I'm Only Getting 17-20 Mpg!

[crisgal]

In my ford galaxy :(
It had a new clutch in the summer and since then it guzzles petrol. I've rang the garage to see if it could be connected and they made me feel like a right numpty! They said there was no way it would affect the fuel. I've only just got round to actually monitoring and working out just how much it's using, and I'm pretty sure that's not good!

[Hymie]

It is very unlikely that the clutch is causing poor fuel economy.
But the Galaxy is not a small vehicle, if you are doing lots of short runs in rush-hour traffic, then 20mpg is all you might reasonably get.

If on the other hand you are only getting 20mph when, for the majority of the time, the vehicle is in fifth gear – then I would have a garage take a look into the issue (check the exhaust gases, plugs, injectors, possible binding brakes etc). If something is wrong, causing excessive fuel consumption, any garage should be able to spot it and take corrective action (for a fee).

[Buenchico]

Start with what you can do yourself: check your tyre pressures!

Then get a decent mechanic to check why you seem to be either getting the wrong air/petrol mix (such as a blocked air filter, which only costs a few quid to replace) or the timing is wrong.

NB: Ask around for a recommendation for a garage that is actually good at diagnosing faults (rather than just good a doing routine work, such as services). I can think of several places around here that would take a day or two (at £60 or more, plus VAT, per hour) to find the fault. I also know I guy that I'd be prepared to bet on as being able to diagnose the fault in under 15 minutes (at £40 per hour plus VAT). Guess which garage I go to!

[WELSHYORKIE]

Petrol or Diesel? Engine size?

[jake-the-peg]

Yes and No

Changing the clutch itself shouldn't make a difference but not remembering to connect a sensor when doing the job could!

If you think there's been a sudden drop I'd recommend taking it to a garage and getting them to hook it up to a diagnostics PC and check that there's no faults in the system.

You never know it could be something as simple as reconnecting a wire

[Graham-W]

Winter. On short runs. Heater/air con on full. ~20mpg is about all I would expect. Does the car get up to operating temp?
If you are doing longer runs with the engine up to temp a simple exhaust gas test should show if there is a problem.

[BRIGHT SPARK]

20mpg from a 1.9 diesel or 2.3 petrol is bad.I run a 4.5 V8 and thats returning 26-28 mpg combined.