Has an oil change killed your hybrid's fuel economy?
Is the right oil essential?Recently, a Honda Civic hybrid owner offered an interesting Civic hybrid testimonial. Currently, this owner has 50k miles on his 2005 Civic hybrid and he had this to say about a recent trip to the dealer.
"Watch the OIL type. they're supposed to have 0-20w oil. dealer changed our oil at 46k, wife drove it home and was appalled to see the meter showing 29 miles per gallon. way less than normal. we called the dealer back...they tried to put the blame on my new tires, but that wasn't the case as i already had 3k on them, with standard mileage we'd come to expect. today, we got the oil changed at dealer again...wife drove home and meter showed 40 miles per gallon. same car, same woman, same distance/route. three months ago after the last change: 29mpg. this time: 40mpg."
Any similar experiences?
Labels: honda civic hybrid
posted by Dahcredyns at
8:46 AM
7 Comments:
Statistics is before all. One trip is nothing.
lb isn't a mechanic I guess? First off you must have correct viscosity as verible valve timing cannot work corrcetly (case in point) you will void the warranty if you use wrong weight in Toyota Tundra as the truck has 4 "working adjustable cams" same oil as mentioned on the hybrid you have. Engineers don't just throw numbers around and specs on oil aren't just things we play around with to try and invent ways for customers to waist money and time! Everything has a reason like it or not.Just like synthetics become nesesary in high heat states you will see the break down in the oil in Vegas etc when it is looked into yourself you with the naked eye can figure this out.
My dear unknown friend, do not load me with the technical details of the Toyota Tundra. That has nothing to do with hybrids. I am a happy owner of a hybrid vehicle. Unlike conventional vehicles, the hybrid vehicle stores a great deal of energy in the battery. That is why the mileage varies greatly with the same driver during the day. Some other factors also affect the mileage. This is not mechanics, this is real life observations. Hence, arguments the same driver, in the same mood, with the same type of gas, on the same route simply don't work. BTW, what about the gas?
If the lady noticed a mileage decrease this is not actually a reason to alarm. But if you car consistently sucks during several days, or better weeks, this is another case.
PS: but I agree with you should use the same type of OIL and GAS as in your manual. E.g. once I fed the car with "plus" instead of "regular" and it consistently perform badly.
I doubt very much an oil change will alter your fuel economy that much unless the dealer has royally under-filled your...at which point you should watch for other issues.
Check to see your breaks aren't sticking.
LB-
I didn't put in the whole testimonial (My bad.).
The driver noticed this reduction in fuel economy until his next regularly scheduled oil change, at which point it returned to normal. So it was over thousands of miles of driving, not just one trip.
Without having read the original post, I wouldn't have thought to add my observation. BUT...
I too had the exact same experience. 2007 Civic Hybrid, gave us a cumulative mpg of about 43 mpg for first oil change interval. Got first oil change at the dealer. Was told about the 0-20 oil. Went home and was surprised to get much less mpg than expected and over the entire oil interval, it averaged 40 mpg. Next oil change, I mentioned this to the service writer who told me it was tire pressure ("needs to be 35#").
MPG jumped back to 44mpg each tankful and ever since.
Anecdotal, for sure, but I suspect dealer made a mistake on the first oil change. Tires at 35# turns out to probably be BS. Manual states 30 (If I rem correctly...in any event, much less than what dealer's man said).
Post a Comment
<< Home