Engine work v. fuel consumption

[friz]

About 2 weeks ago I had to send the Punto in for some work. Temp light after moderate driving. Plenty of coolant. Engine fan working. But woah, oil dripping from the head gasket....

So, got on the phone to one guy to describe what was happening but left out the bit about the oil dripping. Guy pegged it in about 10 seconds. "You've also got an oil drip, right?"

So, I brought it in. They changed the head gasket, milled the head, did various other bits and bobs (Timing belt, tensioner, etc) for the grand price of €560.

But....

Maybe it's just me keeping an eye on the fuel gauge in these days of superpriced petrol. It seems to be drinking petrol at an increased rate.

Is it possible to lose MPG from engine work?

Answers on apostcard please....

[larsen_huw]

If anything, all this work should have improved your fuel economy.

If they've cleaned up the engine with new bits and got all the settings back to factory standard, the engine should be running as efficiently as when it left the factory. It should feel slightly perkier and be marginally more fuel efficient (unlikely you'd notice the fuel efficiency).

However - if the work has been carried out shoddily - then the engine would feel more sluggish and be worse on fuel. I feel it's unlikely that the garage would have done to work to a standard where the engine would run ok, yet use more fuel. If the work was done to a poor standard, there would probably be plenty of tell tale signs apart from increased fuel economy - poor running, unreliabilty, increased oil/coolent consumption, that sort of thing.

It's probably just you wallet telling you that you're spending more on fuel with all these petrol increases. Either that, or you've been a little heavier with the right boot as the engine feels more perky after the rebuild.

[friz]

Either that, or you've been a little heavier with the right boot as the engine feels more perky after the rebuild.

Ooooh. Didn't even think about that. That's a factor that didn't even dawn on me. Just started a new job in Blanchardstown that allows me to drive about 80 miles of dual carraigeway each day. And suffice to say not a hell of alot of other cars are passing me out....:evilangel

[friz]

While on the subject. Doing the miles that I'm doing now I should have the ole Punto over 100K miles by Christmas. So I'm kinda half-assed looking for something new. That 05 Passat Sportline 1.9 tdi is looking good....

But maybe I'll wait 'til they start showing up second hand...

[larsen_huw]

100,000 miles?

You mean barely run in ...

oops ... sorry ... you're talking about an Italian car ... my mistake ... it'll be ready for the scrapyard! 8)

We've got 3 cars in our house - my 2 Fords & the missus's Toyota.

Lowest mileage is the oldest - 24 years old and 112,000 miles (my Capri).

Highest mileage is the newest - 13 years old and 147,000 miles (my Sierra).

Missus's MR2 is 19 years old and has 144,000 miles.

The two that are used daily (Sierra & MR2) have never been anything other than reliable.

[WhipLash]

Wow, and I thought my 40 odd thousand miles was looking large - now I *feel* better ;)

As a matter of interest, whats a modern diesel engine good for - over 500,000 miles perhaps?

Friz - the new Passat is a peach! http://forumsireland.com/images/smilies/smoke.gif

[larsen_huw]

... As a matter of interest, whats a modern diesel engine good for - over 500,000 miles perhaps? ...

As a rule modern engines tend not to last as long as older ones - too many fancy bits to go wrong.

Modern engines have much tighter tolerances - so general wear and tear tends to make more of a difference. Find a 30 year old Diesel - say from a Land Rover or similar - it'll sound like a bag of spanners in a tumble drier ... but still haul the car from A to B. A modern engine will have something go wrong with it long before then - even if it sounds a lot smoother before it stopped.

To show how many miles your car's can have and still look OK, here's piccies of our fleet:

My Capri:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v390/larsen_huw/HuwsCapri2.jpg


Missus's MR2:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v390/larsen_huw/HannahsCar1.jpg


And our daily hack:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v390/larsen_huw/SierraRear.jpg

Combined cost to buy: £1950 .... combined mileage: over 400,000 miles.

:)