10mpg wtf?

[01explorerv801]

well i have had my explorer for a few years now and it is absolutely horrible on fuel out of a tank i will barely get 250 miles. it is bone stock. it seems worse on fuel now than before as well. if i am towing my sleds it i squeeze around 200. i installed a new stock air filter seafoam in the gas tank and still is terrible on gas anyone got any ideas? oh yea 01 explorer v8 awd

 

[Turdle]

Welcome to the forum
There could be a list of things, or one magical bullet.

Does the torque converter lock at cruising speed? Your tach should be no higher than 2200 rpm's at a 70 mph cruise speed-

Front differential lube?
AWD transfer case lube?
Rear differential lube ? backing onto a boat ramp will allow water into your diffy-through the vent tube-

Emergency brake "freezing" into place due to corrosion ?
boat trailer comes to mind again-



As for simple routine items-
Spark plugs and wires? a spark misfire will not always triggger a Check engine light. You might look under the hood at night while it is dark out-have someone rev engine a bit while you look for arcing wires-

Speaking of-is the check engine light illuminated?

How about the Maf sensor? You might try cleaning it.

 

[aldive]

Have you scanned the O2 sensors function?

 

[01explorerv801]

no CEL how do i check torque converter? i do have a wine at high way speeds. i just started jetsking this year this explorer has been sucking for a few years now.

 

[Turdle]

You should check your engine speed at 70 mph

 

[01explorerv801]

as in rpms? they are low like 2000 , i think my plugs and wires are still original... 91k on motor. they look like they are brown on the porcelain part... is their an easy way to remove them?

 

[Turdle]

Yes-
Through the front wheel wells.

Jack up and support the side you are working on,

 

[01explorerv801]

so take the wheels off and just move aside the rubber piece and all 4 will accessible? im not worried about the drivers side its the pass that looks tight. should i do the wires? they look good but am curious.

 

[corkey]

do the plugs first , if it doesn't change, than do the wires,,
it will a bit with the plugs, , and a bit more with the wires,,
i did the plugs first on mine, than thw ires,
and if you want more info on other things check the search for Aldive's thread on his 30 mpg quest, he has great ideas, and i think just about at the 30 mpg mark now,,

 

[01explorerv801]

right now i want to try to get my base mpg back lol. i love the damn thing i owe nothing on it and would love to keep it for a few more winters .but damn this 10 mpg is killing me....... i cant figure out what the hell it is either... i jsut changed the oil , put tires to 37 psi cold, and took off roof rack lol. hopefully soemthing will change. thanks for the advice so far guys

 

[jp450]

Other ideas...
What grade oil are you using? Are you a lead foot driver? I got a V8 about a year ago and at times I like to use it...

 

[01explorerv801]

as of right now i use pensoil castrol and or valvoline 10w 40.. i am not to heavy on the petal and mostly do highway... my drive is about 60 miles back and fourth to work all high barely and stop and go time...my biggest thing is the winters when i am hauling my sleds to VT a 500 mile round trip last year cost us $200 in fuel alone..... with a trailer i get around 190 miles out of a tank vs the highest with out trailer was 250. i could under stand this mileage if it was constant city driving but i see plenty of people getting 15+ mpg high way.

 

[my98nnj]

i think my plugs and wires are still original... 91k on motor.

Do a complete tune up. Plugs, wires, filters ect.
Use 10W-30 oil
As some have mentioned, check the diff and tc fluids.
Even a trans service might help.
Have you ever had the front alignment checked? If thats out of wack it will hurt fuel economy as well. Excessive toe in or toe out will cause drag.

 

[Four0Sport]

with 91K miles you deffinetly need to change the plugs and wires. i was planning on only changing plugs when i tuned mine up, and as soon as i startped pulling the wires off the ends fell apart. factory wires with 140K miles on them when changed. plugs had been changed b4 since someone had autolites instead of motorcrafts. same thing really, but the dealership uses motorcraft. i can say that i am at a happy 16 mpg in my 302! daily short highway trips, semi-lead foot, hills and more hills. if im on a long trip its closer to 20. hope this helps!

 

[01explorerv801]

was thinking of doing a CAI and magna flow exhaust would this help in fuel economy at all?

 

[CHEESYPOOFS]

yea anything you can do to gelp your engine breathe better will improve ur mpg. some headers will help as well if ur into that kind of thing and if u really want to help improve it u can also get a programmer and put on a fuel saver tune. also (no personal experience with this) theres something called a fuel catalyst that improves ur mpg and raises the octane in your gas. definately get ur plugs and wires changed that will help considering the milage on the plugs. or hell (just a silly thought) if you really want to save gas you could do a propane conversion kit. Propane is cheaper per gallon than gasoline and much cheaper in mass amounts. Seen the guys on Trucks! do it to an f-150 it was kinda kool lol.

 

[Turdle]

was thinking of doing a CAI and magna flow exhaust would this help in fuel economy at all?

Whoa !

You need to find your problem first.

I would recommend a good scanning tool, maybe an xcal device.

You need to see what is going on before you start throwing $$ at it.

 

[01explorerv801]

0 codes nothing at all, truck runs fine no sputter no CEL just is not getting proper gas mileage. that was just a question because i had seen aldive recommended it to people as in if you do one you need to do both.

 

[Turdle]

0 codes nothing at all, truck runs fine no sputter no CEL just is not getting proper gas mileage. that was just a question because i had seen aldive recommended it to people as in if you do one you need to do both.

The v8 pcm will try to make up for a lot of things and set no CEL--believe me-

I could tell war stories, but for time sake I still say you need to scan the o2 sensors ( and others) like Al recommended.

in fact--does the check engine light illuminate at all? When you switch the key to "on" without cranking the starter-do you see the check engine light?

 

[01explorerv801]

yea it comes on when i put the key to acc