I've still got a few bugs to iron out on the 244 turbo project car before it's a daily driver. One of the most pressing, due mainly to my financial status, is its remarkably poor gas mileage. I filled the tank entirely (approx 15 gallons) and have taken the car for quite a few test drives while fixing problems. After 30 miles of driving in the car, it's only got about 1/4 tank of gas left. This equates to roughly a bit over 3 miles per gallon. Just for amusement's sake, were I to drive this car as much as I normally do, I'd be spending roughly $500 a month on gas as opposed to the $80 I spend now.
This closely approximates my budget for all living expenses (at college).

I'd love to know what's wrong with my car, because Lennart won't let me keep it at his shop much longer, so it's gonna have to be driving soon. In my test drives I'm running the car from 0-60 at full throttle 2-3 times each drive, but 90% of the driving is slow cruise. This heavy accelerating (coupled with running around 11psi boost) is obviously going to lower my gas mileage, but by this much?! I figure with this boost level, with the AW70, my car should be getting around 17-18mpg in city/hwy mix. Is this about right?

What can be ruled out in my opinon: Bad cat (no longer exists), plugged exhaust (straight pipe exits ahead of rear axle), bad cap/rotor (new), bad plugs (new), turbo (recent rebuild, boosts great). I'm sure there are some 'little things' which are contributing to the bad mileage, but I'm mostly looking for the BIG one, because there's got to be some specific part thats really screwing things up to make the mileage this atrocious. I'm positive the 02 sensor is bad, but it's been disconnected by the PO. I plan on replacing it and reconnecting. How bad could the mileage be without it? I'm also guessing a coolant sensor could be bad or disconnected, but where is it? What fuel system parts would cause it to run waaaaay rich?

The car runs great, doesn't miss, doesn't stumble. It does have to warm up completely before the car will idle without dying. It accelerates strong and smooth (like I said 11psi) and doesn't drive weird under any conditions. The exhaust does of course smell pungently of unburned fuel. It burns my eyes to squat down next to the car while it's idling. So anybody's guess will help. Thanks a lot for the advice, without which the project could not continue.


--
Isaac Babcock - '83 245DL 'Borkie' and '83 244 turbo project