New Skyline Owner

[R32 Line]

Hi All, am new to this having only just bought an R32 gtst - import approval the week before the 15 yr old rule was canned.

I have a couple of simple questions (and please take it easy on me - i have searched the forums but can't find a specific answer to this)

The electric fan on the front of the radiator - is this for the airco? should it actually be working when the car is on but the airco is off? or am i on the completely wrong track here?

I'm also only getting about 200kms out of a full tank, that's $60 bucks worth of petrol every time - i have read in plenty of topics not to expect great fuel consuption but this just seems way too low even for a Skyline, any ideas? I do not have a habbit of flooring the car at every opportunity, just day to day driving.

By the way, the car is only slightly modified - still retains standard turbo & intercooler and has not been tuned since it arrived here.

Thanks for any help

[Count Grantleyish]

Hey,

You will need to re tune the car as most car from Japan are running rich in AFR's (Air and Fuel ratio) so get your car on dyno and adjust the AFR to acceptable level (11.9% i think) Consult your mechanic.

After tuning done you should get 4-500km out of a tank.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Grant

[R32 Line]

Thanks Grant - will get that checked up on asap.

[xRHETTx]

Try changing the oxygen sensor (in the dump pipe back from the turbo).

Do a search on oxygen sensor or lamda sensor.

For your information, i get about 450km from a tank.

[dezz]

just on this topic, so if you bring a car over from japan (which i am doing through j-spec as soon as they find 1), you need to get it tuned to get good fuel economy?

so you would take it to the dyno place and just tell them that its a fresh import, and they'd know what to do?

[justin911]

you need to have a aftermarket ecu/safc2 etc.. to tune it though.

I changed the oxygen sensor on mine after a few months, went from like like 250km to 325 or so..

[Big Rizza]

you need to have a aftermarket ecu/safc2 etc.. to tune it though.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Im pretty sure you can get the stock computer flash tuned on a dyno rather than going for an aftermarket computer. Will cost about $800 though...

[dezz]

joisus. so ur trying to tell me that with the factory ECU, ill have absolutely dog shit economy (ie 250-300km per tank)

and the only way to fix that, is to get an aftermarket ECU :s

[Big Rizza]

joisus. so ur trying to tell me that with the factory ECU, ill have absolutely dog shit economy (ie 250-300km per tank)

and the only way to fix that, is to get an aftermarket ECU :s

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm pretty sure at 200kms per tank you're looking at more than just a tuning problem. Follow the advice already given and check O2 sensors etc. as they can have dramatic effects on fuel economy when faulty.

I never bothered to tune my car when it got here from Japan because there was no need to. It is running rich (as rich as 11:1 at high load), but I don't have fuel economy anywhere near as bad as you do. More than 400kms to a tank I'd say.

[dezz]

lol, i have no fuel economy, because i dont have a skyline yet. still waiting for the importer to find 1 in japan...

i was talkin about the other guy that said he was gettin 250km to a tank (which is ridiculously low for any street car)

[justin911]

ya except u cant retune the r33 ecu's

Im pretty sure you can get the stock computer flash tuned on a dyno rather than going for an aftermarket computer.  Will cost about $800 though...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[madbung]

Im getting about 450k's per tank with prob a 50/50 split hard driving/cruising

car is a stock r33 rb25det cept for.. 3" nismo turboback, k&n panel filter, iridium plugs, cleaned injectors and an ecu reset. Nxt fill I might try an economy run and see how far it'll stretch...If only I had restraint enough to do it ( being a daily driver and very happy with the fuel consumption I dont see the value of a dyno tune or after market ecu ect... Though for my other toys the benifits of a good workout on the dyno were substantial.

Coming from 20yrs of HiPo v8s I love the economy of this little asian delight

Turbo + lsd + rain = fun ) they should use these condition to teach throttle control to nubs...I love it!!

Edited September 28, 2005 by madbung

[R32 Line]

Thanks for all the replys everyone.

The R32 i bought and had shipped from Japan definitely has the worst fuel consumption ratio i have seen in any car, seriously at the moment it gets 200kms from a tank - if i am lucky. It works out under 4km s per litre!! Would've been better off buying a 4wd like everyone else in the Eastern Suburbs. Seriously though i will be getting the car checked tommorow and will post up the results for those interested.

