Rover 200 & 400 Owners Club

Siwhiteside1 wrote:Sir Henry thanks for info although my motor is completely standard I fill it to the top with optimax drive steadily and still only get 124 miles think I need to check all injectors spark plugs fuel line then check ecu cause I can't check over fueling without rolling road proper anoyin but I think that's the best thing cause I'm getting a full decat system and looking into cams also do u know anyone who's tuned a turbo before could do with some ideas on mods nice one

What speed does it idle at? Are the fans running all the time? ECU coolant temp sensors are a common failure on them and this will give poor economy.

If you are caning it everywhere then economy will be poor. If you drive sedately over 35mpg is possible.

Cams are expensive for the low power gain on standard internals.

Fatdave wrote: you can up the boost yourself with a manual boost controller but dont go any higher than 14 psi.

12 psi is the safe limit for the engine. Any more and you risk a complete engine rebuild. Some people get away with it, some do not. Most will not get away with it for long periods.

Have you checked the integrity of the fuel return pipe? Recently I had to empty an almost a full tank of fuel from my 216 cabbie (The Nipper) as he'd been stood for 3 or 4 years with it in there. Rather than mess about trying to drain it the official way I just disconnected the return pipe and replaced it temporarily with a longer pipe which lead to a couple of 20 litre Jerry Cans and then ran the engine at idle. You would be very surprised at just how quickly I filled those cans!

In a similar vein I had a very bad fuel leak on The Old Girl (the Shadow) when some kind person took pity on her for the amount of fuel she had to carry and tried to drain it by cutting through the fuel pipe. Fortunately it's stainless steel braided hose so they didn't manage to cut all the way through. Plus it won't self-syphon unless there's well over a half tank. At 110 litres I don't fill it all that often!

E_T_V wrote:12 psi is the safe limit for the engine. Any more and you risk a complete engine rebuild. Some people get away with it, some do not. Most will not get away with it for long periods.

ran both turbos ive owned at 14 and never had any trouble. the last coupe i had had been running 14 for almost 3 years with no issues. i dont drive them hard though so i guess that helps.

E_T_V wrote:

Siwhiteside1 wrote:Sir Henry thanks for info although my motor is completely standard I fill it to the top with optimax drive steadily and still only get 124 miles think I need to check all injectors spark plugs fuel line then check ecu cause I can't check over fueling without rolling road proper anoyin but I think that's the best thing cause I'm getting a full decat system and looking into cams also do u know anyone who's tuned a turbo before could do with some ideas on mods nice one

What speed does it idle at? Are the fans running all the time? ECU coolant temp sensors are a common failure on them and this will give poor economy.

If you are caning it everywhere then economy will be poor. If you drive sedately over 35mpg is possible.

Cams are expensive for the low power gain on standard internals.

Idles at normal poition just below 1000rpm fans are not running all the time,what does the ecu coolant temp sensor do/my engine temp seems to be functional it sits below half where my last few rovers used to any more ideas would be appreciated and any tuning ideas would be too thanks

Usually any overfuelling will present as sooty deposits on the spark plugs. In extreme circumstances the first one removed even from a hot engine may even still be wet with unburnt petrol. As much of the ingnition timing and other setups are so closely controlled by the ECU they rarely go 'out of synch' unless there's been a component failure somewhere along the line. Even so it may be advisable to check the static timing with a timing light. If you remove all the plugs and check for the colour of the tips (a sandy brown is ideal) followed by a good wire brushing with a small brass wire brush and then regapping them you may see an improvement in fuel consumption. Another simple test is to park the car in a shady spot or wait until late dusk you may see faint sparks around the plug leads if they're on the way out.

Fuel tank leaks are also common so have a sniff under the back of the car to see if there is a leak. If so the tank will likely need replacing.

Have you had any luck in finding the source of the problem?

Despite the often long queues at the nearest petrol station (morrisons as I collect the 'Miles points') I was able to top up The Nipper yesterday to find out what he's doing in terms of economy. Although I'm pretty certain that he needs a new thermostat (ordered for collection tomorrow) and I've only run him for short local journeys he only used 30 litres over the past 230 miles. I calculate that as being, near as dammit, 35 MPG! I would expect much more on a run, especially after I've replaced the 'stat.

However the Monterey has done almost 300 miles since I brimmed the tank and it's still showing a half tank left. As that's mostly filtered WVO with some used sump oil and used ATF in the mix (plus 5% unleaded) it seems that it's by far the most economical car in my fleet.

In fault finding make sure you cover all the simple things first; plugs air filter obviously plus good quality fuel and a regular dose of fuel injection cleaner in the tank!

Worked with my previous 216 gsi [gone to a Bristol scrapyard some time ago] when it had a poor tick over and poor consumption after running on Sainsburys unleaded for awhile.

cheers