Date:         Thu, 8 Feb 96 15:27:11 EST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Aaron Sedgmen <asedgmen@bmr.gov.au>
Subject:      Re: gas milage on a 75 fuely

Matt writes:

>this new bus i have does not seem to be getting good gas milage.  what do 
>the rest of you out there get with your?  mine is a stock fi 1800cc motor 
>with a full auto trans.  it is a westy so i know that it weighs more, but 
>8-10 mpg, something is wrong.  it is still stalling when cold, so this 
>may be part of it, but right now i have no time to track it down.  how 
>about the rest of you?  what kind of milage shoult i get?

>thanks and God Bless
>matt

My '74, carburetted, manual, 1800 camper will get 18-22 mpg on the 
open road at speeds of 90-100 km/hr, depending on wind speed/direction, 
and around town she'll get 16-18 mpg. Figures mentioned by other 
listmembers with buses of similar vintage (ie 1800, 2L '70s) tend 
to agree.  I believe fuel injection will get a few more mpg than 
carburettors, but on the other hand an automatic trans will get less 
mpg than a manual trans.

At any rate 8-10 mpg is not good. If my kombi started performing like 
this, I would:
 Check the valve clearances
 Inspect, regap points and do the timing
 Regap or replace sparkplugs
 Do a compression test
 Check for fuel leaks in the fuel lines and connections, and the rubber
 hose that connects the filler hole to the fuel tank
 Make sure the brakes are functioning properly (ie releasing properly)
 Check carbies, or in your case, FI (I must admit I leave any major carby 
 work to the FLAP).

I'd imagine that if it was due to something other than a fuel leak, you 
would surely be noticing a marked lack in power and/or a rough running 
engine such as stumbling on acceleration, miss firing under load, 
backfiring, blowing smoke, etc.? 

Anyway I hope this is of some help.

Cheers 

Aaron Sedgmen
'74 camper
asedgmen@agso.gov.au