MPG misery

[Chris_C]

I've got to run away now, but have seen this. Your injection setup is borked somewhere bud, you should see between 23-27 on a combined. A valver is better on fuel, I see 32-35 on a combined.

With some work we can get yours running for not too much. First thing, have you serviced it? Dizzy cap and arm, plugs and airfliter really affect economies even before you look at things out of spec. Will post again later with LE fixing ideas which I've been meaning to write up anyway.

[pyro]

on mine im getting 70-80 miles to 10-12of go-juice. cant be arsed to work out what that mpg is, but its not to bad i dont think.

and mines running rich, on a carbatooter. with a hoon to work everymorning cos numbnuts ere is always late.

this has probably been said, but check your pipes, filters, injectors and make sure your brakes arent binding, and tyres pumped up!

all i can think of!

Ben

[sven360]

Please help!

ATM i'm getting 70 mile for 30 quid of juice equating to 11.8MPG

Cheers,
Matt

You have some major issues.


My Bronco weighs 2 and a half tonnes and has a 5 litre petrol.
Gets better mileage than you quote.

It must be running way rough,any symptoms to report????

[Nimminz]

Cheers for all the help!

-It does smell like petrol a little when running but could be blowing exhaust?
-Will get rid of VC fan, when i can afford an electric one
-Electrical contacts throughout Inj. system and MAF to be properly cleaned and voltages / restistances etc. to be checked
-I had a 1.4 8v 206 and that was great on juice, just the FWD and hatch-y ness... I wanted a more practical car ( 4 passengers every day etc.) although 205's are dead cool!
-Its had new plugs but weren't gapped properly (idle'd higher after too)
-Air filter was brand new when i got the car but will give it a dust down
-Not touched oil, oil/fuel filters, coolant or anything else really.
-Brake's aren't binding
-Tracking is slightly off
-Got a c/v joint going at the back
-dizzy cap and arm looked brand new but i'm getting it checked by a pro (free )
-Tyres are pumped up fine last time i checked but will check again
-Will check renix but i think its the right one lol

After giving my mate a lift to our welding course tonight, he reckons he could hear a slight misfire which could be a HT lead a bit knackered so might replace them too, also been told to check water temp sensor as this could cause over-fuelling. I do carry passenger's a lot so that could add to the fuel-inefficeiency
Might also try shell petrol as apparently it lasts longer (and happens to be rather cheap round here)

[magnumpi]

It seems like you've checked the obvious things. With that in mind have you tried using some of that injector cleaner in the petrol tank?
Might be worth a go?

[pyro]

one idea here that was an issue on mine, the pipe that joins the two lower ends of the tank, as its a saddle sorta thing that sits over the propshaft or torque tube.

this pipe is hiden behind a heat shield right under the 2 right angles on the mid pipe. un bolt it and replace that pipe/check it. drain the tank if you are doing it though!

on mine it would have been better if the pipe wasnt there at all! and there were no drips underneath at all, they all got caught in the heat shield and evaporated by the exhaust heat

if there is one thing id try its that. its always got fuel in it.

and run new lines through the chassis rails, easily done with a guide string and a few lengths of fuel pipe. apparently these lines are stable and flexible, but mine were well worn/hardened/fecked. took me an hour to replace every hose on the 360.

the fabric coated stuff is pants that volvo used at the time, well it wasnt at the time, but it is now after a minimum of 20 years use!


Ben

[jtbo]

Petrol is funny stuff, it disappears from open bottle and it disappears really fast where it has been dripping into, but if you got snow there are yellow marks where petrol has dripped to.

Mine managed to loose 10 litres when not using and there were not even single visual evidence, only later I found out that petrol pump did leak, it was like a fountain. This new eco friendly petrol with ethanol seem to cause issues to me, car has leaked abotu everywhere, even from replaced hoses that I replaced years ago, angry stuff.


Sorry, this is tad offtopic, but kind of related.
Also I constantly find tiny metal particles from carburettor, even I don't use the car, petrol that sits on float chamber seem to corrode float chambers and small metal particles come from there, this leads me thinking that ethanol is dangerous to B200K at least. They had similar issues in Brazil (VW cars), but they used much higher % of ethanol, 85-95% I believe.

[Ride_on]

11mpg is more than bad servicing, something is seriously wrong, even if is inaccurate 15-20 I would still be worried about. I doubt its fuel leaking on the high pressure side, that would be very noticeable, possibly the return pipe could be leaking but do check under the car on the chassis box section left side and under the tank. The carb system is much more prone to leaking as the rubber pipes are not as good/durable.

If you want a different engine then you are looking at 340 drive train for really good MPG, so you may aswell get a 340. A good 1.4 will do 45mpg. You could put in a higher tech 940 engine with modern mgt but you'll be lucky to get 35mpg.

The water temp sensor doesn't feed the injection system, but there is a thermal time switch for cold running that turns on the cold start injector. You could just disconnect the cold start, not sure how difficult it will be to start then, but it or other injectors could be leaking when cold. If the car is running well then that would be unusual, you should see black smoke. The mixture is normally set by the screw on the AMM.

You can use the fill up method for measurement, but you don't need to empty the tank, just fill it up again and measure the miles between fills. The refill amount is the amount you have used. It won't cost more in the long run, but it may make you short of cash for a while.

[mat_91]

dam 11mpg ive just got a new car being a 5 series bmw 2.0ltr and thats just done done 70odd miles to £15 and not ecoing either and thats a 6 cylinder

[macplaxton]

but if you got snow there are yellow marks where petrol has dripped to.

Or a dog has had a pee there

They had similar issues in Brazil (VW cars), but they used much higher % of ethanol, 85-95% I believe.

True, ethanol eats carbs, hence the ethanol fuel ones have nickel plated carbs.

[jtbo]

Or a dog has had a pee there

Easy enough to test, sniff it

[Nimminz]

Thanks again for the help

So far i have:
-Set the idle correctly (900 rather than the 1100 rpm it was at, using the idle control screw)
-had a quick check where i replaced the fuel filler pipe - all fine and dry there

Not been able to do much more due to the abysmal weather today

-injector cleaner - was going to ask if it was a good idea, someone told me on old cars its best not to?
-Will check that pipe that connects the saddle tanks
-One day i'll replace all the fuel lines i can, when i find time and money for the pipe
-I filled the tank the other day and am doing as you say, ride-on. I've done 120 mile so far and next time i fill up i'll find how many litres it takes to do however many miles.
-Will check the thermal time switch
-might try a pair of mole grips on the pipe that feeds the cold start injector to see how well it starts without

120 mile from a full tank and the gauge is reading just below half
Now if i presume the fuel gauge is accurate (which it wont be) and the fuel tank is about 50 litres, thats 4.8 miles per litre, or 24p per mile at 118.9ppl
21.8 mpg!
But thats if the fuel guage is right and i know it won't be.
I've checked my mpg for the last 20 fill ups and they range between 10 and 15 :/

[sven360]

Holy cow you need more air in there.

10-15 just ain't right.

I've got sometwin 45's,might as well bolt 'em on.Couldn't make the consumption any worse and atleast they make the right racket.

[SteveP]

Keep at it, I'm sure you'll find the problem - they're always bad on fuel but not *that* bad, you should always get between 20-35mpg

[Nimminz]

I'm hopeful i can get it back to how bad its meant to be lol. Once i get it sorted i might try get it better than sorted and see if i cant get 50 out the thing not that that would be possible without an engine swap