[dezz]

try resetting the ECU yourself....

unplug the battery for 24 hours, or the quicker way ive read (but no one confirmed that it worked) un plug the battery, and press the brake pedal to get rid of all the residual power.

then the ECU re learns, and should fix your problem, unless its related to soemthing else

[Links]

it really depends on how hard you drive alot.. A/F is dependant on what load you have the car going at.. if you drive it pretty easy you should get better economy, definately change the O^2 sensor..

if you have only just got the car - give yourself a bit of time to get over the flat chat fun than it'll start to be a bit better as well..

but yeah - you need an SAFC2 or PowerFC which lets you adjust them.. remember the ecu doesn't use the oxygen sensor until it goes over a certain load point (i'm pretty sure)..

anyways - good luck..

[madbung]

try resetting the ECU yourself....

unplug the battery for 24 hours, or the quicker way ive read (but no one confirmed that it worked) un plug the battery, and press the brake pedal to get rid of all the residual power.

then the ECU re learns, and should fix your problem, unless its related to soemthing else

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

yeah the brake pedal method works fine.. make sure you have some 98 ron in the tank then take it for a spin, drive it normally for the first k or so...till it gets it's idle sorted then give it some stick...makes a big difference, also best to warm the car up with a nice drive pre reset so you can give it a fair blast as the ecu remaps w/out the higher risk of damage by abusing a cold engine.

[WazR32GTSt]

mate, first of all can i say don't believe everything you read. this is a public forum where people can post whatever they want to and some of it just isn't good advice

and so i am going to post what i want.. its just my opinion and feel free to take or leave the advice..

1) your fuel consumption is terrible. A stock R32 straight off the boat should get about 400kms per tank. Something is wrong with the car. It could be any one of the following: spark plugs, timing, coils, wiring problem, oxygen sensor, air leak, injector problem, etc. etc.

BUT... You don't want to have to worry about that if you don't know much about cars.. solution? mechanic!

2) take it to your trusty mechanic and tell them your problem. they know cars and know why people get bad fuel economy.. they can test all the particulars and work out what is going wrong. BEst someone with a dyno or that has seen an import before as they can find the problem a bit quicker than someone who doesn't know the car..

3) don't get an afermarket ECU. Its just simply not needed to fix your problem and is shocking advice for people to be giving you.. your car should be running fine on premium unleaded if everything else is ok with the car - its obvious there is a problem somewhere else that needs to be fixed...

Hope it all turns out ok

cheers,

Warren

PS the best way to learn about your skyline is to READ about how it all works. check out the FAQ and tutorial sections and read and ask questions.

[madbung]

3) don't get an afermarket ECU. Its just simply not needed to fix your problem and is shocking advice for people to be giving you.. your car should be running fine on premium unleaded if everything else is ok with the car - its obvious there is a problem somewhere else that needs to be fixed...

Hope it all turns out ok

cheers,

Warren

PS the best way to learn about your skyline is to READ about how it all works. check out the FAQ and tutorial sections and read and ask questions.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

yay for Warren...some sound advice there. If you must take it to a mechanic, take it to someone you know or a workshop thats been recommended by a person whos advice you trust. That way they wont be tempted to smell your mechanical ignorance and tell you " it's the central furphal mechanism thats totally rooted mate and it'll cost you $$$$+ labour"

p.s the above mentioned central furphal mechanism is pure fiction

Edited September 29, 2005 by madbung

[R32 Line]

Yeah, don't worry guys - i won't be pulling out bits of the car left right and centre, it's going to the mechanic. Already have a good mechanic too - they have done plenty of good work on my previos car (a lot of times for free) and have seen the GTST a couple of times, although not in relation to this problem. I just wanted to get an idea of what may be wrong with it before i go.

I thought the fuel consumption was pretty bad myself, but as i said in my original post most of the threads on fuel consuption dont actually give a good idea of what it should be just the fact not too expect anything too high. I really wouldn't have bought a skyline if i was expecting to get 100kms for 5 litres of fuel, and would you beleive that this car actully has a better fuel consumption than my prevoius car (a very old E30 with a bucket of mods).

Anyway i'm now 100% sure of the fact that my fuel consumption sucks compared to everyone else here.

WazR32GTSt - thankyou for the straight forward advice, it is much appreciated.

I'm not that mechanically inept by the way. It's just that both Japanese and turbo cars are a different direction from what i'm used too.

[WazR32GTSt]

WazR32GTSt  - thankyou for the straight forward advice, it is much appreciated.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

no worries mate

I'm not that mechanically inept by the way. It's just that both Japanese and turbo cars are a different direction from what i'm used too.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

if you can hold a spanner and know what an engine is, then you will soon find that basically its not all that diferent from what you would have seen before (until you get down to the technical stuff!)..

good luck with it all