Never ends with this car...
I've noticed a complete lack of economy lately. I might as well be driving a turbocharged rice rocket with the amount I spend on petrol. I barely even get a chance to put my foot down lately as the roads have so many cars on them yet I barely get 22mpg on an average journey (mix of dual carriageways/town/country roads).
I drove approx 150 miles the other day, 90% of the journey was on motorways at 70-80mph with light throttle - I basically didn't have any need to stop or accelerate harshly for the whole journey. I reset my trip computer thing prior to setting off. Once I got back, my MPG was showing as 25.3 over about 150miles.. This is pretty low for a long motorway journey surely? It took over half a tank to complete this journey. I rarely run it down to the fuel light but I seem to be getting about 300 miles to a tank. At £55+ per fill up it's not helping my wallet.
I wonder if it's related to my engine management light being on. It randomly comes on every now and then. Usually when I fill up at a different petrol station. I filled up with BP Ultimate the other day and the light came on. Usually goes off after about half a tank being used.. I bet if I fill up with Sainsbury's Super unleaded next week the light will come on.
Another issue I have is that my clutch vibrates at anything over 6000rpm. It's very odd and has kept me from enjoying the car properly as I don't want my clutch to die or something else to f**k up when I push the car. I keep forgetting to ask garages to look at it when I take it in every other month to sort out whatever decides to break on the car but Tom @ JMS mentioned that it could possibly be a 'weight' on the clutch cable that's come loose. Although it could also be many other things. Has anyone else had the same problem?
Then there's my coolant which is gradually going down and is nearing the 'min'. I don't know if it's a leak or some other issue. Can I top it up with 'type d' coolant or is it best to drain the whole system? I am not sure when it was last changed. During normal driving the temp gauge on the dash sits at exactly half way, if the car is idle for a while it'll go up about 1 line on the gauge.
One final thing is the handling of the car. It feels very uneasy and finds all the bumps in the road. I have 205/16/45 tyres on the standard 16" 182 wheels - are these too wide? Sometimes when I turn the steering wheel, it feels like there's some sort of resistance about half way to full lock. Really hard to explain. And If I'm driving fast around any kind of bend the car feels a bit twitchy. The car has had full 4 wheel laser alignment recently and none of the tyres are wearing unevenly.
I could possibly put it down to having different tyres on the rear/front but I've had cars with this kind of set up before with a different car and had no issues. Toyo T1R's on the rear and PE2's on the front. I'm looking at getting 15" wheels anyway so will make sure all the tyres are the same.
If anyone has any thoughts on the issues above, please post them. Looks like January's pay will be mostly spent on the car, just like the last few months. Exactly what I need after Christmas etc
I've noticed a complete lack of economy lately. I might as well be driving a turbocharged rice rocket with the amount I spend on petrol. I barely even get a chance to put my foot down lately as the roads have so many cars on them yet I barely get 22mpg on an average journey (mix of dual carriageways/town/country roads).
I drove approx 150 miles the other day, 90% of the journey was on motorways at 70-80mph with light throttle - I basically didn't have any need to stop or accelerate harshly for the whole journey. I reset my trip computer thing prior to setting off. Once I got back, my MPG was showing as 25.3 over about 150miles.. This is pretty low for a long motorway journey surely? It took over half a tank to complete this journey. I rarely run it down to the fuel light but I seem to be getting about 300 miles to a tank. At £55+ per fill up it's not helping my wallet.
I wonder if it's related to my engine management light being on. It randomly comes on every now and then. Usually when I fill up at a different petrol station. I filled up with BP Ultimate the other day and the light came on. Usually goes off after about half a tank being used.. I bet if I fill up with Sainsbury's Super unleaded next week the light will come on.
Another issue I have is that my clutch vibrates at anything over 6000rpm. It's very odd and has kept me from enjoying the car properly as I don't want my clutch to die or something else to f**k up when I push the car. I keep forgetting to ask garages to look at it when I take it in every other month to sort out whatever decides to break on the car but Tom @ JMS mentioned that it could possibly be a 'weight' on the clutch cable that's come loose. Although it could also be many other things. Has anyone else had the same problem?
Then there's my coolant which is gradually going down and is nearing the 'min'. I don't know if it's a leak or some other issue. Can I top it up with 'type d' coolant or is it best to drain the whole system? I am not sure when it was last changed. During normal driving the temp gauge on the dash sits at exactly half way, if the car is idle for a while it'll go up about 1 line on the gauge.
One final thing is the handling of the car. It feels very uneasy and finds all the bumps in the road. I have 205/16/45 tyres on the standard 16" 182 wheels - are these too wide? Sometimes when I turn the steering wheel, it feels like there's some sort of resistance about half way to full lock. Really hard to explain. And If I'm driving fast around any kind of bend the car feels a bit twitchy. The car has had full 4 wheel laser alignment recently and none of the tyres are wearing unevenly.
I could possibly put it down to having different tyres on the rear/front but I've had cars with this kind of set up before with a different car and had no issues. Toyo T1R's on the rear and PE2's on the front. I'm looking at getting 15" wheels anyway so will make sure all the tyres are the same.
If anyone has any thoughts on the issues above, please post them. Looks like January's pay will be mostly spent on the car, just like the last few months. Exactly what I need after Christmas etc
