Poor Mileage Woes in Hyundai Verna

[nickandre]

ok guys i have a new verna 1.6 petrol manual transmission which has run 3000kms till date.
the fuel tank is 43 litres and i usually fill when the indicator lights up and fill to the brim. around 40-41 litres goes in. now hyundai/arai claims 17.03 kmpl so in real life i guess i can expect 15kmpl max right and 13 being the lowest.
so i can expect 560kms per tank with some idling. i travel less into cities and most driving is highways with very less traffic and signals.
i find the foot rest better then the clutch and so does my dad absolutely no clutch riding and half clutch gear changes. and gear changes are aways according to the gear shift indicator at 2500rpms.
the mid shows fe of 13 kmpl but this drops, after one bar drops, the rest drops fast. distance to empty shows 540 when tank full after 50-100kms it shows 400-320kms. a tankful lasts between 390-420/450 kms at the most have tried bp,hp,shell,indian oil from regular to premium to highoctanes the mid shows higher but manual calculations show 8-10kmpl which is highly unacceptable
my other aveo, gives 11 kmpl with same driving i think arai claimed is 13kmpl. Drove my friends vento the same way i drive with tankful for 100 kms and then tankfull till brim again and it gives 14kmpl.
went over to hyundai the first thing they try to teach me is how to drive at 60kmph use very less ac. Fine but my dad has 32 years driving experience, next they connect gscan for codes and say every things fine and then perform an engine tune up, and still say 10kmpl is normal. got fed up tanked up again and no improvements, there is no drop in power, just that my oil is a bit dark brown and has dropped a bit below max. when i got her it was above max. checked other cars and it was above max from factory, during morning starts i get fuel smell from the exhaust with a bit of steam.(i know its supposed to run rich for a while)

so need advice for further action.
hyundai guys just think their right and we are wrong and their feelings and observations are final.

 

[Biddu]

@Nickandre,

Engine Oil must ALWAYS be between min and Max markings, whether in cold or hot condition. Extra Oil in the sump can create its own problems. I bit brown oil is ok normally. Fuel smell from exhaust means the air/fuel mix composition is richer in fuel.

Since the Hyundai guys have checked the Engine using a computer program, there should be no problem there. Try to observe if anything else is impeding the movement of the car/bearing noise etc. Also check if petrol tank has a minor leak, if the cover can leak etc to track the extra petrol consumption.

B

 

[nickandre]

biddu i have other issues in the car to but they say everything is fine, the service manager when quizzed says it should give 15kmpl. BTw i even smelled the engine oil it smells a bit like gasoline not to much though, no smoke from the exhaust just when i rubbed my finger in the exhaust got some black soot on my fingers. no issues with acceleration.
regarding oil over max im not sure why they do that it came from factory that way and other cars dipstick was the same.

 

[Thetraveller]

Best you can do is to ask the service engineers to do an average test with you on board. You might have to pay for the fuel but insist on doing it. That will highlight the problem. I am no technical expert with respects to engines, but it seems like there is some issue with fuel mixture or turbo.

 

[nickandre]

traveller thanks i had asked them for this. they said sure me and dad sit at side while they drive and show the fe, dad said i want it based on my driving style, to which they started making excuses saying sir! it will take time to connect the kit you can leave the car and come back in a few hours dad said we are waiting here, he then took us to meet another manager discussed other issues with the car, and after that i asked him again for the trial to which he says sir its to late now, your fe seems normal, drive at 60 with no ac.

 

[Thetraveller]

Driving at 60 with no ac, what are they kidding? Best FE any way comes in the range of 1800-2200 RPM, which on normal gearing transcends to 80-100 kmph in 5th. Can you get hold of any other Verna of similar make and try driving it and check FE on it? I am sure there is some issue, which is not easy to identify or big one to own.

 

[nickandre]

drove my friends vento same way at 120kmph gave 14 kmpl we filled right till top and topped again after 15 mins then drove for 100kms and topped up taking in 7 litres. did same on my car but it took 11 litres.

