Fuel economy went down after changing gasket. VW golf 1996cl

[Jasikasisback]

My cousin changed the valve cover gasket and it no longer leaks oil thank you. He lives really far away so no chance of him looking at it now.

The car's fuel economy has gone really crappy. It used to to 360 miles to the tank and now does 280.(wow what a difference)

I noticed that the car's RPM's are much higher in neutral and in drive. It goes to over 1000 and it used to be around 800. Now it also revs higher in gear at 80mph it goes to 5400 and it used to to go 5200.

I don't know much about these golfs, maybe someone can give some advice?

Thanks,

Tom

[Jasikasisback]

Ok it is the rocker cover gasket..silly me...

[tech1889]

there is no way changing the rocker cover gasket is going to affect your fuel economy.. is the car smoking ?

[Jasikasisback]

Nope.

[Jasikasisback]

Would a really really dirty air filter be the cause of that much change in fuel consumption?

[Jasikasisback]

Umm just a bit more information. My cousin stated that quite a bit of oil may have been lost after removing the rocker arm cover. Is there a good chance that this may have affected the spark plugs???Just wondering what else it could have affected.

[tech1889]

Umm just a bit more information. My cousin stated that quite a bit of oil may have been lost after removing the rocker arm cover. Is there a good chance that this may have affected the spark plugs???Just wondering what else it could have affected.

remove the plugs and take a pic of condition if your not sure what they should look like..

i just cant see how removing the rocker cover and changing the gasket would cause you mpg problems.. is the engine running nice and smooth ? had a service recently ?

[Jasikasisback]

I've driven over 3000 miles since the gasket change. My friend said by that time any oil on the spark plugs would have burned off by now and everything should be ok.

The fuel economy has gone down by a lot, too much for poor plugs and filters to be the culprit.

I will take pictures and post them up on here and see what everybody thinks.

I will try to save this car but can't break the bank trying to do so as the car is not worth much due to age, but I believe with the right care it could easily do another 100, 000 miles. My cousin said the engine looks like new and he suggested that I hang on to it.

I was wondering if the throttle body may be the culprit. I have a bad feeling that I could change all the filters, dizzy and plugs and there would be minimal difference.

The car runs the same as it always has, no problems whatsoever, but I'm getting 70miles less per tank.
It seems to burn a lot more driving urban rather than motorway.

Anyways I'll get some picks up and hope they will be of some help.

[dragongreengolfgti]

its possible that a vacum pipe of some kind has been disturbed since the rocker gasket was done i'd check all the pipes and certainly a new filter should help. It sounds like something has been moved and not put back maybe what engine is it? mk3?

[Jasikasisback]

It's a 1,8 automatic Golf CL 1996. Was getting great fuel economy before this gasket change. It only burned about 6,7litres for 100km.
Really good for such an old automatic. Now it is burning more fuel than my 1978 Chevrolet Impala with a carburetor. (well  you know what I mean) That's one thing about these cars that Hitler brought into mass production. They work well, but are real touchy and everything has to be damn well near perfect.
Well we did change one of the engine mounts as well. I have a feeling something changed position and now the car is just complaining. I don't think it ever had any major servicing done since it was built.
Guess it will be a good opportunity to get to know my car..