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13MPG Highway??!

Rich52490

Member
Joined
September 12, 2006
Messages
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City, State
Chicago, IL
Year, Model & Trim Level
94 XLT
Hello,
I recently took a 480 mile trip of which about 450miles of it were highway.

After filling up twice i noticed I was only getting 486miles/37.8 gallons of fuel = ~12.9MPG

I have done searches before and notice some people getting close to 20MPG in first gens. I used to get 19MPG in the summer. I know around 16-17 is to be expected but I wasnt even close to that. Could winter blend fuel cause a 5MPG or more drop?

As far as my explorer goes, it wasn't carrying any extra weight, it was in 2WD the entire time, no CEL and kept the speed below 65mph. Most of the time was @60mph using cruise. Tire pressure was 35PSI.

Any ideas as to what could be causing such poor mileage?
 



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who gets 20? i take 200 mile trip offten to school and home and i have never got better than 14mpg i'm normally around 12mpg, i have big tires though and i expect to get a little worst gas milage
 






tru many first gen explorers do indeed get low mpg(due to many factors like the shape the motor is in to the gears ) but for some of us we get a little better....

(mileage on mine is 208k )best i ever got on mine was 24 mpg but due to age it's now getting 21-22
(most likelly needs maf cleaned ) but also i have a cam sensor out and i bet that after i replace it i'll get back to what i was getting before when i bought it .
 






It's a 20 yr old truck. Even 2010 explorers get horrible mileage.
 






Just doesnt make sense why all of a sudden my mileage would drop so much. I was getting around 15 combined in the summer. I'll reset the ECM and clean the MAF see what happens. Thank You
 






FWIW I get 13 MPG on the high end. I think it's closer to 11
 






FWIW I get 13 MPG on the high end. I think it's closer to 11

Wow, I get 13.9-14.5 for all in town driving, however, I deliberately try to not drive aggressively.
 






There's so many thing that can effect gas mileage. So, all I'll say is that everytime I fixed something on mine, gas mileage went up about 1.5mpg, tune up, FPR, a muffler that breathed easy.
A sudden drop should indicate a component going bad. I'm big on checking the FPR.
 






There's so many thing that can effect gas mileage. So, all I'll say is that everytime I fixed something on mine, gas mileage went up about 1.5mpg, tune up, FPR, a muffler that breathed easy.
A sudden drop should indicate a component going bad. I'm big on checking the FPR.

Yes I think you may be on to something. I will look into it this weekend. If it means anything my exhaust has always had a real strong pungent odor to it (rotten eggs almost). My father has the same vehicle and I notice his doesn't have this smell coming from the exhaust. Could it mean I am running rich? Like I said though no codes or CEL popping up.
 






Yes I think you may be on to something. I will look into it this weekend. If it means anything my exhaust has always had a real strong pungent odor to it (rotten eggs almost). My father has the same vehicle and I notice his doesn't have this smell coming from the exhaust. Could it mean I am running rich? Like I said though no codes or CEL popping up.

As stated I would check your fuel pressure and also run a vacuum test it will help you indicate the state of your cat's.

If you got better mileage before, there is something going on that is causing your engine to be less efficient.

Somewhere I have a thread on how to run the vacuum test let me see if I can find it...
 






Rotten eggs smell could indicate a clogged cat. Winter blend fuel will always lower you mpg. I think i saw at worst 9.9mpg in my old 93 ex durning winter and i averged 15ish in summer. Also are you tires properly inflated? You might want to give the truck a basic tune up and fluid change if it is due for one.
 






OK I couldn't find the thread, so here are the basic steps.

1) fuel pressure test - yours should be somewhere around 35psi if it is higher then that your FPR is bad and is causing too much fuel to be dumped into the engine. I had that exact problem on a gen1 sport many years ago, I was getting 10mpg, there was a definite sign of black soot on the rear of the truck and the plugs were burning very black.

