Fuel Economy golf mk3 8v and other stuff

Hi everyone,

Would really like to know what i should be aiming for economy wise? I reckon i should be geting 35mpg approx thats inbetween town driving and open a road.

Also what are the commen faults with them? Ive sorted out the problem with the throttle body where the car would stall.

Cheers

Jade.

in my mk2 8v i averaged 38.8 driving to the speed limmit

23mpg when ha,mmering it

but towns nd traffic it was 11mpg

i have been getting 35-36 on a 30 mile run

on average id say 35

azrobz wrote:

on average id say 35

Yeah mine averages 35mpg on the A55 at say 69mph at 3000rpm and averages around 25mpg driving around town. It's all about how you drive it and driving really smooth and thinking ahead so you don't have to brake.

Ive read that the onboard computers read wrong.


Any faults with the engines as such? Apart from being the retarded 8v lol

Mine is running sweet and it's done 112K but it has had regular services to keep it on the button.

Sparky wrote:

Mine is running sweet and it's done 112K but it has had regular services to keep it on the button.

Hello everyone I'm new on here and have been the proud owner of a red Golf GTi mk3 1998, ( much like the one pictured),since last May after shelling out just £760 indeed he could be Juliet to your Romeo but he's not he's Terry and he's mine. Since then we have had a harmonious relationship including a 4,000 mile 9 week odyssey round France, Spain, Andorra, Monaco and Italy. The only problem I encountered on the entire journey was a 'dry' CV joint which was quickly greased and off we went again. Anyway onto the point, which is, I get around 40-42mpg on the motorway doing 70-75mph though this drops sharply if I step it up to 80-90mph, maybe 30-32mpg. This drops again driving round the 'estate' where I reside what with the speed bumps stop start bullshit to contend with and anything between 22-28 mpg is the norm.Not bad considering 'Terry' has done 162,500 miles and is still going strong, however, lately he has been stalling and actually tonight cut-out completely whilst I on a pretty busy main road and refused to start until the 'usual' happened. The usual being the rev counter needle jumping with an audible click turn the key and off we go. Would you know if this could possibly be related to the throttle body problem you mentioned encountering? If so could you tell me how this is fixable please? as it is doing my head in along with the local mechanic who is baffled and my wallet who says no to a trip to the local dealership. Any advice would be greatly appreciated and great site by the way. Cheers Jonathan.

Sounds like a relay that mate, well knows on mk3's. Dont know which one is at fault tho, sumone on ere would know.

OwainMK1 wrote:

Sounds like a relay that mate, well knows on mk3's. Dont know which one is at fault tho, sumone on ere would know.

Thanks for that mate I'll check it out today and hopefully that's that!

OwainMK1 wrote:

Sounds like a relay that mate, well knows on mk3's. Dont know which one is at fault tho, sumone on ere would know.

Thanks for that mate I'll check it out today and hopefully that's that!

id be interested in knowing this too please. Just incase mine starts to do it.

Mine did stall when slowing down but that was due to the throttle body needing a clean. Went to halfords bought some stuff to clean it with wipped the air intake pipe off and openned and shut the throttle body while cleaning it and worked perfect since.

my average is bout 25-28 dual carige way speeds but if i gun it ive had to dwn to bout 15, although sayin that waitin in a car wash once i had it dwn to 6 lol

hank chinaski wrote:

OwainMK1 wrote:

Sounds like a relay that mate, well knows on mk3's. Dont know which one is at fault tho, sumone on ere would know.

Thanks for that mate I'll check it out today and hopefully that's that!

It might be the ignition coil, my 8v did the same thing on the passat.

Fuel pump relay.

Mine does high 30s when I'm not hammering her, Most I ever seen is 50mpg when I nurse it. Lowest is 12 when I was fully smashing the speed limit.

Fuel Pump relay, coils are common to go, the throttle body getting coked up, and the surrounding breathers.

Give the throttle body and clean with some carb cleaner, and surrounding oil breather pipes and that should help.

Chris_Irish wrote:

Fuel pump relay.

Mine does high 30s when I'm not hammering her, Most I ever seen is 50mpg when I nurse it. Lowest is 12 when I was fully smashing the speed limit.

Fuel Pump relay, coils are common to go, the throttle body getting coked up, and the surrounding breathers.

Give the throttle body and clean with some carb cleaner, and surrounding oil breather pipes and that should help.

Thanks everyone for the advice and special thanks to Owain for his tip about it maybe being one of the relays. I went to the local scrappy this morning and got a ECU relay and half a dozen others, (gratis), and consulted the 'Bible', (Haynes Manual), and found said relay is number 15 in their helpful fusebox diagram. For easier access I removed the seat belt control relay, (no.36), which is below the ECU relay, (no.30), and it was corroded quite badly so I replaced the 2 of them, after a clean and a quick spray of WD-40 I was away. I drove to Newport a round trip of about 100 miles and can report no troubles at all, no stalling, nothing. In fact it's the best Terry has driven for awhile and after a cautious outward journey I absolutely hammered it back...great.
Owain your advice is much appreciated and I did take your tip to visit golfgtiforum and they stated that the original ECU relay had been manufactured in Tunisia and to try to get one made in Germany as the Tunisian made were always dodgy. I got lucky, the part number for the German made is #30 165 906 381 for future reference. I'm gonna clean the throttle body as was suggested too, can't do any harm. Once again thanks to everyone and thanks for such a welcome onto the site as a whole...not even 24 hours and problem sorted! Hope I can return the favour sometime. Regards Jonathan.

Ahh nice one mate , glad to be of help.