Freelander 1 Td4 Mpg

Nodge68 said:

Dragging brakes will cause poor MPG, although dropping it 50% would literally make the brakes smoke.

There must be something else causing it. Is there any smoke from the exhaust?

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Hi,

Thanks for the response. Brakes don't get hot, checked them all after a longer trip and they were fine. I've checked the maf through unplugging it and there was no difference in engine tone or drop of revs so I'm guessing this could be an issue or contributer. Would that cause such a drop off? I will get a replacement and see what happens!

Thanks again

Anything that changes the parameters EDC is running the engine under, with affect MPG.
Have you actually done a brim, use then brim again test, to check the fuel is actually being used, rather than simply relay on the gauge?

I just did a 2500 mile trip from northwest France through Groningen to Berlin. Return down through Dresden, Koblenz and Luxembourg. I mention the zones and cities for the benefit of those who know the sort of roads I was using. Some occasional steep roads in Lux'.

Usually at 70mph reaching 85mph on occasion. Berlin traffic was awful, I would say a total of 3 hours in VERY slow, nose to tail, stop/start frustration.
For first tankful I used Tech9 turbo cleaner in fuel, the second tank Wynns injector cleaner. I use Millers additive at all times. The oil (mahle) and air (bosch) filters changed before leaving. Fresh Mobil Super 3000 X1 5W-40. Rarely used aircon. 2 passengers at all times and about 50kg of luggage. Generally speaking, I would say we were in 14 deg C air temperatures.

4 newly fitted and balanced Insa Turbo Ecoevolution Plus 225/55 R17 97W remoulds running at 2.1bar front and rear (I was given 2 new remoulds with the car and couldn't afford 4 new Nexgens or whatever). Have yet to measure wear, but it looks negligible (will update), just checked today and the pimples on the tyre surface are still evident but abraded (I'm as shocked as anyone could be too!!)

Best tank brimmed MPG - 39.7 (mostly flat terrain in France/Belgium/Netherlands)
Worst tank brimmed MPG - 35.1 (largely due to Berlin traffic )

Mean over 5 tankfuls MPG - 37.8

Oil usage - ZERO detectable.

2005 TD4 manual transmission, odometer 261,871km (163,60miles).

Next I will try my ronbox with pierberg MAF... I want more low down torque for drivability in a higher gear. Will be removing extreme dust cover on air filter too.

Morning @Nodge68 you mentioned somewhere the mile/km conversion and was wondering which one you used as it wasn't 1.6093 as per what I found. What was it again?. Thought it was in here but couldn't find it anymore.

We returned some days ago from a trip to Germany, South Hesse, meaning uphill, downhill, going north to Lower Saxony and also Hamburg for a day. Got the wiring loom changed before and it seemed to have improved. Couldn't get the MAF changed due to the weather before. From Dover down the A3 south in Germany I had like 6.1l/100km meaning ~45mpg for the 291 miles, if I calculated it correctly. Was really pleased with that at around 110km/h according to the satnav.

On our way up to the north it went down to 28mph and then normalized again to around 40. The one day to Hamburg it was exceptional at 51mpg at approx. 60mph on the motorway but levelled out at about 39.77mpg for the whole roundtrip of about 2200 miles.
'02 TD4 Automatic ~203500 miles, no prop shaft at the moment, due to gaiter leak. winter tyres

mbrokof said:

We returned some days ago from a trip to Germany, South Hesse, meaning uphill, downhill, going north to Lower Saxony and also Hamburg for a day. Got the wiring loom changed before and it seemed to have improved. Couldn't get the MAF changed due to the weather before. From Dover down the A3 south in Germany I had like 6.1l/100km meaning ~45mpg for the 291 miles, if I calculated it correctly. Was really pleased with that at around 110km/h according to the satnav.

On our way up to the north it went down to 28mph and then normalized again to around 40. The one day to Hamburg it was exceptional at 51mpg at approx. 60mph on the motorway but levelled out at about 39.77mpg for the whole roundtrip of about 2200 miles.
'02 TD4 Automatic ~203500 miles, no prop shaft at the moment, due to gaiter leak. winter tyres

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I'm intrigued as to how you get the calcs for the separate bits. Were you filling up bwtween stints?

GrumpyGel said:

I'm intrigued as to how you get the calcs for the separate bits. Were you filling up bwtween stints?

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Thanks GG. I've created an Excel spreadsheet. Yes, usually I don't wait till it's empty to fil up. Most was like half full on that trip, mostly only quarter depending on where I am. Also when I don't fill up for whatever reason I can calculate it once filled up.

