getting ready for cross country trek: need advice on improving gas mpg Plus

[Teressajane]

hi you all. i rarely post but have lurked and learned amazing things that have helped me maintain and fix my two oldies but goodies. your advice helped me to change my heater core myself last month and fix a engine light connundrum. wanted to say thanks.

ok, here is latest. will try to be succint. I am heading for Texas from NW wa for Christmas. 1993 ford explorer with 100,000 miles. vehicle given to me if i could get it started a year ago. I did. changed the ful filter, fuel pump, new muffler, brakes, full tuneup, clean fuel injectors. Had intermittant idiot light which came on when vehicle was under load and also a loss of power resulting same time. finally took to mechanic and he couldnt find issue. then saw on this forum a thread about deposits on the MAF sensor that dont come off with the cleaner and how to remove them without harming the 2 wires. did it and no more light and 85% less incidents with loss of power under load. (yay) BUT, my gas mileage is HORRIBLE. 10 mpg with mix of town and country driving. was better when I first got it.

On SSI disability, so very limited funds, so I need to know what sensors or other parts would be the most likely issues that are affecting my gas mileage, and what one or two would likely give me the greatest chance of increasing the gas mileage if I were to change them? No engine light anymore, and it is a OBD1. I can use a multimeter basic with clear instructions if I need to test something. utube and the library and chiltons have allowed this 60 yr old female to do most of my maintainence myself (and this forum).

no oil use, no overheating or other fluid issues. tranny shifts good but 4wd doesnt work. i have noticed it takes a long time for the tempature guage to get up to normal. seems slower than before. could a temp sensor be an issue? new air filter and oil filter/change. starts right up cold or hot. i have a 96 econoline 150 with 278,000 miles which I have had and maintained since 1996. original equipment but for pcm module and fuel pump other than lots of routine maintainence and diligence ...off road 30,000 miles at least of hard wear and tear, and it gets 15 miles per gallon. with a 5.8 l v8. sorry for length of post. any suggestions appreciated.

 

[RangerX]

Why not take the van?

 

[gmbroy]

you could try being really gentle with the gas pedal . you also could pull out the 2 coolant temp sensors & try cleaning them . id replace them but I understand your financial position . try that & see what happens .

 

[Centaurious]

It may only be OBD1 but it will still give you clues. Run the KOEO, CM. and KOER tests and see what codes it gives. My 2WD Sport with manual varies from 15 to 22 mpg depending on time of year, city or hwy, Astrological conditions, etc. I live in FL so I only see about a 50' elevation change most of the time so I can see a more mountainous terrain and a heavy, full frame SUV getting worse mileage.

 

[Teressajane]

Why not take the van?

i have gone back and forth over which vehicle to take. i would much perfer to take my van since its easier to camp in it and i know and love it. my concerns are the high mileage (nearly 300,000)and some issues i am having with the defroster which impacts visability. I managed to change out the leaking heater core myself, but theres something wrong in the switch assembly and havent been able yet to figure out just what part is defective and too expensive to replace the entire thing.

mostly what scared me was having it develop a Warm no start issue out of the blue that I couldnt seem to figure out no matter what i did. finally, discovered it was the temp sensor, thanks to this forum, but after hours upon hours of checking the fuel system and spark, etc. It is the first time ever in 20 years that it developed an issue that wasnt clear as to what was happening. I can usually figure out what to do if I know what the problem is, but if i get on road and it does something like this again, I could be in trouble. Even a mechanic couldnt figure this out and I got lucky in finally figuring it out myself, thanks to hours of reading and reseearching and experimenting. my van has been, always without exception, quick to start up, and remarkably few issues, other than fuel pump, pcm module, and starter. It uses less oil than the explorer, and has no shifting or engine issues, and if i put foot to gas, it actually responds, unlike the explorer with its anemic 6 cylinder putt putt.

but, at some point, I keep thinking it is going to say enough and kaput, it gets some catastrophic issue. At what point is it almost a guarantee that a previously well running machine will simply die? i have done my maintainence religiously, ujoints, belts, tune up, brakes, tranny etc. But i havent changed out sensors, or had any engine work done ever. so, would it be smarter to take a vehicle with 278,000 miles but no known issues, or a vehicle with 98,000 that seems to run well, except for gas mileage. I know this sounds stupid. I guess having something happen that I almost couldnt figure out with the warm no start issue, is now I wonder haw many other similiar issues I might face....

 

[Teressajane]

you could try being really gentle with the gas pedal . you also could pull out the 2 coolant temp sensors & try cleaning them . id replace them but I understand your financial position . try that & see what happens .

didnt know they could be cleaned. i will try that, and also look to replace them when i can.

 

[Teressajane]

It may only be OBD1 but it will still give you clues. Run the KOEO, CM. and KOER tests and see what codes it gives. My 2WD Sport with manual varies from 15 to 22 mpg depending on time of year, city or hwy, Astrological conditions, etc. I live in FL so I only see about a 50' elevation change most of the time so I can see a more mountainous terrain and a heavy, full frame SUV getting worse mileage.

I would LOVE 15...even 12 would make me happier. and i am not getting any codes once i fixed the MAF sensor.

 

[Rhett]

If you're worried about a rod flying out of the engine bay as you speed down the interstate, I'd be more worried about an 8 mpg Explorer doing it than a 278,000 mile van that seems to be running well.

 

[RangerX]

I totally get the hard decision on which vehicle to take, given your further details on the van.
the van's V8 is a solid strong long lasting engine, but so it the Explorer's 4.0. My 40 has over 350,000 on it, never been worked on.
Is your Explorer auto trans or 5 speed? If it's auto, I would lean towards the van.
Maybe your van's defroster switch assembly issue is a vacuum problem? I know that's a common issue on the similar year explorers... a vacuum leak prevents the switch from working. Just a thought.

 

[Roadrunner777]

There's a wire jumper called an 'octane jumper' near the fusebox under the hood. I forget how it works exactly, someone may recall, but the presence of absence of the jumper in the plug reduces gas mileage in exchange for reduced engine knock with low-octane fuel. You might search on that.

 

[safn1949]

Replace MAF sensor, full tune include wires? Ditch the airbox and run a KKM, replace stock restrictive muffler with a cheap turbo muffler. I did this on my 94 and it went to 19 mpg hwy on the trip from MN to OH to WV to Moab, took 3 tanks of gas to get it to 19. And it will run great.