Toyota axio 1nzfe 1.5 litre year 2011 bad fuel economy

mrume101 · March 7, 2021

Bought an axio 2011 1 week ago with 28000 km confirmed on QISJ

It has a really bad fuel economy of about 8km/litre.

I've replaced the air filter, the oil filter, I have put in new spark plugs but the problem is still there

Kindly help. What could be the problem?

iRage · March 8, 2021

On 3/7/2021 at 8:51 PM, mrume101 said:

Bought an axio 2011 1 week ago with 28000 km confirmed on QISJ

It has a really bad fuel economy of about 8km/litre.

I've replaced the air filter, the oil filter, I have put in new spark plugs but the problem is still there

Kindly help. What could be the problem?

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You bought a 2011 Axio 1 week ago with just 28,000km ? Is it an unregistered car ? When was the car imported to SL ? How long has it been used in SL ?

Who is QISJ ? <Quality Inspection Service Japan ?>. How can they confirm the mileage of a car that has been used in SL ?

28,000 for a car that has been used for less than 10 years means an average of 2800km a year. Some what believable for a car that has lived its entire life in a city in Japan but quite/extremely rare for a car out of large cities in Japan and even rarer for cars in SL.

Tire pressure ?

What is your driving pattern like ? are you spending a LONG LONG time stuck in traffic to travel a small distance ? It could be that youa re just driving in and at times of really bad traffic. Other than that...how does the car run ? gear box works properly ? engine feels it has power ? no misses, no loss of compression and feels down on torque ? oil burns ? senses are okay and no fault light throwing up ? Did you do an ecu scan and an emissions test to see if there are any fault codes (old ones or signs of clearing them) or to see how rich or lean the engine is setup and running ? <by the way...most of these would have been covered by a full inspection you would/should have done before purchase.

mrume101 · March 8, 2021

Imported in 2019.yes everything is fine. No warning light blinks on the dashboard,tyres pressure is fine

The QISJ is supposed to verify all those tests. Everything was ticked okay so I guess the car passed the inspection.

Could the air flow sensor be faulty and not throw a warning signal?

CNX · March 8, 2021

Did you check the fuel efficiency on open roads or on the expressway? 8kmpl can be normal if you sit in traffic for a long time but on the expressway or outstation you should be able to achieve upwards of 14kmpl depending on your driving habits.

By the way, I wonder how a 2011 car got imported in 2019 when there is a restriction of 3 years from the date of manufacture/registration to import a car to SL.

mrume101 · March 8, 2021

I'm from Kenya in africa

iRage · March 8, 2021

On 3/8/2021 at 10:29 AM, mrume101 said:

I'm from Kenya in africa

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Oh ! Okay....I think we all assumed that you were in Sri Lanka.

Well if everything is normal...maybe it is the fact that you are stuck in traffic ? or that you are heavy footed ?

Are you in Nairobi ? The place used to have really bad traffic at times. So could be beacuse you are sitting in traffic (in which case 8kmpl is not bad).

mrume101 · March 9, 2021

Yes I am in Nairobi. I'm not in trffic at all

Can it be a car software issue? What's the likelihood of that?

Maybe the software control of the fuel injection is faulty

iRage · March 10, 2021

On 3/9/2021 at 5:53 PM, mrume101 said:

Yes I am in Nairobi. I'm not in trffic at all

Can it be a car software issue? What's the likelihood of that?

Maybe the software control of the fuel injection is faulty

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Highly unlikely....it could be that one of the sensors are gone bad and the ECU is responding to it. You could always do a reset and then let the car "re-learn" and see if it behaves properly before it goes back to a deteriorated state.

How does the car feel ? Pulls okay ? transmission responds okay ? No oil burning smells ? No smoke ? No torqueless-ness ? DOes your car have after market wheels ? After market exchaust ?

Did you swap the fuel filter ? clean the injectors ? clean the fuel system ? etc...etc...etc...

