WS manual fuel economy FIXED!

greenfoam · 21-10-2009, 04:32 PM

My wife took her car for the 30k service and this time around someone checked for a software update, which there was. It used 6.1L/100 travling at a indicated 100km/h on the way there. 5.0L/100 on the way home, go figure that. It's got me beat why Ford didn't fix that 30,000ks ago but there you go, I've taken it for another drive and it makes 5.0 everywhere at 100 now and 4.0 ish putting around in a 60 zone. That 5.0 is on very course roads, it will dip well into the 4's on a smooth city freeway now, no problem.

I know the Autos have allready had one update but for all the people with manuals I'd suggest dropping them in to have it updated because it's night and day on the fuel economy

greenfoam · 21-10-2009, 06:27 PM

Me wife called me up just before after driving into work wondering why her car doesn't use much petrol anymore :0. I had to explain what a software update controls. Amazing since that's all I do here at home all day is reprogram Commodore computers, you would think she might has noticed :p. She made 5.1 to work she said (her average before was is 6.6)

Edit: It's been suggested to me that they might have a sperate tune for run in and then the final tune at a certain amount of km. I'm not sure about that tho

Fi.ES.TA · 21-10-2009, 07:26 PM

Im due for my 15,000 in the next couple of week i will query this cheers.

dannyhilton · 21-10-2009, 08:35 PM

Going for a massive drive then!!! I've had mine four months and done just over 4,000km haha!!!

greenfoam · 21-10-2009, 09:05 PM

What I dislike about this is that review car that made 5.0 from Melbourne to Sydney must have been running this tune when no one else's was. I don't think that's playing fair

Fi.ES.TA · 21-10-2009, 09:29 PM

What did you pay for your 15,000 service greenfoam,i was told on monday $421

greenfoam · 22-10-2009, 12:29 AM

$140 I think for both the 15k and 30k. But the oil was supplied, why would they charge 400? it's only a oil change and general check. If you had to pay 400 each 15k you might as well put the money away, after 100,000ks you would have enough for a new motor in a crate!

Fi.ES.TA · 22-10-2009, 05:30 AM

Yeah bulls##t hey espescially when my regular mechanic would charge around $250 cant beleive your only paying that.And that is with a ford dealership?

JClarke · 22-10-2009, 10:42 AM

haha, at the latest post here.. I'll see what I can get for the next serivce at 15,000km, which won't happen for a little while longer! (just past 3,000km now) and also, I am going to take my car for a massive drive to Melbourne in two weeks. :evil3:

greenfoam · 22-10-2009, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fi.ES.TA

Yeah bulls##t hey espescially when my regular mechanic would charge around $250 cant beleive your only paying that.And that is with a ford dealership?

Yes that's a Ford dealer $144 exactly both times it was, if someone was going to pay me $144 to undo one bolt I'd be pretty happy :p oh yeah they supplied the oil filter both times too, the cars still making 5.0l/100 on the highway so it's a permanent thing

curik · 22-10-2009, 06:02 PM

Thats some good improvement there! Looks like the 4.9L/100km can be achieved normally. Is there another update for the auto if anyone knows?

crispymk2 · 22-10-2009, 06:52 PM

5.0l/100km would be nice... I'm currently sitting on 8.5. Reset it and went for a bit of a "spirited drive" average = 15.9l/100km :eclipsee_ (xr4 btw)

greenfoam · 22-10-2009, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by curik

Thats some good improvement there! Looks like the 4.9L/100km can be achieved normally. Is there another update for the auto if anyone knows?

I wont know until I can get to a decent road near the city but I'm pretty sure it will cruise on about 4.6 or 4.7 now on a smooth hotmix road, will definatly go under 5 anyway because it used to make 5.3/5.2 before around the city freeways and it's gained a solid litre per 100 everywhere on the course roads around here. Getting to Melbourne and back is 700+ks from here and it wouldn't make it on one tank before, it'll do that easy now. I'll let you know next time we make the trip

dannyhilton · 22-10-2009, 07:46 PM

It's not just the trip computer is even more out? LOL. That's amazing mate, bloody amazing. My 5.4 average in the hiway looks crap now!

greenfoam · 22-10-2009, 09:33 PM

haha I hope not:!). I'll see what the distance to empty says in a couple weeks, just remember this car was built aloooong time ago and this is the first software change it's had so some of you with the newer cars might allready be running this (I'm not sure what the date on the update is)

Fi.ES.TA · 22-10-2009, 09:48 PM

Greenfoam did you get your car serviced at the ford dealer
as i cant get my head around why i was qouted $421 it's to much of an increase from $140.

And what was your build date of the car?

dannyhilton · 22-10-2009, 10:21 PM

He did but he supplied his own oil. Even still, at most it would have cost $250. I'll pay no more than that for mine. Unbelievable fuel economy, and cheap servicing! Greenfoam, your onto a winning formula!

Fi.ES.TA · 22-10-2009, 10:30 PM

But id only be saving $70 if i used my own oil as thats what ford say they charge but id be putting mobil 1 in it anyway,it would be good for some more feedback from others who have had there 15000 service.

greenfoam · 22-10-2009, 11:59 PM

Fi.ES.TA, just take it to another Ford dealer, there's no way you should be paying that much, how can they explain $421 on the bill? 4 hours labour?. I haven't looked at the build date on the car for a while but I think it was very late in 2008 (bought it in Feb). We supplied the Castrol sport edge, it's $50 something dollars a bottle at super cheap, the local Ford use GTX3? I think so it ends up with better oil for cheaper

doctamick · 23-10-2009, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fi.ES.TA

But id only be saving $70 if i used my own oil as thats what ford say they charge but id be putting mobil 1 in it anyway,it would be good for some more feedback from others who have had there 15000 service.

