What am I doing wrong?
 

On Jun 16, 10:12*pm, "Eisboch" wrote:
This is pretty simple but I can't figure out what I am doing wrong:

Bought a 2002 Saturn for a kick around town car. * It's a Canadian
car, so the odometer reads in kilometers instead of miles. *It's a
very basic car and you can't set it to read in miles.

So, *the day I picked it up it had a quarter of a tank of gas. * I
stopped at the gas station and put in $20 worth. *At $3.68/gal that
amounts to about 5.4 gallons. *It brought the gauge up to about 3/4
full.

Drove the car around for over a week until the gauge read a quarter
tank again. * According to the odometer, I had travelled 700
kilometers.

1 kilometer equals 0.62 miles. * So, 700 kilometers time 0.62 equals
434 miles.

Divide 434 miles by the 5.4 gallons I had burned and it says the car
is getting about 80 miles per gallon !!!

I was just trying to get a rough idea of what kind of mileage it gets,
but this can't be right. *What am I doing wrong? * I feel like an
idiot.

Relax, you ARE an idiot.

The proper way to do what you want to do is to fill the tank ALL the
way ...I mean ALL the way . Drive a round trip of any distance, say 40
miles, returning to the exact station you filled up at and repeat.
That will get you a true mileage.

What am I doing wrong?
 

Did some "calibration" runs today on the highway using the mile marker
signs. Strange, but interesting results.

It's the odometer reading, for sure. One mile registers just about
four kilometers on the odometer. Converted that's about 2.48 miles.
Funny thing is that if I push the button to display the trip odometer
reading, it reads dead on accurate. It registers 1.62 kilometers
(which converts accurately to one mile).

Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing when the module that computes
the mileage got brain scrambled, so I'll never know the actual mileage
on this car.
But, if it's displaying almost 192,000 kilometers now, I think it
must have gone bad some time ago. The actual mileage *could* be quite
low for a 2002 model.

I read on a car forum that this problem can be caused by jump starting
the car or attempting to jump start another car.

But, at least I know the gas gauge and the speedometer readings are
correct.

What am I doing wrong?
 

On 6/17/13 7:57 PM, Eisboch wrote:


Did some "calibration" runs today on the highway using the mile marker
signs. Strange, but interesting results.

It's the odometer reading, for sure. One mile registers just about four
kilometers on the odometer. Converted that's about 2.48 miles. Funny
thing is that if I push the button to display the trip odometer reading,
it reads dead on accurate. It registers 1.62 kilometers (which converts
accurately to one mile).

Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing when the module that computes
the mileage got brain scrambled, so I'll never know the actual mileage
on this car.
But, if it's displaying almost 192,000 kilometers now, I think it must
have gone bad some time ago. The actual mileage *could* be quite low
for a 2002 model.

I read on a car forum that this problem can be caused by jump starting
the car or attempting to jump start another car.

But, at least I know the gas gauge and the speedometer readings are
correct.



You're riding through another dimension, a dimension in which an English
major told you a day or so ago your odometer was teats up. :)

What am I doing wrong?
 

"F.O.A.D." wrote in message
m...

On 6/17/13 7:57 PM, Eisboch wrote:


Did some "calibration" runs today on the highway using the mile
marker
signs. Strange, but interesting results.

It's the odometer reading, for sure. One mile registers just about
four
kilometers on the odometer. Converted that's about 2.48 miles. Funny
thing is that if I push the button to display the trip odometer
reading,
it reads dead on accurate. It registers 1.62 kilometers (which
converts
accurately to one mile).

Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing when the module that
computes
the mileage got brain scrambled, so I'll never know the actual
mileage
on this car.
But, if it's displaying almost 192,000 kilometers now, I think it
must
have gone bad some time ago. The actual mileage *could* be quite
low
for a 2002 model.

I read on a car forum that this problem can be caused by jump
starting
the car or attempting to jump start another car.

But, at least I know the gas gauge and the speedometer readings are
correct.



You're riding through another dimension, a dimension in which an
English
major told you a day or so ago your odometer was teats up. :)

--------------------------

Thanks, Rod.

What am I doing wrong?
 

On 6/17/13 8:42 PM, Eisboch wrote:


"F.O.A.D." wrote in message
m...

On 6/17/13 7:57 PM, Eisboch wrote:


Did some "calibration" runs today on the highway using the mile marker
signs. Strange, but interesting results.

