Excessive Fuel Consumption & Other issues
 

Hey all,

Well I not long got back from a 4000km road trip in my Forester XT.. and I've got a few concerns about it.

I got the car serviced by All Star at Malaga, they did a full service and reset the ECU back to factory for me.. it was factory, but was messed up a bit or something.. I don't know.

Anyway, we left Perth the next day on our road trip north and back. I decided to do some recording on fuel usage and the such. In one stretch of relatively flat roads, 100% cruise control at 110kph, no overtaking or exciting driving.. I used 28L in 200kms.. so 14L per 100km, the sort of thing you would expect around town with a little bit of exciting driving.. not highway kms with cruise control and next to no wind or hills.

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on what to look at, I've already checked all the clamps on the air intake and the such the only mods on the car are:

HKS Airfilter to replace the standard filter, it was cleaned by Allstar before we left.
Snorkus was removed before I bought the car, I'm considering putting in a bit of PVC piping to direct air straight into the airbox..

The other issue I've had is that the car frequently smells like it's lost radiator coolant and that it's overheated.. yet the temp gauge sits where it's supposed to and there hasn't been any visible loss or drop in coolant.

Any ideas would be great.

- paul

Oh and I should mention I used Caltex Vortex 98 fuel..

- paul

bit of petrol heyy, if you got a service im guessing that they would of pumped your tyres up to at least minimum 36PSI

and when it comes too smells, could be from degreasing under engine bay too broken cv boots

remove the belly plate and check it out

@ajayjay yeah, I checked the tyres myself before I left anyway.. something I always do.. oh and the spare, the jack, the tyre iron.. lol.

It smells exactly like an overheated engine.. I've done that before in my dad's VT.. lol

- paul

well one common thing i have noticed at work is that all the 01 to 04 foresters, leak from the head gasket really really early and always seems to be from the passengers side too(blame subaru)

but surely all star would of spotted it
other then that, i dont trust caltex that much

BP ULTIMATE FTW

sounds similar to what my lib was doing. is it overheating at all?
and are the radiator fans turning on? also.... when the car is heated up, feel both of the radiator hoses - check if there is a noticable difference in temp.

as to fuel consumption... was your car towing a trailer/loaded up with a bit of weight? and what rpm does the foz do at 110km/h?

@Jezza

No it's not overheating at all, there's no leaking or anything either. The radiator fans are turning on fine. I checked the radiator hoses, from memory they felt about the same, fairly warm, but not enough to burn my hand or anything.

about the fuel consumption, I wasn't towing anything, all we had in the car was a suitcase that can't have weighed any more than 25kgs, a small car fridge that would have weighed less than 5kgs and my 2 camera bags, which weigh 28kgs combined.. so no more than 60kgs in total extra weight.

- paul

next long trip...try bp ulitmate
or even when you feel up next

would love 2 see the results

I tried BP Ultimate for 2 tanks while I was away, didn't notice much difference in consumption, that said, both of them were in Mullewa.. I'm not sure what the quality of the fuel is like there.

- paul

maybe just normal for a XT... best bet too see what other owners get outta their forrys

I just took it for a spin, it sits a tad under 3000rpm in 5th gear at 110kph (which according to the GPS is actually 106kph).

Redbook quote much lower figures for a stock XT Foz.. I'd understand if I was nailing it all the time, but I'm pretty tame when I'm out on the open road.. especially if I'm going to be on it for days at a time..

My 1997 VS Commodore Wagon averaged 7.5L per 100km when we drove across Australia.. nearly half the fuel consumption out of a 3.8L very tired V6..

- paul

commys are renown to work at its best when it comes to long drives

turbo's are no no when travelling far

fair call.. I'm looking at getting a Toyota Troopcarrier for the long haul trips anyway, a V8 turbo diesel with a full camping rig in the back :-D Then replace the commodore with something like a little VW Golf TDI for the misses.. then the Subaru becomes my toy.. and that is going to be a whole heap of fun :-D

I was just hoping to get more than 400kms out of a tank on the open road.

