"normal" rmp range

[Missay]

I've paid attention to it a little the past couple of days.

the other night my climate control said it was 52 out and it was 2200 when I started it up.

i let it run a couple minutes and it went down to 2000.

I took it out of park and into drive and it stayed around 1500-1800. (execpt when I accelerated of course..but even then i usually stay under 3000, unless I'm in a rush of course )

It eventually went down to about 800-900 at red lights, but this was when it was 52 degrees out.

[Yanks0114]

that still sounds a little bit high. I would have that checked out

[99solarai4]

maybe look for a vaccuum leak?

[Missay]

maybe look for a vaccuum leak?

??? could that probably cause it? my mechanic claims the car is fine

[cdssolara]

Does your mechanic know about your high revs at idle and about your gas mileage? If so, does he have an opinion about them? If he simply says that your car is fine, you might want to have someone else look at it.

[Missay]

yea, the mechanic and my father are horrible, they automatically toss anything I tell them in one ear and out the other b/c they say I'm a chick plus I'm just like my mother and "freak out at every little noise in the car."
(my dad is the biggest sexist, i swear it was God's cruel joke to give him 3daughters and no sons )

So both of them say the rpms are high and the gas mileage is low b/c
a) it's cold, I'm an idiot to be paying attention to these things in the winter!
b) I must be driving like an idiot, flooring the car at every red light
c) I'm being a typical girl and imagining everything

my favorite explanation about the noisy engine is:
well, the car's getting old, they get noisy the older they get!
(cough cough..a 99 w/ 43k..haha..what a piece of crap! It's almost time for it to meet the junk yard!)

I want to take it to the dealer, but I don't trust them. Plus, I'm an 18year old female, they'll try to rip me off every chance they get..I'd only bring it to them if it were under warranty or if I knew exactly what was wrong w/ it.

[cdssolara]

Sounds like the deck is stacked against you!

By the way, have you taken your car on any long drives recently. say 150-200 miles? Do you have any idea of your highway mpg? Your lousy gas mileage might be partially attributable to a lot of short hop driving in cold weather with winter gas, so your dad and your mechanic might be partially correct. If your highway mileage is bad, then you might have a better case to make. Try filling up your tank, take a drive with some friends for a few hours (no stopping, just drive), then refill the tank and divide the miles you just drove by the gallons of gas you put in the tank on the refill. If you're still at 13 mpg, you definitely have a problem that even your mechanic would have to acknowledge.