91 accord overdrive button/ low gas mileage??

[liftedoff420]

i used to own an old nissan 200sx that had an overdrive button, which would decrease my RPMs when traveling on freeways...saving me lots of gas


is there a similar button on a 91 accord DX? i really hate running my car at 3-4000 rpms on freeways

is it safe to switch the car into nuetral and back into drive gears to lower rpms and save gas?

my accord only gets like 20 miles a gallon...any ideas why so bad?

[Tom_91_LX]

Regardless of whether your car is automatic or manual, it is equipped with overdrive and there are no buttons to push to activate it. Automatic = 4th gear is overdrive, provided that the shift lever is in D4 (leaving it in D3 won't allow it to shift into 4th). Manual = 5th gear is overdrive.

If your car is an automatic, there is a button on the shift lever, but this is for the sports mode which raises the shift points during acceleration, and doesn't have anything to do with overdrive. If it's in sports mode, a green "S" will light up on the dash. If you leave it out of sports mode, you will probably get better mileage.

20 MPG is about right for a '91 automatic in city driving; I'm not sure about manual. On the highway, though, you should be getting in the upper 20s. It's not the greatest mileage for a 4-cylinder, but I like the fact that my car almost never has to downshift to maintain speed on hills due to the lower gearing. I'd rather get a few MPG less than have the tranny downshifting constantly.

If you have an automatic, you may want to double check to make sure that it is shifting up to 4th gear. An easy way to check this is to move the shift lever from D4 to D3 at around 40 MPH and see if the transmission downshifts. If it doesn't, there might be a problem with the tranny, or the shift cable needs to be adjusted.

Tom

[liftedoff420]

yea what exactly is SPORTS MODE...i see the button but it doesnt seem to alter performance in any way\

thanks

[Igovert500]

Technically it is supposed to prolong the shifts until you get into higher rpms. Realistically, it does nothing. I took mine to the track, did a few runs with it on, and a few with it off, I couldn't tell a difference and neither did my timeslips.

[92lx]

4th gen accords get horrid gas mileage :P. On the highway, 3000rpm is standard for most vehicles running 70mph that I've been in, sometimes 2800rpm, my civic with integra tranny runs about 2900.

But in all seriousness, the Accord is not the best on gas, but on the highway (only highway driving) you should see almost 28 mpg.

- Nathan

[gitter44]

Originally Posted by liftedoff420

i used to own an old nissan 200sx that had an overdrive button, which would decrease my RPMs when traveling on freeways...saving me lots of gas


is there a similar button on a 91 accord DX? i really hate running my car at 3-4000 rpms on freeways

is it safe to switch the car into nuetral and back into drive gears to lower rpms and save gas?

my accord only gets like 20 miles a gallon...any ideas why so bad?

Make sure the tranny is going into lockup "overdrive".
You should only be turning 3000 rpm at 70mph in D4 when in lockup.
If your turning more than 3000rpm at 70mph you may not be going in to lockup.

I had the same problem with my 91, changing the thermostat fixed it.
Went from getting 22mpg to 27 after the fix.

[hondaokie]

At 70MPH my 91 accord's RPM needle jumps around crazy-like. Only at 70MPH does it do this. It will jump up to like 5000 then spike back down to 3000 then just jump around really fast...I hope it's just broke.

[integrasedan]

Originally Posted by liftedoff420

my accord only gets like 20 miles a gallon...any ideas why so bad?

my '95 integra automatic gets 20 miles/gallon also, i drive normal, not speed demon.

[alphalanos]

i drive with a lead foot and i get 22 mpg consistantly.