fuel consumption!!!

[winslade]

Hi all , usually when i fill my tank up i get 250ish miles before i need to fill up again ...... and thats when driving uneconomicly ( heavy loud pedal foot lol) ....for some reason ,i have only achived 170 miles(now im in the red) this time before i have to fill up ... this is considerably less ... it may be the fuel gauge but this is unlikley ...can anyone help identify the cause? ... i did the paper clip test the other day on my car ... is it possible i could have shorted somthing out to do with my gauge giving it a false reading???? im going to fill up 2day and if it takes less to fill up then i know its a problem with the gauge but other than that ..what else could be wrong ??? .. hopfully not a leak .. .. its strange, when i did the paper clip test last time, the engine was running and when i connected the paper clip the revs went all low ????? any help ???
cheers guys!!!
and btw >>> who the f**k is that guy ... hes everyones picture lol>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[mobiius]

I can get about 350 miles on a tank, that said, petrol is above the 1 pound mark again so less mileage for you fundage.

Filthy robbing government!

[winslade]

tell me about it lol .....Yet a full tank is a full tank ......yer 250 miles is a good tank for me ....an induction kit ... straight through exhaust , fast road cam, fat tyres .... they all contribute to a thirsty car lol !!!! Its baffling me big style ... im gna fill up today and hope i can fine the problem !!!

[mobiius]

• 1 ) Has your car gotten heavier? Have you? (lol)
  2 ) Are your tyres under inflated?
  3 ) Is your clutch slipping?
  4 ) Do you drive over 3000 RPM often?
  5 ) Are your brakes sticking?
  6 ) Do you have a huuuuuuge spoiler dragging you to a standstill?
  7 ) Do you have a fuel leak?
  8 ) Are you running rich?

All kinds of questions!

[winslade]

1) no i have not got heavier !!!
2) tyres are fine ( plus its not been a gradual loss of milage)
3) clutch fine
4) drive over 3000 rpm alot ( but have always lol)
5)brakes are top notch
6) do not insult me ever again
7) yeah im running a little rich ..needs setting up but still as i said before nothings changed about the car since last time i filled up

[haydn1987]

You should be getting more than 250 miles to a tank but as you say thats probably down to how you drive.
If your not experiancing any power loss or bad running its hard to tell why your fuel consumption is high.

You have an induction kit how old is the filter, KN give a life time gaurantee but you still need to wash it every now and again.
Lambda (O2) sensor only have a predicted life span of 50,000 miles it could be causing over fueling but that would reduce power.
Check plugs and leads but again they would give a power loss if they were bad.

Check the fuel lines you might have a small leak, leaks are dificult to find as it will probably only leak with the engine running when the lines are pressurised and pertol evaporates quickly so it will be difficult to spot.

[winslade]

Na i often sevice my own car ...so i have the induction kit cleaning kit ...ive recently changed my leads and plugs whilst servicing..it doesnt seem to have been experiencing any loss of power ... and i know i should get more milage from a tank but i drive a bit erraticly lol....!!!..haydn 1987 ??? ...do you remember i was talking with you a little while back about putting the throttle body & injector on my x14 sz ...maybe whilst re-fitting the old one i have split eiter the supply or return pipe or somthing ?????/ im gna fill up 2nyt and c.......oh and btw where is the lambda sensor located ???

[haydn1987]

I remeber, did you find a throttle body that worked ok?
give everything a check over, I was adjusting the tappets on my girlfriends fiesta the other day, and found a cable that I unplugged a few months earlier and forgot about, oops it didn't seem to make any diffence tho crapy ford.

The lambda sensor is screwed into the exhaust manifold, it senses the amount of oxygen in the exhaust and from this it works out if its running rich or lean and adjusts the fuel air mix to suit. sometimes the sensors can fail and just give a constant reading, this won't show up as a fault code because its still giving a reading.
Unfortunately the only way to test a lambda sensor is with an ociloscope as nobody has one in there shed to test it you only gonna find out if its failed replacing it and seing if there is a difference
Replacement sensors are expensive, you can find cheap universal ones that don't have a connector just a bare wire, you have to cut the connector off your old one and wire it to the universal one. I found one on ebay a few months ago for £5 what a bargain I bought it even though I don't need it.

[winslade]

yeah i filled up yesterday and seems to be running ok ... yet .. as you say ..i may replace my lambda senso anyway ... i know where it is now .. its only on a purple wire screwed into my exhaust manifold ...oh yeah i took the cavalier setup back to the scrapy and they refused to give me cash so they gave me £20 credit note to spend there ...im gna get down there this weekend and c whats about .......if i got the ecu from like a 1.6 8 valve SPI astra/ cav or somthing and replaced my curreent ecu ..and then ran a heftier throttle setup .. would that work... is the ecu .. like a direct swap ...??? i know id have to find an 8 valve spi jobby but could this work ?? or would i get fault maybe coz there are sensors the 1.6 has that my engine doesnt???? ...... yeah i bought some tappet treatment for mine as they were a bit rattly ..seems to have stopped now ... im thinking of replacing them soon anyway .. just cz i can lol ... i love it !!!!
oh and ford stands for FIX OR REPAIR DAILY lol ....

p.s ...when i was at the scrappy the geezer was selling 4 cavalier turbo wheels and tyres FOR £25 .. ..i assumed he did not know what they were lol!!!!

[mobiius]

p.s ...when i was at the scrappy the geezer was selling 4 cavalier turbo wheels and tyres FOR £25 .. ..i assumed he did not know what they were lol!!!!

You bought them to sell on yeah? lol

[winslade]

ha ha bought and sold my friend bought and sold lol !!! ...now on some guys mk 3 astra lol ....i purchased them for £25 and sold them for £75 ..which is still cheap ..but i kinda knew the guy didnt want to b a rip off lol

[haydn1987]

I wouldnt replace the ECU it won't make any difference and you would have to swap the transponder and chip to get the immobiliser to work.

The tappets in the fiesta are old ones that you have to manualy adjust as they wear the bloody car sounded like a tractor, tappets in a corsa are hydraulic they self adjust, they only get noisy if you oil is old you never need to replace corsa tappets just change your oil more often.

[peanut0791]

you could also take the tappets out and squeeze them out in a vice this gets all the sludge and sh**e out of them this is what the problem was with mine DO NOT take them apart as there is a cir clip inside and it has one life only