fuel economy

[filthy phil]

Hi there
Yep, the old flying brick doesn't have the best aerodynamics, but I suspect the old-fashioned fuel injection system is substantially to blame for the lousy fuel consumption, around 12.5-13.5 l/100km. The injectors themselves must be a pretty old design [20+ years] ,also the cylinder head design etc. Is there anyone out there who is a guru with regards to improving the fuel efficiency of these beautiful old cars? I seem to always take the T3 instead of my lovely red Mk4 Golf these days - its just a beautiful car to drive....BTW, my first T3, a new manual one bought in 89 did 330K kms before we parted company, and the motor had never been out....a bit better than a lot of the sad T4/T5 experiences I've encountered. Never had a gearbox problem in any of my 4 real kombis, till the auto shat itself in this one - which reminds me, Alfie Russo at Artarmon is THE BEST auto repairer, if ever you need one.
Anyone looking for a set of 30mm lower springs for a T3?
Cheers

[BobR]

Heres some figures on my manual 2.5 petrol T4.

City driving only 600.5 ks for 72 litres or 12l/100klm.
Highway driving (max 100kph) 401 ks for 41 litres or 10.25l/100klm
Freeway driving (min 110kph) 495 ks for 57 litres or 11.51l/100klm
Average 11.36l/100klm

The van was serviced prior to recording those figures. Previously I had an aircooled T3 2.0 manual 4 speed averaging 14l/100klm, and a watercooled T3 2.1 manual 5 speed, averaging just under 12l/100klm. Considering an extra cylinder on the T4, not bad. But the T3 "Wasserboxer" is still my favorite.
Chers
BobR

[Tornado T5]

Heres some figures on my manual 2.5 petrol T4.

City driving only 600.5 ks for 72 litres or 12l/100klm.
Highway driving (max 100kph) 401 ks for 41 litres or 10.25l/100klm
Freeway driving (min 110kph) 495 ks for 57 litres or 11.51l/100klm
Average 11.36l/100klm

The van was serviced prior to recording those figures. Previously I had an aircooled T3 2.0 manual 4 speed averaging 14l/100klm, and a watercooled T3 2.1 manual 5 speed, averaging just under 12l/100klm. Considering an extra cylinder on the T4, not bad. But the T3 "Wasserboxer" is still my favorite.
Chers
BobR

You've jogged me memory , when i had the T4 I had similar numbers when I ran it on petrol. I guess the T4 really would have appreciated a six gear, iirc, at 100km/hr it was doing nearly 3000rpm in 5th.

[Ivo]

I have been buying my diesel from a Shell truck stop lately, seems to be giving me slightly better performance and better economy.

[Tombi]

Just did the Melbourne-Sydney-Melbourne trip with a side trip to Mt Buller also in my new 128Kw manual Transporter. Filled at Rouse Hill on the way home and filled again 55ks from Melbourne when fuel light came on.

Happy happy

[Ivo]

I got 8.8l/100km actual on my trip down to Jindabyne. 3 adults, 2 kids, snow boards, XC skis and all associated junk! Its exactly half what I used in my 100seriesLlandcruiser the year before. Happy with that!

[Tonz]

Someone mentioned LPG. Ive converted my holden rodeo diesel to a diesel/LPG mix, very much improved performance and slightly better economy as well. Who's done this on their VW diesel?

[BrianJ]

On my recent trip to north QLD my T5 96kw 6sp AUTO Kombi Beach got 7L/100km with a tail wind. It did 1000km and the reserve light had not come on, and took 70L when I filled it.

Typically it gets 8L/100km on average. Needless to say I am extremely pleased with it.

Brian

[soulspirit]

My new T4 was a 1997 and modded to dual fuel at time of purchase through the dealer. Naturally it was the old mixer type and used the Ford "triple scuba tanks" under the floor mid point. Only trouble was a blown airbox when it backfired once otherwise Ii thought it probably ran better on LPG due to the tune optimised more towards LPG. A very good lpg technician was helpful as he owned his own T4 and knew them back to front even quoting part numbers from memory.

The 55L range was the only downside (310-350km) and when towing I got upto 21L/100km economy (270km). I'd assume with today's liquid injection technolgy such a setup would be fantastic although expensive. I changed the oil every 5000km and it was more wear and tear on components (non-LPG) that started to take effect on the T4 some 290,000km later, (85% was on LPG).

There's atleast one person whos converted to lpg.

I would also like to ask a similar question: when you say unleaded - do you fill with 10% ethanol fuels, regular unleaded or premium? Does anyone have an opinion on this?

[Tornado T5]

There's atleast one person whos converted to lpg.

I would also like to ask a similar question: when you say unleaded - do you fill with 10% ethanol fuels, regular unleaded or premium? Does anyone have an opinion on this?

I should clarify, when I said new T4 I meant I bought it brand new in 1997 and the dealer did the conversion on my behalf before I took delivery. I sold it in 2007 after 295,000+ km when I bought a new T5 diesel.

To answer your question, back then I only used premium unleaded, namely because I only ever ran it on petrol once a month at best so it wasn't a big expense and I needed to maintain some petrol in the tank full time as this lpg system would always start in petrol and click over to LPG above approx. 1500revs. It made cold starts very easy. Righly or wrongly I was led to believe the premium fuels were better for the manner I operated. Sometimes the petrol in the tank could be over 2-3 months old. Should add that it was a "mixer" type LPG setup back then. I may have mentioned this somewhere else, the man who serviced it after I stopped using the dealer, so for about 7 years in total, owned his own LPG converted T4, specialises in LPG install for all brands and used to be called in by the selling dealer to undertake the service if there were problems when I did use the dealership in those first 3 years.