THIRSTY PETROL PATROLS

Robert, The power and charisma of a petrol soon wans when you pull up at the bowser, get a turbo diesel. More grunt than the xmas ham, and right sort of economy. Regards...

extractors,2.5 inch pipeand muffler, and finer air filters, plus a good tune.Col

Thats just a bit much for a 4.2 lit petrol yet almost impossible for the 3 lit motor(on the bitumen). Should get 24 - 17 lit/100km from the 4.2 lit and 22- 12lit/100km for the 3 lit motor personally I liked the 3lit donk because if you nursed it it got good economy but if you thrashed it it would outperform the bigger donk for the same fuel economy - very underrated and misunderstood motor the 3 lit.
Try a tune up,check the carby and air filter, get some extractors and a 50-50 mix of ulp and premium.

good luck
Kez

Robert,
Power always comes at a cost. I have a 90 model petrol maverick. Lots more than the 86 Turbo Mk I have, even thought the turbo diesel has been rebuilt, runs 15 PSI Boost, 2.5 exhaust etc. Even a mate of mine with a 91 Ti T/D that pumps out 165hp at rear wheels and 900 FT/LB of torque is somewhat better on power than the TB42 petrol although different in the type of power. My point is to get a diesel to go like a petrol you have to spend quite a bit, particulary if u have to add a turbo, tune it etc. From your calulations you r getting 4 kms per litre. SHOCKING. I get around 5.5-6 kms per litre. Std tank is 90 litre. U say 60 litre. Is that the sub tank and does yours have gas as well. Mine runs straight ULP, 33 BFG's and has an sub tank as well. I have done 2 desert crossings averaging around 5 kms per litre. What tyres do you run and what diff ratios have u got? Mine std was 3.9 and it chewed the fuel. 4.3 diffs made quite a difference. No extractors yet, however I had the carby rebuilt and electronic ignition. If u have points, change it to a pirahana kit, it will stay tuned better for longer. Hope it helps and go the petrol power! Great on the dunes on the french line.
Red Rover

I get 500-600 km from the 95 litre tank on my 95 GQ ST3 Petrol (3.0 litre carby).

I've got extractors, 2.5" exhaust, hiclone (helped more with power than economy), and use PULP.

Biggest improvement to ecomony came when I got the vacuum advance fixed in the dizzy.

Robert,

You didn't say whether it's an auto or manual? Also since you say it has a 60-litre tank I assume it must be on gas. Before I bought my vehicle all the vehicles I drove on petrol/gas were lacking in performance as compared to just petrol only. It may have just been the vehicles themselves rather than them being on gas, but I assume that a vehicle on petrol/gas has to have a compromise in regard to tuning so that it runs on both petrol and gas?
I own a GQ manual LWB (petrol only) which when I first purchased was getting the same dismal fuel consumption as you state. Two things have improved my fuel consumption:
1. When taking off from standing starts I use 2nd gear not 1st gear unless I am on a steep incline or towing /carrying heavy loads.
2. I Make sure that all gear changes are done when the tacho is in the recommended rev range, rather than changing up earlier to avoid revving the engine in the belief that your going to save fuel.

Hope this helps

I gotta say...I liked Kezza's response. My GQ cost me $10,000 cash, just as good as a new one with no monthly repayments, no expensive services to keep warranty, no worries about scratches and dings...yep I pay a bit extra for fuel but the overall savings are HEAPS more than anyone with a new model turbo diesal. With extractors and 3 inch exhaust, front and rear diff locks and 33 inch muddies, she still goes off road with absolutely no hesitation, tackles long range touring (with a bit of extra thought about fuel) with no problems and jumps off the line at the lights....I reckon it will be a long time before I would even consider getting into huge debt to "upgrade" to a newer model...give me my thirsty old petrol!!!

Just another way of thinking...
Cheers
Grazza

I wouldnt mind hearing from the original robert re the questions posed.

Yeay Grazza

thanks -


To the other robert - (I think you need to do more reading between the lines when you read my stuff)

you still missed my point, I dont care what a holden barina weighs (you compare barinas with a patrol and yet you cant figure where Im comiing from???? ) I dont care right now what the anti 4wd lobby says either.

The patrol is built on a 3 tonne truck chassis thats a fact. It is heavier than a car chassis or subframe thats a fact. The patrol IS a heavy vehicle because its designed to do a hard job carrying a lot of weight. It rarely spends any time at its unlaiden weight mine weighed around 2.4tonnes last time I ran it over the weighbridge and that was my standard fit out (no passengers and their gear).


A barina??????
If you start comparing barinas to GQ patrols you will confuse far more people than I ever will. Because there is NO comparison worth discussing . I also was a professional driver for 10 yrs (always will be too) .
In my experienced opinion the performance,handling, braking and build/weight etc of the barina cannot be compared to a small truck.

- If you need to defend the unlaiden weight and fuel consumption of a Patrol then you have different agendas to me and thats ok - just dont cloud the issues of the original question and my answer.

To the forum in general -

All I have to add is that yes changing the gearing will improve fuel consumption but no good in the bush - but ok in town

Again Toorak tractor vs working ORV.
If the thing spends little or no time in the bush Why have it?

I notice lots of issues regarding the compromises to be made by having a dedicated offroader (fuel consumption, tyres, parts accessories etc).
Fact is what does it do? Whats important to you?. If you want good fuel consumption buy a commodore, I really got a kick out of a post a few months back - people were having winge because they cant get an offroad tyre that does 200kph and still goes rockhopping? Cant have everything I guess.

Admittedly roberts patrol is too thirsty I dont think we have all the info as yet. ie, Is it gas? 60 or 95 lit tank? etc etc


I like the GQ 3lit petrol motor for reasons expressed in past posts of mine (I hate repeating stuff) it is very economical yet when worked to it powerband quite high performance.

cheers
kezza

Robert,
I also meant to say that a cheap investment in a ecomony vacum guage is worth while. You will be surprised what a lead foot you might have!
Red Rover

You should have just bought a toyota!!!

Truckster, Only found the site yesterday.
talk to you later.

Robert,

I put a 350 Holley on my 4.2 litre petrol DX Patrol and I get roughly 10L/100 km give or take a litre or two . It's far better than the standard carby but there is a bit of suffing around eg. new accellerator cable and a adaptor plate which I got made at a foundry.

Well worth while and cheap, Holley $350 , cable $60 , plate $60.

Do it your self easy and cheap

P.S Thats with no towing or offroad yet