my mpg goes down when im sittin still!

[Dansta]

Ok sincve my service my av mpg has been shockin!!! (altho i havent looked for a month or so, so o it may have nbeen like this).

If i reset it and give her a litle thrash ill get 14mpg!!!! and its not hard drivin.

earlier, i reset it when drivin up to nicks, only down backstreets, aso lots of stoppin startin, but when i came to the traffic lights and scrolled over on the trip comp, i watched as the mpg was goin down a notch per second!!!! and i wasnt movin!!!!! not even in gear!! startin at 25mpg, then per second went 24.9, 24.8, 24.7, 24.6.......and so on till 19.1 b4 i started movin again!

picked nick up, reset the clock, and drove him round the block a few times, then when i pulled up outside his house it started agin!

Now her for a bit more of a proper drive, with long roads, and she seems better, i.e at one point she seemed about 35mpg, but has settled around 29ish! but that was without stoppin!!

whats do yas reckon!?

(i know resetin all the time dont help too, but surely your average mpg wouldnt go down when sittin still, altho i suppose it wouldnt have done any distance to average??)

 

[Dazz]

went ur idling u still use fuel!

So if u do 20 miles stop and idle for five mins and do another 20 miles, your fuel average includes the fuel burnt idling, so brings ur average down.

 

[KDF]

Ye, not trying to sound stupid or anything, but what do you expect ?



if you left your engine running for a day sitting still do you think your still gonna get 300miles to that tank.

 

[Dazz]

lol @ _KDF. That was what i was thinking but tried to put it nicely

 

[Slugger]

......so if you have very recently reset it yes it will go down quite quickly while sitting still. Likewise if you reset it and then give it a thrashing and then check it again before doing any constant speed/easy driving then again it will be very low. All perfectly normal.

 

[Dansta]

i thought just as much! just wanted to make sure!! neva seen it go down like taht b4! lol!

thanks guys!

P.S, can u check its the same with yours? just to keep my mind at ease! lol! ;-)

 

[Dash]

My trip meter usually says £20 single or £40 return.

 

[RicH-]

lol dash lucky you

 

[richie_jones]

Ive read somewhere that an engine is at its worst effecienty when idleing and uses lots of fuel when starting up as well!!

 

[JAY172]

you have to inject 4 times as much fuel into an engine to start it compared to what you need to inject when to keep it at idle.

 

[KDF]

Ye and it takes something like a 20 minute drive to recharge a battery from a 5 second start.