M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS
DISCUSSION => General Topics => Topic started by: LeeThompson on March 13, 2010, 01:18:25 AM
-
I only get a mere 19 maybe 21 miles to the gallon.
I have a Dinan Chip installed that came with the car.
Is that chip causing me to loose gas milage?
I put in the high grade gas 2 weeks running and I do get better mileage but when I do the math Its better to stick to the low grade.
On a full tank I get about 250 miles give or take a few miles never less than 240 rarely higher than 270. Excluding a trip to VIR which got me 350 miles haha. I never run it it to the light and I calculate it at a 13 gallon tank.
Is the chip killing the gas mileage and should I put back the old chip?
I drive the all to known e30 318is
-
Do you drive a lot of short trips with lots of cold starts in between?
-
I seem to get about 270 to 290 on a tank and its usually about 10.5 gallons to fill it up each time. That's mostly city driving with just a little highway each day.
Whats the tune up condition of your motor? Have you done the whole mess under the intake etc yet?
-
I calculate it at a 13 gallon tank.
I drive the all to known e30 318is
How are you figuring 13 gallons? I usually fill it up full, reset the trip counter, then when I fill up I look how much it actually took to fill up which is usually 10.5 when the light comes on. That could be why your numbers are off.
-
Well I don't mean to be a smart ass but I look at the amount I put it. Its usualy 12 something but I figure because I do not run it into the light that its a 13 gallon tank.
I always fill up my car. Sometimes I will leave my card on my bed side table and only have a little cash but usualy I fill it up and reset the trip.
Depending on what you mean by short. Um Well I drive about 40 miles to school and back. And depending on the day I drive from one campus building to anouther. Then always to my step dads shop which is about 5 miles then the 40 mile trip back home then a 10 mile trip to work and a 10 mile trip back.
Yea the motor more than most likely needs to be tuned up. We got it and have not done much with it except for oil change, brake change, tires, and stuff like that.
-
If you have some air leaks and are getting some unmetered air into the engine, more fuel will get dumped in to compensate so that could be one culprit of the lower fuel economy.
-
my milage actualy increased when i chipped my cars. belive it or not i moved up to 21lb/hr injectors and my milage didnt decrease. best ive seen was about 320 miles out of a tank and that was on a highway trip to indianna last year. i average around 280-290 miles to a tank.
-
my milage actualy increased when i chipped my cars. belive it or not i moved up to 21lb/hr injectors and my milage didnt decrease. best ive seen was about 320 miles out of a tank and that was on a highway trip to indianna last year. i average around 280-290 miles to a tank.
I've seen an increase in mpg every time I add a chip, and again when a good cat-back system is built/installed.
My last car, '95 540i 6-speed, increased about 2 mpg after a cat-back set up was built and another 2-3 after a Dinan chip upgrade.
OP-
Need to check maintenance items as well as considering time spent city vs. freeway driving. Anything related to air/fuel measurement as well as their delivery will influence mpg and performance.
Air:
Intake leaks (vacuum hoses, intake manifold gaskets, etc.)
Air filter
Fuel:
Fuel filter
Fuel pump
Lines good and not leaking
Measuring components;
O2 sensor [ecu makes fuel adjustments based on exhaust gas]
AFM (air flow meter) [measures air going in]
Coolant temp sensor (in radiator) [measures engine temp and ecu adjusts accordingly]
TPS (throttle position sensor) [tells ecu how to adjust fuel according to throttle position]
Those are the basics. Lots of small contributing factors but that'll get you started on maintenance items.
-
I just did a 600 mile trip.Everything is stock on my car.I was doing 85-90 most of the time and I averaged 25 MPG. I've gotten 30-35 MPG when I keep it around 55-65 MPH.
The sound of the motor when it get above 4,000 RPM is almost as good as sex.
BUT NOT QUITE
-
How's your alignment? Tire condition/inflation pressure? Jack up your car and check for brake and bearing drag. Throw some new plugs in it and avoid cheap crappy gas.
I always start with the easy stuff and go from there, which I suppose you may have already done. If so e-slap me.