It's the odometer reading, for sure. One mile registers just about four
kilometers on the odometer. Converted that's about 2.48 miles. Funny
thing is that if I push the button to display the trip odometer reading,
it reads dead on accurate. It registers 1.62 kilometers (which converts
accurately to one mile).

Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing when the module that computes
the mileage got brain scrambled, so I'll never know the actual mileage
on this car.
But, if it's displaying almost 192,000 kilometers now, I think it must
have gone bad some time ago. The actual mileage *could* be quite low
for a 2002 model.

I read on a car forum that this problem can be caused by jump starting
the car or attempting to jump start another car.

But, at least I know the gas gauge and the speedometer readings are
correct.



You're riding through another dimension, a dimension in which an English
major told you a day or so ago your odometer was teats up. :)

--------------------------

Thanks, Rod.



I was thinking that someone might have changed the gearing on the
odometer for some reason, but my auto mechanical knowledge is so skimpy
and so dated I am sure there is no connection anymore between the
odometer and the drive train.

What am I doing wrong?
 

"F.O.A.D." wrote in message
m...


I was thinking that someone might have changed the gearing on the
odometer for some reason, but my auto mechanical knowledge is so
skimpy
and so dated I am sure there is no connection anymore between the
odometer and the drive train.

----------------------------------------

I don't know either. There *is* a gear buried somewhere in the
instrument panel. But apparently it drives some kind of follower
generator or something that feeds input into the "Body Sensor Module"
electronics. Not worth the hassle of taking the whole instrument
cluster out to locate and check it.

What is weird to me is that the trip odometer displays accurately.
It's the total mileage odometer display that is wacko. To me, that
indicates a fault in the electronics versus the mechanical gearing.

What am I doing wrong?
 

wrote in message ...


Is it reading high or low?
Maybe there is a hack that is the virtual equivalent of ice picking
the odometer.

-------------------------------------------

Total mileage odometer reads 2.48 miles for 1 actual mile.
Trip odometer reads accurately. (1 mile for 1 mile).
Speedometer reads accurately.
Gas gauge indicates properly.

Weirdest thing I ever saw.

What am I doing wrong?
 

On 6/17/2013 11:01 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:15:42 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote:


I was thinking that someone might have changed the gearing on the
odometer for some reason, but my auto mechanical knowledge is so skimpy
and so dated I am sure there is no connection anymore between the
odometer and the drive train.

I suppose there might still be a car with a mechanical speedometer but
most use tach pulses.

These days changing that reading is usually changing tires and/or
wheels.
I imagine if the engine computer was swapped out it might not be for
that car too.

I would start with that measured mile thing, preferably a bunch of
then since you can't really trust the signs on the interstate.
You also want to average the gas over a number of tanks.

When I did the GPH on my boat I did it over 100+ hours of running.

That will give you an average GPH. Not very accurate for predicting your
usage for a day of running hard or for a day of trolling or poking
around the shoreline or inland waters. In one case you will use
multiples of your average GPH. In the other case you will be using
somewhat less than your average.
In the case of the Saturn, one of the displays yields an accurate
reading but the others don't compute. My guess is that the computer
software went hooky falooky. My first response might be to reload the
software and then replace the speedo control module if that didn't solve
the problem.

What am I doing wrong?
 

"Hank©" wrote in message
eb.com...

In the case of the Saturn, one of the displays yields an accurate
reading but the others don't compute. My guess is that the computer
software went hooky falooky. My first response might be to reload the
software and then replace the speedo control module if that didn't
solve
the problem.

-----------------------------------------

My response is to say the hell with it and go for having the only
Saturn on the planet with over a million miles, kilometers or whatever
the heck it is reading on it.

What am I doing wrong?
 

In article ,
says...

Did some "calibration" runs today on the highway using the mile marker
signs. Strange, but interesting results.

It's the odometer reading, for sure. One mile registers just about
four kilometers on the odometer. Converted that's about 2.48 miles.
Funny thing is that if I push the button to display the trip odometer
reading, it reads dead on accurate. It registers 1.62 kilometers
(which converts accurately to one mile).

Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing when the module that computes
the mileage got brain scrambled, so I'll never know the actual mileage
on this car.
But, if it's displaying almost 192,000 kilometers now, I think it
must have gone bad some time ago. The actual mileage *could* be quite
low for a 2002 model.

I read on a car forum that this problem can be caused by jump starting
the car or attempting to jump start another car.

But, at least I know the gas gauge and the speedometer readings are
correct.

Now you should see if the speedometer reads correctly as well, don't
want a ticket! Just go 60 mph (96.56kph). It should take one minute to
go one mile.