The 2wd fuel economy experiment!

So off to Cornwall for a week early tomorrow morning, driving from thetford in easy anglia, disconnected the prop again and brimmed the tank until it won't take anymore fuel. Zeroed the milage and will report back how many miles it does to a full tank, provided I don't break down! Be interesting to see what the difference is.

I bet it's 4mpg more - my old 2.0DL did that

Hope the weather improves for you unless you're planning to go off roading. Have a nice one.

nickcc said:

Hope the weather improves for you unless you're planning to go off roading. Have a nice one.

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Don't think he will be doing that with no prop lolol!

Lots of tractors (proper ones) down here if he does, just hope he doesn't get stuck behind any

I got 353 miles from a full tank, had a little cough and the needle was rift down so it's as much as I dared to run it! Anyone know what that is in MPG as I can't be bothered to work it out?

Mrfulwell said:

I got 353 miles from a full tank, had a little cough and the needle was rift down so it's as much as I dared to run it! Anyone know what that is in MPG as I can't be bothered to work it out?

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You should have then filled the tank and seen how many litres it took to brim it. The tank holds 13 Gallons so if it was full to start and drained empty to finish you got 27 mpg - not good - I am getting 36+mpg with prop connected and a duff VCU - just changed it for recon one and there is 370 mls on clock with over a quarter of a tank left!

Why didn't you just buy a small 4x4 with selectable 2wd/4wd, it would have been a lot easier if fuel economy was such a concern.

I averaged 31 mpg from Exeter A/P back to Helston 99% A30 @ about 80 mph ish. Does rise to about 34 mpg if you keep to 70.

chromiumuk said:

Why didn't you just buy a small 4x4 with selectable 2wd/4wd, it would have been a lot easier if fuel economy was such a concern.

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not a concern just an experiment!

i got 42mpg on a 270 mile run 70 miles town 200 moterway 70/80 ish
td4 manual had it serviced and egr removed now so may do better

Just converted my 1.8 freelander and not only am I getting better mileage 32ish the ride is much better, and I no longer hold my breath when doing a U turn lol looking forward to having a set of tyres for longer than six months. My prop is now retired to my garage until winter when I will refit it until the sun shines again.

Tomtig said:

Just converted my 1.8 freelander and not only am I getting better mileage 32ish the ride is much better, and I no longer hold my breath when doing a U turn lol looking forward to having a set of tyres for longer than six months. My prop is now retired to my garage until winter when I will refit it until the sun shines again.

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Your VCU must be siezed solid I would say

I had mine in 2wd for ages while trying to find a noise from the rear. it saved 1-2 miles per gallon. Just done a run with a huge roof box on and it has averaged approx 38/39 mpg.
Oh and now putting the noise down to rear bushes, thought it was a rear drive shaft and the noise went away after changing it and has slowly come back, so my thoughts are that removing rear link arms whilst changining driveshafts helped for a while but as they have settled back in it's now as it used to be, so there must be some wear in them although i've had it on ramps many times for this and can't find anythingthat sticks out.

Dropped my props and VCU off last week, acceleration has improved and the auto gear changes are faster, not filled up yet, as only cover low mileage, so don't know if the fuel consumption has improved. Sod of a job to get the front prop off the VCU as the yoke had seized onto the splined shaft, loads of WD40 and a large hammer and chisel (wedge) eventually solved the problem.

I get about 34mpg on a brimmed tank, and that's on home made bio. Cheap as chips! Smells like em too. Haha!

I am yet to refit the propshaft that came supplied with my 2L diesel that has been running in FWD over the summer. Should I be careful when refitting it to check anything else or just bosh it on and see if it feels ok? Looks like a simple mechanical fit at either end plus the supports in the centre, but could the rear drivetrain have suffered from sitting unused?

If everything was OK when it was removed then it should be OK after refitting. Make sure that the centre bearings brackets are correctly lined up with the prop or you could end up with noisy bearings or even bearing failure. Did you remove the drive train or was it removed when you bought the car, most drive trains are removed when there is a problem (seized VCU or IRD/diff failure) if the props and VCU were missing when you bought the car be prepared for problems.

It was removed by the previous owner, or at least by the specialist he used in Edinburgh. He allowed me to speak to the mechanic directly to confirm the car's history etc and I'm confident it was only removed to save fuel (just being used as their family car around town).

I'd like to try green lanes/off roading though so she's going back on!

How do I ensure the brackets are lined up with the prop? The mounting holes are elongated in the front-back direction but there's no room for movement side to side. Is the best way to re-install to loosely install the centre brackets, tighten both ends of the prop correctly into place then nip up the centre's last?

It will be interesting to see the result, but I won't be taking the prop off mine. I bought it to be four wheel drive. Whilst having a problem with the vcu and Ird before Christmas it was in front wheel drive for a while I didn't like the sloppy/light feel of the steering and the way it went round corners. I'm not a millianaire but stuff what it can do mpg wise it drives much better in 4wd ( and even better again now it's stood on Pirrelli Scorpions)

Just my opinion based on my experience of 2wd and 4wd in a 99 1.8