Is it my imagination but since I've done a tune up on my 02 s my mileage has dropped.. It was my 1st tune up since i.bought it used n wen I took the old ones out they were 4 prong..I was told by the guy.at the store that the.1prongs would be good but since my mpg has been bad.. So should I go get the 4 prong to help?

 

FYI, as a person who works at a parts facility, and have all the time in the world to research things, when I did my wife's plugs in her MINI, I found out that the stock plugs are considered a lawn and garden plug!! As far as this whole 1 prong, 2 prong, or even 4 prong, the only advantage to having more prongs is that the spark attempts to find the least path of resistant, supposidly giving you a more efficiant burn everytime......which was cool in the 90's as a selling gimmick. Fact is, if it truely did work well, you would see many other manufacturers using it.

The thing you be concerned with first is what plug manufacturer did you put in there. Also, what type of plug is being used (copper, platinum, iridium) What else did you change while doing that? How does your coil pack prongs look (particularly cylinder #3) And another important thing, where do you live? It's common for vehicles to have reduced MPG in the winter due to denser air.

I have a lot of people come in and tell me after doing -insert part- my gas mileage seems to have decreased. I'll ask if they kept a recording of their mileage tank to tank through the seasons, to which 9 out of 10 say no, it just feels like it.....which is nothing more then a concern in their head, and they are just over thinking. For a few others, they may have forgotten to tighten, or properly put back on a part.

So now I must ask, did you keep a record of your mileage from tank to tank, and does it average to what you are doing now? Explain exactly how much of a drop off you are experiencing from before you changed the plugs. What plugs are you running? And has your weather drastically changed there.

 

^ winter gas just plain sucks too. dramatic decrease in MPG

 

Also, did you check, and adjust you plug gap to the o.e.m specified gap? Aftermerket plugs will have it when taking place of non gapping plugs (I.e. 4 prong) Even iridiums need to be checked and gapped, you can't just pull them out and install, a plug may fit several vehicles, but the gap will vary. Be supercareful when gapping iridium, you do not want to apply any pressure on the electrode, it'll break off.

 

http://zhome.com/ZCMnL/PICS/winterGas/winterGas.html

Here's a great tech article on fuel, and what's wrongly blamed.

 

Just found out where my fuel is going..u changed the oil.just now n got a fait smell of duel in it..don't know if its because is been in the 30's and me not driving very far from starting to stopping or if I have a leak somewhere

 

If you've been driving short distances, it can have that smell. A car starting cold, especially in the winter will have some fuel bypass the cylinders due to the computer adding more fuel to warm the engine up quicker, also because the block and pistons haven't expanded to normal operating temperatures, and because a car should be driven about 45 minutes to burn off the fuel, hydrocarbons, and acidic in the oil. If you drive your car a minute after starting it, doesn't help either since the fuel is being forced into the crankcase. Go take your are on an hour or so drive, then take out the dipstick and see if you still have that fuel smell. If so, then that may deal with worn piston rings, but you'd also see a consumption and faint smell of oil due to blow by.

 

Oh, and if there was alot of fuel going in the crankcase, you wouldn't have any bearings left for the cam and mains.....ask me how I know. Worked on a California spec mustang, where it's fuel pressure regulator went bad, making an injector go bad and stay open, dumping fuel into the cylinder and on the catyletic converter, melting the cat, building pressure in the cylinders, forcing the fuel into the crankcase, that ate the oil pan gasket, and making the gasket melt and be sucked up into the oil pickup tube, starving the bearings...yea, what a rube Goldberg of a shitstorm. Gas makes for a great grease and oil cleaner alone, so your bearings would be shot if alot of gas was circulating in oil.

 

on these vehicles does the gas needle tend to slow down after the 1/2 mark? Because of the location of the float inside the tank?

 

I usually find fuel gauges move quicker after the halfway mark. Gauges can be off as well. I once drove a company vehicle, and they forgot to tell me not to trust the gauge. Here, the car ran out of gas, yet the gauge read 1/4 left.