One thing we found with our recently-bought VX-II Lumina with the ecotec was that, when we bought it, the fuel consumption was abysmal...we used to get great economy out of the VS-II, and I assumed that with all the mods and claims of "greater power and economy" from the VX V6, we would do better. Wrong. We were suddenly spending about $65-plus a week on juice, occasionally $70...with the VS, it had been $45 to $50, and boy was I pissed off! We were driving exactly the same, about the usual number of kilometers each week, but the damn thing was drinking like a fish!
One day when poking around under the bonnet, just checking out the differences between our old VS and the VX-II, just out of curiousity I decided to have a look at the air cleaner element and see how new it was. Hmm, I thought...only one of the clips was holding the air box lid shut, and it was leaning up and open most of the way around! I clipped it back down properly, and Lo and behold, a week later, the car was using out usual $45 to $50 a week, and it is unusual in a normal week to go over $50 or so...before this it was a shock to spend anything under $60!. It also has a pleasant induction growl now when you give it some.
I am no expert on the black art of fuel injection, but I would assume that the incorrectly sealed airbox was fooling the air flow meter somehow, telling the computer that there was whacking great masses of air flowing in, and therefore telling it to dump heaps of petrol into the motor? Anyone more knowledgeable have any further ideas? All I know is that with absolutely no change in our driving habits or average number of kilometers travelled each week, we saved anywhere from 15 to 20 bucks (maybe more) a week by clipping down the lid of the airbox properly. Nothing else was touched under the bonnet.
As I said, anyone more knowledgable about EFI have an theories?