Car questions

PMSL...

Give that man a greenie!!!

[iadom]

Originally Posted by ZrByte

Fantastic, I must remember to get a new set of molegrips and a hammer

Ah, dear old, deluded Proppinupthebar, he was convinced they were called mouldgrips.

Excellent post Acropolis, been there and done most of it, its now filed under experience.
well worth a rep.
__________________

Originally Posted by ZrByte

Think I might start that soon, have easy access to the motorway so its not like I even have to go out of my way. Though I dont think I can afford to give it a full 30mins I guess some is better than none, no?

That is only going to be couple of £'s worth of petrol, make sure you give it some welly, and if you see a bit of smoke for the first minute or so, then that is all the muck being burnt off.

If it keeps on smoking then take the next exit

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by Acropolis

Haynes manuals can be useful, but dont swear by em they have been known to be wrong quite frequently, and bear the following in mind when using one.

How to read a Haynes manualââ‚Ã⠀šÃ‚¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¦

<snip>

that is worth a double greenie , its a pity i cant give you one , double greenie that is

[ZrByte]

Hello again, it is I the bearer of annoying car questions, I seek all ye sages of the cars wisdom

Translation: Its me, the annoying one. I have a question

Im trying to work out my cars fuel efficiency and was wondering if anybody knows of any sites that list cars standard fuel efficiency?
I know this is variable based on speed and even the aggressiveness of the driver on the accelerator, and it may not even reflect my vehicles actual MPG but I am curious anyway. Basicly the reason for this is I am going on a trip in about 2 days and im on a bit of a tight budget so Im trying to find out what the bare minimum amount of petrol I should put in for my journey and then I am going to add another £5 ontop.

I have worked out my cars current efficiency to be approx 25MPG~ Does this sound bad? have I even worked it out correctly? I used 4.53 : 1 (Litres : Gallons) is that right?

Again just FYI this is a 93 Crosa B 1.2, I believe this MPG is about average but what do I know

I would like the link anyway even if this is correct (If such a site even exists) as I think it would be handy for future refference.

Again thanks in advance people.


EDIT: Just thought I would add that after wiping off the 'Mayo' from the underside of my oil filler cap it hasnt built up again. I wiped it off and I continued doing my short journeys as normal for about a week. I checked it before I did my longish drive the other day and nothing had built up, and I Checked it again when I got back, nothin. I take it thats a good sign then?

[paulyoung666]

25 mpg sounds about right to me , not good but about right , you should get more on a long journey , the 'mayo' bit is good news though

[iadom]

If the engine is in reasonable condition then you should be getting way above 25 mpg, even on an urban cycle with a 1.2 Corsa. I cannot find any exact data but I would expect nearer 35 mpg. Even my large 2.4 litre petrol estate car does around 22 mpg on an urban cycle that includes lots of short journeys. On a long motorway run this goes up to around 37 mpg +.

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by iadom

If the engine is in reasonable condition then you should be getting way above 25 mpg, even on an urban cycle with a 1.2 Corsa. I cannot find any exact data but I would expect nearer 35 mpg. Even my large 2.4 litre petrol estate car does around 22 mpg on an urban cycle that includes lots of short journeys. On a long motorway run this goes up to around 37 mpg +.

iirc , it has done a shedload of miles though , worn piston rings / valve seats / injection system not top notch and fuel economy suffers , @ ZrByte , can you tell us what the emissions were when it went through its last MOT ?????

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

25 mpg sounds about right to me , not good but about right , you should get more on a long journey , the 'mayo' bit is good news though

My 2l light pressure turbo Saab 9-3 does that on an urban cycle, you should get better, though I remember my old 205 1.4 was at about 30mpg toward the end of my ownership of it.
This so much depends on the driving - heavy accellerating and braking will cause the fuel to be slurped into the engine.
At a steady 65 you should see about 40 mpg though. This will drop past 70 and fall off considerably more if you can get past 80.

