29 miles per gallon on my 3 cylinder

[lakini]

I posted this question a couple of times.
I can't seem to get any feedback.
I am only getting 29 miles per gallon.
New timing belt, oxy sensor, water temp sensor.
Nothing is boosting my mileage.
I had a compression check done, and all is well.

Any thoughts.

My idle is always quite high. I adjusted it down today
to see if that will help. Maybe the idle was doing it?

[MatLax]

Might be your cat, check it

[Mike_Van]

My '96 3-cyl gets fairly disappointing mileage, too (in winter, 36 MPG in mixed driving with snow tires). My best avg., in summer, is a hair over 41 MPG.

If your OBD-II system isn't throwing codes [Service Engine Soon light comes on], one thing that should be checked is the timing, but you said that the belt was replaced. Done by you or a shop?

Timing can affect MPG, bigtime. I've not checked mine, as I don't have the tools.

[mcalvo]

Originally Posted by Mike_Van

My '96 3-cyl gets fairly disappointing mileage, too (in winter, 36 MPG in mixed driving with snow tires). My best avg., in summer, is a hair over 41 MPG.

If your OBD-II system isn't throwing codes [Service Engine Soon light comes on], one thing that should be checked is the timing, but you said that the belt was replaced. Done by you or a shop?

Timing can affect MPG, bigtime. I've not checked mine, as I don't have the tools.

Isn't that suppose (36 MPG mixed) to be quite good?

MC.

[lakini]

I changed the cat convertor

The timing belt was changed by a mechanic shop.
The cart got exactly the same mileage before & after
each was changed.

Also changed water temp sensor and oxy sensor.

[pitbullgst]

do some wieght reduction. i pulled the dead body out my hatch and i get 1 more mpg and it smells better.

just kidding. have you checked you air filter to be clean? what about spark plugs and wires? definitely have your timing checked. later . . .

[Crvett69]

is you geo a stick or automatic tranny? with the automatic wagon we had i only got 34 mpg tops. thinks thats about the best you can get with a automatic tranny

[lakini]

mine is a 5 speed.

Is there any other signs that timing might be off?
Whats involved in checking it?

My car always idles high even after I've been driving
for awhile. It seems like it never thinks it warmed up.
The thermostat in the car is in the middle though. I've
manually lowered the idle, but somehow it seems to
readjust itself back to being high again.

[Mike_Van]

"Whats involved in checking [the timing]?"
A timing light, I think.

Regarding MPG, IIRC, the factory sticker says 40/49, but they must have been driving with a feather-weight right foot.

[Creosote]

Originally Posted by Mike_Van

"Whats involved in checking [the timing]?"
A timing light, I think.

Regarding MPG, IIRC, the factory sticker says 40/49, but they must have been driving with a feather-weight right foot.

I had a drop off in mpg, nasty high idle,ect. Cured the problem by making sure coolant was CIRCULATING throughthe throttle body paasge to the temp sensor in top of throttle body, took me awhile to figure out as the coolant was showing up when I pulled the hose in top of T/B , it was not going through the passage though, that was plugged with old rtv and radiator stop leak.
I am back to my really terrific mpg, I fear not the five dollar gas to come.
Creosote

[Lemming]

Try a fuel injector cleaner. I know back in the day with my throttle body injected Corsica, that when that fuel injector nozzle gets the lest bit clogged, your fuel "spray" turns into a fuel "dribble", and when that happens the gas doesn't burn up as easily and your gas mileage will go way down. Air filter is a good thing to check too. If you take off your throttle body and it's all black in there, spend the 50 bucks and get a professional fuel system cleaning done. That black carbon could be in the whole manifold and everything and that will worsen gas mileage without setting off a sensor (for check engine light)

Air filter and and fuel injector "spray" are the frist 2 big things I'd check becasue they are the easiest and cheapest things to check. Plus they are very common problems.

Tools for checking timing, pretty basic. $40 bucks plus, you get a little flashing light that has a cord that attaches to spark plug wire number one, it's called a timing light. How to use it, each time the plug one ignites the light flashes, aim the light down at the timing gear (attached to the timing belt, duh), there is a mark on the gear and a mark on the body. Every time that light flashes you should see those 2 marks lined up, if you don't see them lined up, then your timing is off, or you're a goof and you attached the timing light to the wrong plug wire.

Good luck, and have fun