O/T - Tin top

[Captain Colonial]

Took my tin top for it's MOT Monday (05 plate Volvo S60 D5 SE, 100,000 on the clock). Because it knows I'm skint, it failed due to excessive play in front ball joints, which had to be replaced, front end realigned of course as well.

Weirdly, on a S60 you can change the ball joints without removing the front wheels, so with the MOT it all came to £175, which was less horrific then I feared.

But here's the what the devil moment. Every since the car was new, it got about 45-46 MPG.  First run yesterday to London and back, usual traffic, usual speed, etc., and the MPG has gone to near 51 MPG.  

Tyres have always worn evenly, and no service was performed on the car at all apart from the ball joints, so what the devil?

Only thing I can think is that when they did the diesel smoke test and revved it to the limiter, it blew some gunk out, but as I said, it got 45-46 MPG when it was new.

Not complaining about extra 10% economy, but seriously weird.  

[combatsapph]

It's a placebo effect.  When spending money on a car you always look for an improvement.

"It's much quieter"

"It's steering sharper"

"It's smoother"

"it's quicker"

"It's getting more mpg"

etc, etc.

[Captain Colonial]

It's a placebo effect.  When spending money on a car you always look for an improvement.

"It's much quieter"

"It's steering sharper"

"It's smoother"

"it's quicker"

"It's getting more mpg"

etc, etc.

Well, if that's so, it had the effect on the car, not me.  They are readings straight of the car's dashboard computer.  So maybe the car responds to placebos...  

[chris7273]

Computers should always give the same output for the same input.

It's not the case.... unfortunately....

Never trust a computer, especially an onboard computer for fuel use     

[blankczechbook]

you just said the front was realigned, so maybe the tyres are now straight rather than toed in...  only a little bit perhaps, but did they also blow up the tyres before they checked the alignment too??

[Nic Ayre]

Might be the diesel.  When the prices were astronomical I was getting 50 to 55mpg out of the Mondeo, as the prices came down so did the MPG to about 46mpg. Had a batch the other day from Sainsbury's that suddenly returned 50mpg without having to ease my driving.

Perhaps they disconnected your battery and it has confused the computer?  Does what your putting in tie up with what the computer says.

Didn't fill up with BP Ultimate by mistake?

[Captain Colonial]

you just said the front was realigned, so maybe the tyres are now straight rather than toed in...  only a little bit perhaps, but did they also blow up the tyres before they checked the alignment too??

Maybe, but tyre pressures were not altered at all, and the tyres were wearing evenly the car's entire life.  Dunno.

[Captain Colonial]

Might be the diesel.  When the prices were astronomical I was getting 50 to 55mpg out of the Mondeo, as the prices came down so did the MPG to about 46mpg. Had a batch the other day from Sainsbury's that suddenly returned 50mpg without having to ease my driving.

Perhaps they disconnected your battery and it has confused the computer?  Does what your putting in tie up with what the computer says.

Didn't fill up with BP Ultimate by mistake?

That's interesting... I filled up at Sainsburys the last two tanks as well after using Tesco for quite a while... hmmm...

Battery wasn't disconnected at all.  Now leaning towards Sainsburys theory.

[frubpato?]

I always get better mpg in the warm summer months  -  my truck fleet manager b-i-l  claims that when you run non winterised diesel it is better . Sometimes it takes time for the bunkers to run out of the winterised stuff .

maybe an explanation