Over the Australia Day weekend, we did a five day cruise, where I found the fuel economy of my CRD turning crapola, way higher than before, even when doing a lot of low range driving. The Patrol in all other respects ran fine and showed no signs of having any issues, but on the third day the fuel gauge was dropping like a stone. I couldn't find anything wrong and on the fourth day after filling right up the night before, I decided to check the MAF.
The first thing I noticed was that the air cleaner was the wrong way up, the rubber double lip was at the top (obviously the cleaner was checked at the 60K service, but was put back incorrectly - something I'll point out to the service department). Other than the guts of the MAF being covered in a layer of dust, there was no oil residue or anything else nasty looking within; that said, I used some contact cleaner and gave the unit a good clean to get rid of the dust layer. Back at Moe on our way home, I filled up fully and for the next two fills, monitored the fuel consumption.
Well, I have to say that the clean must have had a real impact. Despite the fact that one part of the trip saw me getting woeful fuel economy, the average for the trip actually came out at around 15lt/100km (around 1400km travelled before final refill). My fuel consumption has hovered around 13.5lt/100km for some time now (just city/highway driving), but after three fills since the MAF clean, I'm now getting about 12.2lt/100km. If that keeps up, I'll be very happy, as that translates to about 11lt/100km if it were a manual transmission.
Interestingly enough, many say that they find their MAF covered in oil residue, yet mine was completely dry, other than for the dust. But given this experience, I'm going to do more regular checks of the MAF, to see if dust gets in with the air filter correctly fitted and what effect regular cleaning has on fuel economy.
The other thing that I think that this shows is that the CRD ECU does work differently and can control even issues with the MAF, where the Di would at times struggle. I think that this bodes very well indeed for the CRD overall.
Cheers
Ray
The first thing I noticed was that the air cleaner was the wrong way up, the rubber double lip was at the top (obviously the cleaner was checked at the 60K service, but was put back incorrectly - something I'll point out to the service department). Other than the guts of the MAF being covered in a layer of dust, there was no oil residue or anything else nasty looking within; that said, I used some contact cleaner and gave the unit a good clean to get rid of the dust layer. Back at Moe on our way home, I filled up fully and for the next two fills, monitored the fuel consumption.
Well, I have to say that the clean must have had a real impact. Despite the fact that one part of the trip saw me getting woeful fuel economy, the average for the trip actually came out at around 15lt/100km (around 1400km travelled before final refill). My fuel consumption has hovered around 13.5lt/100km for some time now (just city/highway driving), but after three fills since the MAF clean, I'm now getting about 12.2lt/100km. If that keeps up, I'll be very happy, as that translates to about 11lt/100km if it were a manual transmission.
Interestingly enough, many say that they find their MAF covered in oil residue, yet mine was completely dry, other than for the dust. But given this experience, I'm going to do more regular checks of the MAF, to see if dust gets in with the air filter correctly fitted and what effect regular cleaning has on fuel economy.
The other thing that I think that this shows is that the CRD ECU does work differently and can control even issues with the MAF, where the Di would at times struggle. I think that this bodes very well indeed for the CRD overall.
Cheers
Ray