Excessive fuel consumption

[jagnut66]

Hi,
I hope you don't mind me picking you brains but a friend of mine has a Morris 1100 which he says he thinks is burning far too much fuel, I've suggested refurbing the carb, as he reckons the engine is running fine apart from this but I said I'd raise the question on here, as it will a 1098 A series in his car the same as in Minors.
Any suggestions / pointers would be welcome and I will pass them onto him.
Many thanks,
Mike.

[lambrettalad]

hi 30 -37 mpg depending on how I drive,same engine as your mates

[simmitc]

Are there any other symptoms - misfiring, poor acceleration/top speed? What mpg is he getting, and on what sort of journey and driving? Generally, a good engine service will cure most things other than binding brakes and leaking tank / pipes. Is the car heavily loaded or have a roof rack? Has it been modified in any way?

[bmcecosse]

Used to be possible to get 40 mpg from an 1100 - but only with v careful driving. The usual checks - dragging brakes/soft tyres/carb flooding/general engine condition (compression check) etc etc Colour of spark plugs after a good run??

[jagnut66]

Thanks everyone.

I will pass all this onto him, if anyone thinks of any more possible causes then I will pass these on also.

The way he presented it to me is that he's getting significantly less than 38 mpg, which is the figure I thought right / quoted to him for a 1098 engine. ('Nothing like that' were his words.)
Best wishes,
Mike.

[bmcecosse]

Well - if used for short runs/traffic etc - it WILL be significantly less than 38 mpg.....

[jagnut66]

Another good point, all of this will be put to him when I see him tomorrow....
Any more??
Cheers.

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Wrong distributor fitted? Timing retarded? This uses much more fuel and is not always obvious as a cause.

On my 803cc, I was only getting high 20's to low 30's economy, but since I advanced the timing I got over 40 mpg.

[jagnut66]

I printed these answers off for him and he said he's very grateful, given him food for thought............
Best wishes,
Mike.