Scout starting to use more diesel

[duderduderini]

Hey
I was wondering if anyone had experienced increasing fuel consumption out of the Skoda diesels?
Mine (scout) used to do 5.3l/100k all the time from home to work.. now its 5.7 to 5.9 l/100 I have a patient who has a diesel octavia and he remarked his is now thirstierand for no apparent reason
What gives?
For the record car bought April 2012 53000 country k's on clock, serviced at specified intervals
Thanks

[K1W1]

In Albury you wil be currently using winter diesel I would think. Winter diesel will get worse economy than summer diesel.

[duderduderini]

In Albury you wil be currently using winter diesel I would think. Winter diesel will get worse economy than summer diesel.

Thanks for a completely believable reason. They put more parrafin in? I was beginning to think I had some dreaded VW defect. Not that i have lost my faith in the product......
Thanks again
Nick

[Rooboy]

Thanks for a completely believable reason. They put more parrafin in? I was beginning to think I had some dreaded VW defect. Not that i have lost my faith in the product......
Thanks again
Nick

They dilute it with heating oil to lower the 'cloud points' so that wax crystals don't form and clog the fuel system. Some good info here -http://www.caltex.com.au/sites/Calte...esel%20FAQ.pdf

I've just done a trip to Falls and filled with Alpine mix at Mt Beauty but didn't notice a great deal of difference in the economy. I got 7L/100km over 540km with a fully loaded car on the Alpine mix which is about .2 more than normal on Vortex.

[Transporter]

How do you calculate the fuel economy? From the docket or you go by the trip computer?

I don't have a trip computer in MY05 T5 that I drive everyday the same trips and under the same conditions. To get my fuel gauge from full to 1/2 the tank it takes 420-450km as from the day 1 when I've bought it 8.5 years ago. But when I calculate the fuel economy from the docket I get 1.5L-2L worst economy than back in 2005 or 2006. It seems to me that more expensive fuel gets, less goes in the vehicle tank from the pump at the fuel station. Or maybe the fuel tank in my van has stretched over the years. Certainly you wouldn't think that they cheat on us and set these pumps to use the US gallons instead the Litres, because the difference between the 2 measures is 50mL and when I calculate with that I get spot on fuel economy like back 8 years ago. But then, they confuse me again because some fuel stations are still quite accurate, so I stick with them.

Edit: it's a good practice to keep all the fuel dockets, just in case that you get contaminated fuel to kill your DPF, fuel system or the engine, because the contaminated fuel is not covered by any car manufacturer's warranty and you will have to chase the fuel company for compensations. Oh and also, photocopy those (some) dodgy fuel dockets, because, they fade even hidden in the filing cabinets within 6 months, yet nobody is forcing the retailers to change their docket printers.

[K1W1]

they fade even hidden in the filing cabinets within 6 months, yet nobody is forcing the retailers to change their docket printers.

So what are you saying?
I buy dirty fuel today and it takes 6 months before it damages my engine? Hardly.

[K1W1]

For recording fuel I use a great iPhone App called AccuFuel. There are plenty of apps but I have been using this one since before I had the Skoda and it works so I stick with it.
I put in the actual litres put into the tank, the odometer reading and the price and the rest is worked out automatically. Results can be exported as a .CSV file if you really want to play in Excel. I can see on the phone screen a little graph that shows all the way back to when I purchased the Skoda with peaks and troughs that relate to holidays away (reduced consumption) and lots of city driving periods (higher consumption).
I highly recommend the app if you want to keep records of fuel consumption.

[woofy]

I keep all dockets as I need them for my car allowance, tax return stuff and the fading ones drive me nuts. I swear in some stations the cost counter starts winding around long before any fuel is coming at the beginning and I do often wonder in recent times whether they are measuring accurately. In my old job I had access to all kinds of measuring cylinders, if I was still there I would love to test some pumps out at times. It doesn't fill me with confidence that my usual suss diesel pump is quite often our of order and not because the tank is empty.

[Transporter]

So what are you saying?
I buy dirty fuel today and it takes 6 months before it damages my engine? Hardly.

You do what you like mate, I would never dare to give you any advice.

[K1W1]

The basic premise that you should keep records is a good one and good advice but the reality is that unless you have suspect fuel in the tank of your vehicle when it breaks down you will have zero percent chance of making a successful claim against a fuel company.

The other suggestion in this thread is that there are instances of dodgy calibration of fuel pumps. By law in Australia fuel pumps must be accurate to +/- 0.3% (300 ml over 100 litres or about +/- 50 cents variance over 100 litres at todays prices) and all pumps should have a sticker or other marking to indicate when they were last checked and calibrated. The reason pumps appear to move quickly at the start of pumping is that pumps dispense a minimum these days of 2 litres in most cases so some pumps will race up to two litres then start counting properly once 2 litres has been dispensed.