awful bloody awful MPG

[KenC]

The resistance of the circuit doesn't change.

[lolcantturn]

The resistance of the circuit doesn't change.

Oh ok, so as long as its outputting some resistance, it's ok right?

[M-technik-3]

I already seafoamed my car quite a number of times (300000+ miles on a 22year old car is quite the smoke show) so I'm assuming marvel mystery oil works the same as seafoam..correct me if i'm wrong.

The previous owner duct taped the intake hose pretty well :giggle: so I hope there isn't any leaking.

300K Is this an I or an E? regardless this is a high mileage engine with questionable maintenance history so fix the few known issues and try not to throw a lot cash at it because it's honestly getting to the point where it's worn out.

[llll1l1ll]

Although my car does not have a questionable maintenance history, it does indeed have (estimated) ~260,000 miles on it. It needs lots of tinkering to keep running, and it runs kind of rich. Sometimes. This weekend it didn't. I usually have a 20 minute in-traffic commute to work, both ways, and with added drives to a friend's house here and there, a full tank will last me about 1.5 - 2 weeks - depending on how often I visit my bud's place. I'd say for a twenty-something year old 325is, that's pretty darned good.

Now, my car runs pretty shaky. Probably because there is a cracked-ass vacuum hose somewhere that I need to replace. Super glue isn't working. Duct tape will not, either.

What I'm getting at is a lot like what Mtech 3 said. Basically, don't start dumping tons and tons of money into a car that's already pretty old. There really isn't much payoff to it since nobody but a crazy enthusiast will buy it from you for anything remotely close to what you think it might be worth.

[CorvallisBMW]

The resistance of the circuit doesn't change.

Are you sure? I'm thinking that it does, that's how the sensor knows the difference between cold and hot. I've had very similar conditions to what you're describing OP, turns out it was the temp sensor that feeds the ECU. Note, that is a different piece than the temp sender, which operates your cluster temp gauge.

I can't see the pictures here at work, so forgive me, but are we talking about a b25, b27, m10 or m42?

I'd say your fuel economy is directly related to your cold running engine. Fix that and you're MPG will improve, guaranteed.

[Surtr]

Are you running a 50/50 mix of anti-freeze and water? I think having too much water will make it run cooler. But then the thermostat shouldn't open...