Hi,

I have read that this engine is the probably the worst of all the Brava engines and not particularly economical but we only seem to get about 50-60 miles out of a tenner. Seems crazy that it could be that bad on the fuel? I almost get more miles out of my Skyline!

Does this sound about right or are there any common faults/problems that could be causing it to use more fuel than it actually needs? Thinking o2 sensor maybe? Also is there any way to run a diagnostic test on the ecu without any consult programs or cables/readers?

Cheers in advance

R32+Brava said:

Hi,

I have read that this engine is the probably the worst of all the Brava engines and not particularly economical but we only seem to get about 50-60 miles out of a tenner. Seems crazy that it could be that bad on the fuel? I almost get more miles out of my Skyline!

Does this sound about right or are there any common faults/problems that could be causing it to use more fuel than it actually needs? Thinking o2 sensor maybe? Also is there any way to run a diagnostic test on the ecu without any consult programs or cables/readers?

Cheers in advance

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yeah they are the least efficient, you should get a lot more miles than that, depending on driving style, city driving, motorway etc.

last service?

maybe try some fuel additive cleaner

25 MPG is pretty bad.
Also very possible with the 1.4. Fuel consumption depends on a number of different thing. Driving style, type of road the car is used on, how loaded the car is, tire pressures, condition of the running gear.

My mums old 1.2 Corsa didn't do much better than that. She did a lot of stop start driving about town.

Shame you didn't come to the forum before buying said car . Unfortunatly that engine is one of the worst fiat have ever made and the 1.2 16v (80) version is sooo much better for power, reliability and economy.

Anyway do the usual. Try decent injector cleaner, pump tyres up, check air filter and blow the crap off it or buy a new one (£3-£6 from motorfactors), check spark plugs (i.e the colour on the tips should be even on all 4 cylenders). If there uneven check HT leads etc and consider replacing spark plugs too. Also check the status of the brakes and make sure there not binding slightly (can be quite common).

That should sort you out if its still a bit poor start thinking about sensor's.

thats thirsty, its using the same amount petrol that my car does.

a diagnostic requires at least a code reader that uses the fiat specific protocol and some creative use of wires to join the reader to the fiat 3 pin connectors.

i agree with chris, give it a thorough service to see if it improves.

They're not all bad, i got 49 miles out of £5 yesterday :slayer:

Cheers for the replies. It had new plugs about 2k ago - had them out recently and they all look in good shape. Airfilter - checked recently, will be getting changed soon but i've seen a lot worse in my time. Tyres are checked weekly, i overhauled all the brakes recently.
It does mostly do short trips round the town, fares slightly better on longer journeys but still not great. Will maybe give it a shot of injector cleaner and a new air filter and see if that helps.

So for diagnostics there are aren't any tricks for flashing codes out on the engine check light or anything?

Yes it is a pity i didn't read up on the forums first but my girlfriend passed her test and being a girl who likes things done yesterday - saw the car for sale locally and decided that she loved the colour and wanted to buy it there and then - against my better judgement!

my 1.4 bravo is shocking on juice

i drive from barnsley to northampton (about 120 mile) every other week and it easy does £20 there and £20 back . i do tend to put my toe down a bit on the m1 tho

barnsley john said:

my 1.4 bravo is shocking on juice

i drive from barnsley to northampton (about 120 mile) every other week and it easy does £20 there and £20 back . i do tend to put my toe down a bit on the m1 tho

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Sounds about the same as ours. You've kinda got to put the toe down though or you would never get there!

Mine does 35mpg, although I'm a fairly staid driver compared to some and the car is kept well serviced.

The engine isn't as efficient as some, partly because it is single point injection, but it's not that bad for its generation. If you're getting 25mpg something is wrong either with your driving or maybe with the EMS/tyre pressures.

And here's to defend the 1.4......1.2 the gearbox blows up (allegedly). HGT no room to work under the bonnet. The 1.4 is cheap as chips because it is only a mk1 model. Lots of them in the scrappies for parts.......and at high miles with various failures. My local scrappies puts a sheet on the window with what has killed the car. I've got various bits over the years, door handles, aerial, radiator, high level rear brake light out of the scrappers, and always look at the sheet to see the failure. No cam failures yet (seen brake pipes/head gaskets/rear subframe mounting and crash damage 1.4 deaths). Granted though the cam oil feed design is a bit weak, but all you need to do is change the oil as scheduled.

Its the 1.2 8v with the exploding gearboxes lol. I've never heard of one go on a 1.2 16v'er.

They didn't do the 1.2 8V in the Bravo did they?

nope..just the 16v!

ChrisUK said:

Its the 1.2 8v with the exploding gearboxes lol. I've never heard of one go on a 1.2 16v'er.

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Ask Andy_sx he's had about 11 go on one car

Well that must tell you something about the driver .

Yeah he's got rotten luck LOL

andys bravo kept eating the differentials, since it happened so many times i definately think there must have been something that was causing it otehr than driving style. replacing the diff didnt fix the problem so it happened again and again.

jug said:

andys bravo kept eating the differentials, since it happened so many times i definately think there must have been something that was causing it otehr than driving style. replacing the diff didnt fix the problem so it happened again and again.

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Its a pity cos it is a decent looking car.