Petrol running out too fast?

mmmbop

Hi,

I bought my first car a few months ago, its a 00 nissan micra. At the beginning the petrol was lasting a lot longer than it is now. I now seem to be constantly putting petrol into it. My Mum has a 2.2 litre car and even her petrol lasts longer! Does anyone know of any reasons this might be happening? I'm clueless about cars!

166man

I think this thread needs figures if it's going to work.

Edit: I should probably say, try and measure how many litres of fuel you are using compared to the amount of distance to get an mpg figure, then people can give a opinion as to whether it's very poor consumption or average.

Please Kill Me

Stupid question - does it have a leak?? Or does it just seem you're using more? When was the car last serviced? A car that hasn't been serviced in a while will give bad mileage.

R.O.R

Do you just keep putting €20 at a time in?

WestWing

R.O.R wrote: »

Do you just keep putting €20 at a time in?

Reminds me of a female cousin (blonde) who once commented that she always put €30 of petrol in the car and it never went up in price.

Doyler92

I had the same problem. Make sure the air con and the heating are off and you will notice a big difference.

Voodoomelon

What kind of driving are you doing? If you're recently driving at higher speeds, ie motorway speeds, your fuel economy will drop to the floor with a 1.0l engine. Same goes for city driving, ie, stop-start driving.

Have your driving habits/journeys changed recently?

pajo1981

Doyler92 wrote: »

I had the same problem. Make sure the air con and the heating are off and you will notice a big difference.

Heating? Does the CC not get its heat from the coolant?

mmmbop

I usually fill the car up once a month when I get paid, after that its tenners and fifteen euros worth every couple of days.

I only noticed because I drove a long distance when I first got the car and twenty euro petrol did me, i drove the same distance a few weeks later and it took forty. My Mam does the same distance regularly in her car (2.2litre engine) and it doesn't take this much!

I haven't noticed a leak, I presume I would see it in the driveway??

dar83

mmmbop wrote: »

after that its tenners and fifteen euros worth every couple of days.

:eek:

I hope that's an exaggeration?!?!

That sounds ridiculous for a Micra, unless you're doing 120kmh ALL the time every day, for a decent distance...

EPM

You need to measure distance travelled and litres used. Fuel prices vary thus areally not an accurate measure of fuel economy.

mmmbop

dar83 wrote: »

:eek:

I hope that's an exaggeration?!?!

That sounds ridiculous for a Micra, unless you're doing 120kmh ALL the time every day, for a decent distance...

Nope, I would put at least a tenner in every couple of days, sometimes fifteen, its madness, was nowhere near this when I got the car. Only have it four months! I have had it serviced since I got it so don't know what to do now

Gally05

hole in the exhaust, ive seen it before in the misses car , she had a hole in the center box and the car drank petrol , a quick weld and it was sorted !

is it due a service ? ... fuel/oil filters could need changing

unkel

mmmbop wrote: »

I would put at least a tenner in every couple of days

For 120 miles at €1.49/l? Man that's more than 80MPG which is twice what most people get out of a Micra. Well done!

BanzaiBk

My 00, 78,000 miles, gets an average of 48mpg. I rarely fill up and have mixed driving conditions; motorway, town, traffic etc.

cjt156

mmmbop wrote: »

I drove a long distance when I first got the car and twenty euro petrol did me, i drove the same distance a few weeks later and it took forty.

Any chance it was half full when you got it? You add 20quids worth and do your long journey. The next time it's empty and it takes you 40 quids worth?

unkel wrote: »

For 120 miles at €1.49/l? Man that's more than 80MPG which is twice what most people get out of a Micra. Well done!

Where you getting 120 miles from, there fella?

mmmbop; what you need to do is wait till your tank is low, fill it to the brim and note how many litres it took to fill it - keep the receipt.
Now set your trip meter to zero (little thingy that clocks up the miles on your dash). Drive the car till its next fill up is required (not all in one go, that'd just be silly!)
Now fill to the brim again and note how many miles you have clocked up.
Report back here & someone will work out your miles per gallon figure.
For a Micra I'm guessing it should be in the mid thirties for normal mix of urban and open road.
edit; maybe more if BanzaiBk says so!

mmmbop

cjt156 wrote: »

Any chance it was half full when you got it? You add 20quids worth and do your long journey. The next time it's empty and it takes you 40 quids worth?



Where you getting 120 miles from, there fella?

mmmbop; what you need to do is wait till your tank is low, fill it to the brim and note how many litres it took to fill it - keep the receipt.
Now set your trip meter to zero (little thingy that clocks up the miles on your dash). Drive the car till its next fill up is required (not all in one go, that'd just be silly!)
Now fill to the brim again and note how many miles you have clocked up.
Report back here & someone will work out your miles per gallon figure.
For a Micra I'm guessing it should be in the mid thirties for normal mix of urban and open road.
edit; maybe more if BanzaiBk says so!

Cool I'll do that and see, I'll get the exhaust checked too, thanks everyone

Get it serviced and check Tyre pressures are correct.

Honey-ec

cjt156 wrote: »

mmmbop; what you need to do is wait till your tank is low, fill it to the brim and note how many litres it took to fill it - keep the receipt.
Now set your trip meter to zero (little thingy that clocks up the miles on your dash). Drive the car till its next fill up is required (not all in one go, that'd just be silly!)
Now fill to the brim again and note how many miles you have clocked up.
Report back here & someone will work out your miles per gallon figure.
For a Micra I'm guessing it should be in the mid thirties for normal mix of urban and open road.
edit; maybe more if BanzaiBk says so!

Oh God. I'm sure you didn't mean it, but that post comes across as so patronising. Surely to God everyone knows A) where their trip meter is (if they have one) and how to work out their mpg? No?

veetwin

Honey-ec wrote: »

Oh God. I'm sure you didn't mean it, but that post comes across as so patronising. Surely to God everyone knows A) where their trip meter is (if they have one) and how to work out their mpg? No?

Honey you'd be surprised how many people wouldn't have the first clue how to work out their mpg. FWIW that's what the OP should have been told in first reply.

jaffa20

veetwin wrote: »

Honey you'd be surprised how many people wouldn't have the first clue how to work out their mpg. FWIW that's what the OP should have been told in first reply.

Exactly! I think i'd be surprised how many people don't know mpg stands for:pac:

EPM

Honey-ec wrote: »

Oh God. I'm sure you didn't mean it, but that post comes across as so patronising. Surely to God everyone knows A) where their trip meter is (if they have one) and how to work out their mpg? No?

Quite obviously the answer to at least one of those is no.

bazz26

Maybe someone is syphoning the pertrol from your tank?

cjt156

Honey-ec wrote: »

Oh God. I'm sure you didn't mean it, but that post comes across as so patronising

mmmbop didn't take it that way & I didn't mean it that way. The original post states "I'm clueless about cars" so I took it from there!

[patronising] Now you be a good little boardsie and run along, adults are talking[/patronising]

no1beemerfan

I put €25 (think it was 146 a litre) in my micra on sunday and have done 227 kms since and there is still petrol in the tank, though near the minimum mark.

If you know nothing about cars you would be better getting someone to look at it in case you have a split fuel line. I'd check the airfilter too as a lot of people don't change/check this when servicing a car.

beazee

mmmbop wrote: »

Nope, I would put at least a tenner in every couple of days, sometimes fifteen

Average Micra consumption at 7L/100km (40mpg)
Tenner @€;1.50 makes it almost 7liters.

It's not so hard to do 100km (or 60mls) in a day or a couple.