I have a 04 Dodge Stratus R/T. whenever i got the car 10 months ago the gas mileage was great and 4 months ago i replaced all 4 tires on the car. I have kept basic maintenance up, such as oil changes, rotate/balancing the tires and front end alignment. but my gas mileage is all of a sudden going down to the point it is almost half the mpgs it was when I got the car! I live at my university and my hometown is 120 miles away, and I commute to my internship 50 miles away once a week. I would like to be able to go home every once in a while without having to worry about if Im gonna have the gas or the money to make it back!
If you have had this problem with a stratus or have any suggestions as to what it may be please let me know!
and I really dont care to get the “Its a dodge thats your problem” answers I love my car as much if not more than u love your own and those dont help with my problem… thanks.

A:                Fuel additives would be the first choice. They will clean your fuel system, such as injectors. If you put bigger tires on 4 months ago, that will affect your mileage some. After cleaning fuel system, check spark plug wires and spark plugs. Six years old sounds like a carbon build up. Additives should help, but your catalytic converter could be clogged. A place like Midas can check that with a digital thermometer. They check the difference of temps on each side of the converter. If the temp is much higher on the engine side than the muffler side the converter is clogged. This would be the most expensive, but easy to check and rule out. Hope I have given you some ideas…take care and good luck.

A:                 haha i like the “its a dodge thats your problem” point…but on a serious note and on a technical note it might be stuck in open loop meaning your car thinks its still warming up…theres three things that make it go into close loop…Time Temp and Toggle. You need time for it to warm up. Then theres a specific temp that it needs to reach. And last you need the 02 sensor (oxygen sensor) to start switch rich lean rich lean rich lean etc. My advice to you if you can go to an autozone and have them look at your ECT (engine coolent temp sensor) and your 02 sensor and see if they’re workin properly then you could save yourself some money at the shop if you tell the techs what to replace and then you only pay labor and part cost for that part and not diagnosis. if the ECT reads -40 degrees F or C the sensor is bad if the O2 isnt switchin like .150-.250mv for example then you have a problem and also look at your LTFT (long term fuel trim) to see whats going on if it shows -20 or -30 a big number then its saying your car is running rich and you might have a problem with fuel pressure possbily? but thats all that i can think of.

A:                 First of all, realize that tires drastically affect fuel mileage by their design. E.g., a Michelin “green X” tire is designed to get the best fuel mielage due to it’s lower rolling resistance. There are other fuel efficient tires. Buying tires on special is NOT always the right thing to do. As far as your car goes, it is a good car. You should clean your throttle body and IDLE AIR CONTROL VALVE every 3 months or so to maintain best power, fuel economy, and emissions. For best power and MPG’s, install a set of Bosch Platinum or Denso Iridium plugs. The factory plugs are not very efficient in comparison.Good luck!!

A:                CHECK these out,,,air filter, is it clogged, tire pressures , are they at recommended pressure? change fuel filter. and if you live in a colder climate mileage will not be near as good in winter as compared to summer. also try some fuel additives and see if they help.

A:               hello there, i have experienced similar problems as well except with my honda crv. first i checked the tires and made sure they were at the proper inflation. next i checked into the spark plugs and had to change those as well. i changed the air filter and put some Lucas Fuel Additive which cleans ure engine as it burns the fuel. after that i got a full engine flush done by the local dealership in town, if you are skeptical on changing spark plugs, ask a buddy to do it, that way you can learn as you watc them. hope this helps!!! and you can find the oil additive at walmart, but its often times cheaper at most truckstop

A:               Half is a huge loss. If the car is operating the same, no weird running on after it’s shut off, acceleration is smooth, no sputtering or lurching, no obvious leakage, I’m baffled. How you drive can effect mileage greatly. Jack rabbit starts and abrupt stops, more city than highway driving can make a big difference. If none of those things apply I’d take it in and have it looked at.

A:                 you really need a good tune up mechanic to diagnose it.
todays car have highly technecal systems
and many things that could cause your problem.
From a temp sensor that causes the computer to feed too much fuel the engine
To a clogged catalitic converter.
do you have any check engine lights on ?
A mech will plug your car into the cars computer and it willl have what are called ” codes”
that will telll the trained mech what to look for.
If you have lost that much mileage it should be easy for them to find out what it is.
You cant just guess at it any more
the fuel systems are to technical for that.
Edit :
With that much lose in mpg, i am suprised that no lights are on and that it runs normally.
Still the best thing for you to is go to a good shop and have the read the codes.
It is a very simple thing to do.
All they do is plug a special device into the computer on your car read the data from it.
The computer in your car controls the fuel ,timing etc for all the eng functions.
It also records and saves info on any malfuntions that occur while you are driving.
That is what the codes are.
The error code retrieved from the comp will tell the mech if a sensor is not working properly ect.
That is the first thing all mech`s will do, read the comp on your car.
Auto zone used to do it for free, dont know if they still do.
if not pay someone to do it
or wink and use your fem charms to get what you want .
ahahaahah
if you are wasting that much money on fuel ,it would be wise to pay to find out why .
Diff types of tires can deff change mpg, but not that much.
And additives are not the answer ether

A:               check engine light on? if so have the codes checked at your local parts store for free. I would recommend a Professional fuel injector cleaning (would be the best) if not I recommend a product called Sea Foam for a fuel treatment. It would be good to do this anyway just to clean up the inside of your motor. You can use it in the fuel and in the oil. Also you need to have your O2 sensors and your catalytic converters checked out. Definitely sounds like your O2 sensor(s) is faulty