Lambda at 25 - should be 42 (84 380SE Fuel Consumption)

[amit]

Hi all:

I have been griping about the high fuel consumption in my 84 380 SE for a long time. So I finally broke down, took it to the stealership and allowed him 1 hr to tell me why.

This is what he says, I quote "your lambda is 25 while the spec is 42. We cannot crank it up any higher . We do not know why - could be the fuel rails or the injectors".

I wanted to ask you all what this means ? Should I replace injectors ? Or replace the cold start valve ?

Thanks,

Amit
84 380 SE

[ctaylor738]

Translation: You are running rich and we cannot tweak the mixture any further to fix it.

Suggest that you do a search on this topic (mixture, injection, lambda) to educate yourself on probable causes. It could be the causes you named, plus the fuel distributor or warm-up regulator, or a combination.

You also ought to find an independent shop that you trust to do further checkout - these are very expensive parts to throw at a problem!