Scary Mpg

[gary2009]

Hi all

Just worked out my fuel consumption to just over 16mpg around town ,now i know these cars are not the greatest in the world on fuel but surely this is signs to say something is seriously wrong.Iv read that people have constantly driven them in snow mode which has helped them with fuel but surely this isnt good for the car ?Also would mixing super unleaded with the normal 95 stuff cause any issues?Iv also heard that sometimes changing the o2 sensor or something can help even though there isnt a warning light coming up.Its getting so bad that im seriously considering getting rid of the lex as much as i love the car but hopefully it wont come to that,but if it did what sort of price would i be looking at?Its a 2000 w reg se auto with full lexus history and 108,500 miles in good condition but just a key scratch on the quarter panel.

Any help would be greatly recieved as i really dont want to get rid of her.

gary

[kam05]

Your car may need a service? New plugs, filters (oil & air) and new oil may help?

Any warning lights on the dash? (engine management light)

[plumo]

i ave done this mate just the other day changed plugs oil and filter and new k&n air filter but mine is still heavy on juice..

[gary2009]

Hi Kam

No engine lights or any other warning lights other than the fuel light lol so im completly confused iv done the service as it was coming up to being due oils plugs etc but still no change .

[fjcfarrar]

Hi Kam

No engine lights or any other warning lights other than the fuel light lol so im completly confused iv done the service as it was coming up to being due oils plugs etc but still no change .

I never managed to get my IS200LE down to 16mpg although it was a manual, so unless you drive very fast or aggressively (I live nearby and there isn't a lot of chance of that) or spend most of your time in crawling traffic; that isn't reasonable. I get about 23-24 from my 5 litre ISF!

Recheck by filling to the brim, making a note of the Odometer reading. When fuel is getting low, fill it to the brim again preferably at the same pump so the car is tilting the same amount, making a note of exactly how many litres it took and the new odometer reading to get the miles driven. Then recalculate mpg, remembering to divide the litres by 4.544 to get gallons. If you have the wrong size tyres/wheels on it can ruin the calculation. This isn't 100% accurate but it is the best you can do without going to a lot of trouble. The official figures are 21 mpg Urban & 28 mpg Combined and you should get a bit nearer that.

[cmcnk06]

same boat as me matey..shes mega greedy.

[gary2009]

Hi Kam

No engine lights or any other warning lights other than the fuel light lol so im completly confused iv done the service as it was coming up to being due oils plugs etc but still no change .

I never managed to get my IS200LE down to 16mpg although it was a manual, so unless you drive very fast or aggressively (I live nearby and there isn't a lot of chance of that) or spend most of your time in crawling traffic; that isn't reasonable. I get about 23-24 from my 5 litre ISF!

Recheck by filling to the brim, making a note of the Odometer reading. When fuel is getting low, fill it to the brim again preferably at the same pump so the car is tilting the same amount, making a note of exactly how many litres it took and the new odometer reading to get the miles driven. Then recalculate mpg, remembering to divide the litres by 4.544 to get gallons. If you have the wrong size tyres/wheels on it can ruin the calculation. This isn't 100% accurate but it is the best you can do without going to a lot of trouble. The official figures are 21 mpg Urban & 28 mpg Combined and you should get a bit nearer that.

To be honest lately iv been driving like an old biddy lol and as you know yourself camberley/sandhurst isnt exactly the greatest roads to get any kind of speed up the wheels and tyres are the ones from standard 17 inch wheels and tyres and iv checked the tyre pressures which are what were in the book so they are all fine so i really dont know what else it could be ,the only other thing is its idling a bit high at around the 1500-2000 mark.The other week i had to go to london and put in 30 quid of petrol and mostly motorway driving i got about 110 miles if i remember right.Im really stumped but it really is seeming like i have to sell it.

