Ford Econetic Engines - do you trust the fuel gauge?!

[Michaeljcox24]

I bought a 13 plate focus zetec the weekend which seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to fuel usage. It's the 1 litre turbo model, econetic engine.

If someone can explain how the Ford econetic engines calculate how much juice you've got left in laymans terms then they are a magician. I got in the car today after work and it said I had 122 miles on the dash.

When I had got to the Co op in West Brom, 9 miles away, the gauge had gone down to 79 miles, suggesting I had used 40 miles worth of juice travelling 9 miles. Wtf?!

So then I got back in the car after a swift visit to the chippy and it the available juice had gone back up to 103 miles.

Is it just me?! The Sales lad told me 'not to trust it', but surely to God it can't be that bad?

 

[maniac]

I'm not a car guru by any means but could it be that you were parked on a slope when you went to co op so the fuel in the tank isn't level?

 

[SavageCupcake]

How were you driving? A friend of mine has a 63 plate fiesta with the same engine and if he gives it some boot the miles remaining goes down a fair bit.

 

[Michaeljcox24]

Didnt go faster than 40 the whole trip. Never floored it.

 

[Noz_God]

It works it out from how much petrol the engine is using, things that is uses for that are engine load, average mpg and lots of other data the ecu gets. That's why when u start it up from cold it will show less miles than 10 mile down the road when it has warmed up. They are not totally accurate and how meany miles you have left in the tank can change in one trip just because the way you drive has changed.

I work on cars and trucks for a living by the way

 

[Damien c]

I currently have a Ford Focus 1.6TD Econetic Estate as a company car although it's going back to the company next month, but that's a whole other story right there.

Got the car in January last year with just 60 miles on the clock.

The read out when I fill the tank says I have 500 miles worth of fuel but I normally get between, 400 and 450 out of a tank dependent on how I drive it.

If I stick to 70 on the motorway and drive like a nun around town etc I can normally squeeze 550 out of a tank of fuel, but if I drive at 80 on the motorway and abit silly with the acceleration around town it drops to the mileage above.

I have noticed that if I drive to work and use the cruise control the amount of miles it displays won't go down but, instead will actually go up and it will do that even after doing 2 days worth of driving to the office and back which is around 60 miles for 2 days.

I noticed 1 day when I took the car out and I was in a bad mood and just floored it everywhere being stupid, that I used a quarter of a tank of fuel with only driving around 50 miles and I think the display said I had lost around 200 miles worth of fuel but then the next, day when I went out and drove normally it gained around 130 miles back.

I just never trust the read out on them though, as one day it said I had 120 miles left but the fuel light was on and that meant I only had 50 miles at a push.

 

[Spiderz]

Lots of cars pull the same trick, my Seat Mii does a similar trick and can just about squeeze 450 miles out a tank but after a fill up the trip computer will show maybe 425 and still show it after covering about 120 miles. The next 150 miles it drops like a stone though. It's to do with how the car is receiving data on the fuel tank about how full it is and it can also relate to how you are parked i.e. on an incline.

P.s. Almost got myself one of they Fiestas but couldn't get my local Ford to do a deal . Still would kill for that engine in my Mii.

 

[Michaeljcox24]

So what exactly do you trust on these econetic engines? The analogue needle like in the good old days?

 

[jamesriley94]

The read outs are actually designed to be inaccurate and overstate the amount of fuel you've got left. That way the company can't be blamed if the gauge says 10 miles left in the tank by the time you've actually run out of fuel. I've got a 2009 KA, and the fuel read out goes to '-----' as soon as I hit 30/35 miles left in the tank.

It does depend heavily on the angle the car is parked at though. If I'm parked on a sideways slope like I have to at my uni accommodation it either adds or takes away 1/8 of a tank to what I actually have. The gauge then won't go back above that until I restart the engine to re-initialise it - instead it stays at that read out until the fuel actually drops below that level.

It's a bit odd really. I imagine it's the same with most cars in reality though.

 

[Spiderz]

On any car I'd go by working out your own average consumption, knowing the tank size and knowing how far you have travelled on X amount of fuel so far.

 

[SuB]

It's only a rough estimate it's more of a "You've got this much left if you drive like you are doing" and usually has a mile or two's delay on it's estimates. Some are faster (300 yards in a renault) some are slower (mile or two in my peugeot)

If you floor it, it'l drop down because you're using move fuel so it'l average that out over what it thinks you have left.

If you drive eco'ish (or get stuck behind some dick who doesn't know that 35/40 on a 60 road in 'mist' not bloody fog is ridiculous) then the number will start to increase gradually because your 'range' will go up because you're using less fuel on average.

You'll get used to it, but just take it with a pinch of salt really, if it says you have 200 miles of range (for example) and you're in the red on the tank, I'd say it's probably broken lol

When your fuel light comes on you typically have anything from 25 ~ 40 miles in the tank (depends on your car, i'll get about 40 out of mine at a push).

You'll get used to it.