is 14.4 mpg normal for my 99 cougar?

[miguel11691]

I live in NY and i mainly drive on freeways and expressways. Also i currently have an o2 sensor problem that my mechanic at the dealer can not fix after 4 tries

[jaged]

on the hwy unless you are in stop and go traffic you should be getting 25mpg or better. i would get the sensor fixed, or at least reset the code

[freednighthawk]

No, 14.4 is not normal. And if your mechanic can't fix an O2 sesor problem, than it might be time to find a new mechanic.

Is the car running really rich? Like you can smell gas from the tail pipe?

[kustomcougar]

how many miles are you getting to the tank? cause i know when i had an 02 sensor go out i got like 140 to the tank, but i got it fixed really quick

[freednighthawk]

And you forgot to meantion if you have the Duratec (V6) or Zetec (I4). I'm gonna guess the Duratec, just because I can't imagine the Zetec only getting 14mpg even with a bad O2 sesor.

[B3NN3TT]

Also note - the dashboard readout is NOT accurate if it has been recently reset. It needs 2 or 3 tanks to stabilize, or the number changes too drastically.

Reset your trip odometer at each fillup. Divide the miles per tank by how much gas you just filled up with in order to get an ACCURATE measurement of fuel economy.

In addition - make sure your tires are inflated properly, and that you have healthy spark plugs and spark plug wires. Make sure your air filter is clean, and your fuel filter has been changed within the past... oh... 2 years or so.

And go easy on the throttle

[branchedout]

im sorry for your troubles, but this thread made me smile in a perverse way, because I thought at roughly 19mpg i had close to the worst gas mileage on here, lol.

[miguel11691]

Yea it is a 2.5. I just bought the car a month ago.and warrenty expired. How much do I think it will take to fix

[LostRacer]

Depends on the actual issue. What exactly is the issue with your O2? Are you throwing a code? If so what code? Is the right sensor being changed out? Did the sensor get changed out or just an attempted cleaning?...

[Designated_Drifter]

besides the physical calculations, (spark plugs, air filters, o2 sensors) alot of the mpg you get are reflected on the way you drive. If you baby your car and ease on the gas then you will get significantly longer distances out of one tank of gas, rather than just slamming on the peddal. You dont have to floor it to get up to speed, it took me awile to get used to not hammering down on the pedal casue i had a dodge neon with absolutely no acceleration and was nearly rear ended on every freeway. My solution, fix that sensor, check your air filter, spark plugs, etc. and if your still not getting higher mpgs, then you might wana have the car looked at cause theres definatly a major problem then. I get around 19-20 mpg average. I drive about half the time in town as on the highway and floor the gas about half the time so it weighs even.