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Oh yes 1,218 miles on the engine. Also I would recommend switching to a full synthetic for your oil. They do not make a 5W-20 full synthetic but the Mobile 1 5W-30 is a good choice.
Not really conplaining but could be better.
Most people posting on here who have used K&N filter have pretty much decided they don't increase horsepower or MPG, and that they don't really save money either unless you like to remove, wash, oil and reinstall your air filter for some reason at very frequent intervals.
I'm curious what MPG you'd get now if you switched back to the stock paper element filter.
In many parts of the country, if you keep your engine shifting at 2000 to 2500 rpm, you'll get run over by traffic proceeding at the normal rate of acceleration and speed. Good luck.
FWIW-A lady backed into our Sedona in Boston (hotel parking lot) and crunched the rear bumper. Our van was TWO DAYS OLD. Her Pathfinder sustained a lot more damage.
FWIW-A lady backed into our Sedona in Boston (hotel parking lot) and crunched the rear bumper. Our van was TWO DAYS OLD. Her Pathfinder sustained a lot more damage. Parts and labor for a new Kia rear bumper=$780.00
I have a lot of experience modifying cars and adding an intake is no joke. Improving airflow is a fantastic way of gaining power and MPG in certain conditions. An example is on my 06 Mustang GT the intake alone was good for 20+ HP with tune it equaled 32 HP. Now on the Kia with just the K&N air filter you may see only 2 - 3 HP which is not much but enough to feel. I felt it right off the bat.
Increased air flow works in both ways. If lets say you are cruising at 65 MPH you you will have a slight increase in MPG because the throttle body does not have to be as open to maintain your desired MPH. If lets say you open the engine up allowing more air flow compared to what the junkie stock filter would allow will allow of course more fuel and hence worse MPG.
I am not sure where you live Joe but here in PR and my van letting the engine shift at 2000 to 2500 RPM's in general keeps me flowing with traffic and ahead of many. Maybe where you are this is not the case but the point is conservative driving = more MPG.
You also save money over the life of your car with the K&N. You only need to clean the filter every 15000 to 30000 miles and this takes all of an 20 min to do, let dry and your on your way.
I reset the trip computer before leaving home and before leaving for home (tank was full before leaving) and averaged 26MPG on the way down and on the way back. I also reset it before pottering around the Blue Ridge Parkway and averaged 20MPG up and down the hills.
I'm really happy with the mileage, I'd be even happier if Kia could fix the passenger Power Sliding Door (which didn't work properly for approx 90% of the time). I'll write some more about that in another post.
that gives us 15.96 MPG. that does not sound bad, but the first 100 miles (roughly) on this tank was ALL highway driving. that used up less than a 1/4 of a tank (on the guage). so the city milage sucks, but highway is good.
now we are still getting used to it, so I hope it will increase as we adjust to driving this instead of the 1999 suburban we traded in on it. but right now, the suburban got way better milage in the city than this van does.
My calculations showed around 22.7 mpg. I was hoping to do a little bit better, but I think the approx. 50 miles of city driving dragged it down a little.
2006 LX, driven gently, but mostly city and short trips with the occassional 500 mile RT to my parents. The long trips probably account for 50% of the miles.
4208 miles since we bought in (Febuary, during those great deals, got it for 16k) 230 gallons of gas. Thats 18.3 mpg
City is worse, sometimes as low as 14-15, road is better at 21-24. I think the Sedona doesn't like frequent short trips. It takes a while for the computer to switch over to more efficient settings (when the engine is warm) and I wonder if that is what kills some users mileage.
I wish it were better, but all it all, its probably acceptable.
If you are sure it is not your driving based upon your experience with other vehicles driven the same way on the same routes, then you could go to the dealer and insist that they put it on their diagnostic computer. But remember that this is an approximately 4400-lb (?) vehicle with a 240 hp gasoline engine. It is a little silly to call these vehicles minivans. Short trips in winter, in stop and go traffic, heavily loaded, are each and together going to be mpg killers. If you have the heater in the windshield defrost mode the a/c compressor will be on (to defog the inside of the windows), unless the ambient outside temperature is extremely low. But this comment is not a suggestion that you drive with a fogged up windshield to keep the a/c compressor off!
