i bought my scoob about a month ago and have hardly been using it lately due to obscene fuel returns...

i work about 6 miles from my home, but even just traveling to and from work was originally costing a tenner a day just to keep the needle off the bottom! my envious friends were quick to point out that imprezas use lots of fuel and i must be driving it with a lead foot, but for the last couple of weeks i have been driving off the boost, changing up at about 2k revs and accelerating as lightly as possible, yet i am still only managing 2 trips to work and back, about 25 miles from my £10!! (about 8.8 litres of petrol) --- i know scoobys are thirsty, and the car does have a cat-back exhaust system and induction kit fitted, but surely this is abnormal!

a few weeks ago i noticed that there is a small leak in the fuel filler pipe, which is allowing a small amount of petrol to be lost while im filling up. this still doesnt explain why the needle is dropping so quickly...

is it possible that warm fuel returning from the engine is evaporating through the hole in the filler pipe? and contributing to the high use of fuel?

i still havent had a chance to rectify the problem and neat fuel can be smelt around the rear of the car after a run. before i buy a new filler pipe off ebay for £50 (or subaru @ £190!) i think i'l try some 'self amalgamating tape' from maplins, which is apparently good for sealing against petrol... has anyone come across this stuff and would reccomend it??

any help is greatly appreciated! thx guys

 

that's about 12mpg, you should be getting at least double that, something is wrong somewhere. the fuel would not evaporate that quickly even in an open container.

 

Your car will probably still be cold doing your commute and it will dump in extra fuel - plus the ambient temps at the moment won't be helping.

My car does a similar run to yours everyday and it's not a great deal better than your fuel consumption but I didn't buy it to worry about fuel.

 

but if you ignore 12mpg then you could be getting borewash and diluting your oil, some people monitor MPG for reasons other than cost.

 

I'd worry about it if I was using the car properly and getting it warm etc - which with the description given it doesn't sound like it does.

I'd severly doubt it'd get 25mpg in cold weather when it's only doing a short journey while still cold.

My car gets about 17-18mpg doing a similar journey but I know everything is spot on.

OP - Have you checked things like your brakes, tyre pressures, grade of oil, O2 Sensors etc as these can all drastically affect your MPG.

 

I get around the same as you but that was with sticking brakes, now all fixed i'm going to expect 23ish. I monitor mpg cos my sad iphone keeps a log of it, and in the last 6 months i have done
5608 miles
£1401.14
cost per mile 25p
mpg 20.03

 

if the fuel fillers pipe is leaking then it will be loosing fuel while your driving about. the fuel will be sloshing about in the tank and getting out through the filler pipe. Thats the first fix you need to do

I wouldnt bother with taping it or such like. it wont last long if you manage to stop it leaking. The pipe is probably rotten, have changed a couple.

Its fuel leaking out so there also a safety aspect for getting it done properly

 

yes as above dont bother trying to patch it up,i fitted a new subaru one last week as mine was leaking badly,costly at £192 but better than fuel p*ssing out at every fill up.

 

ahh yes this confirms my gut instinct about sealing the pipe with tape... petrol always seems to be my guaranteed solvent for removing various tape anyway so i had a feeling it wouldnt take long to eat the amalgamating tape either.

i guess this leaves me with the purchase of a new pipe - i have just let two very clean filler pipes get away on ebay, one for £50, the other £44 and there are no more. £200 smackers though? i guess i can wait until another crops up on the bay lol

my tyres are new on recently, brand new Avon ZZ3, W rated, so theyre spot on, although i will check the sensors and such asap. other than that maybe is it worth checking or replacing the sparks?

other forumites have suggested i need a remap to cope with the cone and exhaust, but then i have been quoted £550 to do this and id sooner spend that on extra fuel...