How much of a fuel efficiency were you expecting ? Because after you spend all this money you might only get a 1 or 2 kmpl increase.

mrume101 · March 10, 2021

For an axio I was expecting at least 15kml

It's currently doing 8km/l

Sensors were checked appaithey are ok

No smells.no funny sounds ... everything is ok.

Everything was cleaned

The only suspect remaining is the engine control unit,the software that runs the whole system may need an upgrade

iRage · March 10, 2021

Hmmm...that is a bit of a stretch if it is purely city running but I suppose it is possible if you have open roads...for most 1500cc engine cars you probably can get a tank average of about 10-11 kmpl for a pure city driven car with a light foot. (trip averages can vary for each trip).

ECU needing an ugrade or flash is highly unlikely as these are basic cars (that do not get all confussed to the slightest of change in one aspect) and there isn't a service bulleting out for an upgrade due to a known issue. It might need a reflash or reset if some sensor or something made it go bad...in which case a reflash/reset is only going to be a short term solution. Worst case is that the ECU is spoilt...which is again unlikely considering the relative newness of your car unless it was flooded or left in some humid place for a long time somehting of the sort happened. Or it could be in bit of a confussed state with the change of fuel and other factors and needs a reset/relearn....Do a reset; probably a matter of removing the battery for a few minutes (and it may have a sequence of things to do to get it to reset) and see what happens.

Have you ever considered factors outside of the car ? Do you have any extra/unnecessary weight in the car ? How is the fuel ?

I asked you in my previous post... Do you have after market wheels or exhaust ? When you say everything was cleaned..what is everything ? Injectors ? (removed and UV cleaned or just with an additive ?( hope those did not get messed up) FIlter changed ? What is the car's idle RPM ?

Edited March 10, 2021 by iRage

iRage · March 10, 2021

Also...another thing...how are the brakes ? Both foot and hand brakes....if they are binding then the drag it creates can affect the car's performance.

mrume101 · March 11, 2021

Car was left isolated for about 16 months

The brakes are excellent

I don't have aftermarket exhaust or wheels,they are all stock

Once I noticed the problem,I installed new sparkplugs, I installed new air and oil filter

The only unchanged thing I'd the battery

The air fuel sensor is fine as well

That's why I'm suspecting the engine control unit

mrume101 · April 15, 2021

Car was fixed Bad spark plugs and computer system was reinstalled

iRage · April 16, 2021

On 4/15/2021 at 11:40 AM, mrume101 said:

Car was fixed Bad spark plugs and computer system was reinstalled

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Great to hear...but didn't you change the plugs at the first tune up you mentioned ?

What had happened to the plugs though ? For a low mileage car its hard to imagine that the plugs would get spoilt even after 10years.

Shocked to hear about the ECU though.

mrume101 · April 17, 2021

Well, the plugs that were put in apparently weren't the correct ones for the car.

The mechanic was unscrupulous The reinstalled the engine control unit system in the same setting just to make sure. Apparently a computer scan analysis wasn't conclusive

They did both the plugs and the system. One of them fixed the issue Now I'm getting an average of 14-15 km/L

Is that what you're getting on yours?

Also is there a way to turn off the ECO light on the 2011 model ,it goes on/off when I accelerate or decelerate. It's annoying af

Parth Kaneria · December 14, 2021

On 4/17/2021 at 10:30 AM, mrume101 said:

Well, the plugs that were put in apparently weren't the correct ones for the car.

The mechanic was unscrupulous The reinstalled the engine control unit system in the same setting just to make sure. Apparently a computer scan analysis wasn't conclusive

They did both the plugs and the system. One of them fixed the issue Now I'm getting an average of 14-15 km/L

Is that what you're getting on yours?

Also is there a way to turn off the ECO light on the 2011 model ,it goes on/off when I accelerate or decelerate. It's annoying af

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Wht plugs are you running? Can you kindly share the photo or the part number for the plug? I'm facing the same issue with a 2013 model. You can whatsapp me 0736777500.