PD 130 manual 32mpg :(

I'm having issues with the MPG on my A4 Awx engine code with FEC 5 speed manual box.

Its been on VCDS and my amateur readings of the system seemed to show all ok with the exception of the MAF which was a little out of spec.

Coolant temp was showing 90 on the dash and 87 on VCDS so all ok there.

Slight roughness at idle.

Since the read its had a new bosch MAF, new clutch and DMF.

Yet the car is still only managing 32mpg.

My normal driving is conservative, with the usual trip being 11 miles of A road which flows well to work and back with the odd 3 mile trip back and forward if its my turn to do the school run.

I'm not expecting 60 mpg but I feel 32 is somewhat low - oh its non Quattro bu the way.

Have ordered a timing belt locking set and plan on stripping down and checking the static timing as it had a belt back not long before I bought it in August, and the invoice looks less than professional so I'm wondering if it's had a tippex and pray job........

Any suggestions or experience in sorting this out appreciated.

Mark

How are you calculating the 32mpg ?

Manual calculation - fuel in over miles archived - its a sport spec car so doesn't have a computer of note anyway.

cool, so yes, 32 is a bit low, may as well be driving an s4. does it feel as quick as it should ? possible causes, egr, blocked cat, boost fault.

Egr is clear but have now disabled it in any case. The car pulls fairly well but does not feel as positive low down as my 110 afn engined A4. As for the blocked cat idea I wouldn't have a clue how to check that other than to say it just passed a MoT with no issues on the emissions.

Mark

the cat, if blocked will make no difference to emissions. i ahve just removed one from a customers 80 and that was about 75 % blocked with soot. car pulls a whole lot better now. i would unbolt and remove the cat and see whats inside it. its the first thing in the exhaust after the turbo that looks like a small silencer. they are not actually a cat as such so not required for emissions purposes. either replace it or fit a decat pipe. this is a diesel not a petrol. you cannot remove a petrol cat.

How do you diagnose a blocked cat without removal...... ? It seems a bit extreme to have to remove it and peer inside - not massively scientific either as from memory every cat I've ever looked in you couldn't see through from one end to the other.

you can't really. its the ends that you can see that will be blocked.
i suppose the other way would be to test to see if you have high fuel consumption and lack of performance.

Lol...@ the low performance high consumption comment. I hear what you are saying and would accept that as a suitable diagnosis if there were no other possible causes. However as there are that's just going to be a trial and error thing.

yes, i agree. mind you, first thing i would do if it were my car is to get a bypass pipe as even a new unblocked cat is a restriction the turbo works better without. as you said though, its a matter of trial and elimination. no codes, lack of power usually points to amm (maf). you have a new one though (was it from a dealer, plenty of dodgy bosch copies from china on ebay ) so presumably can't be that, so you have to extend the search.