Overall mpg display being fooled?

Overall mpg display being fooled?

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Discussion

wildone63

Original Poster:

990 posts

212 months

Tuesday 25th February 2020
quotequote all
Last November I had to have the fuel system drained and flushed on my 2008 Corsa 1.3 diesel due to putting contaminated diesel in the tank.
Since then the overall mpg figure on the centre dash display has been getting steadily worse going down from a reading of 55.7mpg to a current reading of 54.0 mpg over about 1500 miles.
Approx 25 litres was drained out of the tank so iam wondering if the 'brain',ecu, computer' or whatever it is that calculates/provides the reading for the overall mpg figure has somehow been fooled into giving a false overall mpg reading? IE - the car has had 25 litres of fuel gone from the tank but didn't clock up any mileage to account for its disappearence ,so it appears to the computer that the car has used 25 litres more fuel than normal over the last 1500 miles.
Any thoughts?

wildone63

Original Poster:

990 posts

212 months

Wednesday 26th February 2020
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Scrump said:
More likely to be due to the lower temperatures in December and January.
Really? ive never heard of any vehicle whose fuel consumption goes up in the winter.

wildone63

Original Poster:

990 posts

212 months

Thursday 27th February 2020
quotequote all
rainmakerraw said:
They all do. Winterised diesel fuel, cold air, denser air, longer warm-up times, wet roads... the list goes on. You've lost a whole 1.7mpg over three winter months. If anything you've done well it's not more. The dodgy diesel in November will have nothing to do with it. You can vary your consumption by 1.7mpg with 1mm difference in throttle position, different use of brakes, an extra red light during a day, tyre wear and pressure differences, an extra bag in the boot (or weight on your belly)... it's nothing.
Yeah I know many factors can have an effect on fuel consumption,but it just seems a bit much of
a coincidence that the fuel consumption started going up straight after the fuel system was drained
and flushed
The car also had a replacement ecu fitted around the same time but I cant see that having anything
to do with it.

wildone63

Original Poster:

990 posts

212 months

Friday 28th February 2020
quotequote all
swagmeister said:
1.7mpg requires posting on a forum ? wow
Is there any need for the sarcasm? rolleyes
Iam not losing any sleep over the loss of 1.7mpg (and still rising)
,I was just trying to get some suggestions as to the cause of it,and
why it coincides with the work I had done to the car