John Lenko wrote:

Logan wrote:

John Lenko wrote:If you think the 4 speed auto gives piss-poor fuel economy.... check out a 2.2L three speed auto sometime slow as hell, and poor fuel economy to boot! The only thing worse could be putting gray plastic bumpers on it

Are there any good sides to the motor?? LOL

Sure, they're reliable as hell... cheap to buy and insure.. easy to find parts for... cheap to maintain.. and will probably last longer than most 2.4L's. It's an econobox motor. Why people bother trying to get power out of them, I have no idea - it's cheaper to swap in any other motor that came stock, than to try and mod a 2.2L up to that amount of power reliably. I guess some people like a challenge?

i had a 2200 with the 3 speed auto
got the same gas mileage as my 2.2 with the 4 speed

Redneck, if you would get off your arrogant high horse and get some education, then you would realize all gas powered vehicles are extremely inefficient ( about 30 % efficiency ). Why do you think people can get more power from their engines? They make them more efficient. The same can be applied to fuel mileage. Most of the gas that goes through your engine is burned in the catalytic converter. Come to Arkansas and I'll give you an oppoutunity to see for yourself that my Cavalier does indeed get 52 mpg on the freeway. BTW, that was before I switched to full synthetic motor oil this month. I will be doing a month long test of that change.

^^^^
52mpg going down hill.....

52 mpg?? Hmm, must have had the wind behind every time, sorry call me what you want, even I can't believe this to be true.

i must have a freak engine....

2.2 ohv, 5spd

ive got as high as 45mpg doing a 300 mile trip between 60-65 most of the way

city can be kinda low, 18-26, i must be in the gas a little to much

Highest I have seen is 40 mpg with 2200 five speed. That was literally an entire tank on the interstate, 14" steelies, mods in registry, but I had like 300-400lbs of cargo. If its possible to do better than THAT, I want to know how/ see how.

52? i'm sorry, but i don't believe that. if i lived closer to arkansas i would totally head over there to check it out, by ny isn't exactly down the street and since i'm not the one getting 52mpg, maybe you should come to me anyway, i got around 30-31mpg doing minimal highway driving, but almost no around town. mostly backroads with speed limits between 40 and 55 mph. i should be getting more by now but i won't know until i finish my car. i have a hair under 100,000 miles on it and i just cleaned my fuel injection system (the machine we have at work is pimp!) and that definitely made it run better than it has in a long time. we'll see i guess come spring.

52 is not really that far off. I have not done a thing to my ecotec and only with a few minor aerodynamic mods I have gotten a best of 50 mpg, followed by 45, with 37 being the norm at 80 mph. I can get higher than 37 if I try but Im too impatient usually to go slower and to leave the ac off. I imagine with the attention being given to flow work the engine alone could be coaxed to much higher efficiency as you claim.
Switching to light weight synthetic oils can also help efficiency.

To the original poster, you might try running some injector cleaner through the engine and replacing the fuel and air filter. Check your spark plugs to be sure they arent fouled.


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You might have got the same gas mileage with the auto as the manual if you drove them hard all the time. You will get better with the manual if you are driving to get good gas mileage. Accelerate slowly and drive slowly. Get skinny tires and run high air pressure in them. The vehicle weight is a huge factor. I have a 06 cobalt with a manual and can get 38mpg if I drive 50 mph, windows up and no AC. I usuallly average 31.5mpg in my everyday driving.

My car = HEAVIER THAN STOCK

My wheels, WAY HEAVIER THAN STOCK

Last october I drove to Georgetown KY to visit my father for his bday. I drove 75mph+ all the way there. Got there and I was on EMPTY, no Check Guages light yet, but the next day we drove to Lexington and then I got gas. It was over 450miles before I filled up.


So my car that is heavier than stock got an average of about 34mpg on a trip using all highway miles. I have the RKSport intake w/K&N filter and I use Mobil 1 5W30 Full synthetic.

If I had stock wheels and tires and no BIG HEAVY system in the car, I wonder how much better the milage would be?


Ecotec with a 4spd Auto






My Myspace Page

Skeptical, sure. Everyone I have shared the info with has been...well, less than polite. I am willing to let you have some of my tips. Prove me wrong.
Fram Air Hog filter.
Bosch platinum tip, twin prong. No difference with the 4.
mill the head 0.020 to compensate for the thicker gasket.
Restore in the crankcase ( silver can ).
Tire pressure near max( - 2lb )in front and max (plus 2 lb) in the rear.
I'll reserve the specific porting tips till I get the patent.

Right now my car is down due to a pin hole in the rear brake hard line. Looks like battery acid got on the line and severely rusted a 2 inch section. Mind you the car was bought new, locally, by my daughter here in Arkansas. My son bought it from her. Never been out of Arkansas. The line looks worse than some Northern cars I have seen. The rest of the under chassis looks like a 10 yr old AR car, rust free. hmmm.
This and school is keeping me from finishing the construction of a flow bench.
I want to try some more ideas and measure the results.

