Vehicle: 03 RSX premium, stock engine
I calculate my fuel efficiency by calendar year and for 2014, I lost over 10%

Year ---L/100km ---Kilometers traveled
2012 ---9.51 -------6089 (47985-41896)
2013 ---9.06 --- ---5232 (53217-47985)
2014 ---10.58 --- --4455 (57672-53127)

I'm pretty good about maintaining tire pressure. Being that my calculations are over a span of 1 year as opposed to 1 tank of gas, the difference of occasional sprinted driving will be negligible. City vs Hwy driving has been fairly consistent for all years.
So my question is what could have caused this big decrease in efficiency and what can I check/replace on the car to fix this problem?

Are you up to date on your replaceable general maintenance items? (i.e. oil, oil filters, air filters, different gas stations). Are you in more idle traffic than previous years? A number of things can cause a decrease in fuel economy. I see that you drove 800 km less than 2013 and 1600 km less than the year before that. Your calculations for 2014 doesn't have the two extra gas fill-ups for 2013 and four extra gas fill-ups for 2012.

On a side note, you need to drive more :). In 12 months, I put on 37k, five oil changes, and one air filter change.

slow O2 sensor even fuel evaporation if your evap system isnt functioning perfectly

I'd be keeping a trend of all fill ups instead of doing an average for the whole year and then hoping to figure out what caused a difference.

Oil + oil filters are done every 5,000kms
Air filter hasn't been changed, but I've rotated it cuz I can see 1 dark circle on it right where the intake of air goes into the box.
Gas station has always been Chevron. May not be the same pump/station everytime, but the stations are located fairly close to each other.

How do I go about checking those? I've replaced 1 of the O2 sensors around the 40,000kms mark. And no CEL's have popped up since replacing the O2 sensor

it's not very often that i'll fill up full. most of the time is to half to keep the gas fresh-er as it takes sometime to go through a full tank. keeping track of mileage for each fill when it's 150kms or so might make it even harder to figure out what's going on with so many variables, for example, 1 fill up had way more hwy driving vs the next which had all city. or 1 fill up had some spirited driving, but the next didn't. Maybe i'm just making excuses cuz i'm too lazy to track it in that much detail :okay:

Thanks for the help so far everyone!

Hey guys looking for a torque wrench for engine work with 20 lb and lower torque spec. Any recommendation that doesn't break the bank but is still accurate enough for the weekend mechanics?

^ buy it in the states.

Harbour freight? Seems like they have the same quality stuff as princess auto? With the exchange rate right now there isn't that muh of a difference between pA and harbour freight. Or do you suggest some other place?

true that.

i got mine from harbour freight when the rate was good. Lost it when i moved and now i'm using one i bought from CT when it was on sale. Not the greatest but it does the job and it was pretty cheap.

Fuck that u want good quality for torqueing instruments. I would get this over anything off the shelf. The body is sold too on these units. If u every want to tighten stuff in your life you will need this. Good investment.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002IA...+torque+wrench

^nice suggestion I don't mind spending around that price for good precision torquing, but it only seems to go as low as 10? How about something that requires say 7lb of torque very easy for my hand to accidentally over torque

It's on a metric newtonmeter scale. 10nm=7.3ftlb. It's not super ideal for 10mm bolts which all torque to 10nm but it will take care of 90% of the bolts you need to torque.

Thanks so much. Just place the order. Between this and my bigger mastercraft torque wrench I think I'm all set!

Do you have the same wrench? So does it only show nm or it show both nm and its equivalent in ft/lb?

sorry offtopic but do you work at canada post? i think i saw your car there.

Just a PSA, they're on sale til Sunday:

Ball Joint Separator | Princess Auto

^ :( brought it at regular price already

It was mainly a heads up for anyone that was interested BUT...

...you can still do a price adjustment on yours. PA is really good about returns.

It has both nm and ft/lb but who really uses imperial system anymore.

If your calculating how much gas you lost by a percentage over a year I think you better look into buying a Hybrid.

I too am looking to pick up a torque wrench for small jobs.

I have a few unused Crappy Tire GC's and they are now selling a Stanley FatMax 3/8 20-250 in-lbs (1.6-20 ft-lbs) torque wrench for $80. Does anyone have any experience with this one? I can't seem to find any reviews for this model online, Stanley doesn't even have it on their website.

The regular Mastercraft and Mastercraft Max 3/8 torque wrenches have shitty reviews.
I have their 1/2" one and it works fine for wheels and such.

^ I just ordered the cdi one from Amazon link in the previous page. Seems to be highly recommended. Havnt receive it yet so can't tell what it's like in person but seems to fit your needs bit more than $80 though

Yeah, I saw that CDI one that was posted. The whole point for me getting the Stanley one is to make use of my Crappy Tire GC's. I probably have $75 worth of GC's so it would almost be like getting the wrench for free.

If you have GC's for CT. Wait for a 60% off sale for the Mastercraft maximum series. They may not be the best, but for the hobbiest, i've never had issues with their stuff. I just picked up the 3/8" drive one myself a couple weeks back.

If youre looking for a torque wrench thats below 10 a dial torque wrench is the best way to go..

although 7-8 ft-lbs is about hand tight on a cap of a bottle too

The Mechanical Advice Thread
 

don't know if any one else has had this issue or insight, but car not turning over occasionally whilst starting unless I apply clutch and gas, only happens if the car is left for a off for a while