Poor fuel consumption

bmtroubleyou

New member
Hey guys I know a guy in Blouberg strand you pay him R200 and he does a complete diagnostic scan and gives you a report on all the codes .

.............................................................................................................................


Offer Diagnostic Service at all car models with OBD2 diagnose plug (cars manufactured from 2000, partly from 1996). Scanning for all fault codes in ECU : engine, ignition, fuel injection and emission related problems. Scan for DTC, Freeze Frame Data, Life Date like rpm, etc. Delate fault codes and clear CHECK ENGINE LIGHT (MIL). Scan includes report.

For Mercedes and BMW : Full check from 1990 model to 2003 and OBD up to date.
For Mercedes I can offer a special service: Scan of all on board modules (ABS,ASR,Airbag, A/C,...) for cars from 1990-April 2003 and OBD2 for latest models.

Optinal Service: small repairs and repair advice, repair instructions - ask for rates on site depends on findings.

Contact for apointment in BloubergStrand - also week ends 079 890 4801

You can buy our own Scan Tool OBD2 with Software (no demo) for 2000 R - contact me for details
 

Garfield

Member
Cool man, I've already had the car scanned, no codes

Update :

Finally got chance to do a long distance trip (only 500km)

What i noticed is the first half of the gauge takes forever to move, the last half flies by

Anyways, first quarter mark from full saw 240km, half tank saw 440km, at empty it got 628km

As i say i did 500km at 130ish average, the rest till 628km was done in town

Very happy with the consumption on the long road but not impressed in town but oh well, you win some you lose some :banghead:
 

osiris

///Member
My consumption has gone through the roof, im sitting on 16.5L/100Km and I found the cause for it....My air flow meter is gefoked! car isnt too bad on the highway either, but in town its fucked up proper.

If you want to test if its your air flow meter there is one way I tested it, Disconnect the air flow meter completely, start the car and drive it, if the car goes like a rocket and goes through the rev band very smoothly compared to when the air flow meter is connected then its fucked.

My Air flow meter is causing the car to flood with petrol allot more than it should so its feeling very pup, but when I disconnect the MAF it feels like going from a 1.4L Golf to a M3 thats how much of a difference there is.

The other problem we found was that my Tappet cover gasket was broken and oil was leaking into my spark plugs causing the spark to disipate through the whole tappet cover which was also very bad for performance and was a cause for a funky idle and high consumption.
 

coco boy

New member
Garfield...did you get the high consumption sorted yet? I have the same issue on my e36 328.....Let me know what you did.


Garfield said:
444YYY said:
Just a note, a clogged/blocked fuel filter will prevent large volumes of fuel, being sent to the engine.... So unlikely, you've got the opposite problem.
Check the lambda sensor, maybe its a simple issue of the signal wires coming off....
This may result in the vehicle running rich....

Ah i see, lamba sensor :dunno: will have a look later today, Would the O2 sensor not also cause it to run rich ? But then again i heard if the O2 sensor is faulty it throws a check engine light

sykotic said:
hey i get the EXACT same fuel economy from my e36 328i!! its crap huh!! im booking mine in for a tune up at the mec.. i hope somethings wrong!!! atleast then i can fix it n get better consumption lol

Its really bad :cursin: my dad previously had a e36 328i and he would get nearly 600km outta his tank, same driving style as mine

If you get yours sorted before me . . . PLEASE let me know what it was
 

Garfield

Member
osiris said:
Test the d@mn AIR FLOW METER :cursin:

I KNEW there was something i was forgetting to test :banghead:
I will definitely check this, i notice some days it pulls like a snot rocket and then one day its feels a tad off.

coco boy said:
Garfield...did you get the high consumption sorted yet? I have the same issue on my e36 328.....Let me know what you did.

Hey man, Nah i actually haven't checked into any further yet

Been doing allot of mixed driving so fuel consumption has been good, Averaging 630km :pimp: so it hasn't been on my mind

But in town it still could be better :slap:
 

OpelAddict

New member
my 320i gives me R300 = 300km....it this normal?
It also seems to have a miss when it warms up a bit.