- paul

[img]http://gallery.photo.net/photo/4509206-md.jpg[/img]

I just had an oxygen sensor replaced last week ( Front one ). The light only came on the a few days before hand but the economy had been about 25% worse than normal for the last couple of months but just figured I was driving it harder after the tune for the Perrin headers.

Back to normal now.

Years ago I had a airflow sensor crap itself in my VL and the fuel economy was really crap when that happened.

Would be guessing some sort of sensor is dying.

WHS^
Just gotta wait til it pulls a CEL i suppose! Thrash the crap out of it a bit, that always helps :p

Interesting that you are getting around 400ks out of a tank. Thats about what I get in my wifes 03 XS forester, and yours is turbo.
I might have to look into things a bit on her car.

[QUOTE=BALISTC;409287][img]http://gallery.photo.net/photo/4509206-md.jpg[/img][/QUOTE]

Ha ha ha......"they don't teach me that at tafe"

I get around approximately 450km per tank in a tuned version 6 sti around the city, that's roughly 7.5 litres per 100km.

"Turbos are no good for long runs" STFU -Ajayjay ..... they only drink when on boost.

Paulmp: It will be your oxygen sensor that's dead, making the car run rich at cruise....... Buy an ACA replacemant from cov's (Subaru oem ones are a rip off) and diy the installation.

[QUOTE=Rossco;409330]

"Turbos are no good for long runs" STFU -Ajayjay ..... they only drink when on boost.

[/QUOTE]

what is your problem??

did you mum teach you any manners at all

LOL! Ajayjay, I dont think Ross has a problem, however, your problem with him is that he knows what he's talking about.


NB. Notice I wrote "he's". This is [U]he is[/U] abbreviated. This cannot be substituted with "his". Not same same.

[QUOTE=Rossco;409330]I get around approximately 450km per tank in a tuned version 6 sti around the city, that's roughly [B]7.5 litres per 100km[/B].
[/QUOTE]

So you have a ~34 litre fuel tank?? Or is your maths a bit off? :p

[QUOTE=Rossco;409330]
I get around approximately 450km per tank in a tuned version 6 sti around the city, that's roughly 7.5 litres per 100km.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=MY99;409352]So you have a ~34 litre fuel tank?? Or is your maths a bit off? :p[/QUOTE]

450km divided by 60L (average tank size) = 7.5km/L

As MY99 said:
7.5 x (450/100) = 33.75 (correct)

So, Rosso, if you travel 450km on 60L of fuel, your average consumption is 13.35L per 100km's
or
450/4.5 = 100km's
60/4.5 = 13.3

Go talk to ASG and get them to check over the car. As others have said, if an O2 sensor has gone, you're not running efficiently.

With my cars I am getting:
MY98 WRX - 500+km
MY05 WRX - 500+km
Evo X - 400+km

So you should be able to get around 500 on a big drive.

Yep same here. 01 forry, tuned, 8.5-9l/100km easy on a run.

LOL at turbo's are bad for ecconomy. What an idiot. It's scary to think he will soon be a qualified mechanic. Oh man...

[QUOTE=RUSSGT;409391]

LOL at turbo's are bad for ecconomy. What an idiot. It's scary to think he will soon be a qualified mechanic. Oh man...[/QUOTE]

VERY scary :eek:

[QUOTE=RUSSGT;409391]Yep same here. 01 forry, tuned, 8.5-9l/100km easy on a run.

LOL at turbo's are bad for ecconomy. What an idiot. It's scary to think he will soon be a qualified mechanic. Oh man...[/QUOTE]

I agree, it is scary that this dude will soon be able to charge nearly $100 an hour to work on cars.

On the other hand, how big is a foz's fuel tank? I find it just as concerning that you guys are under the impression that 450km on what I'm presuming is a 60L tank gives you an economy/consumption of 8.5-9l/100km.

8.5-9L/100km's will net you 666-700km's from a 60L tank.

Unless you meant to say your car travels 8.5-9km on 1L of fuel. Which means (from a 60L tank) you should be able to travel 510-540km.

Either way, I'm confused.
Unless of course, Foz's dont have 60L tanks. And if this is the case, ignore all of what I've written.

How dare you bring logic to an internet forum. Banned for life!!!!

