Mitsu had the worst pads hands down!

 

They are what I was used to, so it's fine for now. When I get more power and that voids my warranty I'll upgrade to aftermarket(performance) pads again for close to the factory price. For now I have had enough back and forth with Mitsu over damn brakes... never had so much trouble with brakes!! Maybe I'll be a ricer and buy racing brake pads, that way they can never heat up to the 1200ish operating temp and wonder why my $100 brakes suck butt. What did you replace with J?

 

Get some new Rotors...slotted and crossed drilled.......that'll help a lot! Also some after market pads that'll fit on Outlander.

 

I don't have enough of a need for the new rotors yet, although with as many times as they've turned I 'll probably need them at the next brake job, in which case I will definatelt go slotted and drilled with pad upgrade. Your car is full of all kinds of goodies I see.

 

I think new rotors will help big time....check it out!

 

nice!!!

 

Hey,
How bad does the fuel economy get, and at how many miles?
I'm hoping that it doesn't go much lower than the 23 mpg I have with a new Outlander now. I'm from Belgium and taxes on gasoline are crazy over here.
I'm no engineer but fuel efficiency getting worse may be caused by the quality of gasoline and motor oil you're using.
Also there seems to be a big difference in octane rating of fuel sold in the US and here in Europe? For example here the manual says "use gasoline of at least 95 octane" I guess in the US the manual says 87 octane, for the same engine?

I hope using a high quality blend of 95 octane gasoline containing "multifunctional additives" (from ConocoPhilips) which is claimed to clean and protect the engine will help keep the fuel economy good...

Just outta curiousity; which motor oil and fuel have you been using Tinkerman?

Regards

 

Hi Lightforce,

I have the same color Outlander as you (dark blue). The octane ratings between the US and Europe are on different scales. I checked this a few years ago when my brother in law who is from France mentioned the same thing to me. He said that the gas here has such low octane. Well, it turns out that there are at least 2 different ways to calculate the octane. Here, I use regular unleaded (87 octane in the US system of measuring). I use Mobil motor oil (not sure which specific blend).

Anyway, before my fuel economy dropped, I used to get something like you (about 23 mpg). Mine has the older non-Mivec engine (2003 XLS). I even got 26+ mpg once when I was driving on the highway for 95% of the tank. In Dec of 2005, it went down to sub 20s (sometimes in the 18+ mpg range!). So disappointing. I was perfectly happy with the 23 mpg that I was getting. Now, I have to drive VERY conservatively just to get it past 20 mpg. It is usually in the 19+ mpg range now. I have brought it to countless places to diagnose, to no avail. Nothing had changed in terms of gas, driving habits, oil, etc between now and when I used to get decent fuel economy - so it's so hard to tell what's wrong. All this is costing me about $400+ more per year in extra gas expense! Unfortunately, the garages around here will most likely charge in the upper hundreds of dollars to really get to the bottom of it - so I'm not spending anything to fix it right now. The problem started when I had about 70,000 miles on it. Now, I have 87,000.

The dealers were telling me back in Dec 2005 that it is the "winter blends" of gas that is bringing down the fuel economy. It should be back when the summer blends are back. What a bunch of BS! My fuel economy throughout the summer was at the same abysmal level as in winter. Pity, because I really like how my Outlander drives and handles....

- Tinkerman

 

Hi Tinkerman,

Sad to hear that your outie didn't recover its fuel efficiency
Considering this all started with the strange growling noise back in December, something bad must have happened to your engine or somewhere in the drivetrain at that moment... can't be water in the gasoline I suppose?
Pathetic stuff like that happened at a gas station at the street corner over here.. a lot of engines got broken because of water in the fuel...
But I suppose you wouldn't have been able to drive on without problems if that had been the cause [:-]

I'm sure you're checked all the following already but just in case... have you compared the periodic activities in your service-passport with your garage invoices? did they replace everything they had to?
Things that come to my mind first that could cause something like this aside from real engine damage, may be bad sparking plugs or old differential oil.. mayby other things that need to be oiled? cardan-axle or something?
Do you have automatic transmission? mayby issues with that could cause a drop in fuel economy aswell.

As for motor oil, people say that Mobil 1 would be the best synthetic motor oil... I believe using good quality synthetic will always be better for the engine's health. But problems that come out of nowhere always makes me suspicious regarding fuel quality... forgive me for asking but which brand of fuel did you use?

By the way; I've never heard of winter blends of gasoline over here since it doesn't get so cold here in winter, normally we only get a few days with permanent freezing temperatures. But I wonder why it's needed to make winter blends for gasoline since gasoline can't be frozen easily anyway?

I hope that the MIVEC engine keeps the same fuel economy through its lifetime, anyone here who has done more than 60,000 miles with a 4G69?

 

i've had the same problem with my Hyundai Accent some time ago... turns out my Spark Plug wire needed replacement. Could explain the Harley like banging and your fuel economy...

Hope that helps man.