2.0T Increasing fuel consumption

[Kris M]

The dealer called me to say they have a software update ready that should fix my problem. I can go there on March 7th.

On Sunday?

 

[Ralf]

On Sunday?

I meant Monday 8 march

 

[Ralf]

The software adaptation didn't change a thing. The car just remains very thirsty :-(
I 'm very very very disappointed in KIA

 

[7Andrei7]

In my case it took at least 1000km to see a drop in fuel consumption.
Did you have any stuttering when on cruise control/constant speed at 70-80km? Is it still there?

 

[Ralf]

In my case it took at least 1000km to see a drop in fuel consumption.
Did you have any stuttering when on cruise control/constant speed at 70-80km? Is it still there?

I didn't have any stuttering. Thanks for the info. I got no info from the dealer. I'll have to wait a bit longer

 

[Ralf]

Problem solved!!
Fuel consumption dropped to original value. Indeed, I had to have some patience. Hopefully it stays like this.

 

[7Andrei7]

Sorry, one question: Did any of you receive an update report where the new ECU software version is written?
They called me in to put back my original ECU which they said should be better on the long term. I think it was just to get their test ECU back .
But they also mentioned that a newer software version was installed on my car now, that should also address the vibrations with cold engine.

 

[Kris M]

Sorry, one question: Did any of you receive an update report where the new ECU software version is written?
They called me in to put back my original ECU which they said should be better on the long term. I think it was just to get their test ECU back .
But they also mentioned that a newer software version was installed on my car now, that should also address the vibrations with cold engine.

I got the update about 2 weeks ago, but I didn't get any information about it. Unless it's possible to get this information from the car, I've no idea where or when the software was written.

 

[Ralf]

Me neither. Didn't got any information about it. The ride home from work yesterday :

 

[Kris M]

I've got a question for those who got this latest update.
Since the update I noticed that my mirrors don't tilt down anymore when putting the car in reverse.
Do you also have this?

 

[7Andrei7]

For the tilt to happen, the button that selects which mirror you want to adjust needs to be either in L or R when you put the car in reverse. If the button is centred the auto-tilt does not happen.
If you already knew that, I apologise for wasting your time . I do not have any problems with the tilt after the update.

 

[Kris M]

I already knew that, but I didn't try that this time.
Strange thing is, when I just had the car I noticed the mirrors not tilting down although the spec's said they should. When I googled it, I found that solution of having the adjust-mirror-switch in the L or R position instead of centered.
That didn't work on my car, in my case it was because I had the fold out/auto/in switch in the out position and had to put it in auto to get it to work.
I'm kinda OCD about the position of switches and controls in a car, I check them so many times I'm annoying myself with it.
I've always had both mirror switches centered, and they tilted down. After getting the car back from the update, it didn't work anymore.
So I have to keep that switch uncentered now, so annoying...

No apology required, I should've retried that fix.

 

[Bigbadben]

So, just as an update from my side. The "normal" consumption for my car on highway is still 8-8.5 liters/100km. But, this sudden increase I get sometimes has been confirmed to be a problem with the heat sensors of the GPF (3 temp sensors apparently).
What happens is that the car detects some accumulation in the filter, tries to start a regeneration process which has a first step heating up the GPF. This is done by pumping more fuel. Normally, the regeneration should be done in 15-20 min. My car would never stop, once it stared. They say it's because the temperature sensors never confirm that the temperature has been reached.
Long story short my car has not managed to do any successful GPF regeneration for 30.000 KM !! My "luck" is that I mainly drive outside of town so that is how the GPF has been cleaning itself, without regeneration and with only 2 GPF errors coming up and then going away next time I was on a highway for more than 20 min.

I am now waiting on these sensors to arrive and be replaced. They will see if they need to replace the GPF and catalytic filter or any other exhaust parts, based on their state.
The symptoms of my car were very hard to understand and track, and there has never been an error code stored by the car (which is my only huge disappointment with how this car has been designed).

The 2 symptoms I could see were sudden increase in instant fuel consumption (to about 10.5-11 litres) at highways speeds, which would not go down (even for 3 hours of continuous driving) unless I would stop the car and restart it. And the second was some kind of stuttering of the acceleration at very low revs.
And, the way KIA was able to diagnose it was by me driving into the dealer with my car on, while it was displaying the symptoms, and them doing a full scan of the car. They could see the car was heating up to start GPF regeneration, but for some reason was not able to reach the temperature and they also saw that the last successful regeneration was at 24.000 KM (now I have 54.000 KM). This second thing was the big red flag that pointed to the temperature sensors.

Sorry for the long post, but maybe someone will go through the same thing and I hope this will help them to diagnose it much faster. It took me 8 months and 20.000 km of driving to understand what is going on because the symptoms would come and go..

This is super helpful. My 2018 seems to be a massive fuel user. I see others having high 20mpg to low 30s. I am lucky to hit 21 and most of the time 19.7. I do not beat on the car that often and drive in eco mode. Off to the dealer we shall go.

 

[7Andrei7]

This is super helpful. My 2018 seems to be a massive fuel user. I see others having high 20mpg to low 30s. I am lucky to hit 21 and most of the time 19.7. I do not beat on the car that often and drive in eco mode. Off to the dealer we shall go.

Do you know if the US versions come with the GPF? What is the power rating for your car? If it's 180kw/245hp then it's probably the same engine as in the EU and the fix was a new ECU software. New sensors did not fix it long term for me.
You can read about all the experiences in the last 2 pages of the thread.

 

[Kris M]

This is super helpful. My 2018 seems to be a massive fuel user. I see others having high 20mpg to low 30s. I am lucky to hit 21 and most of the time 19.7. I do not beat on the car that often and drive in eco mode. Off to the dealer we shall go.

What I did to "prove" that it wasn't drive style related was to record the instantaneous fuel usage (the moving bar) on a flat and level road. Of course with engine at operating temp.
When the issue was present, the bar would be between 10 and 12 l/100km continuously at cruise control locked speeds of 50, 70 or 90 km/h, sometimes even jumping up to 16 l/100km.
When the issue was not present, and now after the ECU update fix, fuel usage is between 6 and 8 l/100km at those constant speeds. Although occasionally, for a short time, it can go higher. Probably when PPF re-gen is triggered.

 

[Reno Raines]

How are you continuing with this issue, guys? My unit was having normal fuel consumption (8-9 l/100) for several fuel tanks but now is currently drinking too much again... (12/13 l/100). Really strange issue... The only one bad thing on this car, but really, really bad...

 

[Ralf]

My fuel consumption problem is completely solved after the software update.

 

[7Andrei7]

How are you continuing with this issue, guys? My unit was having normal fuel consumption (8-9 l/100) for several fuel tanks but now is currently drinking too much again... (12/13 l/100). Really strange issue... The only bad thing on this car, but really, really bad...

Did you get the ECU update? I've done 35k km since the update and the issue has not returned. The car has been smooth and has used a normal amount of fuel

 

[Reno Raines]

In the annual maintenance they update some software but I guess only the navigation software that has nothing in common with that ECU firmware I suppose. There is no one with that update on the spanish forum talking about that. I will call the dealership.

 

[7Andrei7]

Yes, it's definitely an ECU update, not the navigation or firmware. There was a recall last spring.
Here is the info sheet I had to sign. Show them what is under "Event Group - TSB".