[ZFreakMX6]

Well, I am anal about gas milage on my car, and as most of you know, I drive close to 100 miles a day in my MX, so it's a big deal to me about MPG....

I was getting an average range 29-34mpg on first 15 tanks of gas since I had the car.... did the usualt tune up after I bought it, plugs, wires, PCV valve, air filter, and what not.... (average was 31.8mpg)

I since have put on an E-Bay intake ($18) to see if it would improve my MPG... I didn't get it for power, as the car hasn't seen anything higher than 3k rpm since I got it (I drive like a grandpa)...

TO answer the question, does it help? Yes. how much does it help? Very little.... instead of the average being 31.8, it went up to 33.4mpg for the next ten tanks of gas, and that's with my exhaust leaking at the resonator....that's getting fixed tuesday, so I'm hoping it helps....

Anyway, to my amazement, the MPG did go up, and I can easily get 400 miles per tank (on 11-12 or so gallons), compared to before where I got 370-390 on the similar amount of gas... 2mpg increase may not sound like a lot, but it makes a difference when you drive as much as I do... I'm inching my way ever so close to 200k miles... I'll probably get there in the next month or so.... I'm at 193k right now...

 

[turbogt22]

how much does the exhaust leak help? Seriously though, mine had an exhaust leak before the resonator and I noticed better gas milage -Crazy!

 

[ZFreakMX6]

I'll find out on Tues when I get the part..... I got it from Oreilleys for $65...

It's had the leak since I bought the car (184-185k miles or so) and has only been worse.... I"ll let ya know.

 

[Mavric03]

That seems to be a pretty decent gain just for adding an intake. I would be happy if I got +1.6 mpg from that. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to record mine when I added my cold air intake. With my first two weeks of having the car, I put a homemade intake on, so I couldn't really get an accurate mpg average in that short of time.

 

[ZFreakMX6]

I made sure to have several tanks of gas to base my statement on, as just going one tank with it won't tell you anything.

I think it's a very good gain. I don't really notice a power gain, but I can definately "hear" it now. It's not like those "gimmicky" commercials that say "Gain up to 20% more HP and 5-10MPG!".... that's total B.S. right there.

 

[Marutek]

An intake air filter will not improve milage. You got a big air restriction the throttle plate. If your worried about milage then you drive around at part throttle in which case the stock air filter flows way more air then you engine could use anyway. Make shure your air filter is clean though. An aftermarket air filter intake will also draw warm air from the engine compartment rather than cold outside air so in this case your milage will actually decrease.

 

[sleepermx6]

an intake air filter will not improve milage

it seems as zfreakmx6 has proven you wrong, from his own experience and recording the fuel milage he found that he did gain around 2 mpg, ofcourse its not a big gain but every bit does help.

 

[ZFreakMX6]

I keep it all on an excel spreadsheet (every tank, every fill, mileage, etc..) and figure out the MPG, then it adds to the "average" of all of what I have set up...... after I put the intake I had a seperate section on my spreadsheet for after the filter was on.... after several tanks of gas it DID go up. My driving style in my MX has always been the same as it was before, as is the style of driving (90-95% hiway mileage). Granted, my mileage may be a little esoteric compared to that of others (I drive like a grandma all the time in this car). Anyway, this is just me proving what it did to my milage. It may be different for others. That's just my $0.02. Thanks for playing though.

Here's a "sample" of the miles per gallon from some of my tanks...

29.07749928
30.00027763
29.13300575
**Intake put on here***
33.59332975
33.02149877
32.95473251
31.95185185
33.46551724
32.00874436

(but with 15 tanks before the intake and 12 tanks now after the intake)..... average went up.... the average is almost constant for "before" and "After".

 

[Marutek]

I stand corrected. Ok so maby the intake made a difference. An interesting experement might be to use the stock air box with a K&N panel filter. Then we can see if its the filter or the air box that is causing the drop in milage. It might still not be the intake incresing milage. If the aftermarket intake positioned the air flow meter at a different angle this would affect the air flow meters output. Notice how factory air flow meters are always horizantal but aftermarket ones often leave them dangling. 1.6mpg improvment is very significant. I assume your engine, like most 1st gen motors, has a whole bunch of miles on it and a crooked air flow meter might compensate for changes in the motor. But at any rate it works for you and you got the numbers to prove it.

 

[moebius]

I did the dryer hose mod-cai, and I have the stock airbox + a k&n filter. The best I've gotten is 34 mpg(that was with very careful driving). I've been averaging around 31-32 on highway trips recently, but I'm sure I could up the average to 33-34 if I was more careful with the accelerator pedal.

I would say I was around 29-30 mpg before I put in the K&N and the Intake.

Admittedly I didn't keep good track of it, but I would guess that having a lower restriction air intake helps not only power but also fuel economy.

To be fair, I have 202+k miles, and I think either my valve guides or valve seals are going bad, and a few other assorted problems.
I have all of my fuel filling and mileage written down, but I have no intention of putting into a spreadsheet to get 5 decimal places.