car eats too much gas

[honda_eg]

what things should i try to fix to reduce my cx hatch obd 1 from eating too much gas bacause i failed the emission test becuase my car was shooting too much gas. just want to know how to fix it. thanks

[8695Beaters]

??? You mean it failed emissions? Sounds like the catalytic converter is dead. That's not a cheap fix. You might be able to do it at home, but usually the bolts are rusted on way too tight (or it's been welded on by the last shop that did the work). Either way, a new cat is nowhere near cheap (since they're filled with precious metals) and in Cali, it's better not to risk wasting a pile of money on a used one. The other possibility is a bad ECU tune, but unless you've chipped it, that is very unlikely.

[J_Baby60]

along with what beater said, try a simple tune up. You'd be surprised at how much of a difference new spark plugs, wires, air & fuel filters, etc. will make.

[8695Beaters]

Make sure you give your car some time to warm up. Make DMV the last stop on your list so the cat converter has some time to warm up. My car read 221 ppm when my dad drove it straight to DMV (failure). When I added an extra 20 miles to the trip, it registered 4. No other changes.

If you do a tune up (which will do nothing but good for your engine), gapping and cleaning your old plugs will be about as effective (and a lot cheaper) than replacing them. It's not perfect, but free if you do it yourself ($2 if you don't have the gapping tool). The gap should be right around 1.0 mm (standard for a lot of Hondas). I would add a shot of fuel injector cleaner instead of a fuel filter, but whatever you choose is up to you.

[dre5491]

1. Tune up your car new plugs, new wires, new intake filter.
2. To fix your emissions problem I would change out the cat.
3. If you want to squeeze a tad bit more gas millage out of it throw an intake on here. Ebay will do becasue your not trying for the max power.
4. Also watch how you're driving if you got a lead foot you will have less gas millage than some one who drives "normal". But no means am I saying drive like normal people do lol normal people are idiots (see Stupid Drivers Thread).
Just don't stomp on the gas too much.

[8695Beaters]

Skip the whole intake. Pep Boys sells cotton mesh cone filters for $20. The filter alone will add most of the power you want and the sound too. It might look a bit ricey, but the tube is mostly for looks anyway.

[EyesofFreedom]

Originally Posted by 8695Beaters

It might look a bit ricey

just a bit?

[8695Beaters]

Pfft. A smart engineer realizes that the shiny alumnum tube does absolutely NOTHING for performance. Think about it: your stock intake (for those who never looked before blindly tearing out the factory piping) is already a cold air intake. Replacing just the filter removes the air box out of the mess (the limiting factor for how much air you can suck into the engine), and by doing it short-ram style, you also reduce your chance of sucking in water and hydro-locking. The aluminum tube on CAIs does not cool off the incoming air b/c it's as hot as everything else in the engine bay and the extra diameter adds almost nothing to horsepower. 1, maybe 2 on an NA Honda. So for $50 I get about 4 or 5 wheel hp and $150 gets me about 6 (I haven't dynoed this setup b/c it's not worth running an LS on a dyno, especially one that's as close to stock as mine. So my numbers are guesstimates). Iridium plugs gave me more power than the pretty tube. And I saved at least $100 in parts.

Sorry to get off topic like that, but I need to defend my rat rod for a minute.

[JimmyJames]

Originally Posted by 8695Beaters

Pfft. A smart engineer realizes that the shiny alumnum tube does absolutely NOTHING for performance. Think about it: your stock intake (for those who never looked before blindly tearing out the factory piping) is already a cold air intake. Replacing just the filter removes the air box out of the mess (the limiting factor for how much air you can suck into the engine), and by doing it short-ram style, you also reduce your chance of sucking in water and hydro-locking. The aluminum tube on CAIs does not cool off the incoming air b/c it's as hot as everything else in the engine bay and the extra diameter adds almost nothing to horsepower. 1, maybe 2 on an NA Honda. So for $50 I get about 4 or 5 wheel hp and $150 gets me about 6 (I haven't dynoed this setup b/c it's not worth running an LS on a dyno, especially one that's as close to stock as mine. So my numbers are guesstimates). Iridium plugs gave me more power than the pretty tube. And I saved at least $100 in parts.

Sorry to get off topic like that, but I need to defend my rat rod for a minute.

CAI's on most cars will suck air thats further away from the engine thus cooler - that being said you're right the aluminum does not cool things off so you can do as my buddy did and manufacture your own out of PVC pipe if you had the time to.

SRI's will typically be closer to the engine however when your car is moving cold air is seeping under the hood quite quickly so in most cases I doubt there would be a drastic difference between the CAI and SRI.

My idea - wrap your CAI with refrigerator insulation tape - in theory it oughta keep the cool in and the hot out, I am doing the same to my fuel lines (except I know it works with fuel lines) - anyone have any thoughts on that?

[8695Beaters]

Might work. It could help keep the air cooler longer. Fiberglass insulation wrap would work too. I hadn't thought of that, I think I'll try that some time. When I swapped my filter, I pulled out the intake box but left the intake duct on the bumper, so cold air gets blown into my intake, kind of like a ram scoop.

back on topic, a drop in filter from K&N will be fine for a bit of power and mpg. and there's almost no work involved and a small cost. To fix an emissions bug, start with the cheap stuff and work your way to the expensive end (it would suck if you bought a cat and ended up only needing a plug gap).