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Best Mods to Improve Gas Mileage??

62K views 34 replies 22 participants last post by  CantSitStill 
#1 ·
Hey all..just bought a 2003 Se-Sc and since it is going to be both (eventually) my weekend off roader and my daily driver I need to know what are the best mods to start with to improve the somewhat hellacious gas mileage. If I had say $500, what should be the first 3 things that will help the most?? Thanks to the pros for any advice. Cheers
 
#4 ·
Look in the DIY section.. The air box mod is a good free one.. Then you add the K&N
That helps some.. Id say cat back exhaust is a good one..
One issue with the SC is you need to run top grade fuel. So keep that in mind. Im sure the last person didnt run that in it. Id say seafoaming the engine could help too..

Like ^^^^ The Xterra isnt great on MPG.. AVG 15-20
Hope these couple mods help..
If you really want to help and spend redo the manifolds with the cat back exhaust
 
#5 ·
Haha..not gonna go that far Whisky..i love my new X. I was well aware of what I was getting myself into in regards to mpg but just figured there may be someway to improve it a bit so it's not a constant conga line to the gas station. Thanks for the ideas everyone else, I'll start right away!
 
#6 ·
Fuel filter, clean MAf sensor, tuneup, higher tire pressure, in addition to what was said above. Oh and the biggest one as it's been said before, stay off the skinny pedal!
 
#7 ·
Making all your destinations downhill is another way to improve the mileage. Getting home becomes a problem for another thread though.

I'll second the airbox mod, and exhaust. Also, run synthetics anywhere you can. I've eeked out a couple of MPG's from a Tacoma using all synthetic fluids. Make sure that your air pressure is maintained as well.
 
#9 ·
Get a cheap motorcycle and use it when you can. This way your average mpg can be like mine 38.... haha

I spent 1200 on the bike, and only about 400 on mods to get better gas mileage. I bought the car knowing i had the bike to balance out the mpg.
 
#10 ·
1. 1987 honda crx
2. plates
3. insurance


shop well, should be able to stay around your budget.
 
#12 ·
I found this to be the best gas mileage improving mod ----> click here
 
#14 ·
When is the last time the oil was changed? If it has been a long time check and see if it needs to be taken care of, I know i need to do it, my mpg has gone down because i need to take care of mine
 
#15 ·
Ive been having the same problem and have done some research. Looks like a cold air intake will do more than the K&N drop in filter which i have, a performance chip, and exhuast will help quite a bit as well. Of course a turbo will take loads off engine work but your talking big bucks but a great improvement in mileage. Make sure with the performance chip you can switch between econ and sport/tow or you wont be able to have fun when it comes four wheel drive time. You could always get smaller fuel injectors but then you will lose power, so thats a downfall. Normally you want to increase power to take work off of the motor. Hope this helps.
 
#16 ·
ill second a good tune up and some seafoam sucked straight into the intake. My xterra had slowly but surely dropped from around 19mpg when I got it 3 years ago to around 9mpg. granted i had lifted it 5 inches so that probably had something to do with it, but i was still running the tiny little stock tires. did a good tune up, plugs, wires, seafoam, cleaned the pcv, added transmission cooler, k&n cone filter and got back up to around 16mpg pretty much instantly.

most of these fixes for mpg are similar to me fixing my MPG and Air conditioner in my xterra this past weekend. I convinced the wife that she needed a new car so i could get my g35 back from her. Most expensive AC fix ever, but damn it was easy. now I need to figure out why my g35 is knocking. asked the wife about it and she said oh its been making that noise for months:goodjob:
 
#17 ·
Found the K&N filter on Amazon:



Pretty cheap investment for a slight increase in MPG.

I have heard that these don't filter very well during "off-road" events, so be wary...
 
#18 ·
and if you get a k&n go ahead and get a can of maf cleaner. oiling the filters is kind of an art. if you over oil the filter you can get oil on the sensor of the maf and that can cause some problems if you dont clean it from time to time. but at the same time you dont want to under oil it too little. But i would go with a little less oil over too much personally.
 
#19 ·
besides lowering your x all the way to the ground,buying street tires, and staying off the skinny pedal, the next best thing is to go buy a hyundai.
mine gets around 16mpg now, and probably less when i get my lift kit installed.:grimmig-big:
 
#22 ·
turn it off at red lights and dont go through drive thru or make trips shorter than a few miles in it i notice if i idle alot i get from 11.5-14 mpg but if i cut it off more 15-17mpg and only in city 12-14 with approx 50/50 city highway 15.4-17.3ish the new epa combined says 16 15 city 17 highway old was 16 city 19 highway 17 combined i get close to what new says if i drive a good 40% highway 60% city but closer to old if i do more highway so stay on highway and coast but idling kills your mpg in the x
 
#24 ·
Just to revisit this...I dropped a K&N filter in recently and increased the PSI in my tires. I took a road trip and over two full tanks, I gained 30-40 miles on each tank. Not a bad investment. Granted, it was 100% highway driving with mostly cruise control, but add all those things together and it's definitely worth the time at $4+ a gallon.
 
#26 ·
get the tune up done and i mean everything all ne fluids oil, tranny, differential, power steering fluid all of it, new plugs (iridiums, wires and dizzy cap and rotor) new accessory belts and coolant and new stock size highway tread tires at 28psi each and keep the alignment good.
thats what i did and i went from 13 city and 15ish highway and 13.5-14 average to 15.5-16ish city and 17-19 highway and 15-17 average
 
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