MR2 Roadster Owners Club

The Workshop => Maintenance, Problems & Troubleshooting => Topic started by: Anonymous on May 15, 2004, 13:13

Title: High fuel consumption
Post by: Anonymous on May 15, 2004, 13:13
filled up last week and put £20 (around 26 litres) in. and i only managed to squeeze 150 miles out of it. i will only get 75 miles out of tenner too. is this normal? and btw i didnt fill up till the needle was right at the bottom and 25 miles with the light on. my last car a puma, could get just over 200 miles to £20...

id say my driving style is 80% economy and 20% givin' it a bit!  s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:  

one more thing, when i filled up today, just 10 quids worth, the car felt more resposive then with a very nearly empty tank. Does the 2 suffer from fuel starvation problems on a low tank???  s:? :? s:?
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 15, 2004, 13:23
I would do the following, clean your MAF, your O2 sensors and reset the ECU, then give it another try.

No it doesn't matter if the fuel is low, to the engine mixture.
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 15, 2004, 13:25
cleaned the maf and reset the ECU about a month ago
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 15, 2004, 13:35
The O2's? When i took mine for a emmisions test it was running rich, i cleaned the O2 and it made alot of difference. They carbon up and they sense less so add fuel to richen up even though it's not needed. This then throws the ECU's long term fuel trim out, which only takes a few days to take effect. So your reset a month ago is now back to how it was.
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 15, 2004, 13:43
ill order meself an o2 sensor socket then mate, cheers
Title:
Post by: markiii on May 15, 2004, 15:11
Quote from: "mr-s_turbo"The O2's? When i took mine for a emmisions test it was running rich, i cleaned the O2 and it made alot of difference. They carbon up and they sense less so add fuel to richen up even though it's not needed. This then throws the ECU's long term fuel trim out, which only takes a few days to take effect. So your reset a month ago is now back to how it was.

what did you use to clean them?
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 15, 2004, 15:13
ive got some wynns caburettor and intake cleaner which i used on the maf, can i use this to clean th o2's aswell?
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 15, 2004, 15:18
I used the same cleaner that i used on the MAF. Wynns something or other, think it was carb cleaner.   s:? :? s:?
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 15, 2004, 16:44
Tom:

Why not try measuring your fuel consumption accurately?

Fill your tank to the brim (a bit of a tedious process in the '2 unfortunately)  Record your mileage.  Then drive until the tank is as empty as you like.  Then refill to the brim and work out how many miles you have done.  That way you will know exactly how much fuel you have used for a given distance and can calculate mpg.  

Then, if your figure is not as good as you would expect from others, you can start  to worry.

hth
Andy
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 15, 2004, 17:36
Quote from: "Andy S"Tom:

Why not try measuring your fuel consumption accurately?

Fill your tank to the brim (a bit of a tedious process in the '2 unfortunately)  Record your mileage.  Then drive until the tank is as empty as you like.  Then refill to the brim and work out how many miles you have done.  That way you will know exactly how much fuel you have used for a given distance and can calculate mpg.  

Then, if your figure is not as good as you would expect from others, you can start  to worry.

hth
Andy


As a guide figure I did this twice and got 37.1 and 38mpg both times which is the quoted figure (I think). That was giving it a bit too! Don't forget also that as the price of petrol rises you put less in for the same money. I am delighted with that figure as the Volvo used to get about 25 if I was light footed. I checked the instant fuel computer when setting off from lights once. Not booting it, normal acceleration and it read 6mpg!! Didn't check a second time.
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 15, 2004, 18:54
when putting a tenners worth in, increased petrol prices arn't going to affect it noticably. i know i should be getting 100 miles to a tenner, so my car is definately running rich. i will clean the o2's next weekend and see if that makes a difference
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 15, 2004, 20:05
i think you might have to reset the ecu when you have done this other wise it will take a week or so to correct

it might be worth doing the maf sensor while your at it just to rule the measuring side out altogether
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 15, 2004, 22:36
get your bits (ie O2 sensors) cleaned in a ultrasonic tank, they come up like new
Title:
Post by: heathstimpson on May 16, 2004, 07:53
I do a lot of commuting runs down the motor way and probably average 34MPG; probably too heavy on the accelerator on the twisties  s:? :? s:?
Title:
Post by: Slacey on May 16, 2004, 08:52
You think you've got it bad! I was talking to an RX-8 owner yesterday who says he is lucky to get 18 to the gallon  s:shock: :shock: s:shock:
Title:
Post by: SteveJ on May 16, 2004, 09:46
It has been mentioned above in order to get an accurate consumption figure you should fill the tank to the brim - UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU DO THIS IN A '2

The reason for this is our tank is under vacuum, and when the tank is filled to the point that the fuel is sitting in the filler neck, the vacuum take-off point in the tank is below the fuel level, resulting in large amounts of neat fuel (not just vapour) being drawn through the charcoal canister (black box to the right of the engine bay) and into the intake manifold.

This can have one of 2 effects - the first is the car runs a little rich at idle and the O2 sensors adjust it out at higher revs by backing off the injectors, or worse still the car is grossly over-fueled at idle and will not run. This will be especially noticeable when the car is cold as the O2 sensors are not in the loop along with the cold air temp going through the MAF means that the ECU will go into cold start mode and open the injectors more than it normally would.

The lesser effect (but more relavent to this thread) is that you will end up wasting the first 1/2 gallon of fuel which in turn screws up your calculations.

