Just bought a 2007 focus mk2 and I'm worried about the mpg. 

I'm getting about 5 mpg and up to 7 with motorway driving! However, the instant MPG reading never drops below 10. It's barely been driven over the last year according to the MOT history (500 miles in a year) so maybe giving it a good run will help it.

Any ideas on what may be wrong with it?

Cheers!

You haven't said what engine you have, but 5mpg is a lot worse than what my ST gets lol.

It definitely seems like a problem with the calculator. 5mpg would mean a full tank will only last roughly 50 miles!

You need to try brimming the tank, resetting the trip computer and drive around till the tank gets low.
Fill up again then you can do the calculation from the amount of fuel you just put in and miles covered since you reset the trip.

Sure it's reading in MPG?  Sounds more like a l/100km figure!

 

39 minutes ago, Luke4efc said:

You haven't said what engine you have, but 5mpg is a lot worse than what my ST gets lol.

It definitely seems like a problem with the calculator. 5mpg would mean a full tank will only last roughly 50 miles!

You need to try brimming the tank, resetting the trip computer and drive around till the tank gets low.
Fill up again then you can do the calculation from the amount of fuel you just put in and miles covered since you reset the trip.

Ah sorry it's the 1.6 petrol. I'll try calculating it from a full tank!

23 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Sure it's reading in MPG?  Sounds more like a l/100km figure!

 

Yes definitely MPG.

23 minutes ago, Newbie12 said:

Ah sorry it's the 1.6 petrol. I'll try calculating it from a full tank!

Yes definitely MPG.

Yeh would defo reset it. Make sure oil and filter was done before you got it if not change them. Check the air filter condition. Make sure the tyres and brakes are in good condition. It all affects the readings. The 1.6 mk2.5 I had was not amazing on fuel but the Mpg was always over at least 36.

3 hours ago, F0CUE said:

Yeh would defo reset it. Make sure oil and filter was done before you got it if not change them. Check the air filter condition. Make sure the tyres and brakes are in good condition. It all affects the readings. The 1.6 mk2.5 I had was not amazing on fuel but the Mpg was always over at least 36.

Alright cheers, will change the air filter when  it gets serviced.

 

If it's genuinely only doing 7mpg it needs more than a service.  I wouldn't waste a tank of fuel on the brim test as you'll rip through it in no time.

In this instance, I'd wait until the fuel light comes on then stick 10 litres in and reset the MPG reader and the trip meter.  Then see how many miles you do before the light comes on again.  It's not as accurate as the brim test but it'll show us whether it's actually single figures or whether it's up in the high 30's where it should be for a quarter of the cost of the brim test.

Are you actually going through fuel fast or is the computer just saying that you are?

You'd know if you were only doing 5mpg, you'd be able to see the fuel gauge go down as you're driving!

When our mk 3 went in for a minor repair it was reading 64mpg after a week or so at the repair shop it was reading 6 mpg. There answer was they had to reset. 

I took it for a run and it slowly if at all moved upwards to 9 mpg. 

So I manually reset the MPG to zero and the trip odometer and ot worked fine from that day. My conclusion was that the repair shop must have either left it ticking over or tgey did actually reset it to zero and had it ticking over prior to me picking it back up hence why it didn't move much when driving until I manually reset it.

11 hours ago, Luke4efc said:

Are you actually going through fuel fast or is the computer just saying that you are?

You'd know if you were only doing 5mpg, you'd be able to see the fuel gauge go down as you're driving!

Thats the thing, I'm definitely not doing 5mpg as I filled it up yesterday with about 8L, put 40 miles on it and the needle has only moved a little bit!.

 

11 hours ago, Wino said:

When our mk 3 went in for a minor repair it was reading 64mpg after a week or so at the repair shop it was reading 6 mpg. There answer was they had to reset. 

I took it for a run and it slowly if at all moved upwards to 9 mpg. 

So I manually reset the MPG to zero and the trip odometer and ot worked fine from that day. My conclusion was that the repair shop must have either left it ticking over or tgey did actually reset it to zero and had it ticking over prior to me picking it back up hence why it didn't move much when driving until I manually reset it.

I've tried resetting it with the stalk but to no avail! Should I try disconnecting the battery and then reconnecting it half an hour or so later?

12 hours ago, Newbie12 said:

Thats the thing, I'm definitely not doing 5mpg as I filled it up yesterday with about 8L, put 40 miles on it and the needle has only moved a little bit!.

 

I've tried resetting it with the stalk but to no avail! Should I try disconnecting the battery and then reconnecting it half an hour or so later?

Can't see it doing any harm but do remember you will have to reset any settings you have saved.

13 hours ago, Newbie12 said:

Thats the thing, I'm definitely not doing 5mpg as I filled it up yesterday with about 8L, put 40 miles on it and the needle has only moved a little bit!.

I've tried resetting it with the stalk but to no avail! Should I try disconnecting the battery and then reconnecting it half an hour or so later?

There we go now we're getting somewhere! Now we know your real MPG isn't actually 5, you can rule out anything mechanical pretty much (such as filters, oil, tyres and brakes that was mentioned above). 

No harm in trying the battery. I suspect you're getting something like 35mpg but can only see the second digit for some reason.

 

1 hour ago, Wino said:

Can't see it doing any harm but do remember you will have to reset any settings you have saved.

Alright cheers will do.

1 hour ago, Luke4efc said:

There we go now we're getting somewhere! Now we know your real MPG isn't actually 5, you can rule out anything mechanical pretty much (such as filters, oil, tyres and brakes that was mentioned above). 

No harm in trying the battery. I suspect you're getting something like 35mpg but can only see the second digit for some reason.

 

Alright I'll try the battery. Thanks for the help!

Make sure you've got the radio code if you pull the battery...