8 replies to this topic

[leigh21]

I'm getting 35 miles to £10 of petrol, Which is roughly 1.5 gallons... Obviously this isn't normal, Anyone have any suggestions to what i should be checking next? I put a new air filter in and changed plugs, but still no better Thanks p.s car is 1.8 unleaded, 2000 x reg, full service history, 90,000 miles on clock.

Edited by leigh21, 02 September 2011 - 08:23 PM.

[oltonlad]

I'm getting 35 miles to £10 of petrol, Which is roughly 1.5 gallons... Obviously this isn't normal, Anyone have any suggestions to what i should be checking next? I put a new air filter in and changed plugs, but still no better Thanks p.s car is 1.8 unleaded, 2000 x reg, full service history, 90,000 miles on clock.

thats about the same as my focus 1.8 around the town, theyre ******* on petrol......

[leigh21]

They certainly are, i don't ever remember it being this bad tho, I've only had it about a year but just lately it seems to be getting worse Works out to be about 22miles to the gallon

[OhDear]

bmw 320d 48-52 mpg

[minimanclive]

Friend of mine had a Focus 1.8 Zetec. He commented that it was down on power and the mpg wasn't so good. I suggested maybe a cam had jumped a tooth on the belt. Turns out it had. The cambelt tensioner had broken up enough to let the belt jump a tooth on one of the cam sprockets. New belt and tensioner, and it was all fixed. Just in time before it did any damage.

At 90k miles yours will be due a cambelt soon anyway. Maybe even overdue, It's 10 years or 100k miles.

I had a Focus 1.8 Diesel, got around 50mpg out of that.

[M J W J]

Forget the 100k miles or 10 year thing. The belts go ping way before that. My dad learnt this the hard way. If the belt goes you will be looking at 3k in parts alone for ford to fix it. My dad spoke to a load of garages after it had happened and he kept hearing the recurring figure of 37.5k miles for cam belt changes. Vauxhall say 40k for any of their engines.

As for the poor miles per gallon my mum gets about 35-40 mpg out of her 1.8 x reg ford focus. Although a little heavier than expected fords have always seemed heavy on fuel to me and underpowered. I got rid of mine when it failed its mot instead of fixing it as it was costing me a fortune in fuel. Best decision I ever made.

[smudger068]

hi, my experience from mine which is a 1.6 i know but this could possibly be down to the exhaust sensors, as i changed mine after fitting a 4-1 manifold with a cheap one and degraded very quickly changed them both with a decent bosch one at 60 odd quid each and never skipped a beat since, and getting 500 miles out of a really economical tank 450 average

[stevede]

Can't help with any cause but as a benchmark, my wife had a 56 plate 1.6 Focus Zetec auto which would barely do 22 - 23mpg. (short journeys around town).

Ironically the cam belt snapped on that........... at only 8000 miles !!! Glad it was still under warranty.

She now has a 59 plate Fiesta Titanium, 1.4, auto. Just about getting low 30's. (again, short jouneys and she is not the most fluid driver I have come across)

I think a lot can be put down to driving style as well as the condition / spec of the car.

All our company cars have just been fitted with "green roads" vehicle monitoring which does make you drive in a more conscious way.

I would consider myself a fairly steady driver anyway and had been averaging around 55 mpg from my 2.0 diesel Passat Coupe. Since the green roads, this has gone up to around 60 mpg. A trip last week to the south coast saw over 900 miles to the tank (70ltrs)

I don't know how or where you drive so am not pointing the finger, just highlighting another possible area to consider.

Kind regards

Steve

Edited by stevede, 04 September 2011 - 09:48 AM.

[Tommyboy12]

A common fault with the Zeta/Duratec engines is the lambda and MAF sensors failing. Either of these causes the ECU to misread oxygen values and pump more fuel in to compensate. A quick plug in of a fault finder should tell you if its either of these causing high fuel consumption.