[lowey94]

G'day all, I'm a new member here so thanks for letting me be part of the gang.

I drive a 2000 Grand Vitara J20a 4cyl 2.0l SWB and I've been rather worried about my fuel consumption in it, In a 56l tank I get roughly around the 400-450km mark. I don't think that is normal, I've heard they are a little thirsty on fuel but I wouldn't have suspected this thirsty. Any ideas on what it could be? Fuel filter or injectors maybe? the car gets serviced regularly and apart from the fuel problem I don't have any complaints about my little donkey.

Thanks alot

Adam

[henno]

What size tyres do you have? Any roof racks, bull bars, awnings, other shit hanging off it? Auto or manual?

[lowey94]

It's a manual, have standard tyres on it R16s just highway tyres and only an alloy nudge bar on the front with a set of spotties and a light bar. but apart from that nothing else, was going to get a roof rack and cage but may reconsider if it will make the fuel problem worse.

[fordem]

The tank size is of little relevance here - what we need to know is how much fuel you burn to do that 400~450kms, and there's a big difference between 400 & 450kms.

If I were to assume you were running that tank dry (which I'm pretty certain you're not), you're looking at somewhere between 12.4 litres/100km and 14 litres/100km - if I were to assume that you filled it with the needle on E, which will generally have around 10 litres in the tank, those numbers change to 10.2 litres/100km and 11.5 litres/100km.

Doesn't look so bad now does it? But there are too many assumptions being made - including assumptions on how you drive - city/highway/flat land/hills - fill in the blanks let's see if you actually have a problem.

[henno]

I have the same vehicle, and with standard tyres I used to get around 530-550km out of a tank (It was pretty much constantly between 9.1-9.3L/100km). I had a roof rack and that's it.

Now, with lift and bigger rubber etc I get around 430-440km out of a tank, but that is also out by 10% due to the over-gearing of the bigger rubber so that's more like 470-490km in real terms. (As a comparison, I am measuring a fuel usage of around 9.8-10.2L/100km now.)

I would suggest working it out based on actual litres used rather than "a tank" as there is a far greater margin of error. Next time you fill up, reset one of your tripmeters and at the next fill up divide the litres used (based on how much fuel you were able to put back in) by the number of kilometers travelled... then multiply that by 100 to arrive at a figure closer than how much you get from a "tank" which has far too many variables.

It does sound like you are using a bit too much fuel though, although it's nothing crazy. Do you do a lot of stop-start driving or drive the car with a heavy right foot or have the aircon blasting at all times (or all of the above)? These factors alone will see fuel consumption soar, with figures far worse than those you quoted even.

EDIT: Beaten by fordem, and we basically said the same shit.

[atari4x4]

replace the o2 sensor, just sayin'

[lowey94]

Well I usually drive to work most days of the week but since I'm on Hols for a while been doing alot of highway driving and a little bit of city driving, being in Toowoomba we have alot of hills in town. The numbers turned out to be better than I thought. I covered 557km before the car started sputtering, I went and refilled the tank and put it 55L of fuel. Doing the conversion it came out at 9.8L/100kms. My hand book says that the fuel consumption is approx 11.9L/100kms in town, 8.0 on the highway and 9.2 combined.

[fordem]

The question now becomes - how much fuel did you have in the tank when you started - are you assuming it was full, or did you fill it at the start of this exercise - because your post really doesn't say...

Here's how you do it ...

Fill the tank to cutoff, set the trip odometer to zero, and drive as normal until the tank is nearly empty, go back and refill the tank to cutoff (try to use the same pump if possible), note the amount required to fill the tank, and the trip odometer reading, and reset to zero - divide the amount of fuel by the distance covered and multiple by 100 to convert to litres/100km.

Repeat this cycle with every fill up and average it out.

[lowey94]

I filled the tank top cut off when before I drove down to Brisbane last Friday and reset the trip ODO. At least fuel is cheap here only paid $1.10 per L for Regular

[JAYZUKI]

henno wrote:

I used to get around 530-550km out of a tank (It was pretty much constantly between 9.1-9.3L/100km)

I dont think i ever got that good a mileage out of her. but i do drive with a heavy right foot

[henno]

JAYZUKI wrote:

I dont think i ever got that good a mileage out of her. but i do drive with a heavy right foot

Initially I didn't either - it was into the tens - but I gave her the once-over with bearings and fluids and what not and it dropped significantly. I also tend to drive like miss daisy around town.

I still have all the fuel consumption logs though, so it's not like I made it up

[lowey94]

Haha, I drive like miss Daisy around town too, especially when people sit right up my bum just put along at 50ks, start off really smooth at the lights.

[henno]

henno wrote:

I still have all the fuel consumption logs though, so it's not like I made it up

For the sake of interest, here is what I dug up from earlier last year, when I initially saw a measurable drop in fuel usage (it's not hard to spot where I serviced the car):

Code:

10/04/14
50.61L 505.1km

20/04/14
48.6L 496.4km

28/04/14
49.89L 541.3km

10/05/14
49.50L 548.1km

For the record, here is the first tank of fuel I put in with the bigger rubber, which is 10% out:

Code:

06/08/14
49.84L 443.6km

So that is in actuality closer to 485km so the bigger tyres are costing me roughly a 10-15% loss in fuel economy.

[30ONA]

191ks
Manual
No roof accessories
4% bigger rubber in diameter
Getting 13.5l/100

Getting FWH soon and snorkel. Hopefully that will help.

[Gwagensteve]

30ONA, I think this is the first time you've specified the actual consumption you're unhappy with. However, have you corrected the consumption for the big tyres?

Free wheeling hubs will make a small difference, but it might not be measurable around town.

Snorkel will make no difference.

I assume this 13.5 is around town?
What is it on the highway or extra urban?

Steve.

[30ONA]

That is corrected 4.5% for slightly bigger tyres. I barely use the freeway. That's all urban. Well 80 Max speed.

[30ONA]

Well combined I've been getting a consistent 11.5l/100. I installed the boot spoiler from an xl7 for shits and giggles and consistently reduced fuel consumption by half a litre/100. Winning.