Im bloody jelous that you have an isf and you even get more mpg than me lol now doubly jelous lol.

cheers

[Yeldarb]

My 301BHP turbo IS200 does 22MPG on average and 28 if driven like an old lady changing gear at 3000rpm and not using the turbo past .4bar.

Just had a RR session and its lambda 1 all the way up to 4000rpm!!!! with no cats.

[muddyell]

Well i thought mine was pretty thirsty but yours is alot worse mate. 110 miles from £30

I went from cardiff to rugby and back on about £45 and its about 300 mile round trip (roughly)

It seems odd thats its idling so high so id prob get it checked out. Maybe just get a diagnostic report to see if anything shows up even though you have no management light on at the moment. Shouldnt cost you too much and it may show up with something simple

[whiteman]

sounds like you have a problem with your car there mate, can't help without more info but I always get about 400-440 on a full tank of fuel and don't drive liek a fairy and combined motorway and urban driving.. :winky:

[gary2009]

Yeah i think il definetly get it checked out lol how much roughly do you think it would cost?

[Felix]

sounds like you have a problem with your car there mate, can't help without more info but I always get about 400-440 on a full tank of fuel and don't drive liek a fairy and combined motorway and urban driving.. :winky:

are you sure about that? ........ yap...... it's about right....

mine is auto, always get 300 - 340....... maybe I am bit nutty....

P.S. call AA or RAC, tell them you warning light came on or felt lost half of the power, they will check the error code on their laptop and give you are report if there is anything wrong with it.

BTW, clean your AMS is a good idea too.....

[Bazza]

My 301BHP turbo IS200 does 22MPG on average and 28 if driven like an old lady changing gear at 3000rpm and not using the turbo past .4bar.

Just had a RR session and its lambda 1 all the way up to 4000rpm!!!! with no cats.

hardly relevant as you are running a different engine

[ormi]

try running a supercharged is200..................can be as low as 10mpg!!!!!! worth it though :winky:

[muddyell]

Yeah i think il definetly get it checked out lol how much roughly do you think it would cost?

I think most garage charge around £40 to run a diagnostic which isnt a hell of a lot if you can sort it out after

[Bazza]

Hi Kam

No engine lights or any other warning lights other than the fuel light lol so im completly confused iv done the service as it was coming up to being due oils plugs etc but still no change .

I never managed to get my IS200LE down to 16mpg although it was a manual, so unless you drive very fast or aggressively (I live nearby and there isn't a lot of chance of that) or spend most of your time in crawling traffic; that isn't reasonable. I get about 23-24 from my 5 litre ISF!

Recheck by filling to the brim, making a note of the Odometer reading. When fuel is getting low, fill it to the brim again preferably at the same pump so the car is tilting the same amount, making a note of exactly how many litres it took and the new odometer reading to get the miles driven. Then recalculate mpg, remembering to divide the litres by 4.544 to get gallons. If you have the wrong size tyres/wheels on it can ruin the calculation. This isn't 100% accurate but it is the best you can do without going to a lot of trouble. The official figures are 21 mpg Urban & 28 mpg Combined and you should get a bit nearer that.

To be honest lately iv been driving like an old biddy lol and as you know yourself camberley/sandhurst isnt exactly the greatest roads to get any kind of speed up the wheels and tyres are the ones from standard 17 inch wheels and tyres and iv checked the tyre pressures which are what were in the book so they are all fine so i really dont know what else it could be ,the only other thing is its idling a bit high at around the 1500-2000 mark.The other week i had to go to london and put in 30 quid of petrol and mostly motorway driving i got about 110 miles if i remember right.Im really stumped but it really is seeming like i have to sell it.

