Poor fuel economy - The weather, or my repairs?

[ChopStix]

Originally Posted by ballo

Yeah, I figured Chop's temperature swing would be much bigger than mine. It's very temperate here. Winds are fairly similar (low) and the suburban roads I drive are fairly sheltered from wind by trees and structures.

Yeah where I live we have giant temp swings. Peak Summer verse Peak Winter, we have 100 degrees (or more) difference.

[ballo]

Is it possible my engine really doesn't have a PCV valve?

Perplexing response from VW, Sent in a parts order request:
"this vehicle does not have a PCV – if you are referring to the piece that the oil filler cap screws into, this is part of the rocker cover - $..."

I found pcv valves for the BGU engine in older cars, and equivalent year SEATs (06A 103 465D) which look superficially the same:


But the wall around the filler is much thinner, the X reinforcement doesn't match, there's no marked part number, and I see no breaks to allow vented air in.
If I trust the parts guy, my guess is they deleted the PCV valve on a revision, and kept the tube positions to route the breather to the intake pre-throttle.

[ThermionicScott]

Brakes dragging?

[ballo]

I fixed the problem partially through driving style.

With the stuck EGR the car had much less power. I didn't think to recalibrate my foot once that was repaired. Local fuel economy improved ~1L/100km with much more sluggish acceleration, no impact on longer trips.

Now I'm chasing down a darn oil consumption problem. Again this'd be easier if I had a buggered PCV that I could blame things on.
If I need a piston ring set it's going to cost me something like $150, $200 timing belt due soon, and a better engine with lower mileage is under $300. Think I'll try running with some thicker oil and decide what to do from there.

Maybe I'll just get a smaller more reliable car...