Glowing Manifold and Fuel Consumption

[jslootweg 0]

My fuel consumpton on my current tank went down very quickly around 80miles per tank less than normal. So i happened to have a look under the bonnet cos i thought maybe i had a fuel leak. I noticed my exhaust manifold was glowing, not really really bright, almost like after you have had a bbq and you have hot coals. Its not the whole manifold just a small part where the gases from the two central cylinders exits. Any ideas what this could be? I had my timing belt redone around 3 months ago. The weird thing is once the car is upto temp it runs fine. So i'm very confused!

[Supercharged 2]

Your running very lean!

 

Did the car feel the same after cam belt?

[jslootweg 0]

After i had the cam belt done the car ran fine. If its running lean the fuel consumpton wouldn't go up would it? is it possible one of the injectors isn't spraying much and running either the of the two middle cylinders lean? or is it more likely to be timing? Oh yeah, another thing engine is running same temp as i have always had, around 108 for oil and 90ish for water.

[tut_gareth 0]

16v or G60 or VR6? sounds like a timing issue if you've just had the belts done,

[jslootweg 0]

Its a 16v mate. I'm just wondering whether its been doing it for months but i haven't just noticed? you can only see the glowing at night you see (don't spend much time under the bonnet in the dark :)). I'm gonna pull the rocker cover off tomorrow and check the cams are aligned and check the belt timing.

[GazzaG60 0]

what do the plugs look like?

 

they tell the story of an engine better than anything

 

take photos and post up.

[olly elworthy 0]

your ignition timing is retarded too far i think,, so eitehr dizzy in wrong location or when they replaced teh belts your cam timing is a tooth or so out

[flusted 0]

Im with olly, timing retarded

[jslootweg 0]

Right peeps, i checked the timing of the cams at TDC and they were aligned so i read about the timing being too far retarded would mess things up. I wanted to do the ignition timing properly but i couldn't find the 6 degree mark. I found the TDC one but thats it. So i advanced the dizzy by ear and its running better and maybe a bit cooler, but i might have to advance it further. What does the 6 degrees BTDC mark look like? Thanks for all your input btw.

[steveo29 0]

could it be a blocked cat?

[jslootweg 0]

Oh yeah, in response to gazzaG60, the plugs were showing the mixture was a little rich (according to the photos on that page in the haynes manual). I forgot to take a picture, but they didn't look white which is what i would expect for a lean mixture. I'm just hoping its the ignition timing.