Fuel useage changes.

[Throttled]

Great thread, I had noticed a drop in fuel consumption and this explains why. I knew I was doing more short runs than normal, but not so it would affect the MPG as much as it has. I did not know the cold had such an effect.

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

1 hour ago, Bender said:

The opposite I would say, thermostats were crap back then, honda was a pretty good car, thermostat will have been stuck open, they a operate and restrict flow depending on temp, stuck open you just froze, you used to have a winter Stat option but few people would swap them, most just drove round freezing  

I'd tend to agree - the vast majority of 'stat failures was them sticking open.

 

Mind you some of the manufacturers didn't help. We had a Mk1 Fiesta Popular - the poverty spec version where you didn't get things like a parcel shelf or a passenger side sun visor. They even scrimped by omitting the thermoswitch for the radiator fan so it just ran all the time. 

[JRH]

On 27/01/2022 at 09:26, Throttled said:

Great thread, I had noticed a drop in fuel consumption and this explains why. I knew I was doing more short runs than normal, but not so it would affect the MPG as much as it has. I did not know the cold had such an effect.

I’ve noticed on my car that in the summer at tick over the fuel consumption  is approx 0.3 gal/h when started.  When it’s covered in a good frost it’s 0.6. Drops to 0.2 is when fully warmed up.