-
my bridgestones are the best 14" all-season tire one could ask for. but they seem to give me crappy gas mileage. tires/alignment.. its not some myth or nitpicking. if i replaced my tires with falkens or whatever, it's very conceivable to get 2-3mpg more. but yes, on an old car you should pay bigger attention to induction/injection/combustion, etc. than if you had an e46
-
I think I got 310-320 miles out of FULL tank. I accidentally overfilled it and then drove till light came on + 15-20 miles. I get about 22-23 MPG of mixed city/highway, lotsa stupid high revving shifts and general messing around. My E30 is 100% stock.
-
How are you figuring 13 gallons? I usually fill it up full, reset the trip counter, then when I fill up I look how much it actually took to fill up which is usually 10.5 when the light comes on. That could be why your numbers are off.
FYI: According to my factory documentation our e30/m42 tanks have a 14.5 gallon capacity, so based on BlueBMW's info the light comes on with 4 gallons in reserve. At 25 mpg's that's another 100 miles with the reserve warning light on!
-
Have you checked your mileage driven by GPS instead of using your trip odometer? Maybe yours is turning over slower than it ought to. I know this happens because mine was turning over 1 mile for every 4 or 5 driven. I am not saying yours is this bad, but worth checking your calcs.
-
Murdul the odometer was rebuilt and reset at 190,000. It was around 184,000 and we guessed the actual mileage.
Ribs the Vacuum hoses have all been replaced under the manifold (a pain in the arse by the way) along wit hthe air intake being cleaned out. Something was living up in there but that has not helped my milage problem.
Ryan i know what you read but when I run it to the light and even miles afterwards I get about 13 gallons Also I divid what I put into the tank by the mile on my odometer and get my milage.
I just took out my chip a few weeks ago. But I am going to Roebling june 11th so I will put it back in. But I noticed a reduction in gas milage with the 93 from the low grade. I am retesting the lowgrade to see if I was mistaken. But however when I had my chip in 93 did give me about 2 or 3 more miles than the low grade.
Car does need to be re-aligned I am replacing the front tie rods or atleast trying to. Finding the time to leave my car for 3 hours is hard :-/ But the tires trhemselves are basicly new.
When I went to VIR I got well into the 350's maybe even 360. But that was all interstate.
It would not hurt replacing all of the plugs and what not.
What I may do is fill it up till it spills. Drive untill I just give out of gas. When I get to the light throw a small gas jug in the car. can't hurt to get the actual tank size.
Thank you all for the replys I hope to see some of you at the trace one of these days
-
This problem was begining to disturb me a bit. I got 21.9 mpg with the stock chip so I put my Dinan Chip back in. But I got out my owners manual because I wanted to know what 2 of those tools in the tool kit were but found some statistics about the engine, but never about the tools....
The Fuel tank for the 318i/s/Convertible is at 14.5 US Gallons
The 318i/s weighs 2602 Pounds with a full tank unloaded
The 318i/s/Convertible puts out 134 ponies at 6000 rpm
The 318 puts out 127 pounds of torque at 4600 rpm
The 318 has a top speed of 122 mph
Also the fuel warning light comes on when there is 1.6 gallons left.
So no info on the tool kit but a good bit of info on the basics.
So does anyone have any info on the tool kit? I can not figure out 2 of the tools. I figured one of them was a wheel aligner but it fits with the hexigon thing.....
-
Aren't you supposed to use 91+ with a Dinan chip? I don't have one, but I've been putting 93 in mine for as long as I've had it.
A full tank gets me between 335 and 365 miles. I reset the trip when the light comes on, and I've gone over 70 miles with the light on. Never ran out of gas, but didn't want to press my luck. I tried to figure out the mathematical stuff, but it made my head hurt. When I checked the 318is' specs online (http://e30world.com/specifications/BMW-E30-specs-table), it said 16.4 gallon tank, but I'm pretty sure that's a lie. Somehow those numbers don't add up.
