D2 TD5 fuel consumption

**AK83** · 2nd June 2020, 09:23 AM

Originally Posted by Tombie

.....

If you need to track fuel - it should be for tax purposes.

In a business environment, yep for sure, and as already said once you've been doing it for so long, it's a hard habit to break.

I do it now, out of habit, but more so to get a gauge on how far I can go on a tank, as fuel supply at the time of need isn't always guaranteed.

I once told of a story where I drove out to Wilpena area, assuming that fuel will be available at any time, but it wasn't to be.
The drive from Renmark to Pt Augusta late at night(between 9ish and 1am(ish) was slow as I expected some fuel stations to be open till later, hopefully at Burra, or at least Orroroo.

But nup!. My Rodeo at the time was very unhealthy and used much more fuel than when it was in better condition, and my driving habits are such that I always drive overnight.
So to stop and wait for a petrol station to open wasn't an option I considered(for that drive).

In the end, I just drove all the way to Pt Augusta at about 40k/h in as high gear as I could, and made it .. just. Filled up and kept going up to the Wilpena area as I planned, just a few hours later than I thought I would be.
No problem, still had a nice drive.

So for me, keeping an eye on fuel use and economy isn't about 'the money'. If it were, I wouldn't be wasting $s on fuel for frivolous drives to no mans land for no reason ... it's just that I can!!
Also keeping a track of fuel usage over time does reveal a bit of an insight on the health of the car/engine, as it wears and uses more as time goes by.

Over the past 3 or so decades the only cost metric I had in my spreadsheet(s) was cost of fuel per klm taking into account fuel cost(and type) and klms done.
It was always a hard choice to decide to go with an LPG system over a diesel vehicle for (courier) work. LPG was usually the cheapest(ie. back to the tax time reasoning).
As a business, the cost of fuel was important, obviously lower was better. Now, using the same spreadsheet template, I don't need to keep track of this .. but as said before habit is hard to break, and I couldn't be stuffed editing the spreadsheet either!

**Tombie** · 2nd June 2020, 11:54 AM

Understand what you’re saying completely.
Knowing range is important for baselining vehicles for sure.

Other than baselining I’ve never bothered to continue to track it. Anything untoward is observed pretty quickly after 1-2 tanks.

For travel purposes I just add an X-factor
Had 2 early learnings. One required a 180km loop you backtrack when the roadhouse I stopped at didn’t have working communications to their pumps.

The second was cutting it too fine coming back from Mildura via the Riverland in a tweaked Commodore. Ran out of fuel 3km from the Servo at the Dunlop Tyre. Hard work pushing a vehicle that far in the middle of the night!

**onebob** · 2nd June 2020, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by discorevy

Isn't everyone ECU "not quite standard" these days?, but yep a few other bits not quite standard.
While I no longer feel the need for 1hp per kilo type power , I still enjoy lively stuff .

When I track fuel it's usually to see if a mod has made any difference to efficiency ( so far so good )
It's not hard to do and if I notice a fair difference from one tank to the next after similar habits then it tells me something mightn't be right.
No different to checking oil , coolant etc, or even to see if AC makes a dent

Yes fuel efficiency can be revealing - at my last service interval 8000kms ago I changed my engine oil from the usual 15W40 full mineral to 5W40 full synthetic and I have seen a change in fuel efficiency - ie before was seeing between 11.6 11.0 and now it’s down to 10.8 10.4 L/100.

Which averages to an extra 1km travelled per litre of diesel used. I’m not unhappy knowing that

**twr7cx** · 2nd June 2020, 02:05 PM

13 - 15L/100km (usually 13.5 - 14.5 though). It's been like that since I bought mine in 2011. Changed tyre sizes right up to 33", roof rack or not, diffs regeared, carrying weight or passengers, towing, remapped, turbo changed, etc. all seems to make very little difference on mine. Either way I don't think it's bad now given the weight of accessories and town driving on 33"'s.

**AK83** · 2nd June 2020, 09:01 PM

Originally Posted by Tombie

.....

The second was cutting it too fine coming back from Mildura via the Riverland in a tweaked Commodore. Ran out of fuel 3km from the Servo at the Dunlop Tyre. Hard work pushing a vehicle that far in the middle of the night!

Yes the running out of fuel is a PITA.
Happened to me in my RRC many years ago, about 1klm from a servo. I ran it on the starter in second, then third for a bit, had some momentum and coasted.
Got to the driveway and had to use starter again to get it down and up and to the pump.
Pushing with a freshly broken leg(back then) wasn't an option!

Originally Posted by onebob

.... I changed my engine oil from the usual 15W40 full mineral to 5W40 full synthetic and I have seen a change in fuel efficiency ....

I just did that in my Tdi(and bros TD5), not really to see if it'd help with fuel .. thats just what I had(it was on special).
Hoping to see if it helps a little too.

**Slunnie** · 2nd June 2020, 10:16 PM

Originally Posted by twr7cx

13 - 15L/100km (usually 13.5 - 14.5 though). It's been like that since I bought mine in 2011. Changed tyre sizes right up to 33", roof rack or not, diffs regeared, carrying weight or passengers, towing, remapped, turbo changed, etc. all seems to make very little difference on mine. Either way I don't think it's bad now given the weight of accessories and town driving on 33"'s.

Sounds like we're about the same with it all.

**twr7cx** · 3rd June 2020, 07:32 AM

Originally Posted by Tombie

AC in a TD5 doesn't make a dent on fuel burn. Tested many a time and never made a difference.

Interesting to know. I hadn't thought about it previous but I've always just had mine running on the Econ setting but given my fuel consumption rarely alters I'd agree with you.

Originally Posted by DiscoDB

The killers to fuel consumption is big off-road tyres, a roof rack, a lift kit, and lots of accessories adding dead weight.

Originally Posted by DiscoDB

Each adds on average 1 l/100km.

I haven't found this to be true - I've found each of what you've mentioned has made little to no difference in fuel economy. Mine achieves the same fuel consumption standard as it does now - admittedly it was not great economy when it was standard, the previous owner was a member on here and spent a lot of time and expense trying to resolve that.

**Werdenfelser** · 3rd June 2020, 04:36 PM

Same here. More influence to fuel consumption makes maintenance, good oils and driving behaviors.
Have 265/75, steel bumpers, winch, second Batterie and so on and I am always between 10 and 11l/100km. The consumption rises when I only drive short distances (car cold, 2km for shopping and back...).
I am very happy with my motor!

**Tombie** · 3rd June 2020, 05:06 PM

Mines always run higher and I’m comfortable why.

33.5” x 12” wide Mud tyres
4” lift
4.11s
Bullbar and winch
Steel sliders, under-armour and rear bar
Full draw system
Dual Long Range tanks
Roof rails
VGT with a very aggressive tune
HD torque converter

14s is the normal

**INter674** · 4th June 2020, 07:21 AM

Syd to Melb got 9l/100klms sitting on 110+kph...then hit Tassie..went to 10.5.. then over 5 years thereafter in Tas..went to around 11 and 13.5+ when towing nag poopers. 2004 D2a..not chipped..std really.

By comparison D4 SC V6 250kw is averaging @14 for daily running..all std....best 12.5 (highway running 110kph+).worst towing nags/firewood up to 3.5t..so far.. 15.2.

Very happy with that given we spend much less time between point A and point B esp towing😃

..and we live in the mountains ☺

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