Im bloody jelous that you have an isf and you even get more mpg than me lol now doubly jelous lol.

cheers

try re-setting the ecu

[fil4362]

You have a problem. Your car shouldnt idle at 1500/2000 rpm. So theres the problem for a start. Thers lots of faults on your car that could cause high idle and not put the management light on. Is your throttle cable adjusted corrcectly?? if you have changed your plugs and air filter you could have moved it or even re routed the cable when movign it out of the way. Is your air temp sensor in the air box?? this also could have come out of its litle hole. Both of these could cause high idle speed and wont show engine light faults. You could have an air leak into the intake system this would cause high revs. Your lambda sensor could be stuck on rich cycle this definatly would cause high fuel consupsion and may not show engine light fault.

Best thing to do is get it into garage and get it checked properly. Dont get it in for fault code reading if theres a fault like that the light will be on. It wont show a fault if non of the monitored systems are not out of set peramiters. Even your engine temp sensor could be faulty if its reading cold it will make car run on choke all the time, dont know what the base line is on the Lex but most cars an open switch reads -40 this wont show as a fault code (as it could actually be -40) but will certainly make your car use tons of fuel and cause high engine idle.

[gary2009]

sounds like you have a problem with your car there mate, can't help without more info but I always get about 400-440 on a full tank of fuel and don't drive liek a fairy and combined motorway and urban driving.. :winky:

are you sure about that? ........ yap...... it's about right....

mine is auto, always get 300 - 340....... maybe I am bit nutty....

P.S. call AA or RAC, tell them you warning light came on or felt lost half of the power, they will check the error code on their laptop and give you are report if there is anything wrong with it.

BTW, clean your AMS is a good idea too.....

Hi Kam

No engine lights or any other warning lights other than the fuel light lol so im completly confused iv done the service as it was coming up to being due oils plugs etc but still no change .

I never managed to get my IS200LE down to 16mpg although it was a manual, so unless you drive very fast or aggressively (I live nearby and there isn't a lot of chance of that) or spend most of your time in crawling traffic; that isn't reasonable. I get about 23-24 from my 5 litre ISF!

Recheck by filling to the brim, making a note of the Odometer reading. When fuel is getting low, fill it to the brim again preferably at the same pump so the car is tilting the same amount, making a note of exactly how many litres it took and the new odometer reading to get the miles driven. Then recalculate mpg, remembering to divide the litres by 4.544 to get gallons. If you have the wrong size tyres/wheels on it can ruin the calculation. This isn't 100% accurate but it is the best you can do without going to a lot of trouble. The official figures are 21 mpg Urban & 28 mpg Combined and you should get a bit nearer that.

To be honest lately iv been driving like an old biddy lol and as you know yourself camberley/sandhurst isnt exactly the greatest roads to get any kind of speed up the wheels and tyres are the ones from standard 17 inch wheels and tyres and iv checked the tyre pressures which are what were in the book so they are all fine so i really dont know what else it could be ,the only other thing is its idling a bit high at around the 1500-2000 mark.The other week i had to go to london and put in 30 quid of petrol and mostly motorway driving i got about 110 miles if i remember right.Im really stumped but it really is seeming like i have to sell it.

Im bloody jelous that you have an isf and you even get more mpg than me lol now doubly jelous lol.

cheers

try re-setting the ecu

You have a problem. Your car shouldnt idle at 1500/2000 rpm. So theres the problem for a start. Thers lots of faults on your car that could cause high idle and not put the management light on. Is your throttle cable adjusted corrcectly?? if you have changed your plugs and air filter you could have moved it or even re routed the cable when movign it out of the way. Is your air temp sensor in the air box?? this also could have come out of its litle hole. Both of these could cause high idle speed and wont show engine light faults. You could have an air leak into the intake system this would cause high revs. Your lambda sensor could be stuck on rich cycle this definatly would cause high fuel consupsion and may not show engine light fault.

Best thing to do is get it into garage and get it checked properly. Dont get it in for fault code reading if theres a fault like that the light will be on. It wont show a fault if non of the monitored systems are not out of set peramiters. Even your engine temp sensor could be faulty if its reading cold it will make car run on choke all the time, dont know what the base line is on the Lex but most cars an open switch reads -40 this wont show as a fault code (as it could actually be -40) but will certainly make your car use tons of fuel and cause high engine idle.

