[tomataface]

soooo basically my little betty is getting 250 at the best kms for a tank of fuel when i use to get about 300+. both my dad and partner are mechanics so obviously my car is not going to be looked at till next year so im going to fix it myself. i serviced it not even 5000kms ago just wanted to know what other things might be affecting the fuel consumption. i may be a female but im quite capable of doing stuff, just dont know where to begin any help would be great, thanks

[Fatzook]

Is it a SWB or LWB? How much fuel is it using to do said 250kms?

[orangeshannon]

my vitara is going throgh about 14.5 liter per hundred last time i filled up i did 19 liters per hundred cheap to run ay haha

[tomataface]

its a swb, with 29' all terrains and i put in about 30L each time i fill up. i just have noticed that it doesnt get me to my uni and back anymore which it use to with ease and still some for the weekend

[Ben_Sierra]

29 foot tyres, no wonder

But seriously, has it always had the 29s on it? Anything else you have changed recently on the car?

[royce]

Do you find you need to give it more acceleraltor to get it and keep it moving?

Simple things to check are the air filter is clean and the intake piping isnt loose or squishing.

Tyre pressures arent low

it isnt leaking fuel

how long since its last tune? might need some new plugs and a bit of a carby clean

[SuziBlu]

tomataface wrote:

its a swb, with 29' all terrains and i put in about 30L each time i fill up. i just have noticed that it doesnt get me to my uni and back anymore which it use to with ease and still some for the weekend

Thats about 12lt per 100, not bad, not good. Have you factored in the extra distance gained by the larger tyres, if not your fuel consumption is closer to 11 Liters per hundred. (11.16LPH)

Mine gets near as damit 10 Lt per 100, but she only gets a run once a month, to and from the airport where she lives, bout 60k no stop start, and open road.

Like Royce stated, plugs, rotor, cap, leads and airfilter are your starting points.

Timing may be an issue as well.

[tomataface]

very funny...but yeah it has had them on for ages and the fuel was fine. only change i have done is learnt how to take the roof off and i doubt that would affect the fuel.

the pipes are all good, but could probably go new filter and plugs. i dont know how often your suppose to change the plugs and id have to ask my dad when he did them. and im paranoid about driving it to uni so i check over everything every week so not leaking fuel and tyres always have pressure

[tomataface]

thanks heaps ill definately have a looky this weekend and see if it helps and if not you will be hearing from me soon haha

[royce]

tomataface wrote:

very funny...but yeah it has had them on for ages and the fuel was fine. only change i have done is learnt how to take the roof off and i doubt that would affect the fuel.

the pipes are all good, but could probably go new filter and plugs. i dont know how often your suppose to change the plugs and id have to ask my dad when he did them. and im paranoid about driving it to uni so i check over everything every week so not leaking fuel and tyres always have pressure

do you reckon it started when you took the roof off? have you had the roof off a lot since then?

I dont know how much difference it makes but it can

[tomataface]

nah its one of those fibreglass ones and it stays on the car all the time unless going up the beach or something (which has happened once), but i had already noticed the fuel issue before i took it off

[alexvitara]

i was getting 350kms out of a tank in my vit on 29s. Best i ever got was 380kms.
70-80% highway kms.

royce and suziblu covered it pretty well.

[Jester]

With my carby vit with 4.6 diff, manual box and 30s, I get about 320 - 350km real km about the city, on the open road I can get up to 400km out of a tank.

[tomataface]

well the most i got at the best was about 320 but now i do have a lockrite auto locker, totally forgot i put it in. it never engages though coz there isnt enough power. oh and its a auto haha dont know if the gear box would be affecting it

[swifty_ano]

Wow with my 29's I only get 300 to a full tank.

[FullyZooked]

Mine has started to get better, I'm getting around 14lph.

I take into account all the extra shit hanging off mine though eg. 30" muddies, arb bar, winch, roofrack and basket, 10lt water, 8kg of recovery gear, 8kg of tools and a boatload off suspension lift.

This combined is equivelant of having 2 extra people in the car with me and virtually turns my Vitara into a flying brick.

On a happy note, one of my customers was fabricating a aluminium drop tank for a Torana today. We had a yarn and turns out he makes alot of custom tanks. I naturally asked about the Vit and he says "no worries". He said he will make it as big as possible without going any lower. Best bit...how much? $450! Holy shit yes! Taking the Vit in tomorrow. I'll let you all know How I go.

Lone Ranger $1200 NO SIR!

[orangeshannon]

i did 400 k's to a tank and thats a 80 liter tank :S

[FullyZooked]

orangeshannon wrote:

i did 400 k's to a tank and thats a 80 liter tank :S

huh? In a Suzuki?

You have some issues there mate.

[SuziBlu]

That wpuld be ok if you were grinding thru mud, or towing a 30' caravan

[atari4x4]

orangeshannon wrote:

i did 400 k's to a tank and thats a 80 liter tank :S

what sort of tank have you got to be putting 80L into a vitara

[atari4x4]

FullyZooked wrote:

On a happy note, one of my customers was fabricating a aluminium drop tank for a Torana today. We had a yarn and turns out he makes alot of custom tanks. I naturally asked about the Vit and he says "no worries". He said he will make it as big as possible without going any lower. Best bit...how much? $450! Holy shit yes! Taking the Vit in tomorrow. I'll let you all know How I go.

Lone Ranger $1200 NO SIR!

this sounds promising, seeing you have a 2" body lift i'd look at getting him to make use of the available space up there & profiling the bottom of the tank to improve the departure angle.

[tomataface]

All I have is a standard front and rear bumper and no other extras really that would increase the weight heaps.

I have another question too, in reverse and if I have to go up a steepish hill it just can't do it unless I put it in 4wd and it still struggles. Is this coz it's slipping or something? It is a trimatic auto

[orangeshannon]

i got a brown davis long range 80 liter tank under my vitara and its a weber carby engine needs to be tuned big time but i cant afford it or cant afford to keep driving it around so i got my ol girl (sierra) out now and loving it even more than the vitara

[alexvitara]

tomataface wrote:

All I have is a standard front and rear bumper and no other extras really that would increase the weight heaps.

I have another question too, in reverse and if I have to go up a steepish hill it just can't do it unless I put it in 4wd and it still struggles. Is this coz it's slipping or something? It is a trimatic auto

have you checked your ATF? does it look or smell burned?
your auto may be worn out

[tomataface]

ATF?? the transmission fluid? sorry wouldnt have a clue

[alexvitara]

tomataface wrote:

ATF?? the transmission fluid? sorry wouldnt have a clue

yes, automatic transmission fluid. most auto will have a second dipstick towards the rear of the engine bay. dunno where they are on a auto vit tho.
someone else will be able to help

[tomataface]

yeah i check it all the time coz i had to replace the modulator thing coz it was broken and i was having to top it up every week and it didnt like changing. now it seems fine though, i check it every week

[dave07]

Have u sorted out ur problem yet?? Well I just figured out my problem I was only getting about 250km per tank. My vitara has a 4" suspension lift and 2" body lift. I recently changedy spark plugs to Bosch fusion and my spark leads to bosch motorsport the blue leads and changed my fuel filter. I filled her up on the first tank with city driving I got 415km. I'm on my second tank now and I've gone through about a quarter tank and driven 128km

[dave07]

Oh and 31" tyres

[tomataface]

im at uni all week and only get home on weekends, but i told my dad to get spark plugs and leads and that coz he gets it trade price and hopefully betty will be back to normal.

thanks to everyone who had a input, really helpful