LS Focus real world fuel economy

[auc-05l]

Hi all,

I have a LS focus Zetec 2.0 petrol Auto. My economy is consistently around 12.8L/100kms. This seems really high or is it normal for city driving? what are other people getting?

[burnz]

i would say that's high..

wife's suzuki 1.5ltr gets around 6.8..
my ute 6.2ltr gets 13.3...

[brucewarring]

My LS Ghia averages 10.9

[Peter B - CV8]

Seems high - even for city use. What is your average speed ??
My wife's Mazda 6 (2.3 petrol, auto 5 speed) gets 8.9 in city driving (av speed 40 kph)

[brucewarring]

Just checked....34kmh....10.4lt/100

[brucewarring]

If thats too high what can i do about it....change the oxy sensors? any suggestions

[auc-05l]

Seems like everyone is getting significantly better economy..... any idea what can cause this? the car runs fine, has no codes. i have replaced the temp sensor and thermostat, pcv valve and hose, also the throttle body. haven't done the o2 sensors as the live data scan shows sensor 1 voltage fluctuating as normal

open to suggestions.

[Peter B - CV8]

Originally Posted by brucewarring

If thats too high what can i do about it....change the oxy sensors? any suggestions

With that average speed you're going to struggle to improve your petrol consumption + being in North Qld I'm guessing you probably run the air con a fair bit as well..

[Peter B - CV8]

Originally Posted by auc-05l

Seems like everyone is getting significantly better economy..... any idea what can cause this? the car runs fine, has no codes. i have replaced the temp sensor and thermostat, pcv valve and hose, also the throttle body. haven't done the o2 sensors as the live data scan shows sensor 1 voltage fluctuating as normal

open to suggestions.

Pull the spark plugs & inspect/compare or replace if needed.

[Rs31markie]

I’m up in FNQ so my ac is permanently on. My car averages 8-8.6, if I take it on a run that goes down to below 7. I’d say you have a problem

[auc-05l]

Originally Posted by Rs31markie

I’m up in FNQ so my ac is permanently on. My car averages 8-8.6, if I take it on a run that goes down to below 7. I’d say you have a problem

is your auto or manual?

[Rs31markie]

My car is manual. It is actually a LT .

[brucewarring]

my car is auto

[asagaai]

My Fiesta St 1.5 turbo is averaging 6.5 litres per 100 in urban but is a manual.

Aside from checking spark plugs and gaps, do you have any strong fuel smell outside. May be a leak to vacuum seal that can cause fuel consumption

[Rs31markie]

My wife had a LS auto a few years ago, it was regularly serviced and that did around 10, it could never get near the manual car fuel consumption.
I’d be checking air filter, and perhaps a throttle body clean

[prydey]

Originally Posted by auc-05l

Seems like everyone is getting significantly better economy.....
open to suggestions.

what is your ave speed? It should tell you if you scroll through the screens on the dash.

If you provide your ave speed that should provide a good indication of the type of driving and give a more accurate comparison.

[auc-05l]

Originally Posted by prydey

what is your ave speed? It should tell you if you scroll through the screens on the dash.

If you provide your ave speed that should provide a good indication of the type of driving and give a more accurate comparison.

average speed was 26km/h when it was doing 12.9L/100.....just reset it and now after a few days its doing 16L/100 average speed 18km/h

there is no fuel smell, car runs and drives fine doesn't feel down on power, the plugs are ngk iridium and were changed about 60k kms ago, going by the service receipts when i bought it (they should last at least 100k kms) they look fine. the air filter was changed less than 5k kms ago when i did a service

[prydey]

Originally Posted by auc-05l

average speed was 26km/h when it was doing 12.9L/100.....just reset it and now after a few days its doing 16L/100 average speed 18km/h

there is no fuel smell, car runs and drives fine doesn't feel down on power, the plugs are ngk iridium and were changed about 60k kms ago, going by the service receipts when i bought it (they should last at least 100k kms) they look fine. the air filter was changed less than 5k kms ago when i did a service

Probably not what you want to hear but I would suggest it could very well be nothing wrong. It does seem on face value a touch high but with such a low average speed it makes more sense.

Do you do a lot of short trips? Modern ecu's will run quite rich when the car is cold, and short trips and slow speeds will contribute to higher than ave fuel consumption.

[fiestaz]

Based off our LT and your average speed, it sounds pretty right. That is a very low average speed. And the autos are not known for great economy.

[Rs31markie]

I would tend to agree with the last two posts, sounds like for kind of usage the cars getting, the consumption you have would be about right. You seem to have done most things.

[Fordman]

I don't think it is unreasonable. The economy varies hugely depending on the driving for me.

For example, I drive the car to a train station 10km away each day and it gets 11L per 100.

However, when I left that job and drive 30mins using mostly freeways, its now roughly 8L per 100.

[DeKa]

It’s about right. I had an LV Focus auto for 9 years. Average fuel consumption over that time was 11.5L/100km (by recording litres of fuel and km travelled each fill, over 73,000km of mostly city driving.
It was serviced on schedule and did have new Oxy sensors at one point - they made it feel peppier but didn’t change the fuel consumption.

[prumpfy]

The only comment I would make is that the thermostat is critical. In my posts on the LS focus in this forum, I found the thermostat was opening at about 40 degrees C. I replaced the whole assembly with a new part.
The new thermo opened at about 85 deg C. This fixed the problem, but short runs in a cold climate destroys any sensible Fuel consumption figures.
Recently, I have become worried that the thermo is opening at lower temperatures, AGAIN! It is taking about 10Km of driving to reach its stable operating temperature. Should be about 5 to 6 Km.
I will check it again; it is a pain to get to the thermo. If it is faulty, I will replace only the thermostat; not the whole assembly.
The car is due to go for service soon. I will get the air inlet hose checked as well. The car over-revs at startup and this is often caused by a split air inlet hose.
See my posts on this subject.

[auc-05l]

Thanks all for the comments. Aside from the poor economy the car was awesome, but is now sold. Replaced with a diesel vw golf which does 7L/100kms doing the same trip (boot is no where near as big tho). Cheers