Fuel consumption today

[Keithy P38]

Random fuel consumption check! What's your dash readout telling you today?

I just fueled up (first time since November!), reset the trip computer and took the daughter for a drive through town to the beach and back home. Got an average of 14.1L/100km over that 65km trip, which I would class as "normal" for my Rangie. Average speed of 45km/h.

Cheers
Keithy

[Pete38]

Haven't reset mine in ages... But my fuel economy isn't as good as it used to be either. Doubt the front bar would make that much difference, nor the extra weight from dual battery, fridge, tinted windows :o But the MT's would have brought this up judging by their noise. You got the KM2's as well though huh.

My dash reading is showing 17.4 l/100km.... So fixing that up cause of the bigger tyre size shows around 15.6 or so with an average of 40km/h odd I think (due to off road endeavors bringing this down and the fuel up I guess) ... Only the baby 4l though.

So pointless post really :D Will reset the trip computer and see how she is going on normal tarmac driving only. And use service station litres for a more accurate fuel usage. Never seen better than 14.1 averaged on normal driving on the original standard tyres though. I have seen it though like a year ago

[Keithy P38]

17.4 isn't bad if you throw a bit of 4wding into the mix!

Yeah I'm running the km2's and lift.

[benji]

16.7; though running on lpg too.

It would be somewhere around there, as 90 percent is inner city driving.

On a long trip I average around 12.5 on petrol. 11.3 at a steady 100kph on a flat road.

[Keithy P38]

That's good! It's a shame roads are not all flat hey!

[benji]

Too true! Last High County trip we got 230km out of 75lt. Mind you, about 60 percent of this was is low range second at over 1500m, so it was worth it.

[glenhendry]

Over about 25 tanks with never resetting the system, my message centre reads ~17Kkm. I think that that may be reasonable because I am always loaded up and carrying a winch in the back. Also, she is long in the tooth at 275kkm. But she always always starts and never ever gives up, so I love her dearly. Ranger Stacey goes ok.

[Hoges]

Family wedding etc in Melbourne so decided to do a road trip BNE-Melb -Kiama -Syd-BNE over three weeks before/after christmas. All up 4,500km.

Last time we went to Sydney in 2011 in the P38, averaged about 12.5L/100km, 4 adults and luggage. This time, the best I got out of it, after head gasket job etc was 13.2 average at pump Syd-Bne up Pacific Hwy... non-stop run. Overall average taking account of heavy city traffic etc in Melb and Sydney was 15.1 with worst being 18.3 around Melb during very hot weather.

couple of things: A while back I finally succumbed and replaced the worn Cooper H/T with Bridgestone D692 A/T (240/70/16) and ran them at F29psi/R37psi (measured cold) on the trip. I have since discovered that A/T have a much higher rolling resistance than H/T tyres... best numbers seem to be that they require 15% more fuel.. or 25 cents/litre at $1.65. I believe it... All up the fuel bill was around $1,000!

The Torque App: While SWMBO was driving the stint from Seymour to Gundagai (outside temp 44 deg+ /intake temp 56 deg +) I amused myself with the torque app....

LTF trim on both banks maxed out to +25%:eek: and a lean mixture code appeared for both banks... later checking with the Faultmate showed numerous additional misfire episodes I'm presuming as a result of the lean mixture...

Next day at Kiama I went looking for the leak... the thread on the plastic hose tail which screws into the end of the intake manifold and to which the RH rocker cover positive crank case ventilation hose is attached, had obviously cracked because it came away in my hand when I "checked" it... A plastic sleeve cut from the barrel of SWMBO's ball point pen was glued inside the fitting and the rest of the broken thread glued thereon so that it could be carefully screwed back into the manifold for a temp. fix.

(SWMBO... "have you seen my pen"
"yes, it's in the Rangie"
"Be a dear and get it for me would you?";)
"Can't ...it's in the Rangie"
"why can't you get it?"
"well... it's IN the Rangie...it's now part of the engine"
"How did that happen or shouldn't I ask"
"Well...when you were driving :twisted:, and it was very hot... a plastic bit
broke and so I used your pen to fix it until I can get a metal
bit to do it properly":wasntme:
SWMBO rolls eyes, shrugs shoulders and makes cup of tea...


A trip to the local Repco and I got a 1/4" BSP fitting in brass for $3 (genuine plastic part was quoted $12 plus $13 overnight postage...)... make sure you wind plenty of PTFE tape on the brass fitting to prevent thread galling (brass/aluminium).

