Fuel Economy

[Mark Ravenhorst]

Any ideas on how to improve the gas milage... I have a 2002 V-6 2x4 and and 2010 V-6 2x4, both getting about 20 mpg, mostly hwy, but some mixed... Can anyone tell me if Ford is just taking the Sport Trac off the market:angry: completely or are they just going to do a redesign and re-introduce it in a year or 2 ??

 

[Jacob Dryer]

20 is good, you won't get much better than that.. I think I saw 22 once.



No word on a replacement, but I don't have high hopes.

 

[Robert Caffyn]

Lets see. Cold air intake. Headers. Free flowing exhaust. Computer reprogram. Better camshafts. Higher compression pistons. Over-sized throttle body. High output ignition. Diamond fire spark plugs. Remove the spare tire. Put a can of fix-a-flat in the truck. Clean out your glove box. Remove the antenna to improve aerodynamics. Pump tires up to 50psi. Always drive with the windows up. Remove the back seat. And finally, put an egg under the accelerator pedal. To sum up, you'll need about $6000 and two weeks to do all this. Plus, $1.98 for a dozen eggs. This should get you up to about 21mpg. Good luck, Bob

 

[swshawaii]

20 MPG highway is EXCELLENT, almost hypermiling under normal conditions for a 4.0L ST. :banghead:

 

[Travis Stevens]

i have an 05' 4x4 and i get 22mpg highway but i set the cruise control at 60mph all the time on the highway

 

[TRACket Paul]

The Sport Trac is discontinued, until Ford realizes its mistake.

 

[Richard L]

Mark,

Just as everyone else has stated...20MPG on the highway is pretty good mileage. Some get a little better, and some get worse, but you right at about the EPA estimate.



Don't let anyone convince you that because they get better mileage that there is something wrong with your vehicles or your driving that sends you on a wild goose chase for better mileage. Too are many variables that effect your gas mileage that you have absolutely no control over... Some of the most common are weather, and traffic which can change from day to day. So the mileage you got yesterday, may not be the same mileage you got today. That's why MPG is Averaged over a period of time or miles



You are getting 20 MPG, so that would indicate that you do not have any seriously bad driving habits that are costing you mileage. Keep up the good work.:supercool:



....Rich

 

[TrainTrac]

Best way to achieve optimum MPG is to watch the weight of your right foot.



20MPG is about average, maybe even a little above average for mixed driving. Remember, you're driving a 5000lb, not very aerodynamic, tall vehicle that's powered by a V-6.

 

[EddieS'04]

As TT said, the best thing with out any cost. Is to take the ankle weight of the right foot.

 

[marlon giese]

kriekies mate. I am trying to get NEAR 20mpg. I went off the EPA #s compared to the EPA #s for another vehicle I traded and thought I would be close to the same so the ST was my answer. Well 17 is the best I can do with 95% of my driving highway and I drive with a very light foot. 98 miles 1 way to work with limits of 65-75 and only 4 "possible stops" along the way!

Just did the Fuel rail pressure senosr which was throwing the P0193 code and now doing O2 sensors as they were not reading as responsive as they should be. no codes stored or showing so I hope my next tank moves up the MPG range a bit closer to 20. About to try one of those chip add ons that adjusts the timing advance for better mpg. Any other ideas that are less than 200 that actually work?

 

[Richard L]

mginwyo,

A few things you should check would be tire pressures...I kept mine at 34-35 PSI. One low tire can kill gas mileage. Tire size changes can also be detrimental to your gas mileage, more because they change the accuracy of your speedo. that leads to inaccurate mileage calculations.



Also, be sure you are not carrying a lot of junk around in your truck.. The heavier the truck the more fuel it takes to move it and keep it moving.



I think most of your problem may be weather related. Wyo is not the warmest spot on eartch:grin: and vehicles require more fuel in colder weather.. Wind can also be a big factor in fuel mileage. I notice that around here in TX. I find that if I am bucking a head wind, I don't often gett that mileage back on the return trip??



Also, 4x4's tend to use a bit more fuel because they are heavier and nave more drive-line resistance than two wheel drive, even when you are not using 4X4.



One thing I purchased that really helsp zoom in on any problems is an UltraGauge. The gauge only cost about $59 plus shipping. The gauge simply plugs into the OBDII port under the dashboard and taps into the computer. It comes with instructions as to how to calibrate the unit so that your Speedo/Odometer are very accurate. My speedomete read low (as do most) and was off by about 3.5%. Correcting that picked up over one mile per gallon on my Toyota Highlander and now the Speed on my UltraGauge matches my GPS speed.



