My quest for 30 MPG - Ford Explorer Gas Mileage Tips

[BIGHVM]

How do you ride with 40 psi?
I have dropped mine to 28 as its way too firm for my softer bits!
Or maybe the roads here are rubbish- (think an airstrip in Kuwait would be smoother)! I drive mostly in the suburbs in Surrey England.

I guess on a highway I will give 40 psi a try- Good luck to you with your fantastic milage.

[aldive]

I notice very little difference in ride quality from 37 psig to 40 psig.

How are your shocks?

[briwayjones]

Originally Posted by BIGHVM

How do you ride with 40 psi?
I have dropped mine to 28 as its way too firm for my softer bits!

28 is too low and not good for the tires. I suggest a minimum of 32lbs.

[Brandons]

I ran at 45psi (max 50) this summer.. did notice a small difference in gas mileage (was at 32psi).

[drake437]

Al,

I remember a while back you where researching new tires and the effect of rolling resistance on mileage. Have you made a decision on new tires? I imagine you are looking at more of a “highway/street” tread as compared to the RT/S? Have you thought about moving down a size to a 225? Just curious, your thread is very informative. Thanks

Drake

[CDW6212R]

Many tires ride smoother with higher pressures than other tires. Of course those tires which have a 44psi MAX rating can be used with higher pressures than 35psi MAX tires. I have also had tires which rode more harshly with average air pressures, my last sets of Yokohama tires were that way. My current Destination AT tires are a little softer now, with the same (38/34)psi pressures. Regards,

[redman02]

Originally Posted by JDraper

The only way I'm gonna get 30 mpg is to be towed somewhere!!! I just did a round trip to Philly (330 miles) and averaged 16.5mpg. All except about 25 miles was highway mileage at 75-80mph (I stayed with traffic). The best I have EVER done was when the truck was brand new and had no modifications to it whatsoever, and that was about 20mpg. The only comfort I can take is that we have a gas war going on in town between Wal-Mart and Sheetz, and right now I'm only paying .77/gal

Hey Draper: I was reading threads as to up date my knowledge a bit and ran into this one. Wow gas was .77 gal then. lol I'm and older guy and in 1971 it was 19.9 cents per gallon. In Minnesota between state and federal gas tax alone is 38 cents per gallon and the state wants to raise it 40 cents more.

_redman2

[Redtrac01]

Originally Posted by BIGHVM

I have dropped mine to 28 as its way too firm for my softer bits!
fantastic milage.

28 is way too low. The door sticker on mine recommends 32 front and 36 rear. I put 36 front, 38 rear and don't notice any ride difference. The rollover problems with the Firestone tires were caused by underinflation.

[russ1991]

Originally Posted by aldive

Its very difficult to get great mileage out of a first generation, however, you can indeed do much better.

Read this thread.

I've often lurked around this site to get tips and tricks for my EX but never posted until now.

I drive a 1991, XLT, 4x4, 4 Door Explorer. 175180 kms (108851 miles)
Mods include.
Warrior Shackles and F150 Spacer - Gave me 2" Lift
KKM True Rev Air Fliter Kit - The Cone shape Airfilter
New Exhaust - Removed Catalitic converter, New pipe increased size by 1/4"
New Tires, Stock size inflated to 34 PSI
Regular Oil Changes using Penzoil non synthetic

The Ex is in good overall shape and had a tune up within the last 2yrs. I'm not sure what the gear ratio is.

I've been tracking my fuel consumption for a few years but never did any calculations until I ran across this amazing thread.

First off I want to make sure I'm doing my calculation correctly: I'm canadian so I work in Kilometers/Litre then convert to MPG.

Ex. from my records
Travel 366km then fill up tank with 59.86 liters. I divide 366km/59.86Litres to get 6.11 Km/L. Is this correct. Then I've been coverting the Km to Miles and Liters to U.S Gallons(Liquid not Dry Gallons) and dividing. To Give me 277.42 Miles / 15.81 Gallons =17.54 MPG. I used a website to do the conversions individually and Liters to Gallons (U.S Liquid).

A previous suggestion on this site I could multiply KM/L by 2.85 to get MPG but this gives a much higher MPG than calculating my way, Maybe I misread this?

Using my method of calculation gives me a really crap number compared to many others on this thread. I'm consistantly getting around 17 MPG.

Is this consistant with all the other first Generation explorers out there? Am I above or below average.

What can I do to improve my mileage?

cheers Russ

[gavin]

366 kilometers is equal to 227.422 miles
59.86 liters is equal to 15.813 gallons (US)
227.422/15.813 = 14.382

[russ1991]

Originally Posted by gavin

366 kilometers is equal to 227.422 miles
59.86 liters is equal to 15.813 gallons (US)
227.422/15.813 = 14.382

Hey Gavin,
Yikes thanks for the correction, so my MPG is actually around 14 MPG, even worse than I thought. This is insane, my explorer is in great condition and its a pig on gas it seems compared to other explorers.

What do other first Generation owners get for mileage??

[Guido0136]

I have 1 94 xlt and I get around 15-16 KPL. I have been trying everything to get more... I'm thinking of getting one of those "improve millage chips" but all my research shows that some of them work and some don't.

[Guido0136]

I have a 94 xlt and I get around 15-16 KPL. I have been trying everything to get more... I'm thinking of getting one of those "improve millage chips" but all my research shows that some people say they work and some people say they don't.

[aldive]

Originally Posted by Guido0136

I have 1 94 xlt and I get around 15-16 KPL. I have been trying everything to get more... I'm thinking of getting one of those "improve millage chips" but all my research shows that some of them work and some don't.

A chip will do little if anything for your model year truck. Sorry.

[xdviper]

Aldive, may I also suggest that, you're getting good MPG also because the amount of traffic lights in FL. I remember when I visited Fort Lauderdale 2 Summers a go, driving down I haven't stop at a traffic light for about 2-4 miles. Here in NYC, you get about a light every block... which kills the MPG and time, off course you can cruise down the block when you see the light but even when you get to the end of the block, it's still not green yet.

And also, I have also seen smoother steering with more PSI in the tires, went from 30PSI to 35PSI, and it seems like I get more faster pick up from traffic lights.

[BrooklynBay]

NY also has 10% ethanol in their gas while Florida doesn't.

[aldive]

All of my mileage testing is highway only driving. I rarely monitor in town mileage,

[marisdr]

> Is this consistant with all the other first Generation explorers out there?

Not really Explorer, it's '89 Bronco II with 2.9 V6. Getting 12.7 l/100km = ~18.5mpg. No mods, just stock.

[gavin]

Originally Posted by marisdr

> Is this consistant with all the other first Generation explorers out there?

Not really Explorer, it's '89 Bronco II with 2.9 V6. Getting 12.7 l/100km = ~18.5mpg. No mods, just stock.

2.9L is smaller than the 4.0L in Explorers. Not to mention size and weight differences.
You cannot compare a Bronco2's gas mileage with an Explorer's

[Blackhat]

Torrie at fastpartnetwork has been working on a new tune that is supposed to get a little better fuel mileage. You might get ahold of him._Ron