My quest for 30 MPG - Ford Explorer Gas Mileage Tips

[gavin]

"Thus finer elements (spray or fog) require less energy (heat) in order to change their state of matter (solids to liquids, liquids to gas). "

I respectfully disagree. A given quantity of a liquid will require the same amount of energy to convert it's state from one phase state to another (liquid to gaseous), regardless of droplet size. The fog does it faster because more surface area in the frying pan is used. Actual heat energy (latent heat of vaporization to be exact) used is the same. NOW, Whether this affects the point you are making is another matter. Just for clarification. (damn AC background)

kinda like takin an ice cube, and puttin it in a cup of warm water.. it takes so long to melt. Now take that same ice cube, break it up into smaller pieces, and it melts quicker. Same thing with say chocolate in your mouth.. a whole bar will take so long to melt, but if you break it up it takes less time to melt. It's not that it's taking less energy, but as Glacier said, the same amount of heat is being spread over a larger surface area, melting the material quicker.

 

[85Dave]

Just take a look at the exhaust gas analysis. Unburned gasoline will show up as CO or HC. If you see 100 ppm of CO and HC (which is high), that means the engine burned 99.99% of the gasoline. I just don't see how the fogurator or any other "100 mpg carburetor" will improve your fuel mileage because of "more complete combustion".

 

[Minivek]

Punishment for me is I must write 10 times : I must think before I type

hurmph... I have to admit that part about less energy was the product of staying up too late , but yeah, the fact it has more contact surface is what allows it to evporate faster. I don't think we can take everything that is said on these links to the bank but I'm sure about the fact that a more atomized fuel/air mixture burns better. We'll see what come out of this... Can't imagine that with these fuel economy gurus here we can't manage to find more ways to increase fuel efficiency. a good thing for an explorer (especially the shoebox kind I have )

 

[BauerOnDubs]

I hammer on it, and get 12-13, I baby it, and it never goes higher than 18.5 (On-Board Computer). I have a bad upstream O2, and it desperately needs plugs and wires. 302 - 155K

 

[big_hoovie]

must be nice...I get 18 on the highway, and that's AFTER I did plugs and wires(and oil and air... of course the fact that it's a 91 with 260K miles on it may have something to do with it)

 

[ndwhitaker13]

I have a 95 limited with 175k on it. its 4wd and Im getting 23 on hilly highways, mostly 50-55mph. I did get 25 once, but it was mostly downhill and i was sticking behind some big trucks. I was thinking about getting a new throttle body, someone wrote in a review of it that their mileage went up 1.5mpg. I was wondering if anyone has gotten a performance TB and had similar results. It would be great to know before dropping 200 smackers on something that may or may not work.

 

[aldive]

I recently evaluated the effect of the front bumper and EE air dam on gas mileage,

The data is at http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=144365

 

[big_hoovie]

I now realize that after finally finishing all 32 pages of posts, that my 18 MPG isn't too bad for a first gen(and in some cases is damn good ).

today, my X is in the shop getting a trans service, coolant service, radius arm bushings(I hope that's the prob with the align) fix the align(hopefully...3rd times a charm, right?) and do the front end wheel bearings(hopefully only need lube, but suspicion that replacement is the way to go).


open question for everyone here: I'm running 235/75/15 tires(stock size on the 91 was 225/75) what do I have to do to correct the speedo and odo for the difference in tire size(I find that I'm consistenly about 7% or so below the acutal readings) I'd like to correct for this, so I can accuratly track my milage(which should go up once I get it back from the shop...especially after the wheel bearings - after driving 15 miles, I touched the front hubs, and had I held my hand there more than a couple of seconds, I would have burned myself)


In regards to the fogerator, look Here It seems to me that it's a smiliar Idea, except instead of fogging the fuel, it's doing something called water injection. I wonder if something along these lines could be adapted to fuel, instead of water...perhaps a mix of fogged fuel with the standard injected size droplets(to avoid problems with lack of fogged fuel at WOT)

 

[tgertz77]

I have 235/75/15's on my '91 right now... your speedo is as close as its gonna get.... I think it has a 19 tooth gear, and a 18 tooth gear wouldnt be needed unless you have 31"s (if you put it in now your speedo would be wayyy over).

 

[joefnh]

Working towards 30...

With a lot of help from Al and others I have begun the quest for 30 in a 3rd gen 2003 4.0L XLT 4x4. To date I have replaced plugs, wires, added a K&N filter, cleaned the MAF, cleaned the engine with seafoam, increased tire pressure to 39PSI on all 4 tires, added acetone (2oz /10gallons), replaced the IAC (due to idling problems) and chaned to synthetics for the enigine oil and rear diff.