2) vacuum test - disconnect you brake booster and hookup your vacuum gauge to the line. Start the truck and let it warm up. Your vacuum should settle, take a reading. Then rev your engine to 2500 to 3000 rpms and hold it there. Watch your vacuum it should settle to about the same (maybe a little lower) as the idle reading. If you vacuum drops drastically and stays low you have something blocking your exhaust. IF you vacuum goes higher then idle your intake is too restrictive etc... get the picture?

it is a set of basic test that can tell you so much about and engine...

The basic three is, Fuel Pressure/Read Plugs/Vacuum test
 






OK I couldn't find the thread, so here are the basic steps.

1) fuel pressure test - yours should be somewhere around 35psi if it is higher then that your FPR is bad and is causing too much fuel to be dumped into the engine. I had that exact problem on a gen1 sport many years ago, I was getting 10mpg, there was a definite sign of black soot on the rear of the truck and the plugs were burning very black.

2) vacuum test - disconnect you brake booster and hookup your vacuum gauge to the line. Start the truck and let it warm up. Your vacuum should settle, take a reading. Then rev your engine to 2500 to 3000 rpms and hold it there. Watch your vacuum it should settle to about the same (maybe a little lower) as the idle reading. If you vacuum drops drastically and stays low you have something blocking your exhaust. IF you vacuum goes higher then idle your intake is too restrictive etc... get the picture?

it is a set of basic test that can tell you so much about and engine...

The basic three is, Fuel Pressure/Read Plugs/Vacuum test
Thank you for the information, I would have never guessed that was a way to check the cats. Saved me alot of time and headache of trying to narrow stuff down :thumbsup:

Rotten eggs smell could indicate a clogged cat. Also are you tires properly inflated? You might want to give the truck a basic tune up and fluid change if it is due for one.
Definitely will check the cats. Tires are all @35PSI. Door says 26PSI but I tend to run them higher in the winter. Will also check plugs to see what condition they are in. Were replaced about 10,000 miles ago
 






i dont know but in ri we got the winter gas now my milage is down ther in the 13 on the high way
 






OK I couldn't find the thread, so here are the basic steps.

1) fuel pressure test - yours should be somewhere around 35psi if it is higher then that your FPR is bad and is causing too much fuel to be dumped into the engine. I had that exact problem on a gen1 sport many years ago, I was getting 10mpg, there was a definite sign of black soot on the rear of the truck and the plugs were burning very black.

2) vacuum test - disconnect you brake booster and hookup your vacuum gauge to the line. Start the truck and let it warm up. Your vacuum should settle, take a reading. Then rev your engine to 2500 to 3000 rpms and hold it there. Watch your vacuum it should settle to about the same (maybe a little lower) as the idle reading. If you vacuum drops drastically and stays low you have something blocking your exhaust. IF you vacuum goes higher then idle your intake is too restrictive etc... get the picture?

it is a set of basic test that can tell you so much about and engine...

The basic three is, Fuel Pressure/Read Plugs/Vacuum test

Good info in #(2)
 






We see it drop but never that low. If I was routinely that low I would start to worry.
Heck as it is the stupid ethanol has me down from an avg of 22mpg on the highway to 19mpg, now with the "winter crap" I am down to an avg of 17mpg with a mix of city and hwy.

[rant mode] this stupid ethanol, I don't see how it makes sense to take our tax money to subsidize the production. Then they take our food/grain to produce it which runs up the prices of beef and chicken. Then it gives us crappy mileage as well. we're taken it in the tail pipe 4 ways if you ask me [/rant mode]
 






...yeah to bad all of us can't figure out a way to pipe in real gas from 10-15 years through a space time vortex ,sad as it is though with ethanol it's created a industry and in these times it's creating jobs so it's good for the economy but not so much for our vehicles that take us to and let us earn money ....makes perfect seance lol :rolleyes:
 






I've been getting the same around 13-15mpg since we bought our 94xlt in August. Tax time I'm getting a lot of stuff done on the Explorer including new shocks, plugs, wires and new tires. I love the forum for diagnosing items here and can do simple fixes but since I'm not too mechanically inclined, I'm having a shop I trust do the work listed. I'll have them see if they can find any other info on the CEL. It still reads it's the MAF even though I replaced it. Also the CEL is not on all the time, sometimes it'll shut off when I accelerate hard on an uphill grade.
 






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