i just bought a new econo box for the wife, and with in 250 miles the check engine light came on, so we brought it in to the dealer... turns out it was a transmission code, so they reset the light and told us that if the light came back on, we would have to leave the car... low and behold the light came back on...
its actually pretty disconcerning that a car with only a few hundred miles already has to stay overnight at the dealer...
anyway, thats not the real issue.. i also noticed that the car was averaging about 20 miles per gallon per tank, with about %75 of those miles being freeway miles.. the car is rated at 22/30...
when i told the dealer about this, she gave me some line about how the car needed to "break in", and that there was more info in the manual.. well, i looked in the manual and it says nothing about getting bad gas mileage during break in (which i followed)..
Gas milage is usually lower during break in on most cars. There is a little more friction that usual until everything breaks in and seats right. No worries!
i just bought a new econo box for the wife, and with in 250 miles the check engine light came on, so we brought it in to the dealer... turns out it was a transmission code, so they reset the light and told us that if the light came back on, we would have to leave the car... low and behold the light came back on...
its actually pretty disconcerning that a car with only a few hundred miles already has to stay overnight at the dealer...
anyway, thats not the real issue.. i also noticed that the car was averaging about 20 miles per gallon per tank, with about %75 of those miles being freeway miles.. the car is rated at 22/30...
when i told the dealer about this, she gave me some line about how the car needed to "break in", and that there was more info in the manual.. well, i looked in the manual and it says nothing about getting bad gas mileage during break in (which i followed)..
i have never heard this before.. has anyone else?
Eddie
Crappy gas mileage during break in is normal. It may take a couple of thousand miles. One reason is because during break in you shouldn't keep one constant speed for too long, you should keep speeding up or slowing down gradually. Another reason is the rings, valves, etc... all need to seat and wear a tiny little bit so the engine will start to move a little easier.
BTW - It's very important to do that first oil and filter change around 750-1000 miles. There will likely be some pieces of metal in the oil by then.
The MPG should not be that low. A few miles per but not below city rating.
If it is an auto, which I assume it is due to the code, then the trans could be slipping or not going into high gear/TC locking up.
If you have this trouble to start just think how bad it could get.
My best friend owns a trans shop and sees this often. The dealer will have no clue as how to fix it so they farm-out the job to him. He usually finds a major problem with the trans form poor assembly and or parts machining. Never anything simple.
how long have you had the car? Some dealerships have a stisfaction period where you can return the car if you don't like it. Talk to the sales manager/owner
i just bought a new econo box for the wife, and with in 250 miles the check engine light came on, so we brought it in to the dealer... turns out it was a transmission code, so they reset the light and told us that if the light came back on, we would have to leave the car... low and behold the light came back on...
anyway, thats not the real issue.. i also noticed that the car was averaging about 20 miles per gallon per tank, with about %75 of those miles being freeway miles.. the car is rated at 22/30...
i have never heard this before.. has anyone else?
Eddie
You didn't say what brand of car it is, but most new cars can be hooked up to a DRB or Scanner, or MDT box and any faults stored in the PCM (computer) can be read and traced to the main cause of the problem.
The dealer simply resetting the computer and eliminating the light being on wasn't really fixing it. They were hoping it was just a random fault and wouldn't reappear.
Hell, you could have done that yourself by disconnecting the battery.
They need to hook it up to a scanner and find the cause of the fault.
There are so many sensors and solenoids that control the transmission parts that it's almost scary. The computer controls everything these days.
The next big change that's coming is fiber-optics instead of wiring.
As far as the gas mileage, if the trans is giving a fault code it may not be shifting properly. That may account for part of the reason for the lower gas mileage. It does take several thousand miles for the engine to break in for it to get it's highest gas mileage. Most of the time they never get the rated MPG because those numbers are for ideal conditions.
The car will get better gas milage as miles are put on it, the tolerances will loosenn up and the rings will seat allowing less gas to pass by them thus burning more fuel.
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