How many people drive untill they have used all 60l of fuel? I drive till the light comes on. On a long trip that would be about 560km. Then i put in about 49-52l of fuel. So that equates to less than 10l/100. Does it not?

Maybe 8.5 is a little optimistic but certainly not unachievable if doing 90-100km/h for a long way.

Sorry. Back in my box.
Carry on.

Blah blah blah... economy... schmonomey... *yawn*

Drive it.. give it sh*t... when it gets to a quarter tank. Add more.

Brent.
:)



[SIZE="2"][SIZE="1"]well - unless u wanna launch hard... in which case you need more than a quarter... lol.[/SIZE][/SIZE] :o

Subaru's claims of tank capacity are crap. They may be that volume but will not draw it. The pig is 60lt but splutters at 53.7lt ( that's all the way to the top of the filler neck to ).

Have done a best of 8.6lt per 100km and once seen 500 before the fuel light but only once. Normal country trip about 10 per 100.

Fuel light [U]does not [/U]= empty

Manufacturers set them to come on with at least 50km of normal driving left (usually at least 5L still in the tank). Am I the only one drive with the trip meter showing 0 km to empty?

I find i can still get at least another 100km before it will conk out.

[QUOTE=AWDmoke;409443] Am I the only one drive with the trip meter showing 0 km to empty?[/QUOTE]

I dont have that function on my post vintage 1999 model.

im lucky to get 300km per tank from my MY07 wid vf34 and i thought that was pretty normal, maybe not?????

[QUOTE=mattmy99;409357]450km divided by 60L (average tank size) = 7.5km/L

As MY99 said:
7.5 x (450/100) = 33.75 (correct)

So, Rosso, if you travel 450km on 60L of fuel, your average consumption is 13.35L per 100km's
or
450/4.5 = 100km's
60/4.5 = 13.3[/QUOTE]

Sorry I meant to come back and edit my post........(don't post when half asleep & don't try to do maths hungover either :p)

60litres? I never run my car down past the last 1/4 on the gauge.

I get 450 km per tank in the city (well down to 1/4 on the gauge anyway), it usually takes 40-45 litres to fill from that point....doing my usual home -work - home weekday thing.
That gives me 8.8 - 10 l/100 yes?

I get 550km down to the same level on country runs which gives me roughly 7.6 L/100.....If I'm NOT booting it!

If I am booting it well....ummm..... 250km down to the last 1/4 mark = 16 L/100.

I've tuned my AFR's to be 15.4 -15.7 in cruise off boost, that has given me maybe another 30 km's per tank over the stock 14.0 - 14.7 AFR cruise.

Note: I've never run my car down to the fuel light.

P.s Why does it ALWAYS rain when I'm on holidays???

[QUOTE=BALISTC;409287][img]http://gallery.photo.net/photo/4509206-md.jpg[/img][/QUOTE]

hahah nice one joe :)

[QUOTE=Rossco;409471]

I've tuned my AFR's to be 15.4 -15.7 in cruise off boost, that has given me maybe another 30 km's per tank over the stock 14.0 - 14.7 AFR cruise.


P.s Why does it ALWAYS rain when I'm on holidays???[/QUOTE]

never realised you can do that with your AFR's 30km's is a big difference for something so small.

an yer it always rains on holidays.... apart from the UK when i was growing up it seemed to only rain on sundays? hahah

back to topic.....

Thanks for all the input.. I'll clarify a few things:

Around town, I will get around 330kms before the fuel light comes on, I usually fill up around that point in time.

Out on the open road.. I get a massive gain of about 20-30kms further before the fuel light comes on... so around 350-360kms before the light comes on. Please note the copious amounts of sarcasm there..

I would like to see at least 450kms out of it before the fuel light comes on.. something I don't think is all that unrealistic.

I will check the sensors and see if they are wrecked or not..

It would be nice to get it down to 10L per 100 on the open road, 14L around town is something I'm comfortable with.

- paul

If I remember correctly subaru's "official" fuel consumption, as displayed on the front windscreen (legal requirement on all brand new vehicles) of the sg forester xt was 15l/100km, this is usually the combined figure, averaged between city and freeway driving.

this figure alone put me off the idea of buying the missus one back in '04.