Sorry for hi jacking
 

osiris

///Member
ok as far as I understand it, a 6 cylinder engine is a funny thing, what I mean is that if you have a 6 cylinder engine and its a 2.0L or 2.3L or 2.5L the consumption is shit...The reason for this is that the engine is big and heavy making the car heavy but because it has a small displacement the torque is very small and thus you need to put your foot down harder to pull off or drive up a hill and naturally the car will rev higher at 120kph on the freeway compared to that of a 328i or a 330i.

Sooo Naturally a 320i, 323i, 325i will use more petrol than a 328i (I am talking about the E36 range of BMW's)

To me a 328i engine is the right balance of weight and displacement for an E36 BMW so it should get very good consumption.

Now this does not mean that a 318i and 316i will use more petrol than a 328i as those vehicles are 4 cylinders making the car lighter and more economical, 4 cylinder motors usually have there torque band set to right at the begining of the rev band making them ideal for town driving.

With a 325i especially I have found that the car is pup till 4.5k to 5.5k rpm, this has been the same in two 325i that I have owned its more of a rev hungry car which in turn makes it chow petrol, the 328i that I used to own was the exact opposite, It was very torquie and got very good fuel consumption.

I hope I have helped some people understand why some cars use more fuel than others.

As far as I know the new E90 320i is a 4 cylinder motor? if this is true its because BMW realized that a 6 cylinder 2.0L is a flop, if I am wrong please correct me.
 

OppositeLockMT

Active member
Bump

Came accross this thread on google when trying to troubleshoot my poor consumption issues. I just can't afford the fuel bill, there has to be something wrong with the car somewhere :cry:
 
W

wikk3d88

Guest
Anarchy05 said:
full tank in traffic -290km of 59 liters

but once on the open road i get 800km of the same 59 liters

I have this same issue,even when not "putting foot",my car seems to be heavy,then I drive like a topi in the town,the km left thingy drops 3kms for every km drove about,then when I hit the open road,i "gooi" about 160km/h,and the reading of left kms doesnt even drop,what can that be?I only have a 318i E36,and I get bout 70-80kms on R200!

Ouch. My Auto E36 318i gives me between 9-12L/100km and thats with me hooning it on de waal drive after work.
 

Baron

Member
Wow didnt see how old this was...

What fixed my heavy fuel consumption issues:

- Fixed my VANOS - new vanos seals.
- Reflashed my ECU to the latest version at the dealership - fixed the throttle response and shutting off petrol when coasting but this is on a 2004 model with the electronic throttle pedal.

Other things that can help:
- Fixing vacuum leaks
- Changing sparkplugs & coils
- Taking off all electrical connectors and cleaning them with switch cleaner and pressing the contacts together to get better conduction
- Replacing O2 sensors - only have a lifetime of 100-150 thousand ks
 

Quickie

New member
On the wifes 318ti AUTO we get on average 500-520km's on a tank and that is driving full out in traffic- Plattekloof to woodstock daily in N1 Traffic.
And that is not a completely full tank. i usually tell the guy to stop on the first click when filling up.
Hoping that is normal?
 
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wikk3d88

Guest
Quickie said:
On the wifes 318ti AUTO we get on average 500-520km's on a tank and that is driving full out in traffic- Plattekloof to woodstock daily in N1 Traffic.
And that is not a completely full tank. i usually tell the guy to stop on the first click when filling up.
Hoping that is normal?

60L tank, auto, hooning it plus N1 traffic. Yeah, sounds about right.
 

OppositeLockMT

Active member
So i managed to sort out my consumption issue, sort of. Put in a new pump and filter, the old one had a bit of an issue. im sitting at 13.5l/100km and dropping.
 

Sandman

///Member
Baron said:
Wow didnt see how old this was...

What fixed my heavy fuel consumption issues:

- Fixed my VANOS - new vanos seals.
- Reflashed my ECU to the latest version at the dealership - fixed the throttle response and shutting off petrol when coasting but this is on a 2004 model with the electronic throttle pedal.

