EcoTec worth it or not - Reduce Fuel consumption???

[white190]

Hi
I am thinking of fitting An EcoTec to my car has any one done this yet , and is it worth while????????.
My car is a 1993 190E 2.0 Auto

The Ecotec manufacturer claims better MPG and more power !!

Several local Delivery firms round here have them fitted to there HGV's and large vans and swear buy them.

But do they make a difference on cars????.

 

[Matt Crooke]

EcoTec worth it or not

Sorry to be thick, what is an Ecotech?

 

[white190]

EcoTec worth it or not

It a Device that fits in the intake air supply after the air filter on a engine , basically it lets in a small amount of air on tickover and lets in pulses of air when the engine is revving , this creates turbulance in the air supply and ensures a good air/fuel mix . They are supposed to espesialy good on cars fitted with EFI and Cats

I have heard many people singing the praise of these things but I've never fitted one to my cars........ and they're not cheap ~ 80 quid

 

[Matt Crooke]

EcoTec worth it or not

Oh i see, good idea, but (im racking my brains here to remember) but i think 190's have mechanical fuel injection (Bosch K Jetronic) rather than Electronic.

 

[white190]

EcoTec worth it or not

In that case a slight tweek on the Idle mixture screw in the middle of the air filter would be probably required

good point though

 

[Matt Crooke]

EcoTec worth it or not

speaking of Air Filters, the lid on top of mine has a hole in the middle, should something be in there?

 

[white190]

EcoTec worth it or not

NO

Thats where you insert the long adjustment tool

To change the Idle mixture.

 

[Matt Crooke]

EcoTec worth it or not

thats ok then. I did wonder is there is a rubber grommet in the hole as well...i thought something might be missing. COntributing to my naff fuel consumption. Just out of interest, what do you get out of a full tank?

I tend to get about 260-270 if im lucky. Less if there is no motorway involved.

 

[white190]

EcoTec worth it or not

I tend to get a bit less than that..... Is your car fitted with a Cat ... the cars fitted with a Cat tend to run Ritch till the engines up to 60C ish (helps warm the cat up quicker)

 

[Matt Crooke]

EcoTec worth it or not

No, mines a vintage 1987 model! hence no cat.

Im convinced all this pulling away in second gear business is no good for MPG.

 

[white190]

EcoTec worth it or not

have to agree why in the h*ll
did merc think its a good idea to start in 2nd.............................

 

[Matt Crooke]

EcoTec worth it or not

God knows, it has been discussed on here many times...i think our style gearboxes are excellent when it comes to standard of build quality and longievity, but the way they operate is naff.

Pulling away in second, changing up to higher gears to early and top gear (4th) is too low...3500 rpm (or thereabouts) at 70 mph is a bit high i think.

 

[white190]

EcoTec worth it or not

Totaly agree

I wish there was some way of changing the point at which the gear box changes .

I have heard that if you start in 2nd (manualy selected) and drop it into drive , most Merc boxes will start from 1st then....
I've not acutaly tried it......

I saw it on a discusion in one of the forums on this web site somewhere......

Come to think of it dose any body know of a way to change the gear change points on a merc Auto box...

 

[Matt Crooke]

EcoTec worth it or not

Yeah your right. If you are stationary in Drive, pull the lever into 2 then back into D again, and you get 1st gear pull off.

A little while back in another forum someone explained how to alter the box to pull away in 1st all the time. I may have to go back and have a look.

 

[white190]

EcoTec worth it or not

If you find the URL of the Forum please post it...

Oh
A good parts company for Mercs
http://www.mercedesusedparts.co.uk/index2.htm

 

[Anonymous]

EcoTec worth it or not

Back to the subject of the Ecotek. The retail price
is actually £48.99 including VAT. One is good for up to
2.6 litres after that you need two.
I am selling this device to Merc club members for £45
all in.
They definitely make a difference and I am just about
to put 2 on my 500SE. A friend of mine just called up
to say he put one on his wifes car (she's known as
lead foot Lin!) and immediately got a 10% improvement
in fuel consumption and a big jump in low speed performance.He now wants 2 for his Chevy motorhome
and another for his Ford Rancher.
Get in touch if you're interested in a brochure or buying.

 

[white190]

EcoTec worth it or not

Sounds good I will drop you an email to get details

 

[Anonymous]

EcoTec worth it or not

I bought one and they work

Matt If you are fed up with  the MPG on your 190E
Give one of these a go , they're well easy to fit.
All you have to do is cut the vacuum pipe infront of the air filter and before the one way valve and heat the pipe (to soften it) (I used a Electric heat gun)  and push the EcoTek into the pipes....

After having it on my car for a week loks to have given me another 4mpg and thats with quite lead footed driving....

 

[Matt Crooke]

EcoTec worth it or not

Mark,

Many thanks for sending me the brochure, i completely forgot to give you my address, so a mate at our Bristol office forwarded it on to me, thanks again...it looks to good to be true!"

White, excellent, im glad you have tried it out, does it make much difference to the power / pull away from what you can tell?

And 4MPG, fantasic....how much was it again?

 

[13022]

EcoTec worth it or not

Another way to improve mpg is to get a manual 190e instead. I get disppointed with anything less than 30mpg and thats with crawling through the TrafficFromHell or navigating the pot-hole ridden tarmac path ("road"'s too strong a word) over the Dublin Mountains every day. Poor thing rarely gets over 40mph and is still only slightly less economical than the Citroen AX I used to have (...Its a single wiper thing).