The Ultragauge lets you monitor the check-engine codes, and even clear check-engine codes. You can program what you want to appear on any of the three pages of info available, so you can customize it to display just what you want to see.



The most important part that you would want are the Average MPG and the Instantanious MPG. The instant MPG shows your gas mileage at that moment in time. You will see that mileage goes down when you are going up hill or accelerating, and mileage goes up when you are going down hill or decellerating. Under various conditions you might see gas mileage as low as 4 MPG and go all the way up to 150 MPG. After you use the UltraGauge for a little while, it trains you do know how to drive to get the max MPG and what driving habits are costing you more fuel.



UltraGauge can be transferred to any other vehicle with OBDII which is nearly every vehicle made since 1995. It comes with a windshield suction cup mount and requires no drilling, cutting or modifications to your vehicle...just plug it in and you are ready to go.



I ordered my UltraGauge from www.ultragauge.com



...Rich

 

[Johnny O]

Mine is stock 4x4 with a Gibson cat-back exhaust and I picked up 3 mpg on the highway with it. Seen as high as 23 on a level highway trip in FL with the cruise set on 65 mph. 20-21 mpg is more like it here in PA with all the hills. If I run it around 75 mph then it drops to 17-18 or so. I keep the tires at 38 psi.

 

[Richard L]

mginwyo,

I'm sure JohnnyO is correct in his advice, however I got 22.5 MPG on trips with my factory stock Sport Trac....no catback exhaust, or other modifications. That included trips through hills and mountains of Tennesse, and Kentucky, but I did not have a 4x4 Sport Trac, so I'm sure that helped a bit.



I would never recommend "Hi Performance" modifications to improve gas mileage since most do not return much in gas mileage improvements to offset their costs. It might be hard to believe, but the auto makers want you to get the best mileage possible from your vehicle since that increases the CAFE mileage for their vehicles to comply with Federal regulations. The EPA Estimated mileage is just a guideline and have been known to be very inaccurate for many years. Recently they modified their formulas for calculating mileage and they seem to me a lot more realistic and acheivable by us mere mortals..:grin:



Yes, you can occasionally get better mileage than the EPA estimates, but that only shows that everything is situational and don't expect that mileage everytime you drive your vehicle...there are just too many variables that impact on mileage to make an absolute prediction.



...Rich

 

[Doug H]

I have a 2004 4WD and average 18 to 19 MPG, probably 75% highway. Don't think I've ever hit 20 MPG. I run the recommended 30 lbs in the front and 35 in the back tires.

 

[Johnny O]

I would never recommend "Hi Performance" modifications to improve gas mileage since most do not return much in gas mileage improvements to offset their costs. It might be hard to believe, but the auto makers want you to get the best mileage possible from your vehicle since that increases the CAFE mileage for their vehicles to comply with Federal regulations.

True, but they have to compromise on a lot of things too, like noise, emissions, and ease of assembly. Apples to apples, I picked up a solid 3 mpg on the highway with the exhaust but then not everyone wants that much noise either (like my wife).



Pittsburgh to Pocono Raceway last summer with three people and luggage:



[Broken External Image]:

 

[Richard L]

JohnnyO,

I realize that there is a lot of compromising done by the auto makers, but even still, most vehicle mileage is not improved significantly by adding High Performance Speed equipment to offset their cost.



I think your 20.2MPG is good mileage, but I got 22.5 with 2 people on board plus about 500lbs of luggage on a trip from Texas to Ohio, and then a stop in Louisville for the national meet. The only nonstock part was a K&N drop in filter.



My point is that most high performance parts are designed to make HP at higher RPM's The Sport Trac and nearly all other factgory stock vehicles will have no problem breathing at normal highway speeds, thus there is little or no difference in mileage. Things we cannot control like weather, wind, temperature and traffic make a bigger impact on mileage than a CatBack exhaust at normal highway speeds. Occasionally there are some vehicles that have severely restrictive exhausts or intakes and we will see some improvement in mileage with a less restrictive exhaust or air cleaner, but is it enough to offset the cost of the equipment and the installation costs?



If you can get 20.2 MPG with a CatBack exhaust and I can get better than 21 MPG and as high as 22.5 with a stock V6 Sport Trac without any mods or special driving techniques, it certainly does not encourage me to buy a CatBack exhaust to save gas? I'm sure you could probably spank me good in a quarter mile race, but then that's not saving any gas.



