Back when I was young, stupid, and knew almost nothing about cars, I had one of the coils break on a '95 900 inside the ignition cassette. Replacing the cassette solved the problem.

I noticed it was a little slower off the line, had to press the pedal harder, but the true signs were that the turbo was nearly pegging full boost under what felt to me like normal acceleration.

Turns out that cylinder 4 wasn't firing, so I was running on 3. My usual weekend trip normally got 30-32 on the hwy, and I got 18 for that trip. didn't undertsand why until later when I figured out the problem.

Two things to check:
1) drive around for a while and watch how quickly and how far the boost goes up on the turbo. If under 'normal' driving, you're constantly pegging the turbo, that's an indication that it's having to work real hard to go as fast as you want. Good luck comparing in your mind for an auto vs. manual, easier to do when you have a baseline reference of known-good on the exact same vehicle.
2) check that all 4 cylinders are firing. I found a simple, low-tech solution to this.
Drive for a few minutes, just barely until the engine is warm, then pull over and stop. Open the engine bay and get a wet washcloth or paper towel. Drip one drop of water on the exhaust manifold right where the exhaust gases come out of the engine block. For me, I found that the first 3 cylinders made a hissing sound as the water evaporated, and on the 4th cylinder, the water just dribbled off the pipe. Voila, that cylinder wasn't firing, and wasn't warm yet!
note: I don't know for sure, but I don't think this would work if you drive very long first, because eventually the entire engine would warm up, and the pipe would eventually get hot through heat-transfer.

Those are my thoughts, best of luck.

900Fun
current - '97 SE 2.0t manual
priors - '95 SE manual, '90 SPG

posted by 208.22.10...

• Help! Why is our 9-3 getting 13.6 MPG?!?, TomL, Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:04:30
  • Could be vacuum line break, Sandor in DE, Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:07:17
  • Re: Help! Why is our 9-3 getting 13.6 MPG?!?, jt, Tue, 1 Apr 2008 19:04:57
  • Re: Help! Why is our 9-3 getting 13.6 MPG?!?, Bruce, Mon, 31 Mar 2008 09:44:50
  • Running a couple of bottles of Techron® can't hurt, Mike in Anchorage, Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:33:41
  • Re: Help! Why is our 9-3 getting 13.6 MPG?!?, Watkins, Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:00:15
  • There may not be a problem at all..., Sebastian, Sun, 30 Mar 2008 15:14:17
    • Re: There may not be a problem at all..., TomL, Tue, 1 Apr 2008 06:53:47
    • Re: There may not be a problem at all..., Cutshaw, Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:20:21
  • Re: Help! Why is our 9-3 getting 13.6 MPG?!?, Ron, Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:48:38
    • Could be DI Cassette - how's turbo pressure running?, 900Fun, Tue, 1 Apr 2008 05:39:35 <-- Viewing This Message

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