Technical 1.4 16v stilio "poor MPG" 34mpg

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Technical 1.4 16v stilio "poor MPG" 34mpg

stelarge

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Hi, just a quick one. I've had my Stilo for just over a month now and it's fine apart from a few things.
The big one is the terrible MPG
I used to own a 200bhp Honda Accord 2.4 vtec type-s and that gave me 33miles to the gallon, and that had to go because the fuel each month was crippling me.
The Stilo a small engine 1.4 is giving me 34mpg, im barely scraping 350 miles from a tank costing £70
Does this sound ok, I've had a look about and the stilo should be 42.4 mpg
The car is driven properly, eg not raced or ragged about. its a family car and daily commuter.
I've reviewed the service history and it looks good.
oil filter and oil done every year (shell helix+ 10/40)
but the last air filter change was dec 2008, not sure how many miles done since then.
Could an old filter cause such a drop in mpg, and chuggy idling and and up and down feeling from the revs when at idle and crawling along in traffic in 1st gear. Acceleration is a bit crappy too. very sluggish if you know what im getting at.
I'd like to get access to the air filter box but i cant get the bolts off, none of my tools fit. what size do i need to look for?(y)
 
The stilo is driven in a completely different way to the type-S If i'd had known the tiny 1.4 was the same mpg as a beast of a 2.4 id have stuck with that..:slayer:
Gonna try a new air filter, see if that makes a difference. Can i ask if any other 1.4 stilo owners get this mpg and 350 miles to a full tank just doing a 40 mile commute each day
 
I only get 33mpg from my 1.6, so not that much different to your 1.4. I have changed the air filter on mine, and despite the old one being very dirty it didn't make any noticeable difference. Funnily enough I have the same irregular tickover as you until the engine has warmed up. I did clean up the intake valve as suggested elsewhere on this site and it made a small improvement to the tickover but hasn't cured it, and made no difference to the mpg.
 
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The stilo is driven in a completely different way to the type-S If i'd had known the tiny 1.4 was the same mpg as a beast of a 2.4 id have stuck with that..:slayer:
Gonna try a new air filter, see if that makes a difference. Can i ask if any other 1.4 stilo owners get this mpg and 350 miles to a full tank just doing a 40 mile commute each day

Well my 1.4 was on LPG, so a completly different kettle of fish, but for the 10 weeks I ran it on petrol before conversion, it was only about 34/35 I was getting.

Track a few tanks on fuelly.com and see where you end up would be my advise, and a good full service if not already done, which it sounds like it may not be if your asking about changing filters.
 
Our 1.4 regularly returns 42 mpg on mixed driving with up to 50 on decent long distant runs.
I would recommend changing the plugs and the air filter at each service. Check that the brakes are not binding. (the rear nearside brake has a tendency to stick)
You will have to change your driving style from the bigger engine you are used to . Dont be tempted to put it into 6th too early. On local driving we hardly ever go above 5th. Monitor your instant mpg with your driving style, and you may find you can save fuel by very small changes in foot pressure on the pedal without any real loss of power!
 
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Thanks for the pointers, ive been out and had a poke about under the bonnet and worked out how to get access to the airbox, and sparks. will be a payday dayout to euro car parts for some plugs and filters.
I went from the accord to a Vx Zafira 1.8 and that was getting 23mpg:mad: then flogged that for a tidy profit and bought the citroen picasso 1.6hdi which was 48-50 mpg but the rest of it was crap and ended up a money pit so scrapped it after the turbo blew up and hydrauliced the engine, i then got the Stilo...
All breaks were serviced in june before the MOT, but I fancy some new pads/discs anyway as the standards are a bit vague in my opinion. I do like decent brakes on my motors..:p
will keep an eye on the figures
 
i was getting a good 42mpg up until recently, now its dropped to 36 with a loss of power also.

Today i really struggled to get 50 on a run. normally 50mpg is easy driving like a gran. i am going to change my airfilter as i think it may be blocked with mud dust as i drive across a field weekly.
 
just a quicky, what size spanner is needed to open up the front of the airbox. and also I was having a good look round the air intake and just after the opening
at the front of the bumper there is a box that doesn't seem to do anything. (ill put a pic later) what is it?
thanks:yuck:
 
just a quicky, what size spanner is needed to open up the front of the airbox. and also I was having a good look round the air intake and just after the opening
at the front of the bumper there is a box that doesn't seem to do anything. (ill put a pic later) what is it?
thanks:yuck:

The box is a resinator (think thats what its called), stops unwanted unduction noise.

