My quest for 30 MPG - Ford Explorer Gas Mileage Tips

[aldive]

Thank you Al, for making us dream...

Never, never quit dreaming; I shall not.

 

[X-North]

Ok so i got 20.4 mpg...not bad for town/higway and lot of uphills on a stock 1992 explorer 4.0 liters a4ld tranny and 3.27 rear gear. for a 127381 miles truck.

 

[CDW6212R]

That 92 can gain some mileage with 3.55 or 3.73 gearing. My 93 with 3.73's got great mileage compared to my 91 with 3.27's. The heavy trucks need more gearing to get moving, they quit using those tall gears in the mid 90's. Regards,

 

[exgmman]

Hey guys do you have a site where i can transform liters/km on mpg ???
I want to follow thius threads but thats gonna be useful for me to know how much you get in mpg. Thank you

......Or do it the quick and easy way, and multiply your KPL by 2.85

For example, according to my scanguage, my F-150 got 7.9 KPL on a mixed highway and around-town trip.
7.9 X 2.85 = 22.515 MPG.

 

[mikesparky]

Hi Al, Just a quick thanks for your mileage thread. I've brought my truck up from an average of 15mpg to 22.7 and still have room to improve. For those who'd like to know the changes made:
- basic tuneup (plugs, wires, fuel filter)
- cleaned MAF
- switched to synthetic oil
- installed KKM air intake
- multiple seafoam treatments
- 2.5" catback with 70 series flowmaster (I'm sure I bothered many people with obsessive questions on this one.)
- removed the raised crossbars of the roof rack
- techron injector cleaner
- made sure to wash the exterior before a road trip
- experimented with different speeds and unfortunately(I like speed) get the best mileage at an average speed of 68mph, I also found that my mpg went from 22.7mpg at approx 68mph to 18.3mpg at approx 73 mph.

Hope this helps and thanks again!

 

[aldive]

Well done.

 

[FordLover]

I'd find it easy to believe 30 mpg. We've taken my mothers 2000 mountaineer on several road trips, and seen up to 28 mpg without doing anything special at all, and that's with a 4 people and weeks worth of luggage, driving at 75-85mph. In stop and go (city) driving it will drop to about 19 - 21mpg or so.

This done on an ideal drivetrain however, SOHC/5 speed automatic, 2WD, 3.55 gears/open diff, 15" stock wheels with stock size 235/75R15 LTX, nothing on the luggage rack. It has 90K miles as of the last time I saw it.

I would guess changing any of the drivetrain features to other factory options would decrease the economy by a large factor, such as 4x4, 3.73/4.10, bigger tires ohv motor, etc.

 

[xdviper]

I am really going to give up on this, I've filled it up with $50 of $3.05 92oct gas last Thursday and right now, I've just put $20 (6 1/2 G) in there. And this was all city millage, I put on about 140 miles in a week, and its done! it's horrible, my friends Maxima 2003 gets more MPG out of his tank. I really am going to sell this car, I am looking into the 4 cylinder Escape or Mazda. I don't know wtf is wrong with this car, I treat it well, I don't abuse it, I don't leave it on idle, I don't do anything wrong, I just use it for the gym, and home shopping. I got my Astro for work and the MPG for Astro isn't a problem because company fills up the tank every week. Everything in my X is stock, I've just gotten a oil change last week, and new oil filter.

 

[Maniak]

6.5 gallons for 140 miles is 23mpg.. Thats pretty good for city driving in a truck/suv.. Especially if they are short trips.. The more overall percentage you drive in open loop (not warmed up) the worse your mileage. Soo.. lots of short trips will give you less mileage than less but longer trips (even if both are city driving).


~Mark

I am really going to give up on this, I've filled it up with $50 of $3.05 92oct gas last Thursday and right now, I've just put $20 (6 1/2 G) in there. And this was all city millage, I put on about 140 miles in a week, and its done! it's horrible, my friends Maxima 2003 gets more MPG out of his tank. I really am going to sell this car, I am looking into the 4 cylinder Escape or Mazda. I don't know wtf is wrong with this car, I treat it well, I don't abuse it, I don't leave it on idle, I don't do anything wrong, I just use it for the gym, and home shopping. I got my Astro for work and the MPG for Astro isn't a problem because company fills up the tank every week. Everything in my X is stock, I've just gotten a oil change last week, and new oil filter.

 

[xdviper]

No, Mark, its with $50 of gas and thats about 15G, so for 15G i get about 140miles. So thats really not that good

BTW: Is there any MPG difference when you buy from another gas station, say Hess has for $2.79/G and Mobil has for $2.87/G. If i go to Hess and get it filled up, will it give me less MPG or the same as Mobil?

Plus, this might sound like a silly question but, how much should I press the gas pedal to pick up from a red light? usually 2K RPM is what I hit. Should I hit it more less or what.

