To V8s Only - How bad does your mileage suffer with short trips?

[spta97]

This tank of gas I have just been making my daily trip to the train station about 1 1/2 miles away. When I don't do any highway driving along with the winter warmup I am only shootin for about 120 miles on a tank

For those of you who have V8s, does your mileage suffer dramatically when you drive local as opposed to highway? My normal (spring fuel, no warming) mileage is about 200 miles when mixed and 250 when strickly highway. I've tried a bunch of stuff but nothing seems to give me the 19 MPG others claim with the V8.

 

[SilverBullet]

I get about 230-250 miles per tank with snow/ice on the ground.. in the regular weather I get 300-320 miles per tank.

 

[Robb]

With winter warm-ups, and my 2-3 mile commute, my mileage sux, around 13 mpg. I have seen under 250 mile tanks during winter...............but no where near 120 miles, that is horrible.

 

[spta97]

A 250 mile tank is my personal best! I've taken this thing to the dealer and they ran the diagnostic but found nothing. So far I've:

Flushed the tranny
Replaced the IAC
Ran 35 PSI in the tires
Cleaned MAF
Changed fuel filter
Changed air filter
Ran Seafoam (both in tank and through vac line)
Ran "Techron" in the tank
Tried driving like a grandma

I have not replaced the plugs and wires because of my low mileage (38k) and the cost. If I knew it would help I would replace them tonight but I hate to throw money away - my plugs seem fine when I checked them.

I also read Aldive's thread but I cannot run synthetic oils because I have this "Engine for life" warantee that requires me to get oil changes at the dealer. I've got 38k now but have had this problem since I got the truck at 26K.

The weird thing is the X runs fine, pleanty of smooth power. I am thinking that something is seriously wrong because listening to the other people on this board I should be able to get between 14 - 16 city and 18 - 19 highway.

Bear in mind I have the AWD.

Please help me...I'm going broke

 

[SilverBullet]

I have AWD, too.. 2001 Eddie Bauer 5.0, just about to hit 33k miles. I usually get 280-320 on a tank (mostly stop and go city driving), and 320 + on just highway. Right now, with winter and warming up the car in the mornings for 30 minutes or so, I get 250 - 280.

 

[JasonF]

Why would anyone let their car warm up for 30 mins? This accomplishes nothing.


Jason

 

[terdrocket]

32" MT/Rs, I get 12-13 in mixed driving. It will drop to 11.5mpg in the heat of the summer, and rise to 13.5 in the cold of the "winter"
I also have a right foot made of lead.

 

[Nitrous SSC]

32's here. I get 160-180 a tank in the winter. My biggest problem is there are alot of hills up and down on the way to my office even though its only 10 miles away. I usually have it in 3rd at 65mph most of the time.

 

[boominXplorer]

My boss had a mountaineer that hast 42k on the ticker and was getting horrible milage. I opened her hood and it was like a lightning show. All the inside of the spark plug wires were broken down. Might want to check that at night

 

[jayhawkexplorer]

This tank of gas I have just been making my daily trip to the train station about 1 1/2 miles away. When I don't do any highway driving along with the winter warmup I am only shootin for about 120 miles on a tank

For those of you who have V8s, does your mileage suffer dramatically when you drive local as opposed to highway? My normal (spring fuel, no warming) mileage is about 200 miles when mixed and 250 when strickly highway. I've tried a bunch of stuff but nothing seems to give me the 19 MPG others claim with the V8.

I hate to seem like an environmentalist or something, but if you only live a mile and a half from the train station, why in the world are you bothering to drive? Walk, bike, bus???

 

[SilverBullet]

Why would anyone let their car warm up for 30 mins? This accomplishes nothing.


Jason

I'm sure it's better than taking off right after start up when it's 15 degrees outside. Plus, I like to have a warm ride, and not finally get warm when I get to where I'm going.

 

[spta97]

I hate to seem like an environmentalist or something, but if you only live a mile and a half from the train station, why in the world are you bothering to drive? Walk, bike, bus???

I know you are not from NY! Yea, we don't walk unless in the city and then only for a few blocks at a time. If I were to walk in the snow my dress shoes would be a mess, my dress pants would be a mess, and I would be sweating or freezing depending on the weather. Bear in mind that I get up at 6 AM, get to the train station at 7AM and get to work at 8ish. Walking first thing in the morning is to me. I also get about 5 hours of sleep a night so taking another 1/2 hour to walk would not be the best idea.

I think things are just different out here but unless I can see it I'm gonna drive to it!