10mm for the airfilter housing iirc. Might be a 12mm though.
 
Not the bolts to move the resonator box, the 3 screws / bolts on the front so the front of the bo9x can flip down. look like 6mm(y)
 
got a 1.4 16v bravo 58plate and get about 380/400 miles to a tank, works out about 36/38 MPG naff really for a 1.4, 100% going for a dinky 1.3 JTDM next i think
 
Not the bolts to move the resonator box, the 3 screws / bolts on the front so the front of the bo9x can flip down. look like 6mm(y)

They're the ones I'm on about. Resinator box hasn't any bolts iirc.

got a 1.4 16v bravo 58plate and get about 380/400 miles to a tank, works out about 36/38 MPG naff really for a 1.4, 100% going for a dinky 1.3 JTDM next i think

How have you come to that conclusion. Its either a 90, in which case shifting 1300kg of metal is a lot of work for the engine, 120, which will use more juice anyway, or a 150 which most people will have a lead foot with. What MPG do you expect it to be doing :confused:
 
I'm with Cainy on this one - any modern small engined car (which his is ) should return far better than 38mpg. Likewise my 1.6 returning 33mpg is dismal in my opinion. My last car was a 1.9 diesel vectra and gave me an average 47mpg, and that's a far heavier and faster car than my Stilo. Even my 50 year old 1200 cc Triumph Herald (sold it three months ago) would do 35mpg, and that is as basic as an engine can be. I also have a 1.9 diesel motorhome which is like a huge brick cutting through the air and still gives me 25mpg even when fully loaded.

Not all Fiats are thirsty, I have owned a string of Uno and Punto petrol cars and they all had great fuel economy. My wife currently has a Fiat 500 1.3 diesel giving 63mpg - now that really is frugal (not that I expect the average car to get anywhere near that figure) but it still goes quicker than my petrol Stilo, especially on acceleration. She leaves my Stilo standing and she isn't heavy footed at all.
 
I'm with Cainy on this one - any modern small engined car (which his is ) should return far better than 38mpg. Likewise my 1.6 returning 33mpg is dismal in my opinion. My last car was a 1.9 diesel vectra and gave me an average 47mpg, and that's a far heavier and faster car than my Stilo.

You can't compare a DERV to Petrol car Ahhhh

A small petrol engine in a heavy car is never going to return as good MPG as the same engine in a lighter car.

As I have said, we're talking about cars weighing around 1300kg vs car with the same engine weighing 900kg, or the same car with a engine more suited to lugging about weight.
 
I'm not supid :) I know it's difficult to compare apples with pears, but I was just trying to emphasise how poor our Stilos are when it come to economy, especially considering their lack of performance too. Whatever way you look at it, anything less than 40mpg in a smallish modern car with a resonable size engine is pretty poor (except maybe when driving around town).

I personally would never buy a modern car if I knew it did less than 40mpg on the urban cycle. Perhaps I'm being unrealistic in some peoples minds, but nevertheless that is my expection of a modern smallish family car.
 
i used a 7mm spanner but it is not an exact fit on my air box. the 6mm was too small. so my guess would be the correct spanner would be imperial 1/4 inch. i can't say for certain this would fit as i don't have one.
 
the airfilter was replaced just before i bought the car. I checked out the figures before i bought it also, they said 42mpg combined.. which i thought was ok.
haven't done the sparks yet, but i did have a problem with the exhaust, there was a gap between the front exhaust and the midsection, at the "flange" ?>
it was puffing and blowing through the hole, the mpg was about 41 before this happened, but i just gun gummed up the the hole and it seemed to resolve the blowing exhaust, but the mpg didn't improve. even driving like a grandma its getting 35.9 mpg on the readout on the dash. consumption average i think it is called.
mnaybe a visit to an exhaust specialist is in need, :mad:
 
the airfilter was replaced just before i bought the car. I checked out the figures before i bought it also, they said 42mpg combined.. which i thought was ok.
haven't done the sparks yet, but i did have a problem with the exhaust, there was a gap between the front exhaust and the midsection, at the "flange" ?>
it was puffing and blowing through the hole, the mpg was about 41 before this happened, but i just gun gummed up the the hole and it seemed to resolve the blowing exhaust, but the mpg didn't improve. even driving like a grandma its getting 35.9 mpg on the readout on the dash. consumption average i think it is called.
mnaybe a visit to an exhaust specialist is in need, :mad:

Ignore what the dash is saying, you need to work out MPG manually brimming the tank at each fill up to get an accurate read out.

Mine always said around 34-36mpg on the screen, so sounds about right.
 
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