So far I have gone from and average of 17.7Mpg (90% highway driving) to 21.1 MPG (90% highway driving). These reading have been taken over a very repeatable commute from Manchester, NH to Hanscom Air Force Base, same route each day (total commute 96 miles / day). These averages were taken over 20 tanks of gas; and I will be breaking out the data on a per mod basis and posting the results here in the near future.

Most recently (yesterday) I added the 'brown wire' mod to enable full time 2WD. Although the post on this site seem to imply that this mod will have little if any effect on gas mileage, I decided to give it a try anyway. I was able to verify that this mod does indeed disable the 4x4 capability on the 2003.

The next mods that I will be looking into are the air dam that Al mentioned ; which brings up another question, is there a manufacturer for the air dam for a 2003 X? The site that Al posted (explorer express) does not seem to mention one on thier website for the newer explorers

The final mod will be the use of the SCT flasher and tuning programs from Doug at Bama Chips. Al do you reccomend asking for a particular program for enhanced mileage? Does the use of a higher octane gas in conjunction with a custom program make sense in reducing overall cost of travel? Or is the 87 octane with a custom program the cheapest way to go?

Lastly does anyone know how to chage the tranny fluid in the 3rd gen 2003 X I cannot even find the dipstick! I would like to change the fluid to a synthetic but cannot fugure out how to replace it once I drain it by dropping the pan etc...


Thanks again for all the great help avaialble on this site

--Joe

 

[aldive]

Joe, tell Doug that you want the maximum mileage tune. I have not tested the 87 tune enough to comment; however, the 89 and 93 tunes are spectacular.

Have you done anything to the exhaust and intake?

Good luck ....

 

[aldive]

Made a run to Tampa today and the mileage with the front back together was 31.7 MPG.

 

[Rhett]

Joe, tell Doug that you want the maximum mileage tune. I have not tested the 87 tune enough to comment; however, the 89 and 93 tunes are spectacular.

Al, I think Joe's question is a great one. What's your take on it? :

Does the use of a higher octane gas in conjunction with a custom program make sense in reducing overall cost of travel?

If you're using an 89 or 93 fuel-economy tune, do you make up the added cost of those high-octane fuels in the added mileage you get?

Or would you be better off running an 87 fuel-economy tune?

 

[aldive]

If you're using an 89 or 93 fuel-economy tune, do you make up the added cost of those high-octane fuels in the added mileage you get?

Or would you be better off running an 87 fuel-economy tune?

I get about the same mileage with both the 89 tune and the 93 tune. The 93 is just more fun to drive,

 

[Rhett]

Lastly does anyone know how to chage the tranny fluid in the 3rd gen 2003 X I cannot even find the dipstick! I would like to change the fluid to a synthetic but cannot fugure out how to replace it once I drain it by dropping the pan etc...

I believe that the 3rd gens have sealed transmissions, which probably means no dipstick. (??) I do not know about their trans pans. I would search this site for specific info as I have never examined a 3rd gen up close and personal...

 

[Rhett]

open question for everyone here: I'm running 235/75/15 tires(stock size on the 91 was 225/75) what do I have to do to correct the speedo and odo for the difference in tire size(I find that I'm consistenly about 7% or so below the acutal readings)

Your question makes me remember that I run 30 x 9.50's and my GPS tells me the speedo/odo is a little behind. To me, then, this means that I'm getting a little better mpg than my calculations show...is this a reasonable assumption? comments?

 

[tgertz77]

Your question makes me remember that I run 30 x 9.50's and my GPS tells me the speedo/odo is a little behind. To me, then, this means that I'm getting a little better mpg than my calculations show...is this a reasonable assumption? comments?

.. yes, with 30"s you will be getting slightly better MPG than you can calculate... but I think that the 235's are just fine for the speedo, I have them (for now) and my speedo would probably not be anywhere near 3-4 mph over until the car reached around 90. (as opposed to 50-60 with 31"s)

 

[joefnh]

Ideas for Intake & Exhaust mods.

Al I have not done anthing with the intake or exhaust as of yet. Any recommendations? What would you choose for each mod? Do you know of any vendor selling an airdam for the 3rd gen explorers?

--Joe

 

[aldive]

Al I have not done anthing with the intake or exhaust as of yet. Any recommendations? What would you choose for each mod?

Do you know of any vendor selling an airdam for the 3rd gen explorers?

--Joe

I would recommend what has worked well for me, Intake - Mac. Exhaust - custom with a Flowmaster 70 muffler ( not loud and obnoxious ).

Sorry, I do not know of a vendor.

 

[410Fortune]

muddler