94 explorer, poor gas mileage. . . . | Page 3 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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94 explorer, poor gas mileage. . . .

Just drove 600 miles and averaged about 16.7 miles a gallon. Check Engine light came on during the trip and I noticed that the exhaust smelled more of gasoline. Going to have a look at the computer codes and see what happens, but I am thinking that it is a MAF or O2 sensor. BTW does this truck have one or two O2 sensors?

How much does it cost to fill your tank from empty?
 



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i hope you meant more then one fill up? cause that would mean you have a 36 gal (rough estimate) tank, mean you spending damn near 124.20 a fill up
 






that would really depend on the price per gallon , but average i guesstamate about 40 $ some odd bucks for a 19 gal tank but normally you would not fill from dead empty so say around 35$ average
 






One fill up. Price here is around $3.50 a gal. which happens to be the National average as of today. Gotta go watch "Top Gear". Love that show. :)
 






umm........... let me rephrase that last post then about $50-60 for a fill ,dam ...got to get three of those "flux capacitors" asap !
 












:) what i consider a fill is when i'm about 1/4-1/8 left in the tank
 






I may claim my vehicles as extra kids. They have a bigger appetite than my real kid's. Maybe that Flux Capacitor will come in handy. I'm going back to kick Osama's A$$!
 






So should I take this thing to the dealer? I took it to a friends shop and they put it on a snap on computer that monitered all kinds and the shop guy said nothing appeared to be wrong. I dont know whatg to do.
 












So should I take this thing to the dealer? I took it to a friends shop and they put it on a snap on computer that monitered all kinds and the shop guy said nothing appeared to be wrong. I dont know whatg to do.

That would depend on which piece of Snap-on equipment he used. If there were no codes, that's one thing. But if had an advanced scanner that could display the actual data from the sensors to be compared to known good readings, and they were all nominal, that would suggest a mechanical issue of some sort.

I'm talking off of the top of my head here, but the first thing that comes to mind that would cause poor fuel economy is fuel pressure. Have you been able to take a reading? After that, compression and leakdown readings.
 






I saw an episode of trucks, when stacy still did it, where he changed all his lubrication to synthetic. Royal purple in his case. Tranny, Transfercase, Diff and oil. It lessens rolling friction and increased his mileage in a dodge ram, dodge V8's are notorious for bad MPG, by 12-15%.

Just a thought.
 






its 1.21 gigawatts!!!
 












That would depend on which piece of Snap-on equipment he used. If there were no codes, that's one thing. But if had an advanced scanner that could display the actual data from the sensors to be compared to known good readings, and they were all nominal, that would suggest a mechanical issue of some sort.

I'm talking off of the top of my head here, but the first thing that comes to mind that would cause poor fuel economy is fuel pressure. Have you been able to take a reading? After that, compression and leakdown readings.


He had all sorts of data on the machine, pressure, voltage etcetera, but since he was the mechanic I just listened when he said everything was within spec.

Now I DID get this as a free service because my friend worked at the same shop and the owner did it as a favor. It is possible then I guess that the owner is not a pro at diagnosing fords and/or did not recognize some strange reading as a fault in the trucks systems.

BTW about where should the engine coolant temp guage stay at about? Mine is staying just a little below halway all the time.
 






I get ~10mpg when I baby it! Gotta love 3.27s pulling 33" tires :p daily driver till I get it grand prix (supposed to get it last Tuesday haha) also!
 












Talked to a ford mechanic today and the first thing he said was 'fuel pressure regulator', they go bad all the time on older explorers.

Guess what. I replaced it and the truck seems to run better and smoother and there is no more gas smell after driving for a while.
 






I suspect my mileage will increase a bit.
 



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I'm not sure what kind it is to tell you the truth. My friend's Dad worked for APC Racing, he would go to shows with products to use as demos, well when APC shut down or whatever, I got about 500 dollars worth in parts. I decided to use this intake, it's pretty solid and it's not a fabric or cloth type, it's an aluminum type. Kind of like the screens on windows, but stiffer and overlapping... you can feel the suction if you place your hand around it.

As for the MAF, prior to placing the cone filter in, I upgraded mine to the 5.0L MAF housing. Just go to the junkyard, find a Ford with a 5.0L in it and get the housing, it was only about 15 dollars or so used here at the local Pull-A-Part. With it you put your own electronics in it, so you have your electronics and the used MAF. It was about a year ago that I put the cone filter in, i like this one because I can take it out, throw it in the dishwasher and when it comes out it's perfectly clean, lol.

Bp and Shell are the best gasolines in my area by far btw. My engine has 260k on the block, never been touched. I can tell a difference between Kroger gas and BP gas, and my mileage is also affected. I run nothing but shell/bp gas, whichever is cheaper. I didn't know Mobil had gasoline, I don't think we have a station here.



ethanol won't run on carbs correctly i believe. my friend had to get a carb that was made out of a different type of metal so he could run ethanol, or gas with ethanol in it.

as for underhood temps, i have a "heat shield" around the air filter, which probably doesn't do anything but looks cool. i'm trying to figure out how to suck in outside air while keeping moisture out. I'm thinking about running the air intake from the driver side but i don't know if extending the wires for the MAF will have any issues. only reason i'm considering that side is because there's more room and i can do a true cold air intake from that side.

The maf off of a 5.0 works with these engines? I have one sitting in my garage right now (the old one off of my mustang....might need to give that a try)


And you want expensive gas, come to Canada its 1.25 a litre here right now thats damn near 5.00 a gallon:mad:
 






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