Gas mileage...

[Rick Biarritz]

Hey, gang:

It's been quite a while, but I have a simple question for you. Cant' find it in my owner's manual, so here goes...

What is the miles per gallon I should get on my 83 Eldo with the 4.1?

Thanks.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Most HT 4100s I've driven got ~15 MPG;  low 20s highway.

[TJ Hopland]

My 83 CDV did around 18 for around town combo driving.   Road trip at 55 it would do 30.
Friend has a 84 CDV and he was doing about 3/4 70mph highway last summer and said he was getting around 24.
I would assume the Eldo would be similar.

Official EPA rating for an 84 gas eldo (oldest online) was 14 city 16 combined 20 highway.

[Rick Biarritz]

I'm getting crappy mileage. Every day, I do 26 miles, 6 of it in town, 20 on the highway. I'm getting 13 MPG. Car runs GREAT, got a recent tune up, too. It idles fast, though. How much does that have to do with it? No carb, of course, so how do I adjust the idle? Any other likely causes?

Thanks

[TJ Hopland]

Make sure the base idle and timing is set correctly.  Both require special steps to put things in the proper modes.   If the process is not followed the system tends to hunt for the correct settings and usually wont ever find them.   Someone could have turned up the throttle stop screw to compensate for other issues.  Try setting them correctly and see what happens.  It may solve things, it may lead you to other problems.  While you are in there checking that stuff have a look at other things to see if anything else looks like its not connected.  Things can get messy when people start disconnecting things thinking they are fixing stuff.  It would also be a good idea to find someone with a scan tool to take some readings of the temp sensors and then compare with an IR gun to make sure the computer is getting good readings and is actually getting up to temp.  Another thing that can happen is the cat converter can get plugged.  They can run fairly well with restricted exhaust they just wont make any power.   Last thought would be fuel pressure regulator.   They dont fail that often on these but at this age anything is possible.  They are difficult to test and check because they are part of the throttle body.  One test would be to put a pressure gauge on the system and shut it down and see how long it holds pressure.  Another pain with these is there is no pressure test port. I believe there was an inline test kit that had to be installed to test em.  I dont think the kits are that expensive so it may be worth just getting a refresh kit for the throttle body. 

[Walter Youshock]

I had an '82 Fleetwood Brougham d'Elegance that I loved.  Every summer, 6 of us would go to the Maryland shore and, of course, we took my car.  Fully loaded trunk and AC on constantly, I'd get 23.5 on the highway. 

[Rick Biarritz]

Thanks for the tips!