04 Ford Explorer V6 Worsening MPG!

[Saik]

I noticed my Ford Explorer starting to suck more gas than normal. I do not have a MPG Guage so I cannot confirm this. However driving normally from my school I usually see a small drop in the gas tank readings. However now I can literally see a huge drop!

Last night I put 7 Gallons of gas, and it was on the half way mark, now it's almost on the 2nd mark which is kinda surprising since I only drove it less than 20 miles.

Right now I took out the spare tire to see if I can gain more MPG, and I decided to use my cruise control. I'm extremely disappointed in my explorer I take care of it very much, and this is how it repays me

 

[Saik]

Alright I just came back from school and noticed something. I seem to have saved a lot of gas. I used the cruise control feature for the first time, and my gas needle stayed in place for the entire trip. Is it just my driving habits? I rarely drive over 55 MPH normally.

 

[jaydez]

Try tacking your gas milage by filling the tank and dividing the miles driven between fills by the number of gallons. The gas guage is incredibly inaccurate and is a horrible way to determine how fuel efficient your truck is.

That will give you some solid numbers to work with.

 

[kstrayhorn]

My 02 has been doing the same thing over the past couple of months. I usually get about 12-16, but then it started noticeably declining to where I calculated it to be at 9.5 at its worst. I got it checked out and my mechanic replaced the thermostat among some other small maintenance things (changed coolant, etc.). Then, it got a little better like back to 12, but over the past couple of weeks I have been using the cruise control for the first time going back and forth to basketball tournaments (80 miles each way) and I got more than 16. Hope someone figures this out before I fall back to <11

 

[Saik]

Alright I seem to be getting better MPG. Also I inflated my tires for 38 PSI

I did a reset on my ECU by unplugging the battery for an hour, I did the seafoam treatment, and added STP Complete Fuel System cleaner to a full tank of gas.

My Explorer is running like a dream! I no longer feel any shaking when I idle at a stop light, nor does it suck that much gas. I'm at about 18 MPG using cruise control in a city environment.

When I have enough cash I will go ahead and change the fuel filter, and spark plugs.

 

[Saik]

UPDATE:

Just did a change oil yesterday, and asked them to replace the fuel filter.

I seem to be getting 38MPG. Better from the 9 MPG I got just prior. Do you think that fuel filter was the problem?

 

[Saik]

I just confirmed I'm getting an average of 35-40MPG on my Ford Explorer! THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!

I'm driving with cruise control under at 38MPH-42MPH. Usually I get like 9MPG with my very slow driving. However after that fuel filter change my car is saving so much gas!

Could anyone tell me why a small fuel filter made me spend almost $80 every 2 weeks on gas?

 

[Ronin8002]

I just confirmed I'm getting an average of 35-40MPG on my Ford Explorer! THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!

I'm driving with cruise control under at 38MPH-42MPH. Usually I get like 9MPG with my very slow driving. However after that fuel filter change my car is saving so much gas!

Could anyone tell me why a small fuel filter made me spend almost $80 every 2 weeks on gas?

How are you coming up with 35-40 mpg? What calculation are you using?

 

[Saik]

I'm using the Kiwi MPG OBDII guage. It went from 9 MPG to 38 MPG after the new fuel filter. It's been staying on that constant for the past 3 days

 

[Ronin8002]

I'm using the Kiwi MPG OBDII guage. It went from 9 MPG to 38 MPG after the new fuel filter. It's been staying on that constant for the past 3 days

Ok. But have you checked the accuracy of this guage by comparing its reading vs miles driven divided by gallons used? I ask because I can get my scanguage ii obd reader to tell me i am getting 30 mpg or more depending on what settings I tweak on it. Doesnt mean its correct though.

 

[Saik]

Yes I also have my odometer on a Trip setting to measure the miles I driven since I had the fuel filter changed. Right now I'm at 81.something miles, and I didn't even go to the gas station yet. I also can confirm this on gas guage, usually I can see the gas needle go down, but now it hardly even moves.

When they took out my fuel filter it was spitting out black fluid, and maybe this caused all my bad mileage. Right now I'm just enjoying my great MPG while it lasts. Also my driving is very slow, because I use cruise control 80% of the time, and keep under 45 MPH

 

[Ronin8002]

Yes I also have my odometer on a Trip setting to measure the miles I driven since I had the fuel filter changed. Right now I'm at 81.something miles, and I didn't even go to the gas station yet. I also can confirm this on gas guage, usually I can see the gas needle go down, but now it hardly even moves.

When they took out my fuel filter it was spitting out black fluid, and maybe this caused all my bad mileage. Right now I'm just enjoying my great MPG while it lasts. Also my driving is very slow, because I use cruise control 80% of the time, and keep under 45 MPH

I think its quite likely that you got some fuel economy improvement from the new filter. I don't think you are averaging 35-40 mpg on a tank though. If you are interested in getting an accurate calculation of this, do the following:

-fill up your tank completely and reset the trip odometer on the vehicle to zero.
-drive as you normally do. When your tank gets to 1/4 or lower, go back to the same gas station and pump you filled with the first time. Fill the tank again, noting how many gallons the gas pump says it has dispensed.
-take the number of miles driven since that last fill up from your trip odometer. Divide that by the number of gallons you just got off the pump, and there's your average mpg for that last tank.

This is the easiest and one of the most accurate ways of figuring it out. Perhaps more so than a guage that may be making incorrect assumptions about tank size, engine displacement, miles traveled, etc.

 

[RickOTR]

In your first post you said you did not have a MPG gauge. But then you said in your last post that you got 38 MPG with the Kiwi MPG OBDII gauge. How did you come to the first estimate? I had the Kiwi gauge when it first came out and found it be inaccurate.

 

[Saik]

Thanks Ronin I'll go ahead and try that.

Rick my first post was from a month ago, accurate or not my Explorer has been running pretty efficiently in the past 3 days.