[ian@huth]

No matter how carefully you work out your cars fuel efficiency you cannot predict what circumstances can occur on a proposed journey. When I lived in Essex and travelled regularly to Derbyshire I met all sorts of situations which threw potential fuel costs for the journey right out of the window. On one occasion the M25 was completely blocked and just after joining the motorway I was in a huge traffic jam that crawled along at less than walking speed for over an hour until we were diverted off the motorway and diverted towards London. Three hours after I set off I was further away from my destination than when I started.

[ZrByte]

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

iirc , it has done a shedload of miles though , worn piston rings / valve seats / injection system not top notch and fuel economy suffers , @ ZrByte , can you tell us what the emissions were when it went through its last MOT ?????

I sure can

fast Idle test
CO = 0.13%
HC = 25ppm
Funny symbol that I cant write with keyboard but looks kinda like an & = 1.009

Natural Idle test
CO = 0.00%
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Originally Posted by iadom

If the engine is in reasonable condition then you should be getting way above 25 mpg, even on an urban cycle with a 1.2 Corsa. I cannot find any exact data but I would expect nearer 35 mpg. Even my large 2.4 litre petrol estate car does around 22 mpg on an urban cycle that includes lots of short journeys. On a long motorway run this goes up to around 37 mpg +.

Im betting that car isnt 12+ years old with a high mileage though.
Apparently my Dads 12v 1.0i ecotect 99 corsa does about 35mpg - 40mpg now this is one of the more efficient corsas and a very low mileage (19.1K) So looking at that I would have thought 25 would have been right for mine (though again I would like to point out that I know nothing )

if i remember correctly you do a lot of short journeys? less than 5 miles. If thats correct then 25mpg is good as the choke will constantly be operating.

Cheap way of increasing fuel efficiency on a natuarally aspirated engine (non turbo or fuel injected) is to replace the air filter if it looks chokes up. Reason being if it can get air in it will take more fuel and not burn it efficiently

[ZrByte]

Originally Posted by gary_580

if i remember correctly you do a lot of short journeys? less than 5 miles. If thats correct then 25mpg is good as the choke will constantly be operating.

Cheap way of increasing fuel efficiency on a natuarally aspirated engine (non turbo or fuel injected) is to replace the air filter if it looks chokes up. Reason being if it can get air in it will take more fuel and not burn it efficiently

Yes thats right I mainly do short journeys.
We replaced the Air filter a couple of months back so I dont think replacing that now will make a difference but thats still good to know for future reference.

Are there any other things that could effect my fuel efficiency that would be worth doing to the car? In the last 6 months it has had a new cat, New Lambda, new Airfilter, and its had a fuel additive put in (may have been redex, cant really remember).
Whatever I do really needs to be able to pay for itself in a year to be worth it as I will be getting my Dads Corsa in about 8 - 12months so it would really be a waste of money otherwise.

there is one other thing you could do, stop pressing the go pedal so hard

Seriously, i wouldnt do anything else. To be honest i wouldnt even put redex through it. The only other thing you can do is get the carb set up properly and maybe the needle and jet replaced but if your only going to have it for less than a year it will never pay for itself so i woulnt bother.

[ZrByte]

Originally Posted by gary_580

there is one other thing you could do, stop pressing the go pedal so hard

Seriously, i wouldnt do anything else. To be honest i wouldnt even put redex through it. The only other thing you can do is get the carb set up properly and maybe the needle and jet replaced but if your only going to have it for less than a year it will never pay for itself so i woulnt bother.

Yeah I do have a tendancy to be a little aggressive with the ol 'Go' pedal at times guess it couldnt hurt to ease up a lil
The car has to last me until either November this year or April next year (My dad hasnt decided when hes getting his new one yet) so yeah like you say it will never pay for itself

Originally Posted by ZrByte

Yeah I do have a tendancy to be a little aggressive with the ol 'Go' pedal at times guess it couldnt hurt to ease up a lil

put a brick under it