MY CAR IS DRINKING PETROL

[irish-e30]

Hi,

Just noticed over the last number of weeks I get between 200 to 220 miles on a full tank. I drive a 325 sport. No matter what way i drive its always about 200 per tank on the button. Ive adjusted driving to see if i was to heavy on the pedal and only maybe got an extra 10miles. So theres obviously something wrong with this. When i put in fuel the other day i worked out exactly how many miles per gallon the car was drinking, i was near shocked to tell you the truth

16 MPG
(thats at 4.2 L per gallon)

The car is due a service which its getting tomorrow.
Oil (15W 40 Castrol GTX high mileage)
NEW Spark plugs from BMW
It has a K&N cone air filter, so i wont replace it as i heard u can just clean it by immersing in diesel.

ANY INPUT HERE???

Ive heard it should be getting 32 MPG or there abouts

[Herrity]

Not 32 mpg I wouldn't think but i'm sure i'll be corrected, deffo higher than 16. My tourer is 325 auto and does 22/25 around town or 30 on a run acording to the ever faithful OBC. Does seem high, have you noticed anything different about how the car runs lately ?

[irish-e30]

nothing different, its as quick as ever and no weird noise or anything. the OBC button if i hit the range button to see how much is left in the tank it just always says 30km no matter what. that just must be the default value i wonder is there a way of fixing this. but thats a different issue for another day

[Gouki]

try checking your fuel hoses, make sure there isnt a leak, can u smell any fuel around the engine bay?

[G60Stu]

Wear lighter shoes lol!!

Seriously though, i thought it was 4.54 litres to a gallon! So ur MPG, im sorry to say will be even less!

Have a look at ur plugs, see if theyre fouled up, sure sign of over fuelling! Maybe as simple as that or as above, leaking fuel lines!!

[mrLEE30]

as above, pull you plugs out and see, black is bad, brown is good.

also check your blue temp sensor, if thats knackered it will give the ECU the wrong reading and can result in over fueling (or running rich) this will affect the cars fuel economy badly.

to check the blue temp sensor you need a multimeter set to measure resisitance. from memory should be around 2000ohms if cold but PM brian moore for the exact readings. then as the car warms up the resistance should change.

mrlee

[irish-e30]

OK, thanks for the help. ive been reading alot of threads on the site and this blue temp sensor thing is mentioned alot. Brian Moooore Do you know the best way to test this thing to see if it works? Is it expensive to fix. Im totally new to e30s, always wanted one and just got my first. None of my friends have one so im totally dependant on you guys on this site. i ordered the bentley manual from amazon august 3rd still hasnt arrived so im badly stuck the loacl bmw dealer doesnt really care about customers like me so im totally dependant on the expertise of you lads.

AS FOR THINGS IVE NOTICED!

Car idle even drinks petrol, but its weird the car humms up for about 8 seconds then go's lower for a few seconds this cycle of up and down continues but the rev counter remains the same, so ive just put it down to the scorpion exhaust.

Ill check the plugs

As for the fuel lines ive no idea even where these are, seriously, how would you check them?

Does anyone have any pictures or pages from bentley manual they could scan in for me???

AS FOR MPG I thought in the USA a gallon is 4.54 and in UK 4.2??? if not im fucked again!!

[alan325i]

on the end of the injector rail u will find a black cylinder with a pipe coming out of it which goes towards the bottom of car this is one of them, follow it down and u will find the other.

They tend to look ok, but if you bend them abit u may find little cracks, 15min job to replace them

[purplerain]

check throttel position switch

[SGP]

You need to check the %co emmissions and all the above,my workshop is in Delgany Co.Wicklow.Ive been running and servicing my car for 6 years and would be happy to assist you the resistance on the blue sender should be 2200-2700 ohms cold.The OBC range is a common fault, the connector (at the back of the obc)should be cleaned with electrical contact cleaner. THe American gallon is actually slightly less than the uk gallon.you can select UK galls on the obc,it reads M/G instead of mpg.select conumption and press the reset button until you get M/G.

[SGP]

About 25 mpg is normal

[irish-e30]

well its a G reg 325 sport, i get on average 200-220miles. It should be more than that right? as i said on 52 litres I got 205 miles....those figures just dont add up right do they?? As for all the above what your suggesting thanks a million, but im very inexperienced and this is my 1st e30 which i saved for, for a very long time. i would think that alot of what your saying is a bit over the top for someone like me would it? if the black fuel hoses are leaking would u actually see the petrol dripping out of it?

[JonnyBravo]

Is that not normal from a sport?

I would be about 200-250 from a full tank and thatâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s driving slowâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢ish at times with some tail out action

I know a few people up north with sports and we all get about the same mileage

[irish-e30]

right yeh its always 200 to 220. but i put in 52 litres the other day to cover 205 miles, which adds up to 18MPG. sure that cant be right is it? surely they are not that heavy on petrol? ive heard alot of people saying 25 MPG minimum and 35 if they are doing motorway miles. mine is 200-220 motorway or no motorway

[Hadez]

Not sure about the 200 - 220 motorway or no motorway, it should be less MPG no motorway for obvious reasons, stopping/starting ect.

Quick fuel line check is get the car up, get the engine running (cos no fuel or not much if fuel pumps not pumping it) and check the metal fuel line running from the petrol tank to the engine, then the fuel lines in the engine bay

i had a fuel line leak in a metal fuel line at 1 of the bends just under the fuel tank, i just patched it up with putty metal (cos i'm cheap lol ) and it's held fine.

[satty]

Hi,

when my 318iS was drinking petrol i put down to my right foot, as I was too getting round 200 miles on full tank, and thts a 1.8 16v block, the most fuel efficient engine out of them all!

Then 1 day, i started the engine and opened the hood, i found the fuel lines were leaking onto the starter motor! took it to my uncle, he said there are 2 fuels lines tht go into the head, and two 8mm rubber hoses tht connect the fuels lines tht could be split. we removed the manifold and discovered this was true!

so check ur rubber hoses under ur manifold b4 u do anything else mate,a lso check ur emissions and see if ur engine mix is running ok and not too rich or too lack!