Fuel Consumption

[7Hazi]

UPDATE: I decided to check my oil as the car had been running really badly the last couple of days. It was below the 'low' mark which really suprised me as it was serviced a few months ago... I certainly won't be going back there again. Anyway, i filled up the oil and checked my tyre pressure (and pumped the tyres up ). When a put petrol in the car yesterday i was on 260km and I put 37 litres in. It's an improvement on the last reading but way off what is considered normal so I will take it somewhere to get it fixed when i get back from holidays. I do suspect there is some leak because there is a fuel smell in the boot (and I can't think of anything else ). Thanks for your help and suggestions everyone!

[Mr Morlock]

check your oil regularly- some do it weekly. The car may be using oil so you cannot assume it was not up to the mark when it was last serviced.

[StanTheMan]

Its not good having low oil but its not going to affect your fuel consumption a real lot.

sounds to me like you do have a leak in the boot.

[Curly]

If yours is a Japanese import, the workshop that did the compliance might have fitted the filler restrictor neck incorrectly. This happened to my car, and I fixed it by ordering an australian part and fitting that. Didn't notice a fuel economy problem, but every time I went on the track the car stunk of fuel.

What did kill my economy though was the dreaded short nose crank issue... Huuuge improvement when that was fixed - how does the car drive - is it lacking power down low?

[7Hazi]

Mine is a 1.8L Japanese import and I think it drives fine throughout the entire range (especially after I changed the oil). As annoying as it may sound I am starting to doubt whether there is a fuel leak... Yesterday I drove from Mooloolaba (Sunshine Coast) to home (Birsbane). I got fuel just before I left and reset the odometer and by the time I got home (within 10km of the CBD - northside) the odometer had a reading of 55km... This confused me as I was doing 110/100 km/h on the highway for like an hour. I am expecting the trip was actually closer to 100km (both from the signs on the highway and the travel time). I am starting to get really annoyed with all these problems and I think I'll just take it to a mechanic somewhere because I don't really know what the problem is now or how to fix it. Sorry for all the changes in the story everyone This car seems to have a mind of its own!

[StanTheMan]

errr......so the car you bought with 100k on it probably will have 150 real k's on it.
and you are probably getting reasonable fuel consumption.

[Col]

Travelled 430.3km on 32.79L BP 95 octane = 7.62L/100km filled up at the same pump as previous. Have been running the car on 95 octane for a while now, I have found the performance is as good as it ever was and fuel economy better than the BP 98 octane.
Happy Christmas to all

Col

[hot rod]

It depends on how far you drive it each time it's started?

I've done a full tank only driving mine 5kms at a time etc and the economy is not surprisingly crap, i.e 250km from a tank. I generally get about 350-380kms but I don't run it that low. The Mazda engine is that gutless you can trash them and it won't effect economy that much.

I also drive a Lancer (heavier and a larger engine) which is far better on fuel that the Mazda.

[slowpoke]

G'day 7Hazi,
I've found that renewing the spark plugs at around 20,000ks is crucial to attaining good fuel economy. A clean air filter is crucial too. In my view, using 95 or 98 in an engine that was designed for Standard petrol is a waste of money. The NA8 and the NB8A engines were both designed for the lower octane Standard petrol. Let's use it whilst it's still available!
Happy Christmas from slowpoke

[rascal]

Travelled 430.3km on 32.79L BP 95 octane = 7.62L/100km filled up at the same pump as previous.
Col

My NB8A's last tank was 164km on 35L. A friends NC same day, same conditions was 175km full to empty...
Hmm, maybe we need to adjust our driving style.....

[StanTheMan]

Travelled 430.3km on 32.79L BP 95 octane = 7.62L/100km filled up at the same pump as previous.
Col

My NB8A's last tank was 164km on 35L. A friends NC same day, same conditions was 175km full to empty...
Hmm, maybe we need to adjust our driving style.....

yea, no point trying to get good fuel consupmtion on the race track ROFLMHOv

[7Hazi]

Thanks for all your comments everyone. I haven't done anything to the car (to fix it) as my drivers side door randomly stopped working quite a while ago. So far I have discovered that the only way to open the door is to lock it (keyless) and then as i unlock it (keyless) pull the little locking tab (in the doorhandle). I have taken off the door card and can't find what's wrong with it. The little spring people seem to refer to when they have the same problem is fine and everything is moving when i pull the handle so I have no idea what is wrong with it. I felt it would be kind of unsafe to drive around as I might need to get out of the car quickly so I haven't dríven the can for over a month (so the fuel consumption hasn't been a problem ). I think I will just take it somewhere early next year to get everything fixed as I don't have the knowledge to fix any of the problems. Does anyone know of any good places on the northside of Brisbane to fix these kind of problems (fuel consumption or stuffed instrument cluster and broken door locking assembly)? Thanks again everyone!

[Guran]

Mooloolaba to Brisbane north would be about 85km by my reckoning, which is way short of your 55km. Sounds like you might have a problem with your odometer under-reading the distance. What tyre size do you have fitted? Do you have one of those speedo check signs on a motorway near you? You could use this to check your odometer against the marked distance on the road (typically 1km intervals for 5km). Alternatively you could check your speedo using a GPS.

As for your door locking problem, I had a similar thing with my central locking which was installed by a previous owner. I got tired of it in the end and just ripped it out. Much simpler to just unlock the door with the key.

[7Hazi]

Thanks for your idea on fixing the door Guran!!! I tried unocking the door with the KEY and it works fine... lol, not sure why I didnt try that first. So I guess I'll be using the key from now on .

I have 195/50 R15's on the car at the moment. I think I will give the GPS idea a shot (I dont recall seeing any speedo check signs anywhere around here) as well as checking whether the odometer and trip meter are running at the same rate... I'd hate to think that the odometer is out and my car actually has a whole lot more milage then what is said on the odometer

[Guran]

I have 195/50 R15's on the car at the moment.

They are only fractionally smaller than my NA6 stock 185/60R14s (rolling diameter 576mm vs 578mm), which equates to only 0.3km/hr lower at 100km/hr. Your problem's not there. Best to check the speedo and odometer accuracy.