Fuel restricter

Don't waste your money on one.

Darren

You mean they don't work, you've tried one?

No I've not tried one - but it's not hard to figure out why it won't work (and certainly not in the magnitude your friend claims) - the quantity of fuel used by the engine is determined by the ECU and set by the injector pulse width and fuel pressure regulator. Just restricting fuel flow will have little or no effect at low revs but cripple the engine at high revs (which is where 16V engines run best) and the ECU will just increase injector timing to try and compensate.

You pays your money and makes your choice, but I'd say it'd do nothing positive (otherwise all manufacturers would fit it as standard) and could easily make things worse.

Darren

According to my friend it takes away some power, make accelerating less strong, but has saved him 20% on fuel. .. says engines can run leaner if they're a little less powerful.

I'd never heard of these things, but he swears by them.

Thanks

Where do you get em from ?

Don't bother,

This sort of thing has been around for years in various forms - they used to be advertised in such magazines as the Practical Motorist etc back in the sixties, seventies and eighties et-al - and all the 'tests' that these magazines did at the time on them proved that the just didn't work - and in many cases actually increase fuel consumption AND had the potential to cause vary degrees of engine damage.

Best thing for fuel economy is a well maintained engine, running gear and brakes, a light and gentle right foot and 'thinking ahead' to prevent excessive braking and acceleration - and keeping out of the stop-start traffic jams if possible - and if you can't, try keeping about three/four seconds behind the car in front, that means you can gently slow and and increase speed without braking and stopping.

Brian G

Go for it, go ahead and fit one if you believe your mate, but I still reckon the money would be better spent on giving your engine a service (you already mentioned the air cleaner being filthy so it's clearly overdue for one)...

Darren