Now im not sure if my car has a huge fuel leak somewhere... but my mpg has gone down quite a lot the past week.

Im thinking that its due to the cold weather, ie - colder air, more oxygen = more fuel being injected...

Who else is having a similer thing happen to them?

 

same here dropped about 2-3 mpg, short journeys, cold weather and increased traffic don't help, neither does running it for 5 minutes before I start out so all windows are clear.

 

Im getting about 10mpg from a usual 19! So my wallet is really feeling it just lately!

 

can you smell fuel in morning's iv heared with the bugeye scoob in cold wheather the fuel rails shrink and you can get a leak, aint bothered doing mine yet as its quite a job to upgrade the pipe's

 

Sometimes yeah, but not all the time. I put the fuely smell down to having a full decat. Mine is a MY95 by the way.

I smell fuel the most after ive been on boost.

 

Havnt even done a hundred miles with scoob and just about hitting the lower quarter. saying that she has been sideways quite a lot

 

Cooler air is better than hot when your mapping a car. But the current conditions are a bit extreme and more fans blowing, lower speeds won't help.

 

If you feel the need to keep an eye on the fuel gauge then you are in the wrong car....

 

My cars going through a lot of petrol lately, can cold weather really effect this?

Thanks
sam

 

are you not driving in the same gear longer than you would in good weather conditions , i am and its drinking my fuel

 

If your thermostat is sticking open or leaking; yes. As engine warm up-times are vastly increased.

Engines guzzle fuel during the warm-up period - as they run richer fuel mixtures. So having the heater on full makes it take longer to reach operating temperature, if the thermostat is not brilliant, it only exasperates the problem as the coolant may never reach operating temperature whilst the car is moving.

Just for background info; The coolant temp guage is not accurate means to assertain coolant temperature, as the centre "normal" area the needle normally points at when up to temperature has a 40degree (roughly) dead band. In other words, engine temps could be 60 degrees or 100 dregrees, but the needle still stays in the middle - most modern cars are like this (gods knows why ).

 

So don't put the heater on during warm up?

Thanks
sam

 

It should help.

Could stick it on recirculate; that way its only heating air inside the cabin instead of pulling in sub-zero air from outside. Thats what I do when I'm defosting it.

Car may steam up if you have wet feat/carpets though, so you may need to use the a/c to demist it - but that also affects MPG...damn

 

My mpg always improves during the winter, mostly due to the revised winter speed limits.

I've also got an electric heater for the engine and interior, oil is at 5C on startup and coolant is about 40C, whereas without they are much closer to ambient temps.

Maybe I should start selling kits to the UK, esp if winters co tinue being severe down there

 

Got a photo of your heater?

Thanks
Sam

 

tell us more about this elictric heater and how it works please?

 

not from my car, but its basically the same kit.

its basically a small "space heater" made specifically for cars in winter climates. Opens all windows up to -15C.

As for the sump/coolant heater, its heating element that screws into your block, you plug your car up to the mains on a timer a few hours before you need to leave for work, turns on the space heater and the sump/coolant heater.