HTH
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 16, 2004, 10:49
i do this all the time!  s:shock: :shock: s:shock:    s:? :? s:?    s:shock: :shock: s:shock:  

thanks for the advice i wont fill to the brim any more

is the the same for most cars or just the 2?

how high would you fill the car?
Title:
Post by: heathstimpson on May 17, 2004, 06:40
Quote from: "adz648"i do this all the time!  s:shock: :shock: s:shock:    s:? :? s:?    s:shock: :shock: s:shock:  

thanks for the advice i wont fill to the brim any more

is the the same for most cars or just the 2?

how high would you fill the car?
So do I; have never noticed any issues before  s:shock: :shock: s:shock:
Title:
Post by: heathstimpson on May 17, 2004, 06:41
Quote from: "Slacey"You think you've got it bad! I was talking to an RX-8 owner yesterday who says he is lucky to get 18 to the gallon  s:shock: :shock: s:shock:
Those Wankel rotary engines have always had a reputation as being extremely thirsty  s:? :? s:?
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 17, 2004, 07:56
Quote from: "heathstimpson"
Quote from: "adz648"i do this all the time!  s:shock: :shock: s:shock:    s:? :? s:?    s:shock: :shock: s:shock:  

thanks for the advice i wont fill to the brim any more

is the the same for most cars or just the 2?

how high would you fill the car?
So do I; have never noticed any issues before  s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

3rd ditto.

Done this since buying the 2 in March 2002. Never noticed a problem  s:?: :?: s:?:  

Think i need to clean everything, reset the ECU & fill it up less. Then I can see if fuel consumption goes up. Last tank was 28 m.p.g. but, in my defence,  it is all twisties around this countryside  s:!: :!: s:!:
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 17, 2004, 09:50
I do this also .. I was going to post and ask if the fuel tank was under vaccum as when you undo the cap it makes a whooshing sound.  I have never had any problems touch wood!
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 17, 2004, 09:51
When i was working down in portsmouth i was driving on the A3 down and back about 120mile round trip, this used to cost me a tenner, now i work about 7 mins from home and i get about 100 mile a week out of 12 - 13 quid. Ive also filled the car to the brim almost once a week .... since i got it and not noticed any problems (granted ive only had it a year) maybe ill not be doing that anymore !
Title:
Post by: Darth Paul on May 17, 2004, 10:03
Don't think I've ever filled mine to the 'brim'. I stop when the fuel filler cuts out, and never try and suqeeze more in. Reason for this? So I have a fairly constant gauge to work out fuel consumption.

DP
Title:
Post by: Bongo on May 20, 2004, 09:56
What brand of Injection cleaner do you guys recommend? Is there anything else i can do to improve economy? (I've cleaned the MAF, need to get an O2 socket to clean them.)

I've just filled up again and I'm tired of getting ~200 miles from a full tank   s:( :( s:(
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 20, 2004, 09:58
Redex or Wynns stuff should be fine. however if you really want to save petrol, dont go over 60mph and dont go over 3k rpm   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
Title:
Post by: Darth Paul on May 20, 2004, 10:02
Quote from: "krisclarkuk"Redex or Wynns stuff should be fine. however if you really want to save petrol, dont go over 60mph and dont go over 3k rpm   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Yeah and sell the '2 and buy a Matiz.  s:roll: :roll: s:roll:    s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

DP
Title:
Post by: Bongo on May 27, 2004, 10:18
Bit of an update

Run some through now and I've got 150 miles from half a tank, so seems to be a result  s:) :) s:)

Found some of the Fuel Tank Decontaminator and running that through now and will follow it up with another Injector cleansing (figure after 3 years and 20k miles they might be dirty).

Then i'll clean the 02s (just about to buy a socket), the MAF and reset the ECU.

I'll post how it goes so others can have a good idea of the effects  s:) :) s:)
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 27, 2004, 10:23
150 from half a tank is normal... its once its below half a tank that the needle starts to drop quickly. Also depends on what you call a tank of petrol... i fill up at about 1/4 of a tank left (maybe a little less) and that is between 200-250miles out of it.

I aint used any injector cleaners or anything since my 10k service (now on 17k) but use optimax all the time.
Title:
Post by: Bongo on May 27, 2004, 10:27
Normally when the warning light comes on as it seems to drop from 1/4 straight to that    s:? :? s:?
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 27, 2004, 15:20
put some injector cleaning stuff in mine a couple of weeks ago and havn't noticed any difference in fuel consumption, but then again i didnt reset the ECU??  s:? :? s:?  

and im still having rough idling.

will be ordering an o2 socket at the weekend to give the old o2's a good clean
Title:
Post by: Bongo on May 27, 2004, 15:25
Quote from: "Tomr2"will be ordering an o2 socket at the weekend to give the old o2's a good clean

I need to do both of those, where's a good place to buy?

Fancy having a mini 02 sensor cleaning meet, 2 (or more) brains are always going to be better than one if any problems happen?
Title:
Post by: Anonymous on May 27, 2004, 15:31
there was a post not so long ago about a site that was selling them for under £9 delivered. do a quick search for 'o2' and im pretty certain you'll find it.

oh and im up for mini o2 meet anytime...
Title:
Post by: Bongo on May 27, 2004, 16:27
Found it earlier but the site was dead for me   s:( :( s:(  

Will try later but wondered if there were any alternatives as that offer was only valid til 30/04...
Title:
Post by: Tem on May 28, 2004, 06:51
Quote from: "Bongo"Will try later but wondered if there were any alternatives as that offer was only valid til 30/04...

...nevermind, I see you already got it  s8) 8) s8)