Mileage comparisons.

[tagnamee]

OK, all you Aerostar owners. Time to belly up to the bar. Back in 1998 I purchased my last slightly used 97 AWD Aerostar. It has continued to amaze me over the years. At 177,000 miles the powertrain remains strong although the body and other systems weren't meant to last this long.
I just serviced a check engine light which pointed me to replace the oxygen sensors. It was explained to me in this forum that oxygen sensors should be considered maintenance items since they perform such a significant role in engine management.
Just took it for a ride (150 miles) on the freeway with a little city driving and I couldn't believe the mileage, 22.4 mpg. This is the 4.0L, AWD with 3.73 rear.

This is the best I had even seen. Prior to this I best I had seen was a hint above 21 mpg. It got me to thinking. Since I have been a member of this board for a little while I just thought to ask, What's the best mileage you have seen on your Aerostar?

 

[BrooklynBay]

That is great mileage (especially for an E-4WD model). The most that I ever got was 14 MPG on the highway on my 1989 with a 3.0L RWD. It's possible that I managed to get this on my 1988 too.

 

[Joe Dirt]

I know when ours were new, we were getting between 17-19 on hwy trips with our 4.0L Aero's. I remember that because I was the one who always wrote the mileage down in the little notebook in the glove box.

 

[FORDBOYpete]

Last AWD I had was a 93 XLTN with the 4.0L Cologne. 18-20 ws the best and only around the BiKiNi State where it is flat & fast. I could cut that to 14-15 in the S.C., N.C., & VA Mountains, or driving through snow anywhere.

In comparison my 95 XLTN 2Wd gets between 22/24 consistently nearly every where I go except in city traffic or the North East where 17-18 is much closer to actual mileage. That's running lead free 87 octane with 10% or less ethanol in normal weather conditions.

CIAO Y'all . . . .
FBp

 

[joshhemming]

My 93 3.0L 2wd gets 24 mpg on highway (23 if the air conditioner is on) and 18 in the city.

 

[BrooklynBay]

I'm wondering if the quality of the gasoline is a major factor since all of us live in different states. Maybe some stations or companies have more things diluting the gasoline such as 10% Ethanol which is used in my area. I know that there is something called winter gas.

 

[Turdle]

My 93 3.0L 2wd gets 24 mpg on highway (23 if the air conditioner is on) and 18 in the city.

About what ours did. One time we got well over 26 MPG for a whole tank following a semi across Wyoming late at night.

In the high elevations it was getting 30. It had no power at all, but it did good on gas!

 

[FORDBOYpete]

Turdle
That was You Drafting behind my Peterbilt? By filling the vacuum gap behind my rig you gave me +2 Mpg @ 85Mph scaling 78,000Lbs and saved me 140 Minutes. . . . . How much would you charge to follow me everywhere? Just kiddin'.
Drafting avg's don't count. It's straight up, "solo" mpg we're talkin' here, I believe.
CIAO

FBp

 

[Joe Dirt]

FBp-

How close does one need to be to draft effectively?

I know people doing that used to annoy the crap out of our drivers, because they couldn't see them back there.

 

[FORDBOYpete]

Joe, You watch Nascar?
Well ya gotta tuck it right in there so air folding off sides & top of a trailer (vehicle) can't convex into a vacuum working against the rear doors. You know there's big vacuum there if you've looked at what's on the doors in bad weather and/or snow right? Well small vehicles, like vans, do a great job of "plugging" that hole which gives vacuum a place to build up causing or creating drag against the back of a trailer.
It's way easier to drag 3100 -3200 Lb van rolling behind your trailer than a 30' or 35' X 8' X 12' vacuum column behind you. So now having explained the aero-physics behind drafting, I WOULD ADVISE AGAINST DRAFTING IF THE DIESEL CAR DOESN'T KNOW YOU'RE THERE AND IT'S NOT A PREARRAGNED COOPERATIVE EFFORT ON THE PART OF ALL INVOLVED. Also you gotta pay atttention to his moves & signals or else you can end up driving into the back of some slow moving road blocker. It is a dangerous thing if vehicles are not coordinated. It's an advantage if they are. Back In The Day a "2 Way communicator" ( aka CB) worked well if you moved off the trucker channel & kept in touch on an odd one.
Sometimes we'd hook up with several other Diesel Cars much like a train and 6-8 -10 or more of us would cross I-70, I-80/90, or even I-10 on the flats in tight order drill much like an 80-85mph 1 mile snake. I've flown across Lone Star state in a "diesel car train" often. Again Coordination & cooperation is the key to success & everybody has to "team it". But do it right & Boss's & Dispatchers love you, short haul time and super Mpg in fuel too.
Call Me Crazy and you'd be right but I got great hauls & Loads when I did it!

My handle was "Flyin Machine" not because I was "fast" so much, but from the James Taylor song "Flyin Machines & broken dreams in pieces on the ground" . . . A life situation went bad and that's what I chose for a handle.
"Hey Y'all it's FM on the AM in the PM" meaning-> "Flyin Machine on the CB in the Night" anyone who knew me would hail back & we'd truck off from there. Boy that was a time ago

CIAO

FBp

 

[JayT]

I wonder how people with extra good gas mileage are calculating miles per gallon. I have run into some folks with high numbers, but come to find they are using the gas gauge needle like this. "I have a 16 gal tank, and just went 240 miles, and the gauge is at half, so I got 30 mpg!" The method is totally inaccurate. You have to fill your tank, drive as close to empty as reasonable, and then refill with the last 2 gallons added slow so the pump shutoff is not premature. Then calculate the mpg based on miles driven from last full tank.

 

[96Aerostar]

Back in the late 70's I was stationed at Grissom AFB, Indiana and being from Louisville I was home most weekends. That meant a 4 hour or so trip back home and a 4 hour or so trip back to the base on Sunday night or sometime before I had to be at work Monday a.m. For part of the time I had a Honda 550 and would sometimes tuck in behind a semi and draft them.......crazy......but effective. I don't think they knew it a lot of the times but occasionally I would get the stomp on the brakes. Young and dumb and bulletproof.