I used to have a 325 eta, which is supposed to have the same fuel economy as the 318is. I put regular in it, and a full tank got me about 275 miles. Same amount went in at fill up. When I had to get that car to pass emissions, I used 93 for a month, and my miles per gallon improved significantly As far as I can tell, paying an extra $2 for almost 90 more miles to the tank is the economical way to go, which is one of the reasons I use 93.
This is not scientific. Just my own anecdotal evidence.
-
I tried to figure out the mathematical stuff, but it made my head hurt.
Seriously?
-
I usually get 28 combined and a little over 31 when on the freeway.
MarkD 92 chip
COP
Falken 912 tires
Mustang injectors
13lb 323i flywheel
no clutch fan
Keep in mind that my engine also has about 2.5k miles on a full rebuild.
FYI EPA rating in the 318is is like 19 in the city
-
with my chip i drove the piss out of mine in redline a lot and i was still getting 250-300 miles a tank and on long trips i could go 340 miles and fill up near the end and barely be under 1/4 tank!
-
I do put 93 oct in my car. I do not put anything lower If I have to have ethy in my car, I want the best gas I can get. The only place I used to get ethy free gas is gone (my dads store) so I try to only put gas which has 10% or less. I havn't found a 5% yet and do not think I will.
The fuel tank is only 14.5 and thats from the owners manual. The gas light comes on when there is 1.6 gallons left.
I would love a MarkD Chip However they are expensive
I love the m42 but.... I don't think I would have the m42 rebuilt. I think I rather do a s52 swap. But that is just me.
I heard the DASC improves Gasmilage but thats the price of the car in one component much less a price for 1 semester of college
-
ive done a 24v swap... and i gotta say i LOVE it
gas mileage isnt quite there anymore because u cant help not flooring it when u wanna get thrown into the seat! lol
-
I used to complain about my mileage, but I think I was wrong. I generally use tractor gas (I don't drink the premium kool aid) and was doing pretty well. Here in Germany, the fuel is much higher quality I believe and I've been getting about 26 in mixed driving without getting over 65 or 70mph at any point (believe it or not, people here don't drive fast anywhere but the speed free zones on the autobahn). That was based strictly off the odometer at fill ups.
I also drive like a TOTAL pansy most of the time rarely getting over 3k on the tach. I finally fixed my OBC to work correctly and including a consistent run of close to 50 miles at 95mph with the cruise on yesterday on the autobahn but mostly backroads, the OBC says I'm still at 29mpg, but I think it's a bit optimistic.
Here is the funny part: I've not pulled the plugs to even look at them yet or the air filter. The O2 sensor may or may not be bad as it passed one test and failed another and I didn't get enough response in a thread I started here to determine if it is bad. I also run a bike rack most of the time (but didn't yesterday).
-
My trip back from GA to Philly (all highway), I got around 370+(before the light turns on) a tank. Driving in the city give me very low gas mileage.
-
i have a 55 liter tank and i can do 610km till the reservelight goes on.
i think that not bad
-
So I got off my lazy butt and unplugged the battery the other day to reset the OBC. On the trip I mentioned where I got 29 mpg according to the OBC with back roads shenanigans for a bit and a decent run for a while at between 95 and 100 mph, was correct! At least verified by the odometer. This was also mostly with the AC on.
The funniest part is that I've not even checked the air filter or spark plugs since I bought it, let alone cleaned the MAF. All I've done is change the oil and all other fluids (except coolant) and I checked the O2 sensor which as I said may or may not be in spec.
What I found to be a MUUUUCH bigger impact than I expected was the bike rack. That costs me from 3-5 mpg it seems. I'm going to finish this tank and then put the rack back on to confirm, but that is a big difference- big enough that the rack will stay off unless needed, despite the fact that it looks really cool. The car is MUCH quieter without it as well.
I'm planning on a COP conversion, electric fan, and a higher temp thermostat to help even more. Eventually I'll do an exhaust, but that is after I get back to the States.
Also, the other specs; stock size tires on basketweaves and small case 4.10 LSD out back. Car has just about 190k miles on the clock.