Fuel Consumption Prob For Vp

[MuNtEd]

hey all had another email from stephen
he had the problem with changing the H balancer

no he has a problem with fuel consumption
this is email

I have noticed really shitty fuel consumption after this.
Maybe it was there befor but I don't think so.
I mean I am getting 265Ks per tank (60 litre) or 22/100. 22 LITRES per 100ks
and this with no city driving. I mean I see maybe 5 red lights a day.
On the freeway (120 -30) I can watch the gauge drop.
This cannot be right can it??
for a 3.8 litre V6, I have read of V8's getting better mileage.
Sometimes it stalls now also, only in park or neutral though,
could this mean something with the juice also. Like timing or other stuff
maybe????

Thanks for the info on the HBal... also

"second email"
No - no thrashing, I don't drive like grandad either though,
Generally stick to limit, if anything maybe a little above limit on
freeway. I work in the outer outer west of sydney and get very
little stop start traffic. 5 red lights tops a day. So I thought I should
be getting somewhere around the lower figure of 8, not 22 which is
what I am getting.

I previously checked those stats (fuel) on a few sites and that is why I
thought
I might have a problem. As you mentioned a leak was one of the
possibilities I thought of, but I only checked for anything lying under
the car - puddles of fuel etc. The gauge doesn't seem to change overnight
either, and working on the theory that a leak doesn't knock off at night I
ruled that one out.

Can the balancer put the whole thing out of whack? the idle, timing etc.
It stalled everytime I put it in park or N when I got it back, not anymore
though.
Now when I drop back to P or N the revs change alot, the idle speeds up .

I understand that the stats put out by holden would be in perfect conditions
and in theory only. I checked a few posts and most don't get close to the
theoretical consumption levels. But at the moment I am thinking my
consumption is a symptom of some sort of problem(s). I mean I don't
really know much about engines and cars but from what I can gather on the
net 22 litres /100 ks is way above norm. Is it???

It has just been serviced, but before the new balancer was put in.
Would another service help?? Is this just expected for a 10 year old car
maybe?

Pretty lost as to my options here, so I appreciate your input here.
Thanks for the assist
Stephen.

 

[Darren]

Wow that is rather ordinary economy considering it doesn't sound as though he thrashes it.

I generally get 320 - 400 out of 40L that's with taking it easy, if I am being a real lead foot I can generally get it down to 250 but I have to be pushing every last .

What fuel is he using? It could be just dud fuel, does anyone know the affects of ethanol in a petrol tank? To the best of my knowledge we don't have it in SA but from what I've heard it's pretty big interstate.

I guess the first thing to start looking at is the service history of the car. Has the fuel filter been changed recently? Is the air filter clean? What condition are the injectors in? Is it hard to start?

As for doing the harmonic balancer, has he reset the computer? ie taken off the battery lead and left it off for 30 seconds or so? I have never done a harmonic balancer so I really couldn't say whether it will or not.

Just a few suggestions there but I'm in a rush at the moment and finding it hard to think of anything else.

Hope something above helps.

Cheers
Darren

 

[MuNtEd]

a reply from stephen

Hi all, Munted, Darren - thanks for the input guys

OK the service history is pretty good, I get it done regularly and give the
mechs the service book. So I assume it is being done according to hoyle
(sorry holden)
The fuel pump is new, well 3 months old. The car has 156000 ks on the clock.
I am unsure as
to the filter's status, the air filter is OK, The injectors ???, It starts
very easy, always has, first time everytime. (except when I forget to turn
off the security).
I haven't reset the computer, its possible the mechs who got the bolt
(centre of HBal) off for me, might have disconnected the battery. Should
this (reset chip) be done or not ?

A full tank will give me 268ks. A few calcs and i end up with approx 22/100.
After checking forums and asking a few mates with VN's, Darren's economy
seems average. I should be getting 5 to 600 K's a tank. Getting less than
half that must be a symptom of something, i think.

When I first got the car 2 years ago, it cost me $30 a week in juice. I was
working slightly closer, but at that stage the fuel gauge didn't work. I
used the trip meter to work out when I needed juice. At 300k I was getting
close to empty. Now I use double the fuel for even less distance ie $60 for
268k. That's real bad Huh???

What can I check?, what should I look for?
What info can I supply??

I worry about taking it to a shop - they are likely to say anything
(anything at all) and I would not know? I know a few of the basics but that
is it. My auto knowledge is limited and I think it shows. I went for a wheel
alignment and was quoted $1200 for repairs. Another shop looked at the car,
said they found a loose nut and did wheel alignment for $35. I showed them
the quote and asked if the repairs written on it were really required - they
laughed.

