High fuel consumption!!

Hi,

My new car 1995 1.3LX 5 door is in my opinion very heavy on fuel. It took about £15 to do 116 miles (mostly motorway). But since then I pumped the tyres up, they were quite low (17, 20, 25, 28). Since then, I pumped them up. But I am still concerned that I whenever I look at the fuel gauge the needle has moved.

Now I must say, there is an obvious hesitation (not sure if it's a misfire) there, could this be down to dirty fuel filter? (which doesn't make sense considering the excessive consumption).

The panel filter I will change too, a bit of oil sprayed on it from somewhere.

I did check the dizzy cap and r.arm, they looks "ok", sanded down the whitish/burned metal pits on the contacts, not sure if it's supposed to be like that.

I know oxygen and coolant sensors can cause excessive consumption, but wouldn't that make the idle high (running rich). My idle is quite low, and not THAT smooth.

One final thing, the timing, shouldn't be out should it, with the timing chain and all that, there is a noise on idle, no idea whether it's the chain or not, but I feel it's coming from one of the belts/pulleys than the chain.

One final thing, how do I check for fault codes without a fault code reader. I read the ECU is under the radio and has an LED on it, I've also located the diagnostic plug. Can I jump some connections on the diagnostic plug and look for flashes on the ECU's LED or something? Or is it more complex than that?

All this is a shame, as the car is quite nice, there seems to be a lot of potential if the hesitation and high mpg wasn't there.

Thanks in advance.
Deian
 
thanks for that frank, very informative.

relating to the hesitation, shall i just change the fuel and air filter and see what happens?

also check for spark strengths?

thanks
 
It does have a 'low' idle, it's steadyish, but not smooth and strong as it should be, feels like it may stall when putting clutch up, but when i put more juice to combat the poor idle, it then may skid on gravel. Thanks alienfish. I will look into the MAF sensor.

Regarding the hesitation. I'd say it happens more on full throttle. And feels like it eventually clears up after a second or two, after which you can feel a bit of a surge of power, hence the feeling of hesitation.

Just been to see that PDF link, it looks promising. I shall have to do that tomorrow, it seems like it will fix all the symptoms I have.

So the list now is (in order of priority):
Fix: MAF Sensor
Check: Coolant and O2 Sensors (renew if necessary)
Change: Air and Fuel filters

Any other suggestions?

Thanks again guys.
 
Update:

I located the MAF unit, didn't take the cover off to do anything yet. I'm wondering if anyone has any voltage and/or resistance values that I can check for to/from the MAF sensor.

Then I will decide whether I need to take the cover off or not.

By the way, how do I check for a blockage in the exhaust?

Thanks
 
Back
Top