Wednesday, Nov 24, 2004 at 11:27
Russell,
A couple of things about the Prado and fuel economy and performance,
a) Tyres - These make a big difference. When I went from the Grand
Treks to the BFG AT (same size), the fuel economy dropped by about 1-2lt/100km.
b) Cat Convertor - Unless your prado is the third revision (made after 2000), it will not have a Cat Convertor,
It has been noted that generally Petrol Prado's have good fuel economy until around 80,000 km. After that it starts to decline to the 20lt/100 km around town.
Several areas need checking to restore fuel economy and performance.
1) Air Flow Sensor - This is located just afer the air cleaner. This may need cleaning as the sensors may have a very fine layer of dust, which in turn effects the ECU control of the engine. Most people clean the Air Flow Sensor with "carbie cleaner". Care should be taken when cleaning this as the mechanism is fairly delicate and will cost in excess of $300 to replace if you are too heavy handed.
2) Throttle Body - This is located just prior to the inlet manifold. Over time, due to the condensation of oil from the PCV pipe, the various valves (incluing the idle solenoid) may become gummed up with oil residue. Most people clean this with "carbie cleaner", but care again must be taken with the throttle sensor and the idle solenoid when using the carbie clean.
3) Injectors - These may be needed to be ultrasonically cleaned, as the esters in petrol over time will produce a plastic like coating on the nozzles, which inturn effects the spray patterns etc. To clean is a specialist job.
4) Service-able items - Air Cleaner, Fuel Filter, spark plugs should all be regularly checked and replaced depending on condition, rather than distance covered.
I hope this helps.
Cheers,
Mal
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