Hey everybody! I have a 95' Ibiza GLX, with a 1.4 ABD, it's been in my hands for a bit over 2 years, 121k miles.
I've got mixed feelings about it, I like it and I hate it
It makes basically little to no vibration, it's quiet, the services are really cheap, and it's quick until 5th gear.
But the main thing that concerns me is the MPG figure of it, 26.
26 mpg man, that's crippling (even on the highway). It was worse before, it was extremely low on power, so we changed the gasket underneath the SPi module (the fancy carb thing), and the distributor. After that, the car went like a cartoon compared to what it was when I first bought it.
Also, I noticed that my exhaust pipe has a really thick black soot on it, according to the internet, the engine is running rich, but you can't adjust the mixture on your own, the ECU does it. I found some old manual for the Mono-Jetronic injection system, and apparently it uses a set of parameters to adjust the mixture, mainly the Lambda sensor.
Went to the mechanic, found out somebody ripped the sensor and the catalytic converter out!
"How did it pass MOT then?", well in Bosnia, you pretty much just have to have working brakes, and a running engine and it passes. So yeah, nothing was "wrong" with it until I got my hands on it.
What I want to ask is, as the car is going to be mine soon and my dad will gift it to me as I finally found a job, it's going to be my problem from now on, how should I go with this?
Drill a hole and fit a brand new lambda sensor to the pipe directly without the cat?
Go LPG?
Digifant injection from a related VW engine? (that would be a bolt on basically)
Some sort of maintenance that I haven't done yet?
Reset the ECU somehow?
Combination of the above?
I know this engine isn't the best in the world, but major work (such as swaps) are out of the question. I would be happy with is 35mpg or possibly 38! (city and/or highway).
I drive with a light foot, and the car won't be going over 50mph.
People suggest to replace it, but I love her so much, it's going to be hard, I learned to drive in it!
Any help would be appreciated! I used the search function and it returned an unfinished post from 2008.
Thanks!
I've got mixed feelings about it, I like it and I hate it
It makes basically little to no vibration, it's quiet, the services are really cheap, and it's quick until 5th gear.
But the main thing that concerns me is the MPG figure of it, 26.
26 mpg man, that's crippling (even on the highway). It was worse before, it was extremely low on power, so we changed the gasket underneath the SPi module (the fancy carb thing), and the distributor. After that, the car went like a cartoon compared to what it was when I first bought it.
Also, I noticed that my exhaust pipe has a really thick black soot on it, according to the internet, the engine is running rich, but you can't adjust the mixture on your own, the ECU does it. I found some old manual for the Mono-Jetronic injection system, and apparently it uses a set of parameters to adjust the mixture, mainly the Lambda sensor.
Went to the mechanic, found out somebody ripped the sensor and the catalytic converter out!
"How did it pass MOT then?", well in Bosnia, you pretty much just have to have working brakes, and a running engine and it passes. So yeah, nothing was "wrong" with it until I got my hands on it.
What I want to ask is, as the car is going to be mine soon and my dad will gift it to me as I finally found a job, it's going to be my problem from now on, how should I go with this?
Drill a hole and fit a brand new lambda sensor to the pipe directly without the cat?
Go LPG?
Digifant injection from a related VW engine? (that would be a bolt on basically)
Some sort of maintenance that I haven't done yet?
Reset the ECU somehow?
Combination of the above?
I know this engine isn't the best in the world, but major work (such as swaps) are out of the question. I would be happy with is 35mpg or possibly 38! (city and/or highway).
I drive with a light foot, and the car won't be going over 50mph.
People suggest to replace it, but I love her so much, it's going to be hard, I learned to drive in it!
Any help would be appreciated! I used the search function and it returned an unfinished post from 2008.
Thanks!
