I will be going on a 200 mile each way road trip with 3 of my friends in my sisters '93 Olds 88 on Wednesday. Since its got the same powertrain as the Bonnie, I figured I would ask here. Is there anything that I can do to improve gas mileage and/or performance for free or really cheap (like $10) before this trip? The car is BALLSLESS and doesn't get the best gas mileage, and its completely stock, I would like to help it out a little. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Shawn

Maybe some fuel injector cleaner, let the weight of the car do the work, set the cruise to 65-70mph. You should get 35 mpg if the car is feathered properly. Is the car in good shape? I hope for your sake the O2 sensors are good.

The car is in VERY good mechanical shape. We keep it maintained like every other car we own, so its nice. It has like 125k on it or around there. My sister just drove it from Florida to Michigan a few weeks ago with no problems, so I'm not worried about it making it, just trying to get some mileage out of it. I am planning on driving 72 in MI and 67 in Ohio...not planning on flying.

Shawn

Remove the air filter.......she'll never know.

I can't believe, I suggested that.

Probably wouldn't be a good idea for a trip that long though. I don't really want dirt in the engine an all.

Maybe I could throw my K&N on there?

Shawn

For around 10 bucks I would throw in a can of fuel injector cleaner into the tank, replace the air filter with a stock AC-Delco unit and pump up those tires to around 32PSI of air(cold).

Yeah, if you can put a short ram intake on there you'll definitely see an increase in MPG'*. Ask Jason how he did on his trip to Toronto with my beat up el-cheapo air filter in his 1993 SLE. We got as much as 39 or 40 MPG (can't remember which, but it was one of those #'*) on one tank, and averaged somewhere around 30+ the whole trip.
And if you do get a aluminum/metal pipe to replace the accordion tube pull the MAF screen from the TB and you'll somewhere around 15% more air flow from removing that alone -but only remove it if you have a smooth pipe to the TB from the air filter.
Also, do a fresh oil change before the trip and use a Wix oil filter (Wix makes NAPA Gold and Silver filters -$5.99 for the Gold and $3.xx for the silver).

I popped my tire presure up to 38psi, the max for that tire, It increases the rolling diameter just a bit.

AC...this is MI...I don't need to use the AC. If we really get warm thats what the windows are for. I'll definately keep it under 80...we won't be in a hurry and I don't really need a ticket. We will have 4 people in the car..me and three friends. One of them is fairly large and the other two are average, but I am small (I weigh 118lbs.) so it makes up for it, so its like 4 average sized "adults."

I checked all the fluids today and topped them all off...filled the tires to 32psi as 2 of them have a slow leak and needed to be raised a little and 32psi is the pressure we normally run them at. Took it to the carwash and cleaned it off, vacuumed the interior (can't stand a dirty car...obviously this isn't gonna help mileage). Noticed on my way to/from the carwash that the car does seem really sluggish. I don't think it should be that slow...her '92 that had 193k on it when we sold it would've blown it away...I think there is a problem...it won't even bark the tires from a standstill with a brake-torque. When I get back I think I'm gonna check out the coils/wires/plugs. The coils and wires are stock, I know that, the plugs aren't but they should be checked. Might run a tank of mid grade or premium through her and see if that helps performance any. Tranny is acting up a little as well, maybe its just my imagination though...because it seems that the tranny is acting up in every one of our cars that I drive...so maybe the tranny is fine...or maybe all the trannies are bad.

Thanks for the suggestions...

Shawn

Cruise control will be your best friend by far. It'* surprising how much less fuel you use on cruise even compared to a relatively steady foot on the gas.

Bon voyage!

Cheers,