1.4 Economy and Heat?

shao_khan

Past Member
Morning.

So I've been using my 1.4 for a few weeks now. Biggest difference is economy, before I start looking for problems does anyone know what factor heat plays on the economy?

My 1.4 in the UK would do around 300 mils per tank where as here in Spain I am getting about 300Km per tank, obviously ambient temp is somewhat higher most of the time so I wondered if this would have any bearing - although writing it down that's a fair difference between the two.

I'll browse the other threads on economy to see if I can find any issues, but wondered if heat would play a part.

Thanks :)
 
Make sure its healthy first. New spark plugs, air filter, oil, thermostat at temp and the back brakes not binding. If all those are right and fuel economy isn't very good then there could be other issues.

Are you driving in similar conditions i.e now driving in a lot of mountenous areas?
 
Many things affect fuel economy. Your driving style, the fuel could have a lower octane or higher additives, fuel could be leaking or evaporating through the cap, clogged air filter and items stated above by @A2Steve . Even a possibility it has increased the economy in someone else's car!
 
Many things affect fuel economy. Your driving style, the fuel could have a lower octane or higher additives, fuel could be leaking or evaporating through the cap, clogged air filter and items stated above by @A2Steve . Even a possibility it has increased the economy in someone else's car!
What fuel are you using in Spain? You'd have used E5 in UK (E10 is very recently introduced in UK). E85 (85% alcohol) is sold in Europe. It is much cheaper, but gives significantly reduced mpg/kpl.
Mac
 
350-400km for a 34l tank is normal as far as I'm concerned. If your UK car was a 42l tank, that's quite a lot more. My long term average was 6.x and now with more city stuff it's 7l/100. 7 x 4 = 28l and 400km.

. Bret
 
Higher air temps are a mixed blessing. The drive train benefits from warmer oils, greases and seals on the gearbox, driveshafts and wheel bearings etc which reduces power losses and improves economy.
Higher air intake temps reduce combustion air density and have a negative effect on combustion efficiency and fuel consumption. Probably not a factor in this case but running at altitude has a similar negative effect.

Cheers Spike
 
Usually warmer the better to the point A/C needs to activated. But if you drive lot of small trips where at every start you need to cool the car down, that should kill economy pretty good.
On hottest days this summer my shopping trip (20km total) economy was as bad as in snowy winter.
And my gasoline A8 does not like very hot weather too (not AC related).
 
Higher air temps are a mixed blessing. The drive train benefits from warmer oils, greases and seals on the gearbox, driveshafts and wheel bearings etc which reduces power losses and improves economy.
Higher air intake temps reduce combustion air density and have a negative effect on combustion efficiency and fuel consumption. Probably not a factor in this case but running at altitude has a similar negative effect.

Cheers Spike
Any bike rider will tell you that air is much easier to push through when it's warm.
 
What fuel are you using in Spain? You'd have used E5 in UK (E10 is very recently introduced in UK). E85 (85% alcohol) is sold in Europe. It is much cheaper, but gives significantly reduced mpg/kpl.
Mac
The Fuel here hasn't changed yet to E5 or certainly not that I've seen on the pumps. I've tried a few different, local brands like Repsol and ceps and also BP / Shell. I'll look though just to check.
 
Maybe a silly question and assuming that you have two cars, but are the petrol tanks both the same size?
Didn't actually know they had different sizes I'd (and perhaps wrongly) assumed that two 1.4 petrols of same year would be the same, but maybe UK and EU spec is different,

The point regarding AC is a good one, mine was always on, but I doubt worked as hard as it does here, its still 28 so when you get in the car it is working a lot a the off.
 
Make sure its healthy first. New spark plugs, air filter, oil, thermostat at temp and the back brakes not binding. If all those are right and fuel economy isn't very good then there could be other issues.

Are you driving in similar conditions i.e now driving in a lot of mountenous areas?
I guess that could be a factor, I was driving Milton Keynes to Cambridge, so longer run but also had almost no inclines, where I do have some hills here, nothing too steep, well other than the 3 1st gear hairpin bends on the school run. I had appreciated this would increase consumption but I guess I'm surprised if this is the factor that it is so much.
 
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