Drving in to work this morning...

Site Subscriber Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 2317

I noticed that..

1. I'm not getting more than 18.9mpg according to the trip screen, fuel guage seems to corroborate this. Car has been sat a while, but 18.9!? Shocked

2. If i lift off and coast in gear for a while, then accelerate, puff of white smoke, not sure if this is due to suspet gasket leaking out the back of the head, thoughts? Question

3. The hose going in to the bottom of the header tank is leaking Rolling Eyes

Cheers

Huw

Site Subscriber Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 1575

white smoke out of the exhaust is normally head gasket is it down on power?

Level 6 User Joined: 17 Apr 2004 Posts: 166

i know its a distance away but spillage out of the header tank onyo anything hot could cuase puffs of white smoke eg on the exhorst

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

i see too many cars with white smoke coming of their exhausts lately ,due to cold weather i suppose. mine does too but it heats up normal and stays on the second line as always unless i am stuck in a traffic jam or so.

Site Subscriber Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 2317

Forgot to mention the cars been sat for a while, but it was still doing it after a 16 mile trip. The car doesnt seem to be down on power. Would like to know why im only getting 19mpg though.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

Righty, its more than likely not the head gasket.

For every gallon of fuel that you burn you get near enough a gallon of water out the exhaust, on warm summer days you don't see this but up here and I assume down there its a bit chilly as well you will get a nearly constant stream of water vapour from the exhausts, worse around town etc.

The fact the cars been sat a while will not help. When I had the saab I took off the mid section to replace the blown downpipe, when the mid section dropped down I gout about 2/3 litres of manky water all over me. Condensation built up through lack of use.

if you sit behind old dears cars at traffic lights etc when they pull away you will sometimes see water pouring out of the exhaust, this is condensation thats built up, iut builds up until it gets high enough to just run out but you still have silencers full of water. This is a lot worse on cars that sit around and are not used much.

So the smoke is not a problem. When I blip the throttle I get a very large plume of water vapour no matter what the car.

Hose, is it split or just not tight? I managed to tighten up my heater matrix hose clips and they are no longer leaking, I had to use a ratchet (7mm on hose clips).

When did you last reset the trip comp? I can sit at lights reset it drive about a mile in stop start traffic and get 5mpg.

The trip works out on averages, so if your sitting at the lights or going slowly the cars using fuel but not going anywhere.

get on a proper road for a while, a good 20 miles or something, reset it when you on the motorway at the cruisign speed and wait a couple of mins for it to settle then check it again when you come off.

Site Subscriber Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 2317

Right, I reset it just before leaving for work this morning, it started at 0 mpg and gradually went up to around 18.7 and thats where it stayed (thats on the 17 mile trip to work). Hose is just loose, will sort that later. Nearest M way is 60 miles away Razz

Could be a problem. According to the fuel guage i used 0.7-0.8 gallons of fuel on a 17 mile trip, seems a bit low?

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

not if its stop start no.

If it raised up to 18.7 then I am surprised.

Anyway its fine.

Site Subscriber Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 2317

So i should reset it when i'm on me way home?

Site Subscriber Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 2317

Much better, getting more like 38mpg now, only used 0.4gal over 17 miles this time, very odd.

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

electrics cock up now and again with all cars ,the same with computers , women etc...
you have to reset them regularly

Site Subscriber Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 1141

That car used to give me 40MPG religiously at 70 - 80mph on the M62...

Put it onto fuel and when it hits say 5.7G hit the rest on the manual odo, then when the fuel goes down to 4.7G take a look at the reading - this will be your miles travelled to one gallon of fuel and hence ur MPG.

Sounds like you want to take it out for a good long trash, followed by half an hour or so on the motorway at 70 to see if that brings the MPG back up. When I first got the car from Ben it had been sat for months, the first tenner got me ooooo 30miles? Then it steadily went up.

But stop start or ragging it, 18mpg don't sound so bad!

Site Subscriber Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 2317

LMAO, nearest motorway is about 60miles away! Will take it out at night, no cars to slow me down Razz

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

my mpg is great these days cos it goes slow, rarely moves and the new stat makes it run a tad hot.

70 ish will be around 40-45, sit at 50 - 60 and its in the 50mpg.

Manged to do 64 miles (here to Sonejis) including about 5 miles of stop start traffic light driving on 1.3 gallons, well impressed.

Site Subscriber Joined: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 4722

i duno what mine is, its werid. fill the car up, to half a tank, and it goes to quater of a tank with in 20 miles, then it will stay at quater of atank for ages...not to mention if put my foot down the gauge drops loads, then back off and it goes back up.

got to love the perfomring fule gauge

Level 6 User Joined: 20 Jun 2004 Posts: 155

Well the dropping and rising on acceleration etc. is easy - thats down the the fuel slopping around in the tank. When you floor it, the petrol all slops to the back of the tank, presumably with the sender unit at the front, so the fuel level indicated drops, then when you ease off, the fuel settles back down again and you get an accurate reading.

My 1.4 19 also sticks on all the quarter marks - full, 3/4, half and 1/4 - if I fill her up, I get 50 odd miles before the guage moves, then it drops fairly quickly down to 3/4 and then sticks there for another 50 miles or so etc. Not sure why this is really, maybe to do with the shape of the tank and that it might have been calibrated to be accurate on the quarter marks or summink.

Cheers
Alex

Site Subscriber Joined: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 4722

well, what ya know eh? must be the 1.4's then..

same as mine..

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

well ive only ever worked it out once (no trip comp) and i cant remember what it was....doesnt bother me....i just fill up when it runs out.

Site Subscriber Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 2317

ah, to be as laid back as JB here...

Retroholic Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 5685

I'm the same as JB, worked it out once tho. Think i'm just too scared to do it again Razz

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 9:49 pm

Hey if you gotta drive, you gotta drive. I have never worked out my MPG for any vehicle, dont see the point, if its empty fill it up, if you havent got the wonka time to walk!