I own a 1994 Dodge Shadow ES 4 Door Automatic,What kind of Mpg should I be getting out of it nowadays?

Question

It seems like I'll refuel and the Fuel needle will sink when I next start it. I will fill it up to max and then after about 30 or so miles the Fuel needle will unhinge and begin to sink all at once. Is this Normal for a 1994 Dodge Shadow ES Automatic? I've even replaced the Air filter, The Battery, and I drive the Speed limit all the time. Additionally I don't do jack rabbit starts off of Green lights.

Answer 1

If that much fuel went through the engine that quickly, it probably wouldn't run. Somebody is stealing your gas. It sounds to me like your fuel level sender is bad, if the needle is sinking that suddenly and you aren't exaggerating.. That is a float actuated rheostat in the gas tank.

Some gas tanks have a threaded plug in the bottom of them. When the gauge suddenly drops you could open the plug- carefully outside and away from any spark or flame- and that will show you gas is there or not. You could measure it in a large washtub. Before you do this, rap on the tank to see if it sounds like there is liquid in it or not.

If you're exaggerating the needle drop, have the car tuned and drive more carefully. If the performance has dropped off just  lately, your gas is probably blended with ethanol- which is high octane but doesn't have the power potential as real gas. You need more of it  to do the same amount of work real gasoline does. Ethanol  can run at higher compression and more timing advance than gas to try and get back some power, but that's not a safe thing to do. Your emissions will be off the chart.

Answer 2

i owned one of those a few years ago and then it would get around 28 miles to the gallon,on a good day,25-26 on a bad day,you may need a new sending unit in that one,i had to replace mine along with the fuel pump right before i sold it,when you would fill it the hand would stay full for about a day then fall to a half a tank making you think it had burnt the gas,it was just a bad sending unit that was causing that too happen,you may loose the gas gage all together on this one if the sending unit is going bad,good luck.