But you may have to do some experimentation and record keeping to persuade the dealer that there really is a problem. If it has a trip computer which shows instantaneous, and average mpg, then your job will be a little easier.
First check the tire pressures and see that they are at the specificed pressure on the vehicle sticker (not the max inflation pressure on the side walls of the tires). What is the outside temperature where the van is being used? Is the engine warming up properly as evidenced by good heat inside the vehicle and the engine temp gauge?
You want to establish that the poor mpg is not your driving habits. I believe that one could possibly get such poor mpg in a properly functioning van if one drove short trips, drove the van "agressively" , i.e. with high acceleration and heavy braking in city streets. Take the van out on the highway and drive with minimal braking and not exceeding 60 (or at most 65 mph) and see what the mpg is. If you don't have a trip computer, you'll have to fill-up, drive 100 miles, fill-up, and calculate the mpg.
If you have a trip computer, then get the vehicle up to 60 mph in a fairly level area where you can keep the speed constant without braking, reset the average mpg function mpg and drive for a mile or a few miles for the average mpg to stabilize. Record the value. Repeat at 65 mph, 70 mph, 55 mph and record all the values. How do these values compare to the EPA highway estimate for this vehicle?
I recently had the spark plugs and the timing belt replaced. New tires (2nd set). The car has been thoroughly checked by qualified mechanics who report nothing wrong with it.Now that the average price of gas here is nearing $3.75 a gallon, can anyone direct me to the top 10 recommendations on improving the gas mileage?
You should also do your fuel filter and run a few bottles of Lucas Oil fuel injector and top end cleaner.
K&N Washable air filter is a great addition.
About all I can think of, might want to run your tires a little above 35, maybe about 37 or 38 and you could see a little better MPG though a bit harder of a ride.
I'd say if your getting much less then 15mpg there is something out of whack. DO you calculate the mileage? Does the odometer seem accurate? Maybe the tire size got programmed wrong and you are actually driving more miles then it's reading out. Our 99 Suburban was that way even thought the speedometer read correctly the odometer was about 10-15% lower then what the mile markers indicated. In other words after going about 9 miles only 8 showed up on the odometer. I figured after 100,000 miles that would actually increase resale a few hundred dollars so I lived with it!
Maybe and independent shop could do a few checks on the air to fuel ratio to see if it's running to much fuel. Also try a coast down test to see if something is dragging like the transmission or a brake. Get it up to 60 and let off the gas and see how fast it loses speed on a flat road. Then try it from 60mph and shift it to neutral and see if its much better at rolling. If all that seems good then it could also be a really loose/slipping transmission or torque converter. In which case it will surely fail long before the warranty expires if that's any consolidation! LOL!
Signed....obviously VERY frustrated!
PS you sound a like a doggie person.Are you into showing>? My doughter has been showing for over 30 years.
Those long trips were lightly loaded, with one or two people.
Not miserly in its gas usage, but roughly equivalent to the 98 Caravan it replaced.
I have a 2002 Kia Sedona LX which currently has 70K miles, and was tuned up at 36K with new plugs, air filter, fuel filter, etc. My last fill up I averaged 12.8 miles per gallon. :mad:
My wife is the primary driver and drives to pre-school 3 days a week for grand total of 5 miles round trip. With the weather now warm, I don't see why we're getting bad fuel mileage. I maintain good tire pressure (36lbs) and run 10w-30 syn fluid.
I have a Ford F150 with V8 that averages 18 mpg.... :confuse:
-Michael
The Sedona excells in transporting multiple people and lots of gear around the city and on highway trips. It's not the best vehicle to haul two or three people on short distances.
I think the recommended oil is a lighter weight. 5w-20 comes to mind.
