Technical Weird fuel consumption 500L 1.4

[Juan500]

Hi all,,,,
very weird fuel consumption experiences
Suddenly I went from 26km/l to low 5km to a litre petrol 1.4 non turbo!! how do you explain this suddenly my poor 500L is sipping at an alarming rate it’s never been this bad!!
I’m considering purchasing a mini
What should I do!! Workshop’s refuse working on this car. It’s time to say goodbye Fiat.

 

[bugsymike]

Hi all,,,,
very weird fuel consumption experiences
Suddenly I went from 26km/l to low 5km to a litre petrol 1.4 non turbo!! how do you explain this suddenly my poor 500L is sipping at an alarming rate it’s never been this bad!!
I’m considering purchasing a mini
What should I do!! Workshop’s refuse working on this car. It’s time to say goodbye Fiat.

Lots of things can effect fuel consumption, from leaks/ smells of petrol, blocked exhaust/catalyst, engine wear or badly running engine (has it had an emission test / check recently), brakes sticking, clutch slipping, change in outside temperature (cold weather use more fuel) .
Then we get to another problem " the nut behind the steering wheel" . JOKE.This can be as simple as the driver changing their normal habit such doing more local , stop start driving as opposed to long motorway type use.
We had a customer with a brand new Mazda who complained about poor fuel economy, roughly 1/3rd of makers specification, everytime we tested it it ran perfectly and we got excellent economy figures, the customer was still unhappy so we got the main Mazda representative to check the car with the customer present, he got even better figures than we had, which the customer could see.
We then asked him about his driving usage. It turned out from cold he would drive from his home a short distance to work, the at lunchtime he would drive back home for dinner, an hour later he would drive back to work and then the same home in the evening.
We told him to fill his car with fuel, drive a long distance, refuel and calculate the economy, he was very agreeably pleased and we heard no more from him about fuel.
I have a large diesel car that shows fuel as you use it, from cold it can be in mpg 7 miles to the gallon and 40mpg + once warm on the motorway.
So as you can see high fuel use can be a fault in the car but not always.

 

[vexorg]

It's summer time in south africa, we can rule the cold out.

How are you calcuating the mpg? real checks of brim to brim then work out from miles (km), or just off the display?

 

[Juan500]

Hi there yes it’s summer time now in SA!!
Not sure what’s wrong with this car at such low KM 81000 sorry haven’t converted to Miles.
I’m just tired of always working on the car because Fiat mechanics are so useless here… I don’t know what to do
What way forward from here.. I have a small panda 4x4 climbing that will also be sold

 

[vexorg]

Fill the car, reset the trip counter. Run the car until near empty. Record how much to fill it and how many km on the trip counter, then post it up here.

Have you checked for fault codes?

 

[Juan500]

Fill the car, reset the trip counter. Run the car until near empty. Record how much to fill it and how many km on the trip counter, then post it up here.

Have you checked for fault codes?

Hi there I tried I’m only getting 324km on a 40L tank supposed to be 50L please explain why I can’t fill more than 40L

 

[Juan500]

Oh and there are zero fault codes had to use 4 different machines to scan

 

[vexorg]

324km on 40litre is about 23mpg, so yeah, something is wrong with it.

 

[eeeno]

I suggest changing the airfilter and spark plugs. If you can't do it by yourself then I strongly suggest that you ask around for a better mechanic. Fiat is a very generic car without any mysterious technology. It could easily be maintained by any mechanic.

Buy a Haynes manual which is pretty generic stuff but very good for beginners. You could do it yourself too. Then you suddenly realize that why on earth you paid for a mechanic to do such simple things.

 

[koalar]

If it’s a real confirmed reduction and not just a glitch in the trip computer

And the brakes don’t smell hot, tyres aren’t flat or any smell of petrol

I’d start by looking at the long term fuel trim at idle

If you have a small misfire it tends to max out. Increasing the injector on time and drink fuel at idle.

Ounce you can quickly see it, it’s so much easier to fix.