...Rich

 

[Mark Ravenhorst]

Thanks everyone for the feedback... not that I'm unhappy with the 20mpg, just wondered if anyone was getting any better and if so what you had done. Paul.. I hope you're right about "Ford realizing the mistake" they are making by discontinuing the ST... hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.

 

[Johnny O]

I agree, there are a lot of variables. For example, I'm guessing that TX to OH is pretty flat. Where I live you can't drive 1/4 mile without going up a hill. I've seen as much as a 5 mpg difference between going east and west on the NY Thruway because of the steady wind. I check my mpg a lot with the dash display and I can say that on the same roads at the same speeds (I play with it a lot between the toll booths between my company's offices) I picked up a solid 3 mpg on the highway after adding the exhaust. City mpg is no different. That being said, the exhaust cost $360, I installed it a few months after I got the truck, and it's probably just paying for itself now after 3 years and 60,000 miles. There are a lot things you can do that may infinitesimally increase mpg, but is there a real payback? That's the question. There is a long-standing thread at ExplorerForums.com called the Quest For 30. Guy named Aldive (R.I.P.) was bound and determined to see 30 mpg in an Explorer. I forget all the mods, he did it, but my eyes glazed over after the first 400 pages. He spent a bunch of time, effort, and money, probably never got it back, but that wasn't the point. He just wanted to see if he could do it.

 

[Richard L]

Johnny),

I'm guessing that TX to OH is pretty flat.

Yes, Texas and Arkansas are fairly flat land, but Kentucky and Tennessee are not.



My point was that if Mark was already getting 20 MPG on the highway he is getting good mileage and does not need to spend money on things that might not results in any significant improvement in gas mileage.



A few years ago I was researching gas mileage improvement scams and read an article that really put things in perspective. The vehicle driver is a poor judge of gas mileage improvements because there are so many variables that we cannot tell what actually caused the improvement. The article claims that people who have invested money will convince themselves that any improvement they see in mileage is directly related to some gadget they bought. In reality, they paid money and want the device to work... So they are monitoring their driving habits more closely and it's these minor adjustments to their driving habit that contributed to the mileage improvement.



Scientific lab test on many of the so-called gas mileage improving devices verify that the devices did nothing to improve mileage and could not be the reason for any improvement in gas mileage....yet people claim they did? A few items that did show some minor gas mileage improvements were limited to very narrow operating environments that drivers would not typically encounter on a regular basis.



Some High Performanc equipment can improve mileage, but even then, it's within a limited rpm range or specific area of the power band. I suspect that your 3 MPG improvement after adding the CatBack exhaust was due to the hilly terrain you drive in. Someone driving in a less hilly or flat area may not notice much if any improvement. So it's really all situational and there is no magic MPG improvment device nor will one person get the same mileage as anyone else...There are just too many variables that we have no control over, and we often don't even notice these subtle changes occuring around us.



That's why the auto makers always qualify their mileage estimates with the phrase: "Your mileage may vary"... And it usually does :grin:



...Rich

 

[marlon giese]

thanks for all the feedback on the MPG comments. I have had my ST for a few months now and top MPG I've seen is 18.5. This was almost all highway and about 60 miles was in 4x4 rinning 40-60 on frozen roads. I would say 17-18 is my norm with 20% short 35mph or less 5 mile trips, 40% highway - 75mph and 40% highway 65mph.



I even tried one of the economy chips for the IAT and it made zero difference. I think that's likely cause we have been 0-40 degree tems most of my driving while testing it. I have 35psi all the way on new BFG Long Trail TAs and do have a pretty light foot. Still loking for low hanging fruit and somethign that will payback the investment in 12mos or less. Might go to a Catback but first thinking of a k&n filter kit,



I am taking a tripat the end of January from WY to AZ. Will be a 4 day turnaround carrying a couple sets of golf clubs and 1 other person each way. 1 day driving each way with about 15 hours is the plan. Bringing back a large elk mount so the return trip might have the tonneau cover open half way. Really hoping to see 20 on that trip sometime.



Did a fix today on a lumbar that would not inflate, and a seat heater that would not heat. Also filled in some extra padding around the seat cover side wire so I don't feel the wire through the cover on longer drives. Found the broken lead in the heater pad, soldered and repaired it, also found a loose hose on the lumbar pump. All works now except the stinking lumbar switch. Won't deflate... Those suckers are not cheap! about 35 bucks for the switch. Anyoen know of a lower prices source? I need both of them for the front passenger and driver side...