Jump to content
Do Not Sell My Personal Information


Very Poor on Fuel


Dave_TDCI
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi,

Just trying to figure this one out. We have a number of Focuses in the family, most of them being 1.6 petrol Mk2/2.5 Focuses.

Strangely enough there is quite a big difference in fuel consumption between two of them.

Both are hatchbacks and have the 1.6 petrol 100bhp engines. One has 108,000miles and is very economical, the other has just 74,000miles and uses considerably more on journeys which I have been tracking for months now. Both of them have a full service history and were serviced recently to include oil & filter, air filter, spark plugs and new ignition leads.

Neither of the cars are carrying any extra luggage or heavy objects etc.

What could be reasons causing this? Obviously I expect there to be a certain degree of variance between cars but there seems to be a massive difference between the two and surely you would imagine the car with 30,000 odd less miles to be a little more economical.

Thanks lads.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Have you ruled out possible differences in gearboxes and/or gear oil?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Driving style and location makes a big difference.   I lost about 5mpg moving from a rural area to a suburb, I don't do much more town traffic but the journeys are almost all shorter/less efficient.  I also find motorways are less efficient than a single carriageway with the crap 5 speed box on the Focus.  You'll also use more if you're regularly travelling in peak periods (school run or 9-5 job) compared to off peak when traffic is lower.  Also makes a difference if you're doing early morning drives where you need the heated screens/heaters/lights on and the engine will take longer to get up to temp.

Engine mileage makes very little difference, I had quite a few 2.0 8v HDi 306s back in the day, mpg was only +/-2 between the cars that had done around 100k, 150k and even one at 275k!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the replies.

Unfortunately driving style or location shouldn't be much of a factor as I swapped cars for a week to see on my route to work and noticed a difference.

On my weekly work run I filled one car with €40 worth or petrol which lasted the 5 days which a small bit left over, the other I filled with €40 at the start of the week but had to top up again with €10 which also was practically empty by the weekend.

I always get fuel from the same place as well.

As for gearboxes I am unsure. The one which is better on fuel is a Mk2.5 Style spec, the other is Mk2 Zetec spec, both are 2008.

Would different gearboxes be used between these models?

I really am baffled as to what could be the cause. Obviously I would like to cure it as one is going to end up costing quite a bit more than the other to run.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Air conditioning on in one car only or running at a higher state in the less efficient car because it's aged quicker.

Tyre pressures would have an affect mpg. Also your tyres may have a more grippy surface on the less economical car, so creating more rolling resistance

The person servicing the more economical car may be better at their job than the one doing the other and so it runs more efficiently

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the reply CyprusPluto.

Both are serviced by local indie garage.

Tyre pressure is checked on the one with poor economy every week or 2, the good one not sure but doubt as frequently.

The one with good economy has standard 16'' steel wheels while the one with bad has 17'' Ford alloys. Could that be any link?... I would imagine there could be differences because of this but would of imagined only being minimal?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe some more tyre friction? (Long shot!) or a calculation error (i.e. manually calculate it from brimming the tank, then brimming the tank again and calculating MPG).

You could try disconnecting the battery on both (make sure you have the radio code) for 30 mins ~ or so (less would probably suffice), to enable the ECUs to relearn all their values.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After changing my 15 inch rims to 17's,miles per gallon has plummeted from a respectable 51 to a poor 40.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I only get 34-37mpg, over a mix of rural, dual carriageways and urban journeys. Closer to 37mpg if i'm babying it, closer to 34mpg if i'm driving a bit more progressively :ph34r: Same 1.6 100ps engine mk2.5.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Style should be considerably lighter as they don't come with any spec lol. :tongue:  Seriously though, the wheels and tyres will make a big difference, 17" alloys are a lot heavier than 16" steels, tyres will also be wider.  And the tyres themselves might have very different rolling resistances.

34mpg for 100bhp made me giggle, £180 to tax iirc...honestly don't know how people can afford to run petrols! :unsure:

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Micro said:

I only get 34-37mpg, over a mix of rural, dual carriageways and urban journeys. Closer to 37mpg if i'm babying it, closer to 34mpg if i'm driving a bit more progressively :ph34r: Same 1.6 100ps engine mk2.5.

 

Similar to what I'm getting on my mk2.5 1.6 100ps, my last tank full using the brim to brim method was just over 37mpg, thats with a light right foot but I do get stuck in traffic on my daily commute.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Dave_TDCI said:

Thanks for the reply CyprusPluto.

Both are serviced by local indie garage.

Tyre pressure is checked on the one with poor economy every week or 2, the good one not sure but doubt as frequently.

The one with good economy has standard 16'' steel wheels while the one with bad has 17'' Ford alloys. Could that be any link?... I would imagine there could be differences because of this but would of imagined only being minimal?

Your engine will have to work harder with the bigger wheels

See number 6 on the attached link

http://www.autoinsider.org/7-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-bigger-wheels.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If your brakes are even slightly touching the discs or drums this will cause significant differences in mpg. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As above posts have said there cud  be lots of variables which can affect mpg but there does seem to be something a miss there. My mk2.5 2.0 titanium normally gets low to mid 30s round town and then mid 40s when on a long run. That's with 55k on clock and twice a year oil change monthly checked tyre pressures new air filter and plugs. 16" alloys though. While I'd expect larger alloys to decrease mpg wudnt think by that much.. Silly question is it the same fuel in each. As in bought from same garage? Using additive in 1 not the other? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites


I had a VERY slow leak in only one tyre, had to keep pumping in more air every 1000 miles and when I did, my MPG would go up quite noticeably than before.

While there are other factors involved and I'm by no means an expert, but I'd say your biggest culprit is the 17" rims, but I'm not an expert.

In a not so similar case with my car and my sisters car (both 1.6 MKII Focuses, both have the 116ps Ti-VCT engine, both are 2005 plated) My car can pull up hills fine in 5th where she'd have to drop to 3rd gear to go up the same hill. (Telegraph hill on the A380 towards Torquay is an example of the sort of hill I'm on about.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does the focus using lots of fuel smell rich?

I'd be wanting to look at fuel trims aswell, just to check they're not massively out of whack. Also check for physical fuel leaks from the tank, and fuel lines to the engine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Could it be a weight difference between a mk2 and a mk2 facelift?

(I’ve got a facelift titanium and get around 36-38mpg on a 7mile to and from work drive rising to around 39mpg doing 70 on the motorway from West Lothian to Wales)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cheers for all the responses!

Ok sounds like the 17'' alloys could be playing a part at the least. Wouldn't of thought to that extent though.

Was wondering that myself, is the MK2.5 Focus lighter in general than the Mk2? I would of thought there would be very little between them.

The car that's using more fuel is a bit fumey on start up but doesn't massively seem to be running rich...maybe something to do with the maf sensor or something?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share




×
×
  • Create New...

Forums


News


Membership