 

[eeeno]

On my Fiat fueltrims can't be read with generic fault code reader (ELM327 or similar). I believe MES is needed to read the correct value. However that value is only a consequence. It's a lot cheaper to have the spark plugs and filters changed before doing anything more expensive.

 

[koalar]

On my Fiat fueltrims can't be read with generic fault code reader (ELM327 or similar). I believe MES is needed to read the correct value. However that value is only a consequence. It's a lot cheaper to have the spark plugs and filters changed before doing anything more expensive.

It’s still got the post CAT O2 sensor voltage

Can still see the effect of any fuel dump down the cylinders

Fuel trim is one of the most useful

Unfortunately it’s often missing from multiECUscan depending on model

 

[eeeno]

It has only 81 000 km on clock. Then let's assume that it only needs some TLC (tender loving care). New spark plugs and filters, oil and it'll be like a new car. Anything else would be highly unusual but not impossible.

 

[varesecrazy]

Im assuming its a Multiair..

other info suggested a major overhaul.. bent valves

So plenty of scope for 'something'
not to be as it left the factory

 

[koalar]

Im assuming its a Multiair..

other info suggested a major overhaul.. bent valves

So plenty of scope for 'something'
not to be as it left the factory

We are probably missing some vital information. And just need to ask the correct question. Like when was it last serviced, what is the coolant level, is there any heat from the hubs, did it change suddenly or gradually, what the coolant temperature read, does it start easy, have you changed where your driving or how much you carrying and so on.

A 6x the amount of fuel going down the cylinders but no substantial loss of performance reported does not compute in my head at the moment.

For UK readers it approximately 60 mpg to 12 mpg

I must be missing something

 

[varesecrazy]

Background..

Fuel filter blocked!! | FIAT 500L

Can someone Please help me I can’t find the fuel filter on a 2016 Fiat 500L 1.4 petrol Evertime I google it only comes up with 500 I should have never bought such a stupid car!! It’s a nightmare even finding brake pads for this car.

www.fiatforum.com

 

[eeeno]

Oh multiple threads how fun!

Aren't we all just trying to help. Just sell it to someone unfortunate who likes to fix engines. So it was on its first cambelt ever and it finally snapped. A good idea is to get a decent car like Toyota Corolla, Avensis or similar which has a timing chain which almost never ever fails and it just works until it runs out of oil.

 

[koalar]

Background..

Fuel filter blocked!! | FIAT 500L

Can someone Please help me I can’t find the fuel filter on a 2016 Fiat 500L 1.4 petrol Evertime I google it only comes up with 500 I should have never bought such a stupid car!! It’s a nightmare even finding brake pads for this car.

www.fiatforum.com

Thanks @varesecrazy

Ahh

Bent valves but we don’t know how

And

Disappearing oil but don’t know where

And

the car has a slight hold back,, as if the brakes are sometimes jammed


And


front pads changed every 12500 miles

And

Only doing 12mpg

Compression check would be a good first test.

If the valves were changed at a garage it needs to go back

 

[Juan500]

It has only 81 000 km on clock. Then let's assume that it only needs some TLC (tender loving care). New spark plugs and filters, oil and it'll be like a new car. Anything else would be highly unusual but not impossible.

Hi,,,, it’s impossible this car gets far too much TLC it’s like a Ferrari.. I have even replaced all 16 valves, new timing belt which was a nightmare to install by the way!! New spark plugs, new oil, new filters, new brake pads, new shocks, it still has very low km and nothing has changed!! Eating brake pads like to tomorrow,,, stupid ASR.. l love Fiat but now looking at buying a new Toyota Corolla cross here in South Africa I cannot have an exotic car like this anymore it’s costing me a fortune to maintain… and small things always going wrong all the time.

 

[eeeno]

There's still something missing. Fiats are said to be the easiest cars to work with and you got the jobs done professinally. So they did a bad job then, their fault.

Lots of surprises with used cars, even with Toyotas. You just have to find another fortune to buy a good one.