Kizashi Club

2012 Kizashi SRS Sport Auto Trans. I had an oil change 3 months ago and noticed a drop in gas mileage (27 to 19) after 2 1/2 months (in Winter). I discovered my air intake was partially blocked by a rag at that time. Removed the rag and the MPG increased to approx 23 MPG. After several tank fill ups it has risen to approx 24 1/2 MPG (still low). I DID reset my MPG gauge (column) at refills. I suspect my car's computer has reset my fuel/air ratio to compensate for the (now removed) blockage
and is slowly trying to recalculate the correct ratio it calculated during the blockage. Can the car's computer be reset to it's factory initial setting so it may learn my driving habits anew?
Is it even possible to initialze the computer (or recommended) to do this?
I can be contacted at [email protected] (phone 814-355-3014) or by post on this forum.

Undo the battery and it should reset most things

Disconnect the battery and that should reset things. Disconnect the negative terminal on the battery using a 10mm wrench (I think). Leave it disconnected for at least 10 minutes. This will cause the Powertrain Control Module (the "car's computer") to reset so it can relearn fuel trims. You may get worse fuel economy for a short term until the PCM relearns.

Where did you get the oil change? Not surprised if it was at some quick lube place like Jiffy Lube. My coworker recently asked me to look at her car shortly after she got an oil change at Jiffy Lube. She complained her engine sounded much noisier than usual when accelerating. When I opened the hood, I saw that her transmission dipstick was not fully inserted and that her air filter box was not closed properly. The air leak in the box was causing the unusual noise (and causing unfiltered air to enter the engine). As you can imagine, she was not pleased and called the shop to complain.

Professionals. They'll need to school me on how a rag works its way in to an air intake during an oil change.

Regarding your co-worker, I'm sure they had a good laugh while she was complaining...over the phone. That's a go over in person and raise hell while there's other customers around type screw up. I've found that particular tactic works wonderfully most all times, not just at repair garages and dealership service counters either. Sadly, that's how the world of customer service has devolved.

I feel terrible about how badly most females, especially, get treated by trades of all kinds. Knowledge is power and I've been educating my daughter every chance I get since she started driving 6 or 7 years ago regarding her car so she understands the pitfalls and scams that many will try to run on her and her car. She's actually getting quite knowledgeable, she's surprised me on more than one occasion.

Thank You Guys for your help. I spent 15 minutes writing a long reply, but it flew away when i hit a wrong key. I will say that there was an idiot asst. manager at the Ford dealer that took my keys and blythly (sp?) reset my MPG from my steering wheel and said "that's how it's done".

I'd write more, but I have Terminal Pancreatic Cancer. It slows me down a lot. The opiates for the pain seem to account for my lapses in spelling.

Again, thanks a lot and I would say we can close this one out.

The computer relearning thing is overblown by service managers who use it as a convenient way to get you to go away. Adds credence to the "try it for a couple of weeks" technique that they love, knowing that a good percentage won't be bothered to come back again even though it's not any better. The actual relearning takes very little time (maybe one tank of gas) and isn't going to make a huge difference, maybe an mpg or two.

I think removing the rag fixed the problem and now you're comparing fall mileage to winter mileage. Once the weather is reliably over 60°, it'll come back up a couple more mpgs.

Hang tough with the cancer thing, sounds rough.