How can i clean the ams and what would i use ?If i reset the ecu how would i go about this and would i have to reprogramme the key ?How do i check if the throttle cable is adjusted properly?Im guessing when i take the air filter out il see something sitting in a hole inside the actual box itself?Is there anyway to check what the lambda is running ?The temperature gauge on the dash reads normal and goes up normally with no drama's so i dont think that could be it or is that soemthing completely different?Sorry for all the questions but im pretty new to lexus.

[kam05]

Out of a full tank I can get 450 miles (on a pure motorway run @ 70mph). As said by others there is a problem with your car.

Mines a manual (so a bit better on the mpg compared to your auto IS200). I normally get 24-27mpg locally, but on a motorway run I can average 33-35mpg.

In fact I think someone had a similar problem this week and they took their IS200 to Lexus and Lexus thought the throttle body is causing their problem (high idle @ 1500-2000 rpm). Maybe your throttle body is the culprit? (I'd get a 2nd opinion mate before buying a replacement throttle body, as I'm no mechanic).

[Parthiban]

As everyone has said, definitely a problem, I've never really got lower than 20mpg out of my IS200 auto and I'm currently averaging about 24-25mpg due to a mostly A road commute.

[fil4362]

do your self a favour and stop going round in circles asking questions for help on here. I have been a mechanic for over 20 years and wouldnt even try to tell you what "the" problem is. my last post was to make you see how many faults the problem could be caused by.

Rather then checking this and that take it to a reputable garage and get it fixed. No one and i do mean no one can tell you exactly what the fault is, and changing and checking everything thats been suggested is only going to get very expensive.

http://www.goodgaragescheme.co.uk look on that web site take your pick of what your looking for in your area. That web site has a feedback scheme that works the same as ebays feedback scheme so you get an honest opinion of every garage on there.

[flyeris]

As everyone has said, definitely a problem, I've never really got lower than 20mpg out of my IS200 auto and I'm currently averaging about 24-25mpg due to a mostly A road commute.

So, you get approximately >20mpg in extra-urban traffic? Mine is also an Auto and I have owned it only since November, so have always been driving it in colder weather conditions and my achievements are like this: extra-urban ~28 mpg and in urban conditions I have been avaraging ~17 mpg. Anybody else with their calculations on an automatic A/T? :)

[lexynik]

mines a 1999 auto and frankly i was shocked when i got it at the fuel consumption - it was drinking like a 740 bmw even though i drive like a human being-i was getting an average of 17 - 20 mpg driving carefully with the occasional bit of kickdown when nessacary on a combined cycle(pretty shocking really)

i had mine serviced last week (long overdue) and strangely it didnt munch juice so much thet i didnt have to put fuel in for nine days from a full but not brimmed tank-by which time it went down to nearly half a tank - definately a noticeable improvement on all town driving with occasional kickdown- 184 miles - i just worked it out to 22mpg, so it looks like if i tried to drive carefully i could hit the magic 23mpg urban figure.

i am going to do a 3-400 mile motorway run on thursday so i will brim the tank before and after and report back on mileage if it helps

[w77]

I've got a 120k miler IS200 SE auto and can only get 20mpg or less in London driving (no motorway). That's like 80 miles for every £20 of petrol. The reliabilty of Lexus compensates for its thirst on petrol anyway.

[lexynik]

I've got a 120k miler IS200 SE auto and can only get 20mpg or less in London driving (no motorway). That's like 80 miles for every £20 of petrol. The reliabilty of Lexus compensates for its thirst on petrol anyway.

i dont think thats bad for london-stop start journeys in town are frequently more stopped then start-plus you do have to be quite vigorous with the go pedal at times to get anywhere-if yours is like mine you should do well away from the lights as you just put your foot down on green and the car reacts quicker then most other people seem to and you can pick your lane easy-good car for london id say