getting better fuel mileage

Asked by jwhasemeier May 09, 2011 at 11:03 AM about the 1989 Ford Festiva

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I recently purchased a 89 festiva and have been driving it for about a week now.  only problem is, i am only getting around 25 mpg out of it.  any ideas?  I have tried playing around with the carb and have put new plugs in it.

6 Answers

in 89 that was about top milage.gas was cheap.mpg was not that big of an issue.

2 people found this helpful.
215

Friend, Im going to say you have a vacum leak issue somewhere. And yes, mine that isnt running right??? gets 35MPG.

1 people found this helpful.
215

I just reserched this for my 1988 Ford Festiva Vacum and pray it helps you. Mine is now seeming as a component failure. causing idle and low end fuel delays...

3 people found this helpful.
20

Did this get resolved? I ask because I'm having the same problem. I think it's because my idle won't pull down once the car has warmed up.

20

High mileage Festivas of the carburetored years have a tendancy to wear out the throttle plate shaft which causes a vacuum leak at the base of the carb where the shaft enters. this will cause rough running and failing smog test. If you can grab the throttle shaft and wiggle it back and forth, then this is the problem. Napa sells a rebuilt carb with new throttle shaft bushings to remove the vacuum leak problem and high idle, lean mixture, fail smog..

2 people found this helpful.

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