Berlingo 1.6 petrol, poor fuel consumption??

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Taipan
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Berlingo 1.6 petrol, poor fuel consumption??

Post by Taipan »

Hi All

I borrowed a 1.6 petrol Berlingo multispace to go to Spain in. Nice and comfy car with 5 of us in and of course a full boot of 5 peoples luggage. Bearing in mind the payload I was still really surprised at just how poor the fuel consumption was! At 70mph it was returning about 25mpg. I'm guessing this isn't right?

Something else that was noticeable was it was pretty gutless on pull away and I'd have to really use the gearbox to keep it going up hills to save having to bury my right foot in the floor and suck yet more juice!

One time I put my foot down to the floor in 5th gear to see how it would pull through the rev range and it did stumble and splutter a few times when doing this.

The car has covered 95k miles and has been regularly serviced. I aske the owner to see if the service history had any receipts for any sensors or suchlike and it doesn't. I had a Picasso 2.0 Hdi that was down on power and a bit juicy and a new MAF sensor transformed that. Do petrols have MAF sensors or is there a sensor or something that was cause poor MPG and performance? Or any other ideas on what could cause this?

Many thanks.
addo
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Post by addo »

The Berlingo isn't aerodynamic, nor is the 1.6 a lugging engine for the task you set it. Slipping clutch, old plugs, dying head gasket, blocked cat are all possible contributors.
Chlorate
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Re: Berlingo 1.6 petrol, poor fuel consumption??

Post by Chlorate »

Doesn't sound terribly surprising if you ask me :twisted:
It's a little petrol, it'll need a lot of revs to get anywhere heavily loaded, if you're used to the 2.0 HDi a lot of things will seem pretty gutless :-D
Taipan wrote: Do petrols have MAF sensors
Many thanks.
Not always, if the engine has an EGR valve then it would certainly. Otherwise either either MAP or MAF would suffice.
A MAF sensor is quite easy to spot, they're often just downstream of the air filter housing before the throttle body.
Taipan wrote: or is there a sensor or something that was cause poor MPG and performance?
Plenty, although the engine management system often tells you there's something wrong with those by illuminating the orange light of pain.
Citroen Xantia Exclusive HDi

previously:
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Peugeot 106 XN... stolen and destroyed by Kent Police :evil:
Taipan
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Re: Berlingo 1.6 petrol, poor fuel consumption??

Post by Taipan »

Thanks for the replies. Worth pointing out that it wasn't always loaded with 5 people and luggage. We did over a tankful of juice whilst in Spain and driving around locally. To be honest I wasnt expecting diesel syle economy from something with the aero dynamics of a barn door but was quite shocked at just how appalling the economy was and also the lack of power.

Over the 3000 miles we did the car used no oil or water. It starts up instantly and sounds sweet. But for me the running wasn't consistently smooth and there was some spluttering when on full throttle but not every time. You could feel it was running better at different times. There is no warning lights up but it did feel like something was starting to play up, maybe a coil pack starting to go?

Perhaps you're all right though. Its just a 1.6 petrol in a big heavy body. That said I have a 2.0 petrol 307cc and I'd struggle to get the mpg that bad even when driving, ahem, enthusiastically! ;) Oh well I did say to the owners I'd ask round in case there was a common fault they suffered from that caused this. As there isnt i'll recommend they get it scanned for fault codes in case there is anything stored in the ecu. I'll also recommend they sell it and get a HDi version! ;D
addo
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Post by addo »

I have found from my limited exposure, that the 1.6 ECUs seem more blighted than other engines. No idea why; it's a motor with great potential that seems to have faults within the controller rather than sensor failures.
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