Poor Fuel Consumption - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

XplodEd EA · 10-27-2004, 03:43

Well I'm very dissapointed with my first tank of petrol, 280km out of a full tank (Filled till the bowser stopped pumping and waited till the Fuel Light Constantly Stayed on), the car is an EF XR8 5 speed manual. Now I expected this thing to be harsh on fuel but 280k's? This was mostly city driving, I gave it a bit of a hard time once for a brief moment the whole time otherwise most gear changes were at 2000-2500rpm. It looks like this new tank is going to go the same way and I havent given it a hard time at all, gear changes have been 2000-2500rpm and so far all I've got is 60km out of a quarter of a tank.

The car has been sitting for 8 months but surely the car would have sorted itself out after 5 days, I can't remember the exact fuel economy before the accident but I wasn't impressed with it either then. I've done the usual checks, air filter is brand new, spark plugs are all ok and so is the rest of the ignition system. Also had a look at the throttle body and gave it a bit of a clean and cleaned the MAF sensor which wasnt dirty at all. The ignition timing also looks like it's ok, it looks like its at about 26* BTDC when in self test mode. I'm running out of ideas of things to check and so is everyone else I know, I've just found the info I need to check the ECU for codes which I'll do tomorrow at lunch time at work.

If anyone else has any other ideas of things to check I'll really appreciate it, if this is normal there is no way I'm gonna be able to afford to keep running it!

ebxr8240 · 10-27-2004, 07:16

Suspect maf...Check that both wires are still o/k...Cannot tell without pulling apart...Unscrew those torkz screws..
Check that wires are connected on actual maf

eb2flyz · 10-28-2004, 05:32

have you tried to disconect the battery to try and clear kam ( keep alive memory )?

Vic · 10-28-2004, 20:59

O2 sensors? If they're knackered or damaged then that may explain the poor fuel burn.

One Ford Drone · 10-28-2004, 21:56

As everyone has said, check the basic things first such as air, spark and fuel.

ebxr8240 · 10-29-2004, 00:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vic

O2 sensors? If they're knackered or damaged then that may explain the poor fuel burn.

Yep!! They are like spark plugs...They actually should be changed at say 100,000 Klrs too...

XplodEd EA · 10-29-2004, 03:20

Thanks for the replies guys,

When I cleaned the MAF I took the electronics out and sprayed a bit of electrical conatact cleaner on the wires and they appeared fine then, I might double check them.

The battery has been disconnected about half a dozen times but I'll do it again tomorrow at work just to see if it changes anything.

Is there a test I can do to check the O2 sensors? I don't wanna go out and spend $150 on a pair of them and it doesnt fix the problem.

I havent been able to get any codes out of the computer either, I think the test lamp I have been using needs too much voltage to light up, I'll have another go using an LED one tomorrow before disconnecting the battery and see if I can dig anything out of it

EATURBO · 10-29-2004, 03:55

Get use to it as they are bad on fuel, but yours does seam worse than normal. You should be able to get 380 . I fit an adjustable fuel pressure reg and leaned it out on a dyno and it has pickrd up another 80km a tank and given it alot more power, they run way to rich from the factory.

Steve's XR8 · 10-29-2004, 04:10

Hi Xplod.
I noticed you said the base timing looked like reading 26 degrees.
I'snt the norm for windsors around the 30-32 mark??
Just my five cents worth.
Steve

EBXR · 10-29-2004, 04:27

fuel gone off from sitting too long?