88 Accord milage

Hey all-
I have an '88 Accord DX - 2.0L - automatic as my daily driver. I picked it up because it was cheap, reliable, and should get good milage. I usually get 20mpg. I would really like to improve this although I have 176,000 miles on it. I have replaced the cap, rotor, plugs, wires, O2, and cleaned the EGR (its not sticking). I know it's old, but am I really expecting to much out of my 2.0L? Any suggestions would be great...

air filter?

air filter, fuel filter, correct tire pressure.

air filter is new, I can see many problems a restricted fuel filter can cause, but I don't see it reducing milage. A friend of mine suggest the timing belt may be stretched, throwing the timing off, and I can see his logic, I don't think that it is worth the effort to replace though...

thanks for the suggestions

You might have to put the engine on an smog analyzer to see if it is burning rich. If everything is Ok there, check brakes to see if they are hanging up. Tire pressure is important for mileage and tire wear. Last is driving habits.

I think that it is burning rich (I sometimes smell gas) and thats why I replaced the O2. Other than rebuilding the carb I don't think that there is much I can do, and that looks like a lot of work...

make sure that the carb is properly tuned. look in the end of the tailpipe. if its got black soot in it, then ur burning way too rich and need to lean the mixture up a little. dont lean it up too much or else you may hear backfiring in the exhaust and also it can potentially cause engine damage. as for the timing belt, i would definately make sure that it is not malfuntioning because, although i have a big 350 v8 in a truck that doesnt have this potential problem, if the timing belt or chain or whatever you have breaks, some engines in hondas i heard can be destroyed because a vavle may be forced to stay open by the non-spinning camshaft and therefore the piston can hit the valve when it comes up and make a major catastophie. my dads accord apparently would do that if it broke. i lucked out by having a big old v8 that that wont happen on lol

You mentioned you sometimes smell gas. Maybe you need to have the fuel line inspected to make sure there's no fuel leak. Keep in mind that it may only leak when the fuel pump is running and the fuel is under pressure. In other words, you might not see any visible leak when the car is parked and not running, but that doesn't necessarily mean there's no leak.

You didn't say what type of driving you do, but unless you're doing a lot a stop and go, city driving, I agree you should get better mileage. I've got an 88 Accord LXi (fuel injected). I drove it from Columbus to Indianapolis and back in April 2003 and got 38 mpg. It's a 5 speed manual transmission.