Ok, I have a 94 4.0l 4x4 Explorer with 400K Km (250k miles) on it. I noticed a month or two ago that my mileage seemed to go way down. During the summer I was getting about 280 miles per tank, now I'm getting around 220.
Originally I noticed my engine temp was pretty low and the gauge seemed to rise and fall quickly sometimes, never too high, just mid 'normal'. So, I figured my TStat was perhaps sticking/messed letting coolant rush in and out more than it should. I figured the cool running engine was sucking gas. Did the TSat and it runs warmer now (needle at least tells me that) but it still runs on the low side or below 'normal' and likes to go up and down still, but not as much and not as dramatically as before. Still sucking gas. Next did the oil, spark plugs (which were pretty bad), and air filter. SUCK. Then the other day I felt a loud and violent bang when I applied my brakes. The right front inner pad had broken apart and caught on the rotor. The brakes were only about 8 months old and were about 30% when this happened. Faulty crap pads that Napa replaced under warranty (this was the second set to do this on me...they got a bad batch of pads a while back and when they warranteed the first time they gave me another set of the crap pads). Now I'm not sure if my pads were dragging as they had worn down about 70% over 8 months of average driving or if they were just total garbage (I think garbage). So, now I have new pads and rotors and everything seems to be working fine when it comes to stopping. Still sucking gas though. No engine lights or anything else that seems out of whack.
If someone can help me diagnose this I will forever be in their debt!
Thanks
Originally I noticed my engine temp was pretty low and the gauge seemed to rise and fall quickly sometimes, never too high, just mid 'normal'. So, I figured my TStat was perhaps sticking/messed letting coolant rush in and out more than it should. I figured the cool running engine was sucking gas. Did the TSat and it runs warmer now (needle at least tells me that) but it still runs on the low side or below 'normal' and likes to go up and down still, but not as much and not as dramatically as before. Still sucking gas. Next did the oil, spark plugs (which were pretty bad), and air filter. SUCK. Then the other day I felt a loud and violent bang when I applied my brakes. The right front inner pad had broken apart and caught on the rotor. The brakes were only about 8 months old and were about 30% when this happened. Faulty crap pads that Napa replaced under warranty (this was the second set to do this on me...they got a bad batch of pads a while back and when they warranteed the first time they gave me another set of the crap pads). Now I'm not sure if my pads were dragging as they had worn down about 70% over 8 months of average driving or if they were just total garbage (I think garbage). So, now I have new pads and rotors and everything seems to be working fine when it comes to stopping. Still sucking gas though. No engine lights or anything else that seems out of whack.
If someone can help me diagnose this I will forever be in their debt!
Thanks
