low gas mialage question | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

low gas mialage question

xploder610

New Member
Joined
December 5, 2010
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
City, State
Topeka, Kansas
Year, Model & Trim Level
2002 xlt Explorer
I used to have a 02 explorer xlt with 4.0 4x4 and averaged 15 miles per gallon with 98,000 miles on it. unfortunatly it was rear ended and was a total loss. so i bought a newer o4 mountaineer and its gas milage at the time purchaced was 13.8 mpg per instrument panel. it has 106,000 miles on it and is awd as oppose to 4x4 when needed. When i bought it i replaced air filter (K&N), added a feul injector cleaner, new spark wires and plugs gapped at .54 per haynes manual. Old plugs where where gapped so high they wouldnt even measure on my gauge and where really worn but looked good just really rounded and slightly burnt. Now one would think mpg would go up. over two tankfulls gas mileage has dropped to 12.4 mpg why is this? spark plugs and wires was replaced with motor craft and motor craft platnium spark plugs. What am im missing why the lower mpg? cluster was reset over when purchased. three tankful later it read 13.8 with no highway trips. it was reset again after new plugs, wires, feul additive and air filter it reads 12.4 mpg over two tankfulls with no highway trips. anyone got any ideas? does it take time to reset computer after doing this? any ideas on how to bump it up?
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





Driving habits, ambient temp, snow, heavy rain, so on can all effect gas mileage quite a bit. If when you bought it there wasn't much snow and now there is then that's easily one of the things. I'm not sure about snow/rain habits where you are.
 






13.8mpg is what i'm getting with the '04-4.6L around town.
Once my wife drove it for a month only 2 miles round trip and she avg. 10mpg. I'm like wtf . ..so i filled it; reset the computer on the highway with cruise set. Watched hover around 19-20mpg. See what your getting like that?
 






I agree with jrford. You can only guage fuel econmy with highway, at 55 mph, flat ground, steady state speed w/cruise on. Driving habits are different for different people. City driving has too many variables to get a good estimate. Even highway, the temp and tires, can make a difference.
 






so i bought a newer o4 mountaineer and its gas milage at the time purchaced was 13.8 mpg per instrument panel. it has 106,000 miles on it and is awd as oppose to 4x4 when needed.>>>>>>>>>>

I would love to get 13.8 city mpg instead of my 9.3 to 11.4 city on my 2005 4.0L V-6 with 88,000 miles on it. This is what I get after doing the following tune up changes or cleanings. Replaced plugs, wires,fuel filter, serpentine belt, replaced rear diff gear oil (3:55 gears), newly rebuilt tranny,rebuilt transfer case, new tires, installed a drop in K&N air filter, switched to full synthetic oil, Ford dealership fuel injector cleaning, cleaned MAF sensor 3 times, cleaned out throttle body intake once, had two different repair shops run engine diagnostics and both found nothing wrong with the engine or it's components, no CEL's and this is the best MPG I can squeeze out fo this pig! I will admit I do waste some fuel idiling either at red lights, warming up the truck for a few minutes or waiting for the gym to open and it is winter here, mild one at that. Is your Mountaineer a 4.0L? If so, you aren't doing that bad as far as I'm concerned with more miles on yours and a few less updates than mine..

>>>>>>>>>> plugs gapped at .54 per haynes manual. >>>>>>>>>

I read in here a while ago that some say the Haynes manual plug gap recommendation isn't the correct one. I'm not sure what the Ford manual recommends.

>>>>>>>>>>does it take time to reset computer after doing this?>>>>>>>>>>

Each time I top off the tank every 4 gallons or so used, I zero out the trip odometer and the MPG reading to start fresh and when I go to fill it back up again, the two averages seem pretty dead on

>>>>>>>>>>any ideas on how to bump it up?>>>>>>>>>>>

Yeah, sell it and buy a 4 cylinder car.
 






Disconnect the battery to clear out the adaptive fuel strategy from memory. see what happens.
 






thanks guys i guess im not doing to bad then. it does run smoother and quiter. i like the car idea but im a bigger taller person lol so small cars and me have comfort issues lol. Ill try the disconnect battery thing and see what happens. If it doesnt help the mpg increase then i guess ill count my blessing knowing it average and runs smoother.
 






and sorry but yes it is the 4.0
 






I agree with jrford. You can only guage fuel econmy with highway, at 55 mph, flat ground, steady state speed w/cruise on. Driving habits are different for different people. City driving has too many variables to get a good estimate. Even highway, the temp and tires, can make a difference.

Driving habits for around town driving affect gas mileage a lot. On the highway my wife gets about the same mileage as I do. Around town I get 2-3 mpg more than her. She does jack rabbit starts and accelerates faster, in general, and this just kills gas mileage on an Explorer. If she drives my truck much, I have to throw the gas mileage I get for that tank out the window.
 






I only drive my 04 Explorer 4.0 4wd in town and never really get above 45 mph with quite a bit of stop & go traffic. I get a solid 13.8 mpg. This is figuring the mpg on paper at every fill up.

I'll be going on a 1500 mile trip soon & I would expect to get between 18-20 mpg hwy. I can pull 18-19 mpg hwy out of my 2000 Expedition 5.4 liter so I'm pretty sure the Explorer can do better.
 






Back
Top