Forester Forester fuel consumption

Moribus

Moribus

Forum Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2021
Messages
10
Location
Lithuania
Car Year
1997
Car Model
Forester
Transmission
manual
Hey guys,
my first gen forester with 92kw engine consumes too much of fuel.
With full tank (60l) i can go only like 400km. I mostly drive dirt roads, wood roads, and some offroading. I never try to go more than 2.5k rpms
Is this normal, or should I be worried?
 
When I kept accurate records for the first 320000 kms I averaged 8.9l/100kms over the 12 years with a very varied regime in my MY03 2.5 litre manual Forester. A lot of highway travel but also city travel as well. Becoming slack and moving to mostly city travel the fuel consumption has increased to about 11l/100kms. A recent Simpson crossing trip of about 3000kms yielded about 10 or so l/100 kms.
Don`t forget that there is always about 5-10 unobtainable litres left in the tank when empty. Or is in mine at least.
So yes 15l/100 kms is excessive. Check the air filter as well.
 
bad fuel mix can do that .. bad valve gaps too ... bad spark plugs .. and wires. and local subaru forums and fb club could help you there more im sure.
after i did my engine valve gaps , even with this large 3.0 i can get like 9l/100km if going between cities . before i was getting like 12-15 on same roads ..
 
We need to see your hard figures. How many litres are you putting back into your 60L tank after the 400km??
The typical Subaru fuel gauge has up to 15L still in the tank when the gauge is on “E”.
Start recording the Litres filled and the km driven between complete fill ups. This will give you a much more accurate insight to your actual fuel usage.
There is no way your forester is using the same amount of fuel as our NP Pajero! If it is, there IS something majorly wrong with your forester. Our NP averages between 11.2L and 14.5L/100km (highway vs town). It’s a 2 tonne vehicle, so a lot heavier than the forester and it’s physically bigger too - more air to move around it when travelling.

I look forward to hearing about your fuel usage figures at your next fill up (or if you have them on hand already).

Cheers

Bennie
 
My old sf used around 13l/100 close to an oil change, and 11~l/100 with a new filter and engine service. 420-450 between fills,

15 is kinda high, that's about what I got towing, I could see with an old worn engine that being the case though.

Throw in a new air filter, check the oil is topped up, check your tyre pressures are correct for the type of driving you're doing. Then fill up as El_Freddo says, measure what your putting in the tank vs what your reading on the odometer.

I honestly never found the ej2.0 great for fuel economy for its size.
 
I tried reseting ecu, nothing changed. I changed oil one month ago, so theres that. I will buy a new air filter on following days.
Today i'm gonna fill up the tank, and ill monitor how many km ill make until E.
 
Once on E you will need to record how much fuel you add.
 
Intake manifold cleaner is extremely important. OEM is best. Follow instructions on the can.

Your car has a MAF sensor in the inlet manifold, not a MAP sensor, so even more important that it is kept clean.
 
So if El_Freddo is right, anf on E you still have 15 litres left, I made 370km untill I reached E.
I can't fill up at gas station, because I was in the middle of the woods, when I reached it.
So, I got 12.16 liters per 100 km, which is not so bad. I'm still waiting for a new air filter, and I will replace spark plugs in the future.
Cleaning intake is on my to do list, but now i just cant do it, because of tge time shortage.
 

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Moribus said:
I can't fill up at gas station, because I was in the middle of the woods, when I reached it.
Click to expand...
So, how did you get home? If you added fuel then you can fill up, record the amount of fuel to fill the tank plus what you added along with the odometer reading. You cannot take "E" as an accurate reading ;)
 
Middle of the forest in my country isn't that huge of a deal, just like 80 km from nearest gas station, lol.
Maybe I should go to lower section of E? Or fill up spare canister of gas and drive until my tank is dry?
 
Last edited:
@Moribus - that pic of being on the E is actually telling you that you still have a good 1/4 of a tank left. Once you’re half way down the E and pointing at the lowest tab, then you’re well on empty and should be looking for a fuel station pronto. Even then, you’ll still have a few litres in the tank.

You should also have a fuel light come on when low and needing a servo sooner rather than later.

Cheers

Bennie
 
El_Freddo said:
You should also have a fuel light come on when low and needing a servo sooner rather than later
Click to expand...
from my experience cars are generally able to go 50k's when the fuel light comes on. probably a bit more, but I've never pushed it...
I've never got less than 50ks anyway, with a number of cars.
(not that it's something I ever want to do, but after 39 years of driving, with a more than average number of long distance trips and a wife who also drives the cars...)
 
Generally you can safely drive until the fuel warning light comes on. Still about 5 to 10 litres left but you usually can`t access that. I believe it is a design feature to prevent the pump running dry. Others can probably shed more light on that.
 
After many, many fills when the fuel light comes on, average left in the tank is 10L. That's with my SG.

However, the same appears to be the case with SWMBO's SH, except that hers is less precise. With the SH, it can be anywhere between 10 and 15L. On one occasion, it was nearly 20L!

The SH was the first model released after GM bought a large share in Subaru, and has a lot of oddities compared with the SG.
 
So after all my tests, I'm doing 10l - 11l for a 100km, so that's not bad. I changed everything that may reduce my millage. This includes light offroading.
I fill 20l of fuel, an I get 200km.
 
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