As a result of the fix, I reset the adaptive values and they were reading -0.6% Bank 1 and 0% Bank 2 when I got home to Bris (1045km)

I'd had a seeping rear main oil seal for the past 7 yrs...not a lot, maybe a teaspoon full over 48 hrs and a constant "drop" hanging off the sump plug. Given the heatwave temps expected I refilled with Valvoline high mileage 20-50 which apparently has a softening agent to cure leaky seals. Well after 4500km there's not a drop of oil to be seen under the engine. Totally dry! It consumed about 750ml for the entire trip which is not real bad for its age. However a persistent revs-related squeak has now developed somewhere "underneath" when it idles... some things never change:(

[Keithy P38]

They are attention seekers those P38's of ours!

Mine is the star of the show this week as our Dmax is outta action! She's loving it!

[Hoges]

Well after all that, got message from SWMBO who stayed in Sydney for a couple of weeks with her Mum, that my BIL (SWMBO's bro ) had lost his cancer battle ...1-2 packs a day for 40 yrs.. so back down the Pacific Hwy I went, this time I decided to give SWMBO's 2005 Astra (1.8 auto) a decent run... 11.5 hrs total time for 940km and 6.44 L/100km (pump/GPS data). :D Gotta love the new bypasses on the Pacific Hwy!!

But while it was an easy run driving a "billycart"... I was aware of the loss of "quiet, stately progress", panoramic views, tailgate lounging lunches... :angel: Perhaps if I pump the A/T tyres up a few more psi the P38 fuel consumption will improve!

[Keithy P38]

Sorry to hear about the BIL mate.

[TheTree]

Hi

I can't get fuel consumption numbers anything like what the rest of you seem to get!

My dash reads 21L / 100 KMs and my figures on LPG are about the same!


Looks like I may have some issues somewhere :eek:

Steve

[Keithy P38]

And you are on standard size tyres too are you not Steve?

Mine is with 255/70 mud tyres!

Here's my list of items:
NGK BPR5ES spark plugs, gapped at 1.1mm
8mm plug leads
Coopers air filter (still full of dust from Cape York)
I have separated my plug leads so they do not touch (crossfire)
5w40 Valvoline Syn Power oil with Britpart oil filter
Plus the snorkel, only minor improvement to economy from it though (0.5L/100km-ish).

Other than that, it's the same as every other motor.

Cheers
Keithy

[TheTree]

Hi Keithy

I am on standard tyres, Maxxis Bravo ATs right now.

I fitted new plugs less than 10K ago, Bosch WR7DC+ gapped to 0.7mm.

Filter replaced with the plugs

Leads were replaced at 160K so they should be OK

Weird thing is that I am getting fuel starvation messages as well !

I also got P1319, fuel starvation due to low fuel pressure, I am beginning to wonder if there is a problem with my fuel pump!

Looks like I need to go over everything and triple check stuff

Steve

[davidsonsm]

[QUOTE=SteveFarmer;2070405]Hi Keithy

I am on standard tyres, Maxxis Bravo ATs right now.

I fitted new plugs less than 10K ago, Bosch WR7DC+ gapped to 0.7mm.

Filter replaced with the plugs

Leads were replaced at 160K so they should be OK

Weird thing is that I am getting fuel starvation messages as well !

I also got P1319, fuel starvation due to low fuel pressure, I am beginning to wonder if there is a problem with my fuel pump!

Looks like I need to go over everything and triple check stuff

Steve[

Steve - do you know that your MAF is clean and your oxygen sensors are working correctly? Mine was defaulting to a rich mixture because of faulty/dirty O2 sensors indicated by fault code P1179 - Maximum Negative AMFR Correction Fault.

There are a few things that can cause the computer to want to richen the fuel mixture:
O2(s) – dirty or bad
MAF – dirty or bad
Low fuel pressure
Vacuum leak

Apologies if this is grandmother sucking eggs stuff to you.

Be sure to report back.


/QUOTE]

[TheTree]

Steve - do you know that your MAF is clean and your oxygen sensors are working correctly? Mine was defaulting to a rich mixture because of faulty/dirty O2 sensors indicated by fault code P1179 - Maximum Negative AMFR Correction Fault.

There are a few things that can cause the computer to want to richen the fuel mixture:
O2(s) – dirty or bad
MAF – dirty or bad
Low fuel pressure
Vacuum leak

Apologies if this is grandmother sucking eggs stuff to you.

Be sure to report back.




Hi Sean,

All info gratefully received, I am no expert on this fuel injection caper, give me a pair of SUs or webers and I am right at home :p

Through much reading and brain picking, I have arrived at the same set of possible culprits as well and I now have them on my shopping list for the US

I am really suspecting low fuel pressure, and I suspect that this is related to my misfire under high load.

Thanks for the suggestions, I will report back for sure but it will be a few weeks.

Regards
Steve