If I have something (info) before I go to a pro, i might be able to at least
talk to him.
So I appreciate anything you guys might have to say.

thanks
Stephen

 

[MaNiac_VP]

I have a VP V6 and get about 13-15 lit/100 around town and about 9-10 on the highway. About 375-400 kms off a full tank.

its about 180,000 km old (my engine, thow the odo is stuck on 166666) and i found that changing things like spark plugs to the colder type (that were made std on VP Series II), new fuel & air filter and new 'Aznew' injectors help lower the consumption rate. Basically you pay 200 bucks and swap your old injectors for reco ones. Theres a few places in VIc and i highly reccomend them. If your injectors are leaking you will not notice much except the car will be blowing a bit of smoke and smelling kinda petrolish. Also will backfire periodically.

Also if that doesnt help try checking for vacuum leaks and/ or petty leaks.
The pump's pressure regulator may also be out of whack.
Goodluck with it.

 

[fergi]

hi
this may not help much but afew ideas,is handbrake dragging ie is it fully off,can you push the car with hand brake off and on a flat area with out much trouble,i had a sticky hand break on my fairlane once and it seemed to free itself after a few kilometres but it was using heaps of fuel until i started not using hand break any more,it improvedfuel economy heaps,is the tail pipe really black doing mostly non stop start miles it will be probably a little dark.fuel pressure have that checked that can cause heaps of fuel usage.dirty aircleaner,timing,sitting on 110 to 130 is also going to use 30 percent more fuel than driving at 80 kmh,do yourself a favour i know it is going to be hard because that is why we like driving our cars and that is to feel the g,s when you squeeze the throttle,try driving for 1 tank full of petrol and really tread lightly smoth slow take offs,sit on 80 to no more than 90 ,,i know its going to be hard,, but you will be amazed at the difference and then you can really say what your average consumption is
cheers
fergi

 

[fergi]

ps i forgot to say ,i have a 5 litre v8 and i get around 500 to 550 klm from it,most of my driving is out side city limits and it is mostly country running
cheers
fergi

 

[Garth]

There was a big thing up here in qld about ethanol fuel in car's, there was a tv report on about 6 month's ago about it. A girl was putting bp fuel in her charger, it was a 245 hemmi, and well, it basicaly killed her car. If I remember correctly and please correct me if im wrong (but be nice about it) ethanol burns hotter than normal fuel, as a result it tends to kill valves and injectors.

As for old mates fuel problem, its' gonna sound funny but has he checked his tyre pressure? Incorect pressure can cause more load on the car to reach any given speed, as a result more load equates to more fuel needed.

Also get him to check his fuel injectors. or maybe even his transmission might be out a bit, if his transmission is slipping he will need to give more throttle to get to speed. The fuel leak is out, I to work on the principle that a fuel leak stops leaking at 5pm (normal knock off time) it could even be he has a fuel injector failing in a huge way or even his engine control system is playing up.

As far as i know the only in car test he can do on his injectors is a resistance test, the injector resistance should be approximately 16ohms, or he can even put his hand on each injector with the car running and feel for the injector pulse, each injector should have a pulse and it's quite feelable through your hand.

Other than that, I can't realy offer anything more than that, if he still needs help give me a yell, i got a mate who give's out advice over the phone, he's quite good at helping people out, i should know, he's bailed me out with the vl many times.


cheers
garth

 

[fergi]

hi, this is just a note on the ethanol thing, I used to race super karts until a few years ago. One year they changed the regs to allow us to use ethanol, the difference was we didnt go any faster, lap times etc, but it was supposed to cool the motors a bit but when we went to different racetracks we had to rejet the carbys, if we were using a 400 main jet on petrol then we went to approx 480 on ethanol, so i guess what i am saying is if there is ethanol in your petrol you will use more fuel to go the same distance, though i dont think this will be the case with you using too much fuel in your car as everyone has mentioned possible causes but i would still recomend trying the take it easy test i mentioned in my last post, at least you can get a better idea of your fuel consumption.
cheers
fergi

 

[Darren]

I just had another thought on this excessive fuel consumption. From what I recall my cousin was getting bad economy out of his VS, it turned out to be the catalytic converter.

Fergi that's rather impressive! Are you running the 90L tank?

 

[fergi]

hi darren, answer to the fuel tank size. last time i filled it up was this morning it took 68 litres and i had 520 ks on the trip meter ,i think this works out to 13 l per 100 klm
that was on nearly empty so i think it is the 80 litre tank
cheers fergi