Gasoline Mileage

[Tony Lugo]

My 2004 Ford Explorer Sport Trac XLT Gas. Has the worst Gas Mileage. I get about 6 to 7 miles per gallon. I have about 156,000 miles on it. Spark plugs pretty new. It drives very smooth and quiet. No engine after market upgrades. No check engine lights. Air filter new . Good pick up but gas mileage is the worst. I have had big V8 engine cars , Mustangs 5.0 and 4.6 even a Big 460 Ford Station Wagon and my 2004 Ford Sport Trac has them all beat as the worst gasoline mileage vehicle.
Can anyone suggest how to troubleshoot my gas mileage dilema ?
Thank you for reading !

 

[Tombstones81]

I have more knowledge with motorcycles, so I cant help much.

Could your injectors be faulty & spraying too much fuel?
Oxygen sensor on the fritz?

 

[Tony Lugo]

Thank you Tombstone81. In all honesty I really do not know much about fuel injectors or oxygen sensors. But it gives me something to have check out. No check engine light and it runs very smoothly and silent with good horse power. Transmission shits very good and I do not feel the engine strain. However will have the fuel injectors check out and see how much new O2 sensor cost and replace it. Again Thank you I appreciate the technical insider.

 

[Evox]

Thank you Tombstone81. In all honesty I really do not know much about fuel injectors or oxygen sensors. But it gives me something to have check out. No check engine light and it runs very smoothly and silent with good horse power. Transmission shits very good and I do not feel the engine strain. However will have the fuel injectors check out and see how much new O2 sensor cost and replace it. Again Thank you I appreciate the technical insider.

That's a huge drop. I have an '04 and get around 17-18 mpg on average, a little more or less depending on the situation. Yes, a failing O2 sensor can cause a significant drop (2-4 mpg). It alone isn't going to drop you to 7. Bad injectors might also be part of the problem.

Are you sure you don't have a fuel leak? Do you smell gas around or under the truck?

 

[Tony Lugo]

Thank you Evox . I park my Explorer Sport Trac inside a closed garage and sometimes it is park for 4 to 5 days without moving and no gas smell at all. I will have the fuel injectors checked and see how hard it is to locate and change the O2 sensor. I have allot of tools and have a socket set designed for O2 removal. I will check to see where it is located purchase it and change it. I will have someone who knows about fuel injectors to check them. I thought that a bad O2 sensor or bad fuel injector would trip the O2 computer having a check engine light and offering a code. I know the OBD2 computer is working when starting the truck I see the check engine light and it goes out when the truck is running. It also came on giving a code for the automatic transmission to change an OD transmission sensor about a year ago based on that I believe the OBD computer system is working .
You are the second member who has given me technical trouble shooting and I Thank you very much . I have now things that I need to change and have checked out. Thank you again.

 

[DILLARD000]

I get 16~17mpg typically on my 2001 V6~4.0L~SOHC with 4WD & 4.10 Difs.
Only other item I can think of besides OxygenSensors or Injectors, is possibly Transmission slipping?
How are you figuring MPGs; via the InstrumentCluster display,
or calculating it the old fashioned way with FillUpGallons & Miles since last FillUp?
May want to double check both ways.

 

[JC2008SportTrac]

I have an '08 with the V8, and the V8's on the second gen get better overall gas mileage than the v6's of the the same Gen2. Now, that's no real comment on yours, since it only came in the V6 version. But, they're a big, heavy truck, and the V6 in Gen1 wasn't a great mileage-getter, brand-new.

HOW you drive it will make a big difference. If you're hauling alot, or towing alot, it's, of course, going to reduce the mileage (no shit, doubt you're griping for that reason). If you're just driving it around, not hauling or towing, and you're only getting 7-8 MPG, you're in massive need of a tune-up! The computer will keep an even terribly-running vehicle running; it just won't do so economically. Start with plugs and wires (normal tune-up), and that should get you back to the 14-15 MPG area. It's a 4.0 V-6, millions of them out there from our vehicles, so you can get whatever parts you need from there. But, if it's running, but getting that kinda turd gas mileage, you're either running with really bad O2 sensors that the computer is having to overcome, bad spark and not burning all the fuel being sent to the mother, or you've got a leak in your gas tank as someone else said, lol! Good luck brother! You'll get it figured out!

 

[Evox]

A dirty or bad MAF sensor can also cause poor gas mileage. Some Mass Air Flow sensor cleaner is a cheap try.

 

[Tony Lugo]

I get 16~17mpg typically on my 2001 V6~4.0L~SOHC with 4WD & 4.10 Difs.
Only other item I can think of besides OxygenSensors or Injectors, is possibly Transmission slipping?
How are you figuring MPGs; via the InstrumentCluster display,
or calculating it the old fashioned way with FillUpGallons & Miles since last FillUp?
May want to double check both ways.

