You’re doing better than me.
I have a pristine 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo, with almost 410,000 miles on it. 2nd engine, 2nd tranny. It’s got a sticky lifter which takes 2-3mins in warm-up mode to pump-up, and then I drive after it’s warmed-up.
It gets about 11-12mph city and 17-18mpg highway. When new, it was 17mpg city, 24mpg highway. 20gal tank.
Mileage does improve a little when I move it into 2WD from AWD.
I do mostly city driving now, since I retired from my Family Farm Business, on 11/1/11.
It’s cheaper to replace engines/trannys than buy a new $45k Jeep.
I used to work on all kinds of muscle cars back in the 50s/60s, but when I open the hood nowadays, I can’t find squat. Too many black boxes and computer connections which only a dealer can navigate.
hehe
I happened to be at a dealer when a prospective customer wanted the hood opened so he could see the engine on the new luxury car he was considering.
The salesman looked at him like he was crazy, then popped the hood. Underneath was a smooth cover with almost nothing visible!
I too have the same problem. I gave up too and no longer do much maintenance to my vehicle. Once it was fairly simple to go under the hood and find the problem. Nowadays, going under the hood is like being in a box with all the tightly packed parts and no room to move. My mechanic also becomes confused at times. We we're once tracing down an electrical problem and after two attempts with no success at determining the actual cause of the problem my mechanic looked at me and said, 'my computer thingy is all confused'. We did eventually find the problem and the problem was corrected but with all the sensors and computer programs currently installed by being mandated by the feds one finds their vehicle to be as confused as the feds. I just wish the feds would leave my vehicle alone. After I shot my vehicle it came to its senses and became a Conservative, or at least a better Conservative. My ET has diminished somewhat though. I'm going to have to patch that hole so my ET will improve. Next time, I'm going to shoot the computer onboard my vehicle. I think that is where the liberal in my vehicle is coming from.
I agree with you as the cars being to complicated ...I found a nice 1971 International 1210 3/4 ton pick-up...no bells or whistles just a tractor with a cab and a bed.. I may not be fastest but the simplicity and logical design along with steel from an American foundry outweighs any of the 30-50 thousand dollar rolling computers they call trucks. The thing I love most about this old truck is the metal compounds International used in making the blocks (high nickel content) seems to heal the cylinder walls somewhat if scarred . As far as mileage I have a place up here in Maine that sells leaded fuel, quite exspensive but I get more miles per tankful with it..the nice thing is it only has 93k ...
I was never a hardcore mechanic but could do OK. But I hardly recognize anything under the hood now either
I recently acquired a CJ7 project jeep and that has enough electrical and electronics for me.