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MPG issues

sucuse8

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February 12, 2009
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Year, Model & Trim Level
04 Limited
2004 explorer 4.6 v8

I have been getting 9.2 to the gallon my digital reading is saying. My monkey math confirmed it. Is that usual for city use? I was expecting a bit more than that from the explorer. Thanks everyone
 



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Its a v8 how much better did you expect? The city on a 2008 v6 is only 13mpg, so 10 isnt that far off. Are you hard on the gas when you use it?
 












I have gotten numbers of 13 off of gov sites and various sources including the sticker.... So i wouldnt expect that big of a diff.
 












Yea I ran the math on it.

Filled it up, ran it, filled it up. then did the math.
 












I get almost twice that with my V6. Around 16 mpg in town, well a little less now that I have the big tires. I would have it checked out. You might have something weird going on.
 






I have a warranty left on it from the private dealer. I think I will have him look at it.

I actually found online an exact replica of my old explorer that I totalled and am thinking about getting rid of the 04 for the 2000
 






get a cold air intake and a chip. its costly.. but in the end, its worth it. it will save you alot of gas..

but you do have a v8 dont expect that much better.
 






Actually weird thing happened yesterday. I put a landscaping trailer with a riding mower on the back, and got BETTER gas mileage than I do without it. Must be the extra weight on the rear wheels. Although towing an extra 1100 pounds does seem like it would put a damper on it, but it sure didnt.
 






Might have a vacuum leak?
 






but you do have a v8 dont expect that much better.

I have noticed a trend on these V8 gas mileage threads. some are like this where everyone claims to get bad mileage, anywhere from 9-17 at most in city and highway, while there was just another one saying how it gets 20-23 highway and was kinda slamming the V6 because it gets the same as the V8. So whats going on? are the V8's good or bad with gas? or does it totally depend on how good they are running? cause most of the guys posting stuff here arn't idiots with cars and maintain their trucks well, yet they still get bad mileage. so any ideas? Are V8's good or not on gas?
 






http://i40.tinypic.com/34fff2p.jpg

Government and driver based.

I also heard V8's have more problems than V6's, heard it from a local mechanic...dunno if that speaks any truth or not? I've never driven the 4.6 Explorer so I have no idea lol
 






I get up to speed pretty quick when i drive and I get about 13 in town. On the highway my best personal average was about 19.5 driving across Iowa. But the Ex was loaded with bike gear and some crap strapped to the luggage rack. I just took my rack off last friday because I noticed the cover on the front was gone. It seems a little quieter on the highway now. Also, you may just need to do a good tune-up and and change the fuel filter.
 






My personal best gas mileage was driving on 81S through Virginia..I got 21.3 mpg and that was with a SHOT front wheel bearing and a decent load. Average is about 18, but i dont do too too much city driving..
 






But back to the original post..lol
Def sounds like theres something wrong unless you mexican pack your explorere when you drive around. Spark plugs, fuel filter..check out any kind of abnormal symptoms other than the bad gas mileage too.
You found out anything yet? or you still gettin 9mpg?
 






Ok a little update

Over the past week I nearly all highway driving:
Syracuse to Princeton NJ
Montgomery to Peekskill NY - (Test drove a '00 xlt that was an exact replica of my 99. 75k miles $6500 with a bad rotor, sway joint, terrible fluids which makes me think it wasnt taken care of and he wasnt moving too much on price and wanted to screw me on resale of mine so i left)
Peekskill to Westchester
westchester to Princeton
Princeton to Morisstown

in all the driving i managed to get the gas mileage up to 14.6 (computer read out). However on 1 tank I managed to get about 320 miles.

I think there is one helluva moving average built in. I am going to have to look at a vaccum seal or various filters. Just still doesnt seem right
 






Typical car salesman...always tryna screw you over..
but yeah that def doesnt sound right for highway driving! Ill check out all the TSB's tommorow on AllData and see if i can find anything. My friend has a 01 ranger (4.0) and he was gettin right about half the gas mileage he was supposed to be gettin and we hooked up the vacuum gage n all and everything seemed fine (but apparently we were hookin the gage up in the wrong spot lol). Hooked it up to the scanner and got some abnormal readings. Auto teacher finally determined it was the intake manifold seal (i think thats what it was). Anywho it ended up being a vacuum leak and got a new one put on for fairly cheap and now it runs like new. So id def be checkin that stuf out!
 



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