KJ Fuel economy thread

[MierMoto]

I just bought a second hand 2002 2.5 CRD manual with 170000 on the clock. Aside from the odo being faulty (which I'm not sure what to do about and whether that's very legal selling a car with a faulty odo) I've noticed it's using 15ltrs/100km and that's not what expected. I see that you guys mention similar figures. Is this normal? I have an ARB bull bar on it and larger Geolander tyres (can't remember offhand what exactly, but not monster truck size). I measured this on the open country roads with cruise control set at 100km/h.

Is there anything I can do to improve this? Will the chip help or will that just give me more power and that's it? I'm not taking the bull bar off, but may consider changing the wheels.

[bgbazz]

That consumption is far too much. I've got a '03 with the 2.5crd and I normally get between 7.9 and 9.0 litres/100 km's. Lat year, just at the beginning of winter, the consumption went up to around 11/100 and I queried it on this forum. A very helpful bunch of blokes jumped up and told me where to look..turbo hoses etc etc.
It seems my problem was actually the thermostat being stuck open..the motor never got to operating temp and the viscious pump was working all the time. I bought a new thermo, fitted it, had the car serviced, checked ALL the hoses and tightened where needed..instant result!!

Just to clarify, I service my Jeep every 5000kms, timing belt and pulleys every 50,000kms and it seems to be paying off. I check my fuel burn using the odo, the evic and my gps and they all come up with the same result, give or take a cupful.
My KJ has just turned over 150,000 kms and drives like new..nice and tight, quiet and smooth. The 2.5 is a zippy little beast and if you like to 'hoof' it, it will respond very nicely, but you're gunna pay at the pump!!

Check all the hose connections, from the airbox to the turbo, turbo to the intercooler, intercooler to the intake and everything in between and see how you go.

[MierMoto]

Originally Posted by bgbazz

Check all the hose connections, from the airbox to the turbo, turbo to the intercooler, intercooler to the intake and everything in between and see how you go.

Cheers bgbazz. That's good advice. I'll do just that. Someone also told me that I need to check that the car isn't running in something else than 2H. Also whether the hubs might be locked, but that's not possible anyway.

I'll need to take it in for a service anyway, so I'll have them check and get it fixed under the warranty.

I got in the car the other day and closed the door and the handle came off. So, I've had it for less than a month and so far the odo's broken, the handle's off and it's gurgling fuel. Great. I still love this car though.

[bgbazz]

You're welcome mate. Don't think it would be in 4wd..you'd feel it straight away driving on a hard surface and trying to turn..something would break if you did it too long! The two hoses that connect to the turbo have a habit of working loose sometimes and need to be checked periodically..also the pcv is connected to the hose that connects the airbox to the turbo and it's normal for the oily mist to lightly coat the inside of the hoses downstream of that connection and this can cause the hoses to degenerate over time, leading to possible splitting. I take mine off every now and then and give them a good wash in warm water and dishwashing liquid, rinse clean and leave out to dry before putting back on. Dead easy to do and gives you a chance to examine them closely for leaks or splits.

What temp is the motor running at when it's warmed up? My temp gauge sits about a needle width below half on a warm day [35] with the aircon on. As I said earlier, most of my economy woes were caused by the motor running cold all the time.

[MierMoto]

So, got from the mechanics with the news that two of the injectors are blown and the engine has lost compression as a result. They still need to look look at it properly to see if the head isn't cracked too, bit so far it's a fair bit of damage!

Sent from my Windows Phone using Board Express

[bgbazz]

Really sorry to hear that mate..sounds a bit expensive!Will the warranty cover all that?

[agisfang]

I wonder if they will be able to tell you what caused it in the first place?