Thank you Dillard , the transmission works very good I did have to change the OD sensor on it about a year ago. The Explorer gas tank makes 22 gallons and full to almost empty it gives me on the highway about 130 miles. No gasoline leaks . Thank you I will keep the transmission in mind !

 

[Tony Lugo]

I have an '08 with the V8, and the V8's on the second gen get better overall gas mileage than the v6's of the the same Gen2. Now, that's no real comment on yours, since it only came in the V6 version. But, they're a big, heavy truck, and the V6 in Gen1 wasn't a great mileage-getter, brand-new.

HOW you drive it will make a big difference. If you're hauling alot, or towing alot, it's, of course, going to reduce the mileage (no shit, doubt you're griping for that reason). If you're just driving it around, not hauling or towing, and you're only getting 7-8 MPG, you're in massive need of a tune-up! The computer will keep an even terribly-running vehicle running; it just won't do so economically. Start with plugs and wires (normal tune-up), and that should get you back to the 14-15 MPG area. It's a 4.0 V-6, millions of them out there from our vehicles, so you can get whatever parts you need from there. But, if it's running, but getting that kinda turd gas mileage, you're either running with really bad O2 sensors that the computer is having to overcome, bad spark and not burning all the fuel being sent to the mother, or you've got a leak in your gas tank as someone else said, lol! Good luck brother! You'll get it figured out!

Thank You JC2008SportTrac. The Spark Plugs are new but the wires are not . I will order new ones online to save a little money. Thank you I hope that maybe the problem . My Explorer Sport Trac runs very quiet , smooth and has good get up and go but maybe it is the wires and if not I have new wires to last a good long while.

 

[curtis james]

yea thats not normal, mine gets 17 city 19 freeway with bigger tires, i agree maf could be dirty or a vacuum leak, ya could jack up and spin front tires to make sure a rotor is not warped that would be driving with brakes on. a bad o2 should not effect gas mileage and if you were running that rich you would smell or feel it, keep us posted on your issue.

 

[Dan]

I may have missed it, but I would suggest a trip to Auto Zone or O'Reilly's have the do a Code Reader check that might keep from chasing rabbits.

 

[Bart Cuffe]

Check engine bulbs go out, may be throwing a code and you would never know it. My ‘02 gets 18ish on average, hook it up to a scanner and check for codes

 

[JC2008SportTrac]

Check engine bulbs go out, may be throwing a code and you would never know it. My ‘02 gets 18ish on average, hook it up to a scanner and check for codes

Definitely that too. I just assumed that no codes were being thrown. If there's a code, it'll likely tell you want it's wanting. Even if it shows a code, guarantee it's what I said above (about the only thing that would explain running okay, but piss poor gas mileage).

 

[Duane Foster]

I get around 16- 16 1/2 mpg in the summer in my '02 in mixed driving. 18-20 on longer highway trips. My '01 gets around 14 or so. I cleaned the MAF in it a few years ago, and it made a noticeable difference in power, and gas mileage improved a little bit. Probably need to do it again.
You might pull the air filter and make sure there's nothing blocking the air getting to the filter. I drove a truck that birds kept building a nest in the air intake hose one year.

 

[ReggieT]

Just filled up at Sams and my mileage was a dismal 8.5 mpg. But, here is some things that may have affected the mileage. My 04 truck is flex fuel and I waffle between E-85 and regular 87 octane., Last time I filled up, which was in May, I filled with ethanol and my mileage is always a little worse with that. but, never this bad. Also, it has been 4 months since I filled it up. I do not drive the truck a lot. So, Maybe ethanol evaporates a little faster. I just read an article by Edmonds where they drove from Las Vagas to San Diago and according to them, Flex fuel mileage was so bad that it would not make sense to use it. They got 16 mpg with regular and 12 mpg with flex. Maybe someday, the engines will be improved enough to make ethanol work, but not my 04 with 180K miles.

 

[Greg Gibbs]

This is 40000 miles of mpg data from my 2002 2WD ST with V6 (which I recently sold). Always averaged around 15 mpg in mostly city driving using 87 octane. It would get ~20 on the highway. This app is called Fuelly.

 

[Todd Z]

Wires, Fluids, tire size, Tire pressure, Dragging brakes, PVC valve, Fuel filter, Injector cleaner, the way you drive, idling, towing, flooring it, bad wheel bearings...….. LONG list of things can cause this.
Every time I see this its poor maintenance or lack of good full maintenance.