I just want to know what to do to improve my economy. I understand the skepticism against the guy who said he got 52 mpg in his 2.2. liter OHV. I've gotten 36 which is pretty good.

I replaced the air filter; should i also replace the oil filter as well? i get my oil changed close to 3,000 miles and keep a 5 lb. emergency car kit in my trunk. That's my only weight other than myself (I weigh 145 lbs). The tire pressure is set to 30-31 at all four tires.

This guy sounds credible to a degree due to porting and flow rates changing. But its an OHV, not a DOHC engine too.

What about spark plugs and ignition? It's just very demeaning to be in a small, heavy car that gets only 24 mpg in the city. I'd be okay with the lack of power if it got 41 mpg on the hwy and 34 in the city.
But I'm getting Malibu, Lumina economy without the resulting power increase.

my 96 Z24 4spd auto got 525-550kms per tank which i thought was pretty good... my new 97 z24 gets roughly the same maybe a lil lower either way im happy my talon loved gas and my daytona would get 175kms to a tank and that was with a new air filter, new fuel filter, new plugs and fresh oil... im very happy now.


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@!#$ y'all...

I can't remember what my cav's or my fire got for mileage, but my GTP averages 18mpg city and 35mpg highway, and yes, the difference is that drastic.

My Pathfinder gets 14mpg city and maybe 19mpg highway.





**there is only one true love in my life... and my girlfriend has learned to live with it**

My 96 z24 got around 22-25 mpg estimated per tank. it had about 180,000 miles on it and a carboned up egr valve. guess thats not too bad. Makes me feel a lil better now.

03 eco 5-spd. Avearage 30 MPG 20 highway 10 city(real city not suburb) everyday.

Best mileage was had by my wife 42mpg on a run down to Radford, VA from Damascus, MD

I think 50mpg is possible with an eco but would require some retuning.

Not sure on the 2200 but milling the head would also increase compression which could account for the extra efficiency, but it may now be running lean.


-Chris

I don't think Dan is that far off...

I know of a few here that have got over 40 mpg after playing around with their cars...

A classmate of mine almost got 48 on a trip chicago....


I think a lot depends on the shape of the car too...and how it was broken in....

If you try my tips, make only one change at a time, recording mileage before and after each mod.
Like I said earlier, I am building a flow bench and will be designing, what I believe, will be the best flowing headers and spacer plates as well as intake tracts, etc, I'll keep you posted

Have any of you tried the tips given? I would like some honest feedback to see if I should publish all my findings. Thanks Dan

i think it could prolly be done!!! getting 52mpg with an ecotec!! i no i can easily get 34mpg hwy with my 5spd ecotec!! and between 27-29mpg city depending on the way i drive! worst ive ever gotten is like 25mpg.


http://www.myspace.com/xtremegravity http://cardomain.com/ride/833995

There's no way a Cavy is getting 52mpg unless it's being towed. I've seen 38, and I'd believe 40 under certain circumstances. But 52 is an unreasonable claim. It just will not happen.

most i ever saw on my cav was 36mpg on my 2.4 MPG before i got rid of it with my mod i was getting about 24-27mpg on the highway and 14-18mpg in teh City. That was with cautious drving not spirited driving. I am getting those same fuel economy rates on my Grand Prix GTP. Now i don't feel bad about the gas mileage.


2004 Grand Prix GTP (Competition Group)
SOLD-->1999 Z24 5M-#30 to register on JBO
"You can please some of the people some of the time but you can't please all the people'
all the time

I am trying to acertain if the bolt on mods were of greater effect or did the porting have a bigger impact than I think. I guess I could go out and buy another Cavalier and start from scratch, as far as mileage.
Yes, 52 mpg is rather outrageous, I suppose. However, back in 1976, my brother-in-law had a Toyota pickup that woul get 45mpg, on bias-ply tires. I know because I tested it. Never could , then, figure out why. I had a 1966 Dodge Coronet, 361 V-8, auto,p/s,a/c,bias-ply tires that would get 25 mpg hwy, after a fresh tune-up (points ignition ).
I believe I have made a good discovery.

I think I speak for everyone here....

If you really have found a way how to get more mileage out of a 10+ year old vehicle design... using pump gas... than the most fuel efficient hybrids currently on the market... then there's a few car companies that would want you working in their engineering department.

Not saying what you've done is impossible... just that you're the only person on the planet that has been able to achieve it.... not even the people who designed the vehicle could do it.... so.... if you're for real (which you believe you are... and none of us here do).... congratulations!

I hope you're not full of @!#$.

...j

Just thought I would share my knowledge with people who have the same vehicle as mine. Guess I will go elsewhere and start my own tuner business.