Matt715
Member
Hi everyone, first post here.
I have a 1999 Mazda B2500 (5 speed) with a little over 180,000 miles on it. I bought it 8 years ago with only 30,000 miles on it and with every passing year my gas mileage has been going down hill.
When I first bought it I would get 27-28 mpg highway during the summer and around 24-25 in the winter. It also had alright power for what it was. I could go up hills without having to downshift too often and pull my small boat or ATV around without any problem.
Fast forward 8 years and 150,000 miles and now I am getting 21-22 mpg in the summer and my recent Thanksgiving travels netted me a really crappy 18 mpg. That's horrible since I don't like stopping for gas on long trips.
I also have lost a ton of power over the last two years. It's getting so bad that I have trouble using 5th gear pulling my boat or ATV even on flat ground. There is no way I could pull a 700 lb load at freeway speeds and not have the pedal on the floor the whole time. I also have to downshift frequently when climbing small hills.
I try to keep up on my maintenance. It got new plugs and fluids about 15,000 mi ago, a fuel filter about 5,000 mi ago, and other general maintenance as it comes up. The last time I put a timing belt in was at around 110,000 miles.
The engine runs pretty good but I notice that it gets a slightly rough idle when it tries to idle below 950 rpm (1,000 rpm is normal for it). I don't have any valve noise and I clean my intake about every 15K or when the plate starts to get sticky. My check engine light is not on either.
I would like to keep this truck another 3 -5 years since the body is still decent but if it loses much more power, it's going to have to go down the road.
Anyone have any ideas?
Edit: I forgot to mention that the whole time I have owned this truck that every once in a great while under acceleration from a slow speed I would get a sudden lack of power (and I mean it won't accelerate no matter how hard you hit the gas) and then it's fine 2-4 seconds later. It's very rare when this happens so I never did anything about it.
I have a 1999 Mazda B2500 (5 speed) with a little over 180,000 miles on it. I bought it 8 years ago with only 30,000 miles on it and with every passing year my gas mileage has been going down hill.
When I first bought it I would get 27-28 mpg highway during the summer and around 24-25 in the winter. It also had alright power for what it was. I could go up hills without having to downshift too often and pull my small boat or ATV around without any problem.
Fast forward 8 years and 150,000 miles and now I am getting 21-22 mpg in the summer and my recent Thanksgiving travels netted me a really crappy 18 mpg. That's horrible since I don't like stopping for gas on long trips.
I also have lost a ton of power over the last two years. It's getting so bad that I have trouble using 5th gear pulling my boat or ATV even on flat ground. There is no way I could pull a 700 lb load at freeway speeds and not have the pedal on the floor the whole time. I also have to downshift frequently when climbing small hills.
I try to keep up on my maintenance. It got new plugs and fluids about 15,000 mi ago, a fuel filter about 5,000 mi ago, and other general maintenance as it comes up. The last time I put a timing belt in was at around 110,000 miles.
The engine runs pretty good but I notice that it gets a slightly rough idle when it tries to idle below 950 rpm (1,000 rpm is normal for it). I don't have any valve noise and I clean my intake about every 15K or when the plate starts to get sticky. My check engine light is not on either.
I would like to keep this truck another 3 -5 years since the body is still decent but if it loses much more power, it's going to have to go down the road.
Anyone have any ideas?
Edit: I forgot to mention that the whole time I have owned this truck that every once in a great while under acceleration from a slow speed I would get a sudden lack of power (and I mean it won't accelerate no matter how hard you hit the gas) and then it's fine 2-4 seconds later. It's very rare when this happens so I never did anything about it.
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