 

[Biddu]

@Nickandre,

This first part is a reply to your observation that the Engine sump Oil smells a bit of Gasolene. Gasolene = Petrol should evaporate at room temperature as the boiling point is -5C if I remember correctly. However if you think that you are getting SOOT in the engine Oil, there may be blowpast from the piston rings. This means that when the fuel mixture ignites (which causes the high pressure in the combustion chamber) part of this is leaking past the piston rings to your sump. This is BAAAAAD!!
Kindly do the following immediately.
Take a filter paper and put one drop of the sump oil using the dip stick on to this paper. Keep the filter paper stored for a day and then see it against the light. You will observe concentric circles made by the oil, the outermost if very light (not brown at all)and very narrow band may be made by water / diesel / petrol if present in the sump. Next will be the Oil bands(One or two) and in the centre will be the circle where you will get dirt/carbon products etc concentrated along with small amount of dirt oil. This needs to be compared with sump oil from another car of similar make with about same number of kms run on the oil ( a bit + or - of 500 to 1000 kms is ok).

Again if there is blow past, your coolant temp will be more than normal, there will be loss of power. In any case, blow past is dangerous.

The whole of above is based on what you may have observed. You can ask the service people the normal compression pressure of the cylinder (this is the pressure created when piston is at TDC, all inlet/exhaust valves closed but without the fuel being injected) and the peak pressure (pr. with fuel injected) and check this with the actual compression pressure on your engine for EACH of the cylinder. If the pistons are leaking there will be a loss of compression pressure.

Hope you can get this problem resolved as it seems that the Service people are not very enthusiastic about getting the problem solved and seem to be just fobbing you off.

B

 

[Biddu]

Sorry, I meant Piston rings instead of piston (last line) in the second to last paragraph!

B

 

[nickandre]

biddu coolant temperatures are normal and no loss of power, engine oil consumption seems to be within tolerable limits which is 1litre/1500kms. my only doubt is that my engine is running rich but there is no check engine light and as per service guys gscan has'nt put up any codes, it may be an o2 sensor or air intake sensor but theres no check lights. btw after that day when they did an engine tune up while travelling in crawling traffic if i dont press the gas the engine knocks abit the rpms drops and then stabilizes or there is a bit of judders this never happened before. and do you suppose that the piston rings wouldve gone in such a new car by the way this fe has been low since i got the car it only gave 13kmpl 2 times when i filled in speed97 (high octane) gas.

seniors will be checking my car next week as i have issues with my suspension (the front suspension squeaks and rear is extremely bouncy or crashes in potholes)

 

[Biddu]

Piston rings can wear off if
1. Bad / Wrong Material used in manufacture of rings.
2. Wrong dimension piston rings used.

I had suggested you the methods (for blowpast) in the earlier post as you had said that sump oil smells of Gasolene and has soot in it.

I would suggest that you go to "Mahindra 1st choice" Garage and get your car checked, get their opinion on the engine scans so you have a second opinion.

B

 

[nickandre]

wont going to mahindra 1st choice void my warranty bidu?

 

[Biddu]

@Nickandre,

As far as my understanding goes, getting a car checked should not void your car's warranty. In fact even if you go to a Garage where computerised records are kept and they give you a printed Invoice recording the parts serviced, number of hrs/kilometers at the time of service etc. your warranty should remain valid.

Does it specifically say in the Warranty that the car cannot be shown to any other Garage/Service Center except the Hyundai ones? I have my doubt if it has been listed as such. Of course your Hyundai service people can be a big pain in the neck if they insist that it is so, even if not listed. Anyaway, a scanning does not require any change of parts etc. so it can be done safely by a third party without the hyundai service centre knowing anything about it.

B

 

[nickandre]

thanks biddu will go next month as i will be out of country for a few days. hyundai said they will send seniors my service centre said on monday the seniors are going to have a discussion with them on that very day but still no feedback from the service centre.

i have a query my aveo which is driven more in traffic and is at 1.35lakh kms gives me 11kmpl and this car which is driven say 35% into traffic gives me 9kmpl, is it something not normal?

 

[Biddu]

The best course of action would be to test drive with the Hyundai Service people on a Highway and see the average consumption. The service people have a calibrated Petrol/Diesel/Gas container where the amount of fuel is fixed and marked. If the consumption is as per the Factory test (pls ask them the range of consumption variation in +/- kms/litre, which is given in the type test certificate for this model of the car and is issued by a testing authority like the ARAI). This test may give a lot of feedback.

B