miles per tank?

[AutoXSS]

I have a, new to me, 93' 318i. Im about to finish my first full tank in the car and have got to 276miles of PURE, 100% city driving without the "low fuel" light coming on. How many miles are u guys seeing out of the e36's on a full tank of pure city driving? Am i in the ballpark?

Also, when i filled it up, it didnt go all the way up to the full mark on the gas gauge. The owners manual says that my tank is 17gallons and that when the low fuel light comes on i have 2gallons left in the tank. Is that right?

[tjts1]

Miles per tank is a totally useless metric. The gas gauge and low fuel light are very inaccurate from car to car and even fill up to fill up.
Fill it up, do the math and tell us your MPG.

[DesktopDave]

^^^great advice.  All the fuel gauges are just indicators, none are all that accurate.  I jot down tank & total mileage on each receipt then work it out to keep a running average.  I can easily tell when the winter mix hits & if I've had a tank of ethanol mix.  Your mileage will increase in the summer too, just from less alcohol in the summer fuel mixes.

My e30 does around 300 in city driving.  Much more on the highway.  e30s have a smaller tank & weigh less though.

[seeohngee]

^^^great advice.  All the fuel gauges are just indicators, none are all that accurate.  I jot down tank & total mileage on each receipt then work it out to keep a running average.  I can easily tell when the winter mix hits & if I've had a tank of ethanol mix.  Your mileage will increase in the summer too, just from less alcohol in the summer fuel mixes.

My e30 does around 300 in city driving.  Much more on the highway.  e30s have a smaller tank & weigh less though.

I'm so jealous of you Dave! I don't think I even get 300 on the highway. I still haven't checked o2 sensor yet so, hopefully that's the problem for my gas guzzling m42.

[dwtaylorpdx]

I average 32 highway 28 city, about 385 per tank... 95 318ti w/m42


Dave

[AutoXSS]

filled my tank and ended up getting 23mpg, pure city driving(93' 318i). I did not baby the car as it is new to me and im trying to see what needs attention. I cleaned my ICV and replaced the hoses to and from it(one was cracked on both ends). My idle changed very little, it wasnt bad before, but i did get a dip in RPM's on start up. It usually dips twice and goes away. I have neglected to check my plugs since the car really runs quite well. I decided to change them and found oil in my #3 plug cylinder! I guess its time for a valve cover and spark plug cylinder gaskets.

I did do a search, but didnt find a good DIY. Anyone have a good one saved? Basically, im looking for torque specs and tightening procedures. Do i use high temp RTV with BMW gaskets? Im also gonna replace my fuel filter at the same time and refill to recheck my MPG. This has gotta bump it up considerably! Oily spark plugs cant be good for mileage, lol.

[tjts1]

I don't know how bad the e36 is because it has a completely different manifold but on the E30 at least there is a huge mass of twisted cracked hoses underneath the manifold. You have to pull the whole manifold and deal with each, one by one. Here is some info on the E36
http://www.motortraders.net.au/groups/group.asp?group=1&menu=87

http://www.motortraders.net.au/groups/group.asp?group=1&menu=88
good luck
Justin

[djsanchez2]

I average between 28-32 depending on how much traffic i see on the freeway. I use the Gas Cubby app on my iphone so i have a log of the past few months.

Peak 33.5mpg
Lowest 26.4mpg

144k on the odometer so far.

[Uglybob]

Same story - 28-33 mpg. I cruised to 389 miles before a fill up strictly highway. I believe it worked it's way out too like, 34 or so? I went from a m20 ETA to an '03 Alero that barely hit 25mpg all highway driving, so I'm already thrilled