First of all, let me tell you I’m not a car mechanic and reading this segment will prove it.

I own a 2007 Saturn Vue Hybrid.  As we all know, Saturn went out of business several years ago.

It’s not one of them hybrids where I can switch from driving from all electricity to all fuel.  My Saturn Vue works with the several batteries located under the backseat, that work in assisting my vehicle during acceleration, thus using less gas.  The batteries charge themselves during deceleration and during braking.

When I first got my 2007 Saturn Vue Hybrid, the highest gas mileage I ever got was about 515-miles to a tank of gas and my gas tank holds about 15-gallons.

A few months back, I had a tune-up done on my Vue.  I also noticed my gas mileage the worst it has ever been.  I was barely getting just over 300-miles to a tank of gas.  Before, I’d be pushing it to get about 400-miles to the tank.

But I wasn’t aware there’s been a problem with my Vue.  A problem that affected my gas mileage.  Last week (23 January 2019 – Wednesday), I took my Vue into the shop because the maintenance light was going on & off.

They put the Vue on the computer and found the problem.  My Vue has 04 cylinders.  And to each spark plug, there is what’s called an ‘ignition coil pack’.  02 of the 04 ignition coil packs were misfiring.  I had no idea about these things called ‘ignition coil packs’.

My Vue has 268,000 miles and I’m trying to get to 300,000 miles.  Anyway, I figure I should have replaced all 04 ignition coil packs back at 100,000 miles and again at 200,000 miles.

I replaced all 04 ignition coil packs and right then and there I went to get a fill-up so I can check the gas mileage.  I noticed by eyeballing the gas needle an increased gas mileage from the get go.  See Most Important Notes below.

Here are my results (I’ll be updating it every Half-Tank & Full-Tank):

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         Date                                  Gas Tank Status                                            Miles

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28 Jan. 2019————————————-Half Tank————————————————–201.3-miles

02 Feb. 2019————————————-Empty Tank———————————————–395.4-miles

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13 Feb. 2019————————————-Half Tank————————————————–195-miles

02 Mar. 2019————————————-Empty Tank———————————————–356.7-miles (lowest mileage)

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06 Mar. 2019————————————-Half Tank—————————————————197-miles

13 Mar. 2019————————————–Empty Tank————————————————376.1-miles

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17 Mar.  2019————————————-Half Tank—————————————————212.7-miles

22 Mar. 2019————————————-Empty Tank————————————————422.9-miles

(see ‘1st Most Important Note’ below )

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28 Mar. 2019————————————–Half Tank————————————————–233.1-miles

01 Apr. 2019—————————————Empty Tank———————————————–432.0-miles

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10 Apr. 2019—————————————Half Tank————————————————–218.9-miles

15 Apr. 2019—————————————Empty Tank————————————————388.2-miles                              (transmission problems)

22 Apr. 2019—————————————Half Tank————————————————–202.8-miles

24 Apr. 2019—————————————Empty Tank———————————————–404.6-miles

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29 Apr.  2019—————————————Half Tank————————————————–202.5-miles

04 May 2019—————————————Empty Tank————————————————381 miles

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06 May 2019—————————————Half Tank—————————————————226.2-miles                                 (used air conditioner – hot days)

11 May 2019—————————————-Empty Tank———————————————404.5-miles

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18 May 2019—————————————Half Tank————————————————–227.3-miles

24 May 2019————————————–Empty Tank————————————————428.2-miles

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01 June 2019————————————–Half Tank—————————————————227.7-miles

06 June 2019————————————-Empty Tank————————————————442.3-miles (highest mileage)

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Running The A/C In My Vehicle Drops The Gas Mileage!

My gas mileage R & D ends here.  The rest of the summer I did several gas mileage R & Ds with my Air Conditioner (A/C) on.  Here is my compiled average results.  Running my A/C on medium high, the A/C is nice and cool.  Running the A/C, my gas mileage dropped a WHOPPING 25% – 30%.  Meaning, I’m losing about 100-miles and more to a tank of gas.  Instead of getting around 440-miles to a tank, I’m averaging about 340 to a tank of gas.  So using the A/C puts a hurtn’ on the gas mileage but I’m nice and COOOOOL!!!

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Bottom Line So Far:  Replacing all 04 ignition coil packs increased my gas mileage.

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1^st MOST IMPORTANT NOTE:  I don’t know why – have no idea, but my Saturn Vue gas mileage is lower during the cold months and gets the highest gas mileage during the hotter temperature months of June to August.  My 1^st gas mileage recording has my gas mileage at 201.3 miles at a half a tank.  In this cold weather, that’s a good gas mileage so far.  I use to think because the gas was super cold affected my gas mileage.  But now I’m thinking the series of batteries in my Hybrid Vue don’t work like they’re supposed to (helps in acceleration) because the cold temperatures affect the poor performance of those batteries.

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2^nd MOST IMPORTANT NOTE:  Like I stated, I’m trying to get my 2007 Saturn Vue Hybrid to 300,000 miles.  As I write this (29 January 2019 – Tuesday), I have 268,484 miles on my 2007 Saturn Vue Hybrid.  Most folks would sell their vehicle long before they reach that mileage.  But me, my Vue has been paid off years ago and I don’t want another monthly $500 car payment.  I got this far by simply keeping up on the regular maintenance, especially the oil changes every 3,000 miles.  So think of it as saving $500 a month!

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3^rd MOST IMPORTANT NOTE:  Most of my mileage is on the road and not city driving.  Where I live, the small city nearby has only 02 soda machines and that’s it.  So for any shopping and other errands, I plan my trips so I can ‘kill 02 birds with one stone.’  I travel to Sparta, IL which is a 23-minute drive one-way and I also drive to Scott AFB and surrounding cities which is a full hour drive away – one-way.  I try to do both trips in one day instead of multiple trips – thus using less gas – and less unnecessary wear & tear on my Vue – less unnecessary money spent.

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