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MG MGF Technical - Excessive fuel consumption

It still needs to be confirmed, but it looks like I have a problem.
The last time I filled the tank, I had only done 400 km, although I always fill up completely.
Now, the fuel gauge is nearly in the middle, and I have only done 190 km.
Usually, I get 490 to 540 km from a full tank (I know it's not that much, but I do a lot of city driving).
So, what can be the cause ? an engine problem ? a leak ?
Has someone experienced the same ?
I have fitted recently 16" wheels with 215 tyres. I know that increases a bit the fuel consumption, but not that much !
I'll see how many km i'll have done at the next fill up, and then, maybe, I shall worry ...

Fabrice
Fabrice

Mine is the oposite! I removed the cat., and fitted an enclosed K&N, catching the air from the left intake. Instead of the usual 410 KM per full tank, now i can do almost 550!
Bruno V.

Fabrice,
check the tyre pressure. (no idea how much for the 215).

BTW since my fueltank was changed last week, my fuel gauge tells a 10 percent down moved fuel total. If full it indicates 2 lines below full and if empty... hmm, its still 5 litre inside of the now only total of 45 litre (former old tank was 50 litre)

Dieter
Dieter

check those sparkling plugs Fab, one might be malfunctioning, filling up one cylinder with fuel... at least I had it twice... the MGF started to drink fuel faster than I could drink beer ;-)

but you should feel or hear something in that case (subtle vibration, deeper sound)

on a not so comforting note, when my engine went, they dicovered in every cylinder about 1 inch of fuel !!!
Dirk Vael

Dirk has taken the words out of my mouth. Check (or change the plugs) if there is over 30,000kms use.

Tyre pressures are listed as being the same 1.8 bar Front and 2.0 bar Rear as for the standard tyres.

Rog
Roger Parker

Dieter wrote:
>>BTW since my fueltank was changed last week, my fuel gauge tells a 10 percent down moved fuel total. If full it indicates 2 lines below full and if empty... hmm, its still 5 litre inside of the now only total of 45 litre (former old tank was 50 litre)<<

Oh Dieter, you suddenly must have become a much more taller guy, so that the angle of your perspective is higher ;-)

Seriously: no clue for that one.

Anyway I *never* rely on that damn fuel gauge meter: it is so unstable because of that horse-saddle structure of the fueltank. It slightly creeps up and down all the time. Two marks before red zone and suddenly *BANG* it dives into the red zone in only a couple of seconds...

No, as many others I always reset my distance daycounter each time I fill up my *F*. That won't cheat on you. As soon as I approach the 450 - 485 km mark, I go find fuel and fill 'er up completely (mostly 45 liters, so approx. 9 to 10 liter per 100 kms: well that's the price you pay for daily short distance city driving: "glou-glou-glou... burps" says the *F* :-) On a highway it consumes sub 8 liter per 100 km. I calculated that during my 1500 km journey last Summer my MGF consumed 120 liter in 15 hours, which implies approx. 8 liter per 100 km.

Oh yes, some details, for those interested, regarding that journey:
The journey started at 4am in the North of Spain, first 50 kms slightly building up the pace, crossing the Pyrenees still in full darkness at approx. 5am at a very slow pace (it is so bloody dark out there on those small "roads" - I even stopped in the middle of nowhere, cut out the headlights to behold the darkness, see very slightly the shape of the mountains next to the one you're standing on with your *F* as darkness is at the brink of allowing the morninglight to spark, and last but not least listen to the oo-hoo sounds of some owl for a couple of seconds: moments you won't forget). Once the Pyrenees were almost crossed darkness started passing away. When the sun started to sparkle, it was about time to push the accelerator pedal to approx. 160-180km on the long straight-lines of fully empty country-roads on a Saturday-morning which was going to feature high temps. Took fuel when the full first 500kms were covered, quickly put the top down, and continued my journey all the way down to the last aire before crossing Paris (1000 km covered by then in one non-stop drive: crazy), where I arrived at noon. Ooh, I felt tired when I "lifted" myself out of the MGF. 1.5 hour break required. My leather racing gloves were completely wet. My hands felt a bit crampy of holding the steering wheel. At 2pm I got stuck for an hour or so on the fully crowded Paris Ring. Doh ! Well the weather was great, so why not cruising on the ring at approx. 10 km/h... The Paris tunnels echoed well the K&N & SP exhaust and caused the notorious but inevitable grin-factor :-). Took another break after 1100 km (filling myself up with lots of Isostar & Aquaris, and subsequently sweated it all out again during the high-speed drive). Still 400 km ahead. Once I entered Belgian territory it felt like I got wings: home is calling so those final 80 kms were quickly covered. At 7pm I finally arrived at my destination: Ghent (Belgium). Next time I avoid sleeping for only 3 hours... (although I went to sleep 7 hours before I started my 1500 km journey, I couldn't find sleep for approx. four hours because Spanish temps were still too in the evening and night, grrr...). And guess what. At about 8pm I ate and my brother/party animal Dirk pops in asking me to join him partying in Ghent (annual festival), "because you probably can't sleep anyway of the adrenaline still in your body of the nervous highspeed drive". Well, it's true that after an hour or two when you terminated such a journey, you do not *feel* that tired anymore (but you are nevertheless). Bizarre. So, I agreed, and we went out in Ghent till 5am. But of course he was behind the steering wheel, because I was a complete mess...

Ah, always nice driving down that fancy place called memory-lane !

Luc
GHC216
Luc

Rog,

I've browsed the archive and found several of your postings re. plugs.
My F is a 1.8i (48000 km) ans has still the original plugs.

What do you best recommend ?
BKR6E or BKR6EK or PFR6N-11 ?
I've seen you've fitted le latter (platinum plugs).
I don't want to change the plugs every 6 K miles (I'm a bit lazy !) but if this appear to be the best solution in performance terms, I can do it together with the oil change (I'm lucky with the oil change as I can easily pour the oil through the dipstick cap and don't have to remove the engine cover)
I don't bother to pay 10 UKP more if that saves me 1 or 2 plug changes...

What's the tightening torque ?
What should be the gap between electrodes ?

thanks,

Fabrice
Fabrice

This thread was discussed between 17/04/2000 and 19/04/2000

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