Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all, I know this is probably a perennial topic, but Notty's fuel consumption is abysmal and I'm after some help. If there is an FAQ entry that answers my questions, feel free to redirect me.

We bought Notty around this time last year and I soon realised I was getting around 16 to the gallon. We lived with it till autumn when my father in law and I took the engine out to replace the rusted on exhaust and fix the clutch. I was hoping this might help matters but in the last fill-up it said 15mpg so it has certainly got no better. I gather I should be expecting at least low 20's.

What could cause such bad performance? She's a 1982 2.0 petrol with a 4-speed box and a high-top. We do mostly very short journeys which I know won't help but we don't take her very fast which I think reduces any impact of the high-top.

What sorts of things should I look at? Could it be something in the carbs, or the automatic choke? What other symptoms should I look out for? She seems to drive ok although I don't have anything to compare her with. She certainly cruised down the motorway fine at 55 and maybe 60 last year. I felt could probably get her to 70 on a downhill stretch if I tried.

Is there anywhere around West Gloucestershire I could take her to be looked at? We are hoping to do a couple of longer trips this year and don't want to be forking out 100's in fuel!

--- Alistair.

Not surprised mate.

Round town I get 14-16mpg and on a run 19-21 mpg (high top). Others will say more. Thankfully, its LPG so an awful lot cheaper.

You could take it to a rolling road, make sure carbs are set up properly....but hopefully you will get more on a steady run at 56-60mph.

Em
xx

Basic things that are important:

Air filter
Carburettor settings
Timing

But all of this is heavily dependant on overall engine health, a compression/leak down test may be wise as if the engine is a bit tired no amount of setting up will make fuel consumption good, better than if they're all to "cock" obviously, but not good.

Add to this that a 2.0l aircool is not by any measure 'good' on fuel anyway.

Notty Noo wrote: What could cause such bad performance? She's a 1982 2.0 petrol with a 4-speed box and a high-top. We do mostly very short journeys

Behold a question and it's answer in the same quote. Why do you think so many of us invest in lpg ? It's not cos we all want Steve Shaw to get rich, smashin bloke that he is

Ian.

In three years of driving an air-cooled CU engined van I've averaged about 19 mpg over 13000 miles. Around town the van does about 16-17mpg. On a run around Wales last year it turned in low to mid 20 mpg on seven consecutive fills. LPG is the way to go. I'm planning on getting it done as soon as money allows.

To be honest no matter how well the engine is tuned the thing that will have the biggest effect of the fuel economy is how you drive it. Check your tyre pressures. Let the van get up to speed in its own time, don't drive it like a modern car and you might see +20 mpg on a good day.

TBH I have never had the balls to check what Bobbys MPG is, tho I think this weekend I will have a go.
I doubt ill see low 20's tho

Nij wrote:TBH I have never had the balls to check what Bobbys MPG is,

18-22ish

I'm well impressed. I have. 1900 water-cooled and I get 20 round town and 22 on a run. That's positively economical then. Yeah for me.
I'm gonna go for an LPG ASAP.
On that subject and stealing the thread slightly. Can LPG tanks be flat mounted under the body. Or do they have to go in the van.

Dave307 wrote: Can LPG tanks be flat mounted under the body. Or do they have to go in the van.

http://www.gasure.co.uk/sales.htm

Ian

Ian Hulley wrote:

Nij wrote:TBH I have never had the balls to check what Bobbys MPG is,

18-22ish

Id be happy with 18 TBH tho from rough calculations from the trip to MOT station (145 round trip) it was more 16

LPG is a deffo just need to save the pennies and stop bills coming though the door

It's true. Even with the price hikes of late, on 22mpg for LPG, that's still around 41mpg to what it would cost in petrol. Better than a Porche!

But price rises just mean less driving for everyone, except those who can afford Porches.

Ian Hulley wrote:

Dave307 wrote: Can LPG tanks be flat mounted under the body. Or do they have to go in the van.

http://www.gasure.co.uk/sales.htm

Ian

Interesting would prefer to have the tank out the way under the van. Just need to find somewhere to put the spare wheel. Oh and save the pennies.

Thanks for that. I have now done a proper search of the site and discovered, as I had thought, that it is a perennial subject! Last time I checked though, I thought people were reporting 20 to 30 mpg, not 15 to 20. Ah well, so there may not be much I can do except convert to LPG?

She is actually water cooled, I forgot to mention that.

So an LPG conversion would cost around 1k and halve the price of a fill-up. So each fill up saves me around £40 so it would take 25 fill ups to break even. That's probably around 2 years. Sounds like it might be worth considering and I like the idea of tucking it under the rock-n-roll bed. Unfortunately though, petrolprices.com says that the nearest LPG to home is 15 miles away! The nearest one to work is 6 miles in the wrong direction so that puts a bit of a downer on it all.

--- Alistair.

25 fill-ups is two years....wow....you only fill up once a month

Guessing its not a daily!!

Em
xx

No, not by a long way. I use the car or the train for the 23 mile commute to work and my wife normally walks or cycles the mile or so to her work so we don't need the van.