On the way home, I reset the trip computer when leaving and then approx. 750 miles later (made a few indirect stops on the way home), the average MPG was about 25MPG.
My conclusion (an obvious one) is that the Sedona loves long straight stretches of highway! Mileage dipped to about 19MPG up the steepest hills on the PA turnpike and I81 (@55 MPH).
At home, the van is driven in suburban traffic (with a mix of highway, stop and go and short trips). It averages about 18MPG.
Overall, I was very happy with the fuel economy on this trip.
Ontario, Canada
So check your tire pressure, invest in a k&n air filter and drive like a "grandma" and you will get 18 - 19 / 24 - 25. If you want to zip around and use that power forget about good mpg... power and fuel go hand in hand. Unless something is mechanically wrong with the vehicle it is most likely you why the mpg is not what you hope it to be.
As an example my wife gets consistently 19 / 26 but I get 14 / 24. This is because of the weight difference in our right feet if you get my drift. :shades:
I also drive my van in constant stop and go here in Puerto Rico with the dual climate a/c on 99% of the time.
Couple things that will help.
1: Tire pressure, try to keep it up around 35 / 36 PSI
2: K&N air filter
3: Synthetic oil
4: Of course driving habits. Try to keep the rpms around 2,000 - 2,500 at all times. Can be kind of hard...
5: Time... With our 06 it is now getting the best MPG we have seen as it does take a little while for these 3.8's to be broken in. We just hit the 30,000 mark and I can get as much as 20 in the city with the above mentioned techniques. With more miles the gas mileage will also improve. Even the Edmunds long term test Sedona got the best MPG at 25,000 + miles. They got as high as 29 on the highway. I have seen as high as 32 in prefect conditions but not sustainable for very long, So give it some time and drive like a grandma and you should be able to get that back up to at least 15 - 16 in the city.
Most of all keep the rpm's low and you will really see an improvement. Especially starting and stopping.
And not to be rude, but unless there is something wrong with your van it really is the driver who determines the MPG. Try what I mentioned and your will see a good deal of improvement. Don't forget to reset your MPG computer and see how it goes. Also, cold weather and driving while the van is cold yields poor mileage within itself.
Good luck.
I bought mine from CarMax 4 months ago. I since have been to the dealer 5 times.
The main computer had a problem with air bags and seat belt warnings. They reprogrammed the computer. Then the transmission slipped out of gear - or wouldn't engage. During this time I got ~ 11 mpg. Kia reprogrammed the transmission control unit - reset fuzzy logic to degault values and I got 19.5 mpg in city and highway. Over a couple of tanks mileage dropped to 11 --> 12 mpg.
Their programming or sensors have a problem in some vehicles causing lousy mileage.
I think their fuzzy logic or their sensor test programs stink. The Kia dealers say no codes - no problem - just low mpg.
:sick: Any suggestions - Kia customer service accepted my Excel spread sheet detailing the history/driving conditions/mileage. Been two weeks with no response.
You won't convince me the driver makes the difference even though the service manager told me I was using truck tires and that is why my mileage stinks. Those tires also got 19+ mpg. I get about 19 mpg on highway.
It sounds like your van has some kind of mechanical or programming issue. Driving habits most definitely play a role in fuel mileage, as well as air temperature, road conditions, tire pressure, etc.
If you are not seeing any kind of improvement I would try to get Kia to test the vehicle themselves.
Good luck.
On its worst day my 97 Chev half ton 4 wheel drive got over 13, usually 14 with a 5.7 liter V8- with old plugs.
Symptoms-comments:
Does the transmission down shift too much?
Apparently, if you don't run the air, mileage improves???
It was 110 in the shade yesterday in Las Vegas.
The dealer said that is all the mileage I can expect!
Then there is the smell of raw gas.
This is the venting system in action according to the dealer!
The dealer claims 17 in town and 23 on the highway?(got about 20)
Why do they publish such nonsense?