Gas Mileage Seems Low

[spalmer1214]

Ive got an 06 Mountaineer with the 4.6 3v in it. Now i know that the gas mileage is not great with this engine but i am only getting like 9.5 to 11.5 MPG and it sucks.

It has good air cleaner, new plugs, new fuel filter. Everything on it is good. Ohh ya and i do not beat on it, i baby it. My wife has a little bit of a lead foot but not to much.

Any ideas how to help it or is this a common range for MPG?

 

[edwx]

Hmmm...that does sound low. Did you put the plugs in? How are you calculating mpg? I know this is a reach, but what about a fuel injector cleaner. Is it city driving with the a/c cranking? Maybe switch gas stations. Maybe someone else can add suggestions. My '06 V-6 averages 18 in the summer & I can get 20+ strictly on the highway.

 

[waskly]

are you stuck in bumper to bumper traffic all day?

when it takes 30 min to go 1 mile, you will not have miles per gallon very high.

 

[banditxp]

yup, type of driveing/traffic makes a HUGE difference.

I drive 18 miles to work. 30-55MPH roads and like 12 lights. Plus with the 30MPG stop and go in city streets while at work (Field Engineer) i avg around 17-17.5 MPG. With the AC on it drops to mid 16's. one time when i was stuck in all of city slow traffic it got down to low 15's.

On Saturday this weekend i took a 200+ mile drive on back roads and none main highways. pretty much all 55+ MPH and some slower towns and stuff. my avg MPG for that whole trip was about 21MPG.

Mods: K&N air intake system and 3" Gibson cat-back exhaust.

 

[The Scott]

My commute is 3 miles with a few stoplights, my driving style could be described as enthusiastically, and I am averaging between 9 and 12 MPG. I think I would get better mpg with the V8 because the engine would not have to try so hard.

 

[Town]

Try keeping the rpm on acceleration to 2,000 or below. The transmission will shift up quickly and easily keep up with the traffic. Light throttle, high gear and low rpm works for me and my son's 07 Explorer V8.

 

[kam327]

My commute is 3 miles with a few stoplights, my driving style could be described as enthusiastically, and I am averaging between 9 and 12 MPG. I think I would get better mpg with the V8 because the engine would not have to try so hard.

Yeah with all short city trips like that your engine probably never has a chance to come up to full temp which hurts fuel economy. The engine burns more fuel when cold. Plus you have less time at optimum economy (say 35-55 mph) in the middle to bring the average up from the low economy during the driveway / parking lot maneuvering at the beginning and end of your trip.

A good thing to do is compare how much lower than the EPA city rating you're getting with the Expy compared to another car you've used on this trip. If you're getting 20% less than the city rating on both than that's a good indication that it's just the nature of your route and there's not much you can do about it.

 

[banditxp]

Also if you want a good way to test to see if your getting the MPG you should be getting compared to others, do this test because just about all of us should get around the same in this test. Pick a nice flat very little hill road that about 5+ miles long with not allot of turns. Make sure the wind is under 10MPH also. Set the cruse for 60MPH and reset the MPG gauge. you should after a couple miles even out around 22-24MPG. More hills or head wind, then 20-22MPG. VERY FLAT and no wind or little tail wind iv gotten 24-26MPG.

If you cant get those numbers then you have something you need to check into.