That's some pretty efficient driving.
I struggle to get 32 MPG round town, and 37 MPG at motorway speeds in my FL2, which is a much more modern engine, although the vehicle itself has grown 20% in size and weight compared to the FL1.

Nodge68 said:

That's some pretty efficient driving.
I struggle to get 32 MPG round town, and 37 MPG at motorway speeds in my FL2, which is a much more modern engine, although the vehicle itself has grown 20% in size and weight compared to the FL1.

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Thank you Nodge68. Usually I use cruise control and when everything works fine I just tip the pedal which makes it easy, but also with the current fuel prices I try not to use the heavy foot too much.

Hi,

Bringing this back from the dead...

Still got really bad mpg issues with the freelander. Since the last post I have changed the maf sensor which has made no difference.

Would there be any tell tale signs if there was major drag from the 4wd system? I don't know if it's linked at all but I am getting major vibrations under load, I have changed the diff mounts which have made no difference to the vibration. I know I could take the prop out to test both but I'd rather keep it 4wd and don't want to lay under the vehicle in the rain...

Thanks

Kinger032007 said:

Hi,

Bringing this back from the dead...

Still got really bad mpg issues with the freelander. Since the last post I have changed the maf sensor which has made no difference.

Would there be any tell tale signs if there was major drag from the 4wd system? I don't know if it's linked at all but I am getting major vibrations under load, I have changed the diff mounts which have made no difference to the vibration. I know I could take the prop out to test both but I'd rather keep it 4wd and don't want to lay under the vehicle in the rain...

Thanks

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Are all your tyres same make and model?

Have you done a 1 wheel up test to see if the vcu is to tight?

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/tests-new-freelander-1-owners-should-do-on-their-car.312863/

Have you checked for fuel leaks? Probalbly not your case cos summat wwould have broke by now but the pump can leak into the engine's sump. You can tell by oil level rising.

GrumpyGel said:

Are all your tyres same make and model?

Have you done a 1 wheel up test to see if the vcu is to tight?

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/tests-new-freelander-1-owners-should-do-on-their-car.312863/

Have you checked for fuel leaks? Probalbly not your case cos summat wwould have broke by now but the pump can leak into the engine's sump. You can tell by oil level rising.

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Hi,

Yes all tyres the same, I bought a recon vcu when I got the vehicle so I haven't and hope it should be okay, I've only done about 5k miles since I got it.

I don't think there's a fuel leak, just had the mot yesterday and nothing was noted, I have checked around and also can't see anything. Could it be the auxiliary heater? It seems to run every time the vehicle is started regardless of the weather conditions.

Thanks again

Do one wheel up test, reconnect VCU or not. The level of recon varies.

This sounds like a tight VCU due to the vibration.

Kinger032007 said:

Could it be the auxiliary heater? It seems to run every time the vehicle is started regardless of the weather conditions.

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The auxiliary heater burns ½ a litre of diesel per hour at full power, which it won't sustain once the vehicle is up to temperature.

You have done 5k miles in a year.

I would imagine therefore that you do a lot of short trips from cold and it looks like the FBH comes on for each trip.

Is 25mpg to unrealistic? Especially if its an auto.

I'd definitely do the 1WUT - its prudent to anyway, however, I'd also pull the fuse on the FBH - not sure which it is, I can check later.

Don't know what actuates the FBH and whether it has its own temp sensor that has failed. Once again can check later.

Hi,

Thanks for the replies, I will do the test just trying to locate a 32mm socket! The Freelander seems to be doing even less now... £10 of diesel might get me 30 miles if I'm lucky.

If the 4wd was binding that much I'd surely feel it when coasting? Would almost feel like battery regeneration braking.

Does anyone know where the auxiliary heater takes fuel from? Is it direct from the tank or tee in the bay? If an inject was faulty I'm guessing it would smoke alot?

Thanks again

Aux heater has its own fuel pump at the rear with the car pump. Fuse 5 in engine bay isolates the heater.

GrumpyGel said:

Don't know what actuates the FBH and whether it has its own temp sensor that has failed

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The FBH is switched on with a simple thermostatic switch mounted behind the front bumper. It does have its own internal temperature sensor, which the control board uses to determine the firing rate. Once the internal temperature sensor detects the coolant at 45°C the firing rate drops off to 50%, and at 75°C it shuts the FBH down completely.

Kinger032007 said:

Does anyone know where the auxiliary heater takes fuel from? Is it direct from the tank or tee in the bay?

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It's taken from the tank, with the pump being near the low pressure fuel pump in front of the RH rear wheel.

Like I said, at full power it burns ½ a litre per hour, so it isn't really going to be responsible for a huge drop in MPG.

Interestingly my FL2 has dropped in MPG by about 5 MPG since I've blanked the EGR valve.