Fuel economy

[Takumii.86]

I have a 2008 ford explorer with 300k kms on it canadian spec and it says 4x4 at the back and its in auto 4x4 from factory so cutting the 4x4 auto will help me save fuel or not as i heard its like AWD most of the times and there are videos cutting the AWD and turning it into just rwd is it possible n will it save fuel it gives pretty bad mileage a full tank only lasts 400kms in city n highway driving highway at 140 gives better but not so good

 

[94Eddie]

I have a 2008 ford explorer with 300k kms on it canadian spec and it says 4x4 at the back and its in auto 4x4 from factory so cutting the 4x4 auto will help me save fuel or not as i heard its like AWD most of the times and there are videos cutting the AWD and turning it into just rwd is it possible n will it save fuel it gives pretty bad mileage a full tank only lasts 400kms in city n highway driving highway at 140 gives better but not so good

The EPA MPG ratings between 4WD and 2WD models is just one MPG for city and highway so you won't see any notable difference in gasoline consumed converting 4WD to 2WD. My guess is that a good portion of the MPG difference is due to the 2WD version being lighter weight so you won't get this benefit by any disconnection of the front drive system. You might save 0.5 MPG which is meaningless. Even with today's high fuel prices.

 

[07EddyB]

It's not technically AWD - it's 4WD with the caveat that 4WD will engage when needed - hence 4WD auto. So you aren't running in 4WD all the time unless there is an issue with the system. To gain anything you would have to remove the transfer case, the front drive shaft, the front differential and the half shafts - otherwise everything is still spinning and the weight is the same. Of course, then you no longer have 4WD - and as noted above that will probably be 1 MPG at best.
If you suspect that it's staying in 4WD then you can remove the front drive shaft to test - you can drive without it with no issues.
I believe the 'brown wire mod' is more about control over the RSC system than anything else. It might ruffle some feathers but I think it's about not being able to do good 'burn out' type activities than for any other reason.
I'm putting my flame suit on now.....

 

[Bazz270]

I am running on brown wire mode for 3 years (just too lazy to rebuild the transfer case and the front driveshaft cv joint).so my 4wd mode used only by slip road condition.

Fuel mileage in 4wd remains the same as the 2wd or the difference might be neglected.

If you really want to save on fuel money.sell em..Gen4 Explorer is not an option at all.

The BW mode just bypassing the 5v-12v transfer case front diff engagement electromagnenic clutch pack.

No torque trasferred to the front diff without control voltage on the 4x4 module brown wire.

With this mode installed,RSc system is getting crazy if any serious slippage detected.be awared.

 

[Toilerman]

I have a 2008 ford explorer with 300k kms on it canadian spec and it says 4x4 at the back and its in auto 4x4 from factory so cutting the 4x4 auto will help me save fuel or not as i heard its like AWD most of the times and there are videos cutting the AWD and turning it into just rwd is it possible n will it save fuel it gives pretty bad mileage a full tank only lasts 400kms in city n highway driving highway at 140 gives better but not so good

I have a 2007 Explorer (4.6) with 4wd. Operating in 2 wheel rear drive I too receive only about 400 Km’s on a full tank.terrible! I have 338,000 km right now. Did you learn anything since your original post?