I LOVE MY 90 BUT FUEL CONSUMPTION PLEASE HELP

[MY90 MY LIFE]

I LOVE MY 90 BUT A NEW JOB IS GOING TO FORCE ME INTO DOING 80 MILES A DAY IN HER! SHES A 300TDI AND WONDERED WHAT MODS CAN BE DONE TO MAKE HER BETTER ON FUEL! IS THE OVERDRIVE HARD TO FIT? WILL ELECTRIC FANS RATHER THAN VISCOUS HELP? WHAT SIZE ROAD TYRES WILL BE MOST ECONOMICAL? ITS EITHER GET IT BETTER ON FUEL OR SELL! OR TRADE MY MRS IN FOR A HORSE! (LEAST ID STILL HAVE MY TRUCK)LOL ANY HELP PLEASE!!

[Muddy_Porcupine]

Well, overdrives are pretty expensive but i supose if you'r doing that many mile it could pay off eventually! I'd go for uprated intercooler (about 300 quid for the 300tdi) aparantly kandn filters are ment to help a little bit!

As for tires, im not sure on sizes, some1 else will be able to help no doubt! However, the more road biased they are, the better for fuel economy and road handling (or so they say anyway!) i.e. dont whap dirty great simex ones on as they wont do you any favours! (unless its 80 miles in thick mud lol!) Go for road tires or, if you do a wee bit off roading, all terrains would be better than mud's!

Im trying to upgrade fuel economy on my 300tdi as well, so i'll be checking back here to see other people's thoughts!

Ta, Muddy

[smo]

There is nothing that you can do that will effectively reduce the fuel consumption  - things like overdrives are so expensive you need to cover about 100,000 miles before they pay back, so are totally pointless.

your best bet is buy a second car - i run a 50mpg Audi A3 diesel for work (doing 150miles to work and back each day) and have my D-Lander for playing - works out best and you can probably pick up something for the cost of adding overdrive & other mods to the landy.

[Oz]

I agree with smo it is a much beter idea to get second car..

[dreadnought110]

On the seconed car front make sure you do your sum's i.e Buying said car insuring,mot, tax,servicing and running repairs!! oh and depriciation looked into it more than once and they don't always add up!! if you can afford 2 cars go for it but if funds are tight do the sums i turned a job down cause it didn't work out right including travel costs...Look at this way an overdrive's around a grand a small decent car is ?? a small car that does 50mpg a well set up 90 with overdrive around 30mpg??++ don't really know the answer just thought i would throw this lot in 8)  8)

[Hangover]

Looks like your going to be selling it as an overdrive isn't an answer to your problems,an overdrive is only any real use when your motorway driving and even then is not going to make much difference as a 90 has zero aerodynamics.

[davidlandy]

you could fit a 'HiCLone' to the inlet or cable tie some magnets to the fuel lines.  

shall I leave now?

[Xtremeteam]

SVO

Nuff said

[Guardian.]

have to agree, run it on morrisons finest!

[Mark2Disco]

i think macro is even cheaper :lol:

[clbarclay]

Minor things like fitting the narrowest possible tyres, not raising your suspension (better still lower it) etc. which will improve the vehicles economy.

One sceptic report on the internet about hyclones rekoned on an improvement of 1 or 2 MPG over previous for daily driving. Like electric fans they may help a small amount, but don't expect miricals.


How well have TDI injector pumps been dealing with SVO, one of the problems with SVO in place of diesel in most injection systems is it eats away at most common types of rubber seals.


I'm definanlty with the second car group (get the 90 on limited milage), we have a mk3 golf at home, the 1.9 tdi engine in will cruise effortlessly at 90 mph and does little more sips fuel. At the same time we have managed to fit inside 3 snoboards, 5 skis, 4 ski/snowboard boots, 3 peoples luggage for a weeks snowboarding and 3 adults (2 of which over 6 ft) in the golf and comfortably drive all the way to the alps. It did all that and we could/did fit the parcel shelf in the car.... :shock: Its only really for towing the 3.5 ton trailer that we need a 4x4 at home.

[Muddy_Porcupine]

Buying a second car can be a good idea but not ideal for all, i, for one am 19 and theres no way i could pay for the LR and another motor at the same time!

Also, this isnt really a prob for me as i work at home! My Defender is just a toy! Lol! Oops, secrets out, green peace will be after me!  :lol:

[Range Rover Blues]

Running a second car has some advantages, one of which is that you can insure your LR as a second car and get a discount, you can also then limit your policy mileage a but more and effectively insure a runabout for nowt.

If only the Chancelor did the same on road tax it would be a clear cut decision, after all if I run a noddy car all week and a 4x4 on Sunday, why should I be penalised for tryin to help reduce polution.  If I had to run only one car it would be the 4x4 because the Micra won't pull my caravan (in fact it would probably go inside it :lol: ).

[Litch]

A TDi 90 in standard fom should return around 30MPG if driven normally, what are you currently getting?

You can spend lots of money on things that may improve the fuel economy but at the end of the day it is easier & cheaper just to make sure the vehicle is correctly serviced, is not carry lots of excess weight and is driven at sensible speeds. If you have a lift kit, aggresive tyres, roof-rack and/or roof mounted spots consider removing them. I don't know what sort of roads you will be commuting on but sitting at 55MPH is certainly a lot more economical than sitting at 70MPH.
The 300TDi in my 90 is completely standard, I run 265/75x16 BFT AT's and I have nothing loading up the back or mounted on the roof. I have a Disco transfer-box. I have been monitering my fuel consumption for years now (speeds & distances checked against a GPS) and in general use which includes country roads, duel-carriageways (where I generally cruise at  70-75MPH) urban etc I return a fairly consistant 30MPG while dropping the cruising speed slightly and/or doing most of the driving on duel-carriageways and/or motorways increases this to nearer 35MPG.

[extreme90]

but you are on a disco box which has a nice cruising speend vs rpm
a 90 box means the engine is revving its nackers off just to do 55mph

fit some 33inch road tyres, that will bring the gearing pretty much spot on with a defender t/box