gas milage so so any suggestions

[beloved07]

hello fellow brethern
ok i ust got my 2006 outback limited and i love it alot.i am sort of having a problem with my gas millage.when i picked up the car i was going threw the clock thing that shows the average miles per gallon and so on.it stated 26 miles per gallon.ok since i had the car i have been putting in the cheap reagular gas checking it frequently and it was like 19 20 miles per gallon.so i started to put premium gas into the car and i did see a improvement.i seefoamed my car it has 40400 miles on it.i changed the pcv valve,tire pressure is 32/30 and i just put in a k&n air filter like 5 days ago.i did a oil change mobile 1 5/30,mobile 1 filter as well.i had the tranny flushed for free by the dealer and have been real good to the car so far,my question is since i put the K&N filter in my readout on the clock thingy stated i was getting 17 mpg average.i only drove maybe 50 miles with the new air filter.i did relize that the different gas stations gas does make a difference so i am only going with sunoco or shell.just filled up and reset my trip odometer and i hope i will see my millage back up to the average of 22-24 in town.does the car have to get adjusted to the new filter or what.an info you all can give me would be much appreciated.thank you and god bless

[AWDFTW]

The digital gauge on the car is not the most reliable method. Calculate by hand at each fill up for the most precise reading. Make sure your tires are properly inflated in this cold weather. Changing the air filter and what not shouldn't really effect your MPG.

Is your car an H4 or H6 engine? If it is a H6 it will run better on premium, but the
H4 is fine on regular.

[beloved07]

dont mean to sound stupid but what is H4 or H6.and how do i find out?

[subiesailor]

4cylinder vs 6 cylinder the 6 will have a 3.0 emblem on it some place grill or rear hatch.

Seafoaming a car with 40K on it is kinda crazy I wouldn't go near any car with that crap unless I had no plans on keeping it and didn't care if it was screwed up.

20-21mpg around town mixed driving in the winter months on winter blend is pretty much the norm. 17mpg thats not normal but hard to say what you've done to it that may have caused that issue. Also be careful with how much oil you put on your K&N over oiling it will eventually cause sensor issues in the throttle body. Proper oiling you'll have no issues. K&N filters with subaru's fairly good cold air box system are more about not having to deal with the paper replacements than milege or performance given your not really changing anything regarding air flow.

The 4 cylinder doesn't know the difference between the cheap grade and the high grade gas so from that point you should see zero difference and don't bother spending the extra money.

30-32 on the tires I've always felt was borderline too soft 34-35ish being right at the upper end for pressure try bumping the tire pressure up just a little see if that changes your milege. And yes never use the computer in the dash for this stuff its an averaged number the best would be fill up reset your milege ODO and then at the next fill up fill to the top again and run the numbers by hand for a accurate check of your milege.

[beloved07]

Cool thanx i will try the tire pressure.

[wilsonhp]

First question is how are you driving the car? Aggressively or conservatively? I've documented a solid 10% difference between "slightly aggressively" and "like a little old lady" on mine. Try limiting your rate of acceleration and limit your high speed to the speed limit for a while, and see what difference it makes. Take your foot out of it.

Second, SeaFoam is good stuff. I've used it regularly for years, and have never had an issue. In vehicles and small engines, both. Some people just irrationally hate the stuff, yet no one can document a failure, or even an issue, related to its use.

[beloved07]

thanx alot wilsonhp i will do that.and i hear you on the seafoam.i have been useing it on all my cars for years and no problem whatsoever.but thank you for the info

[Wagondude]

Make sure the brakes aren't sticking. Clean and lube the slider pins and the clips that the pads slide on. If they were sticking at all, you will notice a reduction in road noise.

[TooSlick]

Bump up tire pressure to 35 psi
Change the plugs - they don't last 60k miles
Run a strong fuel injector cleaner like Redline SL-1 through the system
Remove the crossbars from the roof rack
Minimize the use of the heater during engine warmup - use the heated seats insteD
Change the front/rear diffs over to synthetic gear lube
Change the auto transmission over to synthetic ATF - use Amsoil in mine; I'm sure there are others (Redline?), that work fine as well.
Change your air filter if it's dirty
Clean your MAF sensor & throttle body

TS

[mrk610]

How long have you had your outback. I also have a 06 outback and the winter fuel in NJ kills my mpg. Summer blend fuel I get on averge about 4-6 mpg better then winter fuel blend.