Other things that can help:
- Fixing vacuum leaks
- Changing sparkplugs & coils
- Taking off all electrical connectors and cleaning them with switch cleaner and pressing the contacts together to get better conduction
- Replacing O2 sensors - only have a lifetime of 100-150 thousand ks

On my E36 328 i have been getting very high consumption since the last 2 weeks. It was also the time when i started hearing 3 beeps when riding for bout 15-20mins, im assuming its time for a service as all my 3 green lights are ON and next is orange.

Anybody know of a good place to service a E36 in CT? Infact i would do it myself if i could find out how to reset the service light.
 
W

wikk3d88

Guest
Sandman said:
Baron said:
Wow didnt see how old this was...

What fixed my heavy fuel consumption issues:

- Fixed my VANOS - new vanos seals.
- Reflashed my ECU to the latest version at the dealership - fixed the throttle response and shutting off petrol when coasting but this is on a 2004 model with the electronic throttle pedal.

Other things that can help:
- Fixing vacuum leaks
- Changing sparkplugs & coils
- Taking off all electrical connectors and cleaning them with switch cleaner and pressing the contacts together to get better conduction
- Replacing O2 sensors - only have a lifetime of 100-150 thousand ks

On my E36 328 i have been getting very high consumption since the last 2 weeks. It was also the time when i started hearing 3 beeps when riding for bout 15-20mins, im assuming its time for a service as all my 3 green lights are ON and next is orange.

Anybody know of a good place to service a E36 in CT? Infact i would do it myself if i could find out how to reset the service light.

SMG cape town if it's just an oil change, or garage 808

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
 

Quickie

New member
I was actually meaning to update this with what i though was extraordinary.

We took the wifey's car on a trip from Cape Town to Ceres the holiday.
So i drove quiet conservatively averaging about 120km/h and somtimes in the downhills reaching about 150.
I recorded over 720km's on that tank of fuel :joy:


We did the trip to Cceres and back and then still drove around to the shops and stuff.

Was very impressed with the 318ti
 

Loom

Member
Sandman said:
On my E36 328 i have been getting very high consumption since the last 2 weeks. It was also the time when i started hearing 3 beeps when riding for bout 15-20mins, im assuming its time for a service as all my 3 green lights are ON and next is orange.

Don't know what the beeps are but 3 green lights mean you've got a long way to go 'till the next service. You start with 5 (?) green lights which go out one after another until the orange and thereafter a red light is lit, meaning a service is required.
 

tman

Well-known member
I have the 2000 model, 328i

Im getting around 600km on R600's worth of petrol...
 

LordPhoenix

New member
Sandman said:
Baron said:
Wow didnt see how old this was...

What fixed my heavy fuel consumption issues:

- Fixed my VANOS - new vanos seals.
- Reflashed my ECU to the latest version at the dealership - fixed the throttle response and shutting off petrol when coasting but this is on a 2004 model with the electronic throttle pedal.

Other things that can help:
- Fixing vacuum leaks
- Changing sparkplugs & coils
- Taking off all electrical connectors and cleaning them with switch cleaner and pressing the contacts together to get better conduction
- Replacing O2 sensors - only have a lifetime of 100-150 thousand ks

On my E36 328 i have been getting very high consumption since the last 2 weeks. It was also the time when i started hearing 3 beeps when riding for bout 15-20mins, im assuming its time for a service as all my 3 green lights are ON and next is orange.

Anybody know of a good place to service a E36 in CT? Infact i would do it myself if i could find out how to reset the service light.

Step 1:
Put your key into the ignition of your e36 and turn it all the way on without starting the bmw.

Step 2:
Open the hood and look for the diagnostic port for your e36.

Step 3:
Unscrew the cover and you will see the pins for the diagnostic port as shown in the image below. You are looking for Pin 7 and Pin 19. You will need to touch these two pins together with a wire for no longer then 10 seconds, preferably about 5 seconds. If you touch these two pins together any longer then that, you will reset your service intervals also. You are just wanting to reset the oil service indication lights.
After you have held the two pins together for 5 to 10 seconds, check the instrument cluster in your e36 and see if the lights have been reset.
 
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