Neutra131 and good mpg

Pontius Pilate · Mar 19, 2006

ran with 4 oz in the crankcase and 12 in the gas tank of my 93 civic 1.5l, drove from fresno, ca to el cajon, ca (8 miles east of san diego) and back... so 700 miles total, on the way there i had it on cruise control at 80mph until i got to the grapevine, then after i got through that i put it back on at 80 and got a hair over 37mpg when i filled up down there. Pretty much the same on the way back, haven't filled up yet so i don't know how much mpg i got but i couldn't use cruise control because i was going through LA on a sunday afternoon... gonna also check the piston tops through the spark plug hole and see if all the black mess is gone or what happened with it, oil was amber before i left and was brown when i got down there, should be black now.

[ March 25, 2006, 12:18 AM: Message edited by: 59 Vetteman ]

wavinwayne · Mar 19, 2006

topic says 131 mpg. what gives?

Pontius Pilate · Mar 19, 2006

neutra 131... sorry, was basically saying i got good mpg...before it was around 34 and not at 80mph

Pontius Pilate · Mar 20, 2006

pulled the plugs... same amount of carbon, trip there and back used one tank each way and 12 oz per tank... so 24 ounces, might be running too rich then or something, but 37mpg leads me to believe no... if it was then i'd be using more gas and getting less mpg.

is it retard timing = lean and advanced = rich ?

Pontius Pilate · Mar 20, 2006

r for rich.... retard = rich... advanced = lean... lean forward would be a good way to remember that

Mr Nice · Mar 20, 2006

Pontius,
How many miles does your Honda have ??

Pontius Pilate · Mar 21, 2006

176k....

Pontius Pilate · Mar 24, 2006

i checked the timing via the distributor and it was almost all the way forward, maybe the width of 3 human hairs from being all the way forward.... and the book says forward is retard, so it's running rich, however i set it to the middle and all over the place and tested it (no timing light) and it always sounds like something is clanging around in the engine unless it's set to almost all the way retarded... like taking off in 1st gear, sounds like a bike chain clinging or something, like a low oil sound... but it makes the same sort of noise when the timing is where it's at now but only at 3850 to 4100 rpms... weird... if i advance the timing it sounds like cr@p and probably increases NOX due to less gas cooling the chambers - increasing heat...

what i'm really confused about is how i get 37mpg with the timing completely retarded....running rich as possible....

goodvibes · Mar 24, 2006

High compression from cabon build up? If that's the case, you could try an higher octane with lots of advance and see if it's cost effective. Probably not, but it wuld feel perkier.

andyd · Mar 24, 2006

Try timing with a vacuum gauge. Set the distributor where vacuum reads the highest. I would also carefully try using water to steam the carbon off the pistons followed by a soak or something to free up the rings. Using higher octane gas to cure ping is cheating/ band aid. Curiosity dictates that the root cause be found and cured.

jamesn · Mar 25, 2006

when timing a honda engine always remember that honda engines run counterclockwise or backwards from everybody else. it had me fooled years ago on an old civic.

Pontius Pilate · Mar 25, 2006

got a vacuum gauge from pep boys for $23, also grabbed their last bottle of VSOT for $4.49 (rape but it's the last bottle, he said they are stopping stp not vsot) i let engine get to normal temp and turned it off, pulled the brake booster hose from the throttle body and stuck the vacuum gauge hose down it and made sure it was tight.... started up and the needle went right to 21 (inches of vac?) and stayed there at idle....once in a while it would dip down to almost 20 but go back and stay at 21. so hopefully thats good, tried to move the distributor back and forth with it hooked up but it would just make the needle move down to 20 and the idle got rougher...

pulled the plugs (will post link to photo in an edit) and squirted some neutra 131 down in the holes, the carbon looked like it was breaking apart and dissolving immediately since the pistons were hot... wonder why there was carbon in the first place if i ran through 2 tanks of the stuff and it obviously removes it.... anyhow i will allow it to soak until tomorrow and fire it up, wanted you guys to check the plug picture and tell me if it looks normal or if there is a way you experts can account for the carbon by looking at it...

edit - heres the plug (bosch super, normal gap) green arrow points to sooty carbon, doesn't flake off...more like a powder

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/2664/splug14mq.png

went by this site re the gauge

http://www.centuryperformance.com/vacuum.asp

[ March 25, 2006, 07:48 PM: Message edited by: Pontius Pilate ]

Pontius Pilate · Mar 29, 2006

just realized something.... when we set the timing 2 years ago we did it to where the red dot lined up perfectly between the two white dots... i think it's supposed to be BTDC or something, not set perfectly....DOH!!!! maybe autozone has a timing light for loan.

BearZDefect · Mar 30, 2006

Is this 93 Civic 1.5 an automatic or manual transmission? My 94 Civic LX 1.5 manual trans with 212k miles will usually get the EPA 40mpg on trips at 75mph, at least it did before Katrina.

Pontius Pilate · Mar 31, 2006

manual... it gets those #'s while running super rich, im lost.

Neutra131 and good mpg

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