[scottinmt]

My newly purchased 01 5spd w/AC (with 24,000 miles) averaged 60.6 mpg on my first tank of gas. The lifetime mpg is 56.1. Over the last two weeks I changed the oil (0W-20), inflated all four tires to 45, changed the air cleaner (old one must have been the original, yuck). I've been very conscious of how I have been driving her as well. out of the over 600 miles I drove, 200 were on the highway and 400 were commuting. I'm wondering if I'm overlooking something here since I was expecting higher mpg.

One thing I have noticed is that apparently the down-shift arrow is broken, at least I've never seen the thing light up. The other issue is the driver power window control. It seems as though it's supposed to have a mode to lower it completely by pushing down till it "clicks" this doesn't work.

 

[originalbadbob]

Hi Scott,
It will take you a while to get the feel for driving the car. I have put 10,000 miles on mine since I've had it and I still am figuring out how to improve. It's almost like a video game. If your commute is stop and go, that will hurt your mileage too.
You'll need to look through the archives to see all the tips, and I'd bump up the tire pressures to 48 or 50. Does it have the OEM style tires on it? Mine didn't and I gained over 10 mpg by changing those. The speed you drive and the terrain you drive over are huge factors as well as wind, rain, stops and starts (very big factor) etc. A couple extra stop lights can make a several mpg difference in a commute. Look at the long haul and don't be afraid to experiment. I put a warm air intake on and gained a few mpg, but this time of year and the temperatures, you may not need it. If it is cool enough you may even need a partial radiator block.
If you are running A/C, then you may not be able to improve much, especially if you are commuting in town.
My car had 54.7 lifetime on it (at 32,000 miles) when I got it and in 10,000 miles it is up to 65.0, but my commute is 49 miles highway and 1 mile city each way. When I drive in town, my mileage is around 60 or so.
Good luck with it.
robert

 

[Hambone]

The downshift arrow may not be out, its just you really have to be lugging the Insight engine in order for the shift light to tell you to downshift. Try this to confirm its operation.

Find a hill of fairly steep gradient, start up the hill in 5th gear. As the Insight begins to loose speed, you should get to a point where the shiftlight comes on indicating you should downshift. If you get to the point that you can feel the engine is on the verge of wanting to stall and the shiftlight has not come on, then yup, the light is out. If there's no hill present near you, just get the car on a stretch of flat road when no one's around and in 5th, coast until you're at say 20-25mph, and get back on the gas. If the shift light doesn't indicate a downshift, again, the light is probably out.

 

[Rick]

If the car still had the original engine air filter I'd be willing to bet it's still got the original cabin air filter too. You might want to change that too when you get a chance. You'll probably notice an increase in air flow to you.

As far as the down shift light it rarely comes on. I think I've seen it 3 times in my 36K miles. It comes on so infrequently that I would say unless you happened to get a defective bulb it should never ever burn out.

 

[counselorkv]

I have seen my downshift arrow quite a few times and the engine doesn't have to lug to see it. It has taken some hills though, same ones every trip. One in particular is one that on a good day with no a/c and no headwind, I can take at 60-65. but on those other days the downshift light comes on when it slows to 54. So.... you may not see it often but the hills bring it out. Regular driving does not

BTW My auto-down on the driver's side doesn't work any more neither. It went out about 6 months ago. Is it worth getting fixed? I haven't decided that yet.

 

[kapps]

I've seen the downshift light once...when my mom was trying to drive up a hill in 5th gear at 30 mph :shock: :roll:

 

[The Citrus Smoothie]

Hi ScottinMT & Counselorkv

The problem with the auto-down on your driver's window is a known glitch. You should be able to fix it yourself, just follow the instructions on this topic (it worked for me after a couple of times of trying):

http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=460

 

[Rick]

Sorry, didn't see you had the auto down problem. First if the window seems at all slow or not smooth in it's operation the first step is to clean and lube the window run channels. Ideally you can go get a tube of Shin Etsu grease from Honda. It's expensive (~$15), but it will last a long time and a little goes a long long ways. Alternatively any silicon grease will work, but it won't last as long. I'm currently going on about a year since my last clean and lube and both windows are still working great with shin etsu. From there see this thread for a possible reset procedure I posted a while back:

http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=460

If that doesn't work then unfortunately the window regulator is probably burned up, this is common and effects several Honda models. This is a pretty expensive and labor intensive fix where the door panels have to be removed to access the regulator.

Ok seriously back on topic.

 

[scottinmt]

Thanks for the link, I followed the directions and it worked... I now have a fully working auto-down driver window.

The downshift arrow never lights up regardless of how I lug the car.... it does light up when I start the car however.

 

[Insightful Trekker]

I vaguely remember ? reading something in the owner's manual in regard to turning off the downshift arrows. Similar to being able to turn off the MPG display (which I am sure of).