Excessive Gas Usage

[FordLover61]

Hey all you forum members! I am having a bit of a problem, and am hoping someone can help. Here is my story. I work in New Britain, and had to bring parts to one of our customers in Bloomfield. Parts were badly needed, and customer could not wait until the next day. Anyway, I filled my tank before going. I went there and back and went a couple of other places afterward. This was this past Wednesday. Yesterday all I did was drive to work, out for a coffee break, lunch, and then home. In just a little over a day I used almost half a tank of gas. My X is a '92 XLT. I know that's a bit old. But I don't think I should have used that much gas that quickly. What can be causing this? If anyone has any thoughts on what can be causing this problem, they would be greatly appreciated HELP!!!!

 

[JDraper]

If my faded memory serves me correctly, one of the causes for excessive fuel usage (besides a leak or someone stealing gas) is a bad fuel pressure regulator, and you can check it by pulling the vacuum hose off and seeing if there's fuel in the vacuum line. There should be a thread on checking the FPR here somewhere.

 

[TheFox88]

Dirty MAF, IAC, air filter. Old spark plugs, bad spark plug wires. Clogged fuel filter, Extra weight of parts? How many miles did you drive for the past two days?

 

[wycowboy]

Add O2 sensor to the list

Chris

 

[old mechanic]

After checking and fixing all of the above things you can expect to get around 12-13 mpg around town and a few more mpg on the highway. Some claim more but these are the figures I get and 4-5 others that I know of get.

BTW: You need to fill your tank, write down your mileage, use almost a tank full, fill the tank up again, check how many miles you went and divide the miles you went by the gallons you used. Do this a few times to get your true mileage.
Sometimes we go more miles than we think we did when we "guesstamate" our mileage.

 

[wingot]

fuel pressure regulator. dont even remind me... before it broke on me on the interstate i was only getting about 10 mpg. changed it and clocked the mileage last night... 19 mpg. try to eliminate other possibilities first though, cause the part isnt cheap. (about 80 bucks)

 

[FordLover61]

Thanks alot guys! I will check it out and let you know my results.

 

[old mechanic]

fuel pressure regulator. dont even remind me... before it broke on me on the interstate i was only getting about 10 mpg. changed it and clocked the mileage last night... 19 mpg. try to eliminate other possibilities first though, cause the part isnt cheap. (about 80 bucks)

If you doubled your mileage, then $80.00 is a drop in the bucket compared to $2.50 a gallon of gas.
That has to be a record, doubling your mileage like that.

 

[drstein]

the fuel filter is an interesting one. How often should those be replaced? I've heard every 50,000 miles.
What do you guys recommend for that? (My 94 can only go about 250 miles on a tank.. at 250miles, the needle is dangerously below "E")

 

[matts93Eddie]

I can squeeze out about 270 miles in my 93, but my dad can get it to go to alittle over 300. It could be your driving style. I work for the sheriff's dept here in AR and i drive like a cop. The faster you go the better you are. Not true for fuel economy, but when you drive and ride in vehicle that you dont have to pay to fix it is hard to get out of the habit. If thier is nothing wrong with your explorer try to change how you accelerate. That will make a big difference in your fuel economy, but you should at least get 15 on the hwy and 12 to 13 in the city. That is what i get with the air on in the AR heat.

 

[FordLover61]

the fuel filter is an interesting one. How often should those be replaced? I've heard every 50,000 miles.
What do you guys recommend for that? (My 94 can only go about 250 miles on a tank.. at 250miles, the needle is dangerously below "E")

Thanks DR. I will add that to my list of things to check.

 

[Crizz]

At my ´90 XLT I had the same probs. Caused by a dirty MAF ( cleaned with brake cleaner spray ), bad airfilter ( replaced with an K&N ), old sparkplugs ( and suspicious cables.. ) bad thermostat (always opened ) and at least a leak in one head gasket ( Oil in cooling water - got rid of it with "bar´s leaks" ). After all, it took about 30 % less fuel than before. By the way : read out your OBD-I and look after errors that could be caused by the lambda-plate.

 

[FordLover61]

At my ´90 XLT I had the same probs. Caused by a dirty MAF ( cleaned with brake cleaner spray ), bad airfilter ( replaced with an K&N ), old sparkplugs ( and suspicious cables.. )

I will add air filter to the list of things to check, and check the plugs to see if they may be fouled. But I don't think the wires are a problem. I just put in new ones this past winter.

 

[Crizz]

Martens love sparkcables - esp. in winter *fg*.

Let the engine run by night or in a darkened garage and take a look under the hood. At my old cables you could see the sparks jumping to body parts from several sections.

 

[matts93Eddie]

Another problem could be your exhaust, if you catalitic converter is clogged it will reduce your mileage.

 

[blacklake]

Im I crazy or what but you guys are all mentioning 250 some miles to the gallon in your ex's But I have recorded mine at 350miles. It has a K&n and a better muffler. I took it down to empty then brought a gas can in the back and when it started to cut out I stopped and filled it.

 

[matts93Eddie]

At 250 mile i am at a quarter of a tank, never like to drive very far with it below that amount. Sorry, I guess i should have made myself clear. I had a bad experience once that taught me a lesson about how far to drive on a tank of gas.

 

[drstein]

Since dumping a bottle of seafoam into the tank, I can now hit 250 miles. My driving pattern is a mix of city & highway.
I'm going to try replacing the air filter, and it's about time to replace the spark plugs as well.

 

[FordLover61]

Since dumping a bottle of seafoam into the tank, I can now hit 250 miles. My driving pattern is a mix of city & highway.
I'm going to try replacing the air filter, and it's about time to replace the spark plugs as well.

I just changed the oil yesterday along with the air filter. The thing was dirty as hell. Let me know where I can get some Seafoam. I want to give that a shot as well.

 

[1IronMike]

I get my SEAFOAM at NAPA.