 

[rblais]

I have a 2000 Mountaineer 5.0L AWD with 45K miles and live in upstate NY-cold,wet, etc. It gets about 13.5 mpg (~285 miles/tank) in city driving and about 360 miles/tank on highway during winter months. In summer it's gotten as much as 22mpg on long highway runs @ 70-75mph. The MAF is cleaned every oil change (3500 miles+/-), the spark plugs have about 10K miles on 'em (Champion Plats) and there's a K&N filter in the stock air box. Stock tires; 235-75-15 Goodyear Wrangler RT/S @ 36 psi. I love the way this thing runs!

 

[spta97]

My boss had a mountaineer that hast 42k on the ticker and was getting horrible milage. I opened her hood and it was like a lightning show. All the inside of the spark plug wires were broken down. Might want to check that at night

I have but nothing out of the ordinary. Looking at the replies on this there has to be a catalyst that is causing some people with the V8s to get such bad mileage while others are fine. Could it be a computer thing? All I know is there has to be something wrong with mine. My barber with a 5.4 liter Expedition gets significantly better mileage than I do (although his is a 2WD / 4WD rather than an AWD).

I wonder if it is worth taking to a mechanic? The dealer is useless.

 

[jayhawkexplorer]

I know you are not from NY! Yea, we don't walk unless in the city and then only for a few blocks at a time. If I were to walk in the snow my dress shoes would be a mess, my dress pants would be a mess, and I would be sweating or freezing depending on the weather. Bear in mind that I get up at 6 AM, get to the train station at 7AM and get to work at 8ish. Walking first thing in the morning is to me. I also get about 5 hours of sleep a night so taking another 1/2 hour to walk would not be the best idea.

I think things are just different out here but unless I can see it I'm gonna drive to it!

Oh I drive everywhere too. Campus is 3 miles from my apartment but I always drive there. I was just thinking that you lived in the city. Don't worry, I know all about snow. I may be in Kansas now but home is Wisconsin

 

[spta97]

I have a 2000 Mountaineer 5.0L AWD with 45K miles and live in upstate NY-cold,wet, etc. It gets about 13.5 mpg (~285 miles/tank) in city driving and about 360 miles/tank on highway during winter months. In summer it's gotten as much as 22mpg on long highway runs @ 70-75mph. The MAF is cleaned every oil change (3500 miles+/-), the spark plugs have about 10K miles on 'em (Champion Plats) and there's a K&N filter in the stock air box. Stock tires; 235-75-15 Goodyear Wrangler RT/S @ 36 psi. I love the way this thing runs!

I have the 16" tires but I don't think that would make that much of a difference. Everything is pretty much the same except I have not got new plugs yet. Perhaps if I change the plugs before the wires it won't cost me too much $$$$.

This weekend I'm going to replace the thermostat (the new one seems to take longer for the car to heat up than the old one) and also scrub down the throttle body and butterfly with Deep Creep. I'm sure this will all be a waste of time though. I need to find out what's taking my 5 MPG!!!

 

[Robb]

I have the 16" tires but I don't think that would make that much of a difference.

When I switched from 15" alloys w/ 29s, up to 16" steels w/ 30s......I instantly lost 2 mpg. no lie

 

[rblais]

My V8 had a 16oz drink of Seafoam thru the throttle body last Saturday. Seems to run a little smoother and idles better @ first startup. I used a turkey baster ($.98 @ Walmarts) to feed it into the horn, through the air hole in the butterfly valve. Need to take the throttle cable cover off (black plastic cover on right side of throttle body; 1 screw on top of cover) so you can work the throttle by hand to keep at high idle while feeding. Advanced Auto had the Seafoam for $5.

 

[Jester1994]

What's up guys? I also have had grumblings with my fuel economy. I've had my X since July 2003 when it had 62k on it. Now it has 98k, I've driven across the country and back (Idaho and back last summer, 2800k each way) and done a bunch of city driving as well. I usually average about 13-14 mpg now, if I am driivng on the highway mostly, with some city driving on that tank sinc eI live near Boston now. That'll give me about 230 or so per tank. However, when I drove out west to Idaho last summer in June, I babied it out there at 70-75mph, however, it was COMPLETELY loaded with my life, no room for any passengers anywhere and I pulled out a few 300 miles per tanks. Keep into account this is all with 31 inch tires and about a 2.5 inch lift.

I agree that the mpg on 5.0's sucks, but that's a trade off. I have alead foot and still get mad for getting bad fuel economy. I've read a bunch of our posts in different thread, I would say most 5.0's get the 14 mpg average maybe more on the highway, such as 16. There are a few exceptions more and less, but hey, that's what we get for driving a thirst 5000lb brick.

I might try the seafoam route sometime soon and se eif that helps me, I run synthetic Mobil 1 oil, have changed my tranny fluid and filter, but I also slightly hammer my X most of the time too, we'll see where time takes her.

 

[section525]

I have 33s, 3.73s, intake, cam, headers, chip. I get about 220 all city and 260 all highway. Use to get over 300 consistantly when stock.