So over the past few months my g/f has been complaining about her car running through gas like there is no tomorrow. And I am thinking come on you have a 4 cyl jbody what more do you want?!?! Right? and she still insists that there is something wrong and that she gets poor gas mileage! Now I am by no means a mechanic, never have been. But I do know what a vehicle with no over drive feels like and this car definately has no OD! It is a 1999 sunfire 2.2 2 door. I took it out for a test drive last night and going down the highway crusing at a steady 60 MPH the tach was reading about 3500 RPM!! so I am thinking hell yeah this thing is going to eat through gas! we went about 40 miles (I wanted to get a real feel for how fast the gas was going through her car) and sure enough after 40 miles I used almost 1/4 tank of gas!! Now my question is, is there something wrong that I need to get fixed for her or does the car just not come with OD? Any input would be very helpful. and BTW it is not the tach just reading wrong, you can feel in the pedals that the RPMs are high. Once again thank you for any input!
Jake
look at the shifter. does it say prnd21 or prnd321? if its just 21, then my friend, you have the three speed no overdrive trans.
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well that is what I was afraid of.....time to sell her car, I have no idea why they would make such a stupid mistake. that probably cuts the fuel economy nearly in half. CURSE YOU GM CURSE YOU!! lol, she is going to want another sunfire....they are not all that common around here....this is going to suck haha, I think that I am just going to teach her how to drive a stick and get her a 5 spd sunfire....now I need to hope that the original bumpers are not in to bad of shape lol, that and now I have to gut her car of all the audio equipment that I put in for her and take out the seats....sigh. thanks for the help and have a good one.
Quote:
I think that I am just going to teach her how to drive a stick and get her a 5 spd sunfire
best idea ever. i got 38 mpg on a trip from cape may nj to baltimore md. if you want economy, you cant beat a base model.
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Rich Grayo Jr. wrote:Quote:
I think that I am just going to teach her how to drive a stick and get her a 5 spd sunfire
best idea ever. i got 38 mpg on a trip from cape may nj to baltimore md. if you want economy, you cant beat a base model.
Yes but I have a lot of sweat, blood and tears into her car, well sweat and blood anyway lol. I have done more work to her car then my own lol. Oh well I guess I should have asked those questions before I bought it for her lol. Thanks again for the help!
The last GM I had with a 3 speed auto as an A-body (Century) with a 2.5 4 cylinder. At 60 it would rev around 2700RPM when the converter was locked up.
Are these cars geared that differently? I figured GM would have put much steeper gears in there, certainly keeping it under 3000 at that speed. Somebody out there must have one of these. My mom's old Firenza revved fairly high, but certainly not that high (no tach - can't quote for sure).
Does anybody think that maybe it's stuck in second? That doesn't seem right to me either, but at a minimum I would guess that the torque converter isn't locking up.
Neons didn't have a 4 speed until somewhere around 2002. They only revved around 2800 at 60 if I remember correctly. Gas mileage was pretty decent too. It wasn't as much of a "mistake" as a way to save some money. Almost NO automatics prior to the mid-80s had overdrive, and they worked just fine. It all depends on the final drive gearing.
I think you should gently accelerate the car,it will start in First gear, you should feel the auto transmission change from :-
a. First to Second
b.Second to Third
c.Third to Converter Lock up--on my '93 2.2 Lock up feels as though it's changing into a "Fourth" gear---the RPM drops.
Is the torque converter locking up, I think John S has it right quote---[I would guess that the torque converter isn't locking up.]
Has a previous owner disconnected this?
Alont
^^ that is something to look for as well. its actually very common if the tcc solenoid was locking up that a preveous owner got fed up with it stalling when they stopped, and disconnected it. when was the last time the trans fluid was changed?
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