven't looked into replacing the O2 sensors. The car just rolled 104k.

[Bird_Of_Prey]

Re: Newbie and a question about fuel mileage..

I honestly wouldn't own one of these cars without some real time data monitoring software. HP Tuners is the most recommended, hands down. However, just to monitor, Autotap has been pretty widely used as well.

http://www.autotap.com/product.asp

$199 is not bad, and you know exactly what's going on. eBay should be cheaper...

Find out whats causing your problem, add a cold air, headers, catback, and should net you some decent mileage while increasing performace!

[whitdog54]

Re: Newbie and a question about fuel mileage..

Thank you for the info. Every once in awhile the car will stutter on first take-off. The SES light came on last week and was on for about a day and shut off. I haven't looked into replacing the O2 sensors. The car just rolled 104k.

How many miles on your car? On the plugs and wires as well? I have a stutter. Turned out to be a bad plug...easy fix.

Maybe change your fuel filter too

[Jtels2593]

Re: Newbie and a question about fuel mileage..

Thank you for the information. I am looking into the HP Tuner. I do most of my own work but the harder repairs need outsourced. My mechanical knowledge is limited when it comes to some internal repairs.

I recently installed a K&N cold air intake and have a flowmaster catback on order from ebaymotors. I have yet to purchase headers. What suggestions would you have?

First thing is first though.. figuring out if oxygen sensors are the problem. It just received a fresh set of NGK TR55 plugs and MSD wires.. it has to be O2 sensors.

[savagecamaro96]

Re: Newbie and a question about fuel mileage..

i get about 23 in my 96 3.8 sometimes 25 if i spend a lot of time on the highway.
i would recommend a new fuel filter, that helped me a good bit.

[Bird_Of_Prey]

Re: Newbie and a question about fuel mileage..

Thank you for the information. I am looking into the HP Tuner. I do most of my own work but the harder repairs need outsourced. My mechanical knowledge is limited when it comes to some internal repairs.

I recently installed a K&N cold air intake and have a flowmaster catback on order from ebaymotors. I have yet to purchase headers. What suggestions would you have?

First thing is first though.. figuring out if oxygen sensors are the problem. It just received a fresh set of NGK TR55 plugs and MSD wires.. it has to be O2 sensors.

I wouldn't even begin to look at O2 sensors for a stutter/sputter. While they are quite decent, the coils/ICM can be quite finicky. With out datalogging/real time monitoring, you're pissing in the wind. Throwing parts at it will just cost you money.

[Jtels2593]

Re: Newbie and a question about fuel mileage..

I had a friend run a scan on my car this afternoon and it was giving oxygen sensor codes. He suggested replacing two of them and then going from there.. I don't know much about this topic, any advice?

[enzia35]

Re: Newbie and a question about fuel mileage..

Only the front two O2 sensors affect performance I think.

[12secondv6]

Re: Newbie and a question about fuel mileage..

I got a best of 31 mpg with some decent intake/ exhaust mods.

I found simple copper spark plugs worked best when the car was N/A.

btw, welcome