My 15k service cost $250 from the dealer (including oil and filter). To me, this still seems a little steep. So I'm going to shop around at other dealers for the 30k service.

Fi.ES.TA · 23-10-2009, 07:25 PM

Got a qoute from carpenter ford near me and its $120 $150 max
now that is much better.I cant believe denmac was going to charge me $421
unreal.

greenfoam · 27-10-2009, 01:29 AM

Went for a little 100km run down the highway today, one with coarse stones on it but not so many corners, it made 4.9L/100. Still better to come on a smooth road

Swordsman88 · 27-10-2009, 03:07 AM

Just popped into the fiesta section for a squiz and came upon this thread. While its great this update seems to make the fiesta even more economical i'm a bit puzzled. I know greenfoam's car is one of the oldest but someone needs to get in contact with a service manager or even Ford's engineering to get an answer on this. Not just because your car's could be running alot better but also because its not clear which car's have it, which car's need the update etc.

As noted, when caradvice did a review the fiesta was very frugal. Also, the ADR numbers are 6.1 combined, 8.1 urban, 4.9 extra urban. So reports of fuel use as high as 5.5-6.0 when cruising on the highway always confused me a bit anyway. A manual WS fiesta should be in the 4s quite easilly at constant speed cruise (at least below 110km/h).

dannyhilton · 27-10-2009, 01:10 PM

On a nice flat surface, as soon as you through in hills the Fez doesn't mind a drink! You'd think that what you loose going up you gain going down, but mine loves a drink going up the range here in Toowoomba!

greenfoam · 27-10-2009, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swordsman88

Just popped into the fiesta section for a squiz and came upon this thread. While its great this update seems to make the fiesta even more economical i'm a bit puzzled. I know greenfoam's car is one of the oldest but someone needs to get in contact with a service manager or even Ford's engineering to get an answer on this. Not just because your car's could be running alot better but also because its not clear which car's have it, which car's need the update etc.

As noted, when caradvice did a review the fiesta was very frugal. Also, the ADR numbers are 6.1 combined, 8.1 urban, 4.9 extra urban. So reports of fuel use as high as 5.5-6.0 when cruising on the highway always confused me a bit anyway. A manual WS fiesta should be in the 4s quite easilly at constant speed cruise (at least below 110km/h).

If anyone that works in Ford could come up with a date on when this new software came out and which cars have the old one that would be good because like you say it's a huuuuuge difference and I don't know about anyone else but I was quite dissapointed with the economy of the car when it would struggle to go under 6.0 on the highways since the 4.9L was the selling point for my wife since she mostly drives on the highways to work and being a full litre+ off the advertised spec was quite upsetting. I still had the ADR sticker from the window stuck to the plastic cover the manual goes in to remind myself what it was supposed to do and what a bullshiten it was : ) but it does it now, so now I'm happy. I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens when some of the others with the manuals on this forum have their cars checked to see if they are running the latest tune or not

doctamick · 28-10-2009, 08:45 AM

greenfoam, have you done the manual calcs for the fuel consumption yet? I am really keen to see if this is an actual improvement, or just more evidence that the trip computer is very inaccurate.

Having said that, I recently had the 15k service, and my economy seems to have improved marginally. The last tankful used 6.3 L/100km (calculated manually... the trip computer still about 10% out). Note that most of my driving is on the freeway at 100km/h. Under the same driving conditions, I had previously been getting around 6.6-6.7 L/100km. However, I will need to run through a few more tanks before I can make a solid conclusion.

StormyKnight · 28-10-2009, 06:04 PM

With regards to this "Software Update", does it have an official name from Ford because when I get our car in for its first checkup, I want to make sure its either already done or can be done.

PS we get the new car tommorrow......

Zetec-4-Me · 28-10-2009, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StormyKnight

With regards to this "Software Update", does it have an official name from Ford because when I get our car in for its first checkup, I want to make sure its either already done or can be done.

PS we get the new car tommorrow......

Hi StormyKnight :-) I too am picking my Vision 5door manual up tomorrow - did you wait long for yours? I've had an 8 week wait for this car but finally the day has arrived (well almost)!!!

StormyKnight · 28-10-2009, 06:40 PM

3 days mate from when we signed the order.....

greenfoam · 28-10-2009, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doctamick

greenfoam, have you done the manual calcs for the fuel consumption yet? I am really keen to see if this is an actual improvement, or just more evidence that the trip computer is very inaccurate.

Having said that, I recently had the 15k service, and my economy seems to have improved marginally. The last tankful used 6.3 L/100km (calculated manually... the trip computer still about 10% out). Note that most of my driving is on the freeway at 100km/h. Under the same driving conditions, I had previously been getting around 6.6-6.7 L/100km. However, I will need to run through a few more tanks before I can make a solid conclusion.

No I haven't manually done it yet but the difference is very noticable, the tank full is lasting longer in terms af days rather than just a few KM's but we will make the trip to Melbourne in the not to distant future and I can do it then. Last time we ran out of fuel well before we made it home but I've got my bets on it making it now (easily). The car does 80% Highway and the fuel average with my wife driving is now pegged on 5.3L/100 (was previously 6.6L). I'm about .4L/100 more efficient on both counts: ) I don't know why, just a bit smoother I guess. These are on roads that are very bad for good fuel consumption, probably some of the worst in the country