[xpress]

hi there. i have worked out so far that i have got about 20 ish miles for 5 pounds. (5.5 litres). is that good for an e36 320i?

 

[yahoo1918]

hi there. i have worked out so far that i have got about 20 ish miles for 5 pounds. (5.5 litres). is that good for an e36 320i?

Well 5.5 litres = 1.2 gallons so that means you are getting less than 20 mpg which is pretty cack:mad - The fuel tank will take approx £50 of fuel so you must only get 225 miles or so out of a tank?? Depending on driving style, urban or motorway mix you should get a bit more than that.

 

[DSK]

The fuel tanks on the 6cyl E36 are 64 litres IIRC!

I'd say your consumption is quite poor even though I don't know how much your should be getting approximately. I would certainly have yoru codes read (even if your car is performing well other wise as codes can be present without raising an engine light).

I would say any car at every 60K should always have the 02 sensors, camshaft and crankshaft sensors replaced. Also it would be worth stripping your fuel injectors out, cleaning them and replacing the O-rings on them.

 

[TT1]

I get 350 miles from a fill up to the light coming on. Its about 30ish mpg and i am either stuck in stop start traffic or driving at a brisk :hihi pace

 

[Mighty_5series]

i got better fuel economy out of my old '88 735 a few years ago.

If you drive around like your hair is on fire then, you will get terrible fuel consumption, if you drive normally and make conservative gear changes and you are getting cack mpg economy then id take the steps mentioned above.:thumbsup

 

[badj]

mine used to do about 35mpg, havent used it in ages though. bout 60miles off a tenner, back in july. so it was about 125p/litre then?

I drive sensibly however!

 

[xpress]

thanks to all. if the car is due for an oil change would that affect mpg?

 

[xpress]

this tenner's worth of fuel is nearly half empty and yea about 20 miles, but this was a lot of stop start traffic .. i think i will check the sensors ..!

 

[Deano16v]

a service will increase the mpg yes

 

[xpress]

yea, for one tick, (a quarter tank), i used to get 60 miles.

 

[DSK]

this tenner's worth of fuel is nearly half empty and yea about 20 miles, but this was a lot of stop start traffic .. i think i will check the sensors ..!

Whilst the correct answer is yes, and oil change alone will not affect your MPG to the extent to which your describing your low fuel consumption.

 

[xpress]

going to have another check at this consumption and will report back after the tenner's worth has been used up!

 

[DSK]

How does your car drive in general?

Does the engine seem smooth?
How does the engine sound?
Does the car accelerate through out the gears and rev range OK?
Is it running as it should when from cold and when at normal operating temperature?
Is the idle always consistent?
Are you certain that you don't have any minor air leaks anywhere?

 

[steve23002]

HI mate. I would change your lambda sensor. I did mine on sat, and im now getting an extra 5mpg. There were no fault codes and it appeared fine on live data but changing it made such a difference. A bosch one costs about £60 but will pay for itself in fuel savings. :thumbsup

 

[xpress]

hi dsk. Does the engine seem smooth? can sounds superb and drives fine. idle is rock solid. always starts very positively with that classic bmw start. (automatic) gears are fine, including kickdown. that's why i am pretty happy with it just like a lot of you other e36'ers!

hey steve thanks for the nod, i might change that sensor. 5 mpg is a lot of saving in the long run!

 

[steve23002]

Cheers, it is worth changing mate. They can lose their efficincy over time. I know that Bosch recommend changing them as a service item at 30k on some Saabs. Just make sure you get a good quality one. I would only fit a Bosch or NGK/NTK one. A cheap ebay rubbish one will only cause more problems. Hope you get sorted :thumbsup

 

[xpress]

02 sensors, camshaft and crankshaft sensors replaced. = is that an easy task? what's involved? how do each of these affect fuel economy?

stripping your fuel injectors out, cleaning them and replacing the O-rings on them. = what's involved in this, if the injectors are bad or going, can they affect fuel economy?

 

[xpress]

hi there. just a bit of knowledge and experience needed ..

the o2 sensor .. is it like an automatic choke? maybe the fuel is running too rich .. is this an easy job to replace? can someone give me any data on how it should be running in an ideal world?

also .. fuel injectors, can that affect fuel efficiacy? is it that they can get clogged, or if you had a problem with fuel injectors would you know about it? i have run my car pretty low on fuel a few times.

anything else i can do to improve fuel efficiency? would a new fuel filter help or would you know about it if the fuel filter was affecting mpg by rough idle on cold start?

 

[xpress]

i see some o2 sensors sold on ebay as 'front lambda' and 'rear' lamda' both are 'pre catalyst. is it only one sensor on the e36 '93 320i auto? i might take it out and test it with a voltmeter ..

 

[steve23002]

Hi xpress. On your model im pretty sure there is only the one sensor. It will be before the cat. The lambda sensor measures the amount of oxygen in the exhaust gasses and richen or weakens the fuel mixture accordingly. You wont be able to test it removed from the vehicle because it needs a power supply. It is simply a high speed switch. If you pm me your last 7 digits of your chassis number ill look it up for you and give you the correct part number for a bosch sensor. :thumbsup
I personally run a fuel injector cleaner through the tank to clean the injectors before removing them because it can be a pain if you have n't done that sort of job before. :thumbsup