 

[aldive]

Is there any MPG difference when you buy from another gas station, say Hess has for $2.79/G and Mobil has for $2.87/G. If i go to Hess and get it filled up, will it give me less MPG or the same as Mobil?

Doubtful that you would see any difference.

Plus, this might sound like a silly question but, how much should I press the gas pedal to pick up from a red light? usually 2K RPM is what I hit. Should I hit it more less or what.

Easy does it. There is truth in the old adage to drive like there is an egg under the pedal.

 

[mattferkey]

Easy does it. There is truth in the old adage to drive like there is an egg under the pedal.

I aggree with this for city driving, but when accelerating to a higher speed for a sustaned perriod, it may be more efficient to get into overdrive as soon as possible. If in the city you use 2k rpm as a rule , try 25 or 27 hundred rpm so the motor is running at the lowest rpm at the highest speed soonest. I hope that i explained this well enough, maybe someone understands what i am saying and could put it into words better.

 

[Maniak]

I must have not understood what you wrote. As I read it you started with a full tank (cost you 50 to fill it). since then you drove 140 miles and put in 6 gallons. That would be decent mileage. If you didn't fill it at the 140 miles then you can't figure your mileage.

These aren't cars but most people seem to be able to get at least mid teens for city driving.

~Mark

 

[xdviper]

Mark, I filled it up with 15G and I went till 140Miles until the Check Gauge came on. Now I guess this is about 9.3MPG with my math. That is just a rough estimate. If I can get about to 14MPG, i'd be safe.

plus auto stararuss had this promotion, probably still do, getthing the fuel system changed and renewing everything. should i go for it?

 

[CDW6212R]

I'd say concentrate on a tune-up, then buying synthetic fluids and changing what you can afford to. The gain in mileage should pay for it eventually, and you may keep it then. Good luck,

 

[tonymac97XL]

My Explorer doesn't show much of a difference on different gas, although sometimes it acts a bit sluggish on some gas.

My old Dodge Stratus, however, was a very sensitive beast with gas. If I bought from, let's say, Quickfill, my car would stall at stopsigns. If I put in Amoco (that dates when I had the car), it ran like a racecar in comparison. Of course, the car recommended 89 octane. (2.4L DOHC). In that car I only got 25 mpg highway, and it was 5 years old at the time, with 48,000 on it.

 

[rob17san]

Hey ALDIVE. Can you check your PM's I sent you a request for an AMSOIL OIL PURCHASE.
THanks
Rob

 

[MC05XLS]

The following is a list of modifications that have resulted in the mileage reported on my 99 4.0 SOHC:
Mobil 1 5 w 30 synthetic motor oil
Mobil 1 ATF in auto tranny ( a complete change )
Mobil 1 in the 3.73 rear end
KKM Tru Rev intake
Custom cat back exhaust system
Remove roof rack
Many coats of Zaino polish
Tire pressure 40 psig
Explorer Express X Spec air dam
Amoco 87 octane gas
Secondary tranny filter ( don’t know if this helps )

Driving habits help also:
No race like starts
Windows up always - usually with AC on
Keep top speed at or below 70 MPH

On your cat-back, did you use a high-flow quiet muffler, or are you running something like a Flow-Master or Magna-Flow?
I have an '05 2WD 4.0L, and I average 18.2MPG - 18.6MPG. I don't race start, I try not to throttle over 3k RPM, I don't brake hard, I keep the speed control set as much as possible, and I don't speed. All this change in my driving habits and I can't get an instant reading of higher that 26MPG (unless I hit "reset" on a downhill), and at take off, it can drop as low as 7. My understanding is the computer on my truck is kinda picky, so what can I do to get your 30MPG average and not have the ECM throw a code every time I start up?

 

[aldive]

On your cat-back, did you use a high-flow quiet muffler, or are you running something like a Flow-Master or Magna-Flow?

As stated in this thread my cat back piping is 2 1/2" with a Flowmaster 70 muffler. It is very quite.

I have an '05 2WD 4.0L, and I average 18.2MPG - 18.6MPG. I don't race start, I try not to throttle over 3k RPM, I don't brake hard, I keep the speed control set as much as possible, and I don't speed. All this change in my driving habits and I can't get an instant reading of higher that 26MPG (unless I hit "reset" on a downhill), and at take off, it can drop as low as 7.

Basing your mileage on the computer is quite misleading; calculate mileage the old fashioned way.

My understanding is the computer on my truck is kinda picky, so what can I do to get your 30MPG average and not have the ECM throw a code every time I start up?

What do you mean that the ECM is picky?

Have you changed your fluids to full synthetic? Are you running an aftermarket computer tune? Do you have an e fan? Underdrive pulleys? What tire pressure do you run?

 

[aldive]

By the way, the above mentioned data is very old and way out of date; many things have changed.