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Mike Ioco

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Aug 12, 2001
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Location
Clinton Township, MI
I don't know what happened, but I went from getting 14.5 miles to the gallon, to 17.5. Now it didn't happen overnight... I haven't been logging it for some time. I just noticed that I was getting a lot more miles out of a tank. Usually I had to fill up around 200, but I could squeeze 230 out of it. Now I can squeeze 300 out of a tank.



Could it be my EGR valve that was replaced 2 months ago? I had teh EGR valve replaced, and the fuel injection system cleaned. I hadn't noticed the better MPG's after that though.



Most recently I had new shocks put on, and a front end alignment. Oh, and I'm way over due for an oil change.



I'm not sure what caused this, but I LIKE IT! :cool: Especially at $2.35 a gallon.:angry:
 
i get 280 out of 3/4's of a tank cant wait to get my tuner from Wfoy hope fully tomorow i want it for the weekend.:rolleyes:
 
I get 400-450 on the interstate, and easily get 350+ around town. At least lately, since I've been keeping my foot out of the firewall.
 
400 on the highway? damn. how fast do you usually go? my drive home is about 420 miles, and i have to stop at some point in the trip or i wont make it home. in the city i usually get 18-19 per gallon, but im also at 5000 msl.
 
320.......few tanks after intake and cat back.........360.......3rd tank after Waynes tuner 405

numbers are when fuel notice went on, so still had 2 gallons left on each.
 
I increased my mileage too.



Did a Motor-Vac, cleaned the IAC, cleaned the throttle body, installed new plugs and wires. I still have an 1/8 of a tank left and I am 40 miles over my normal max. I normally get just below 400 miles to the tank.
 
i wanted to change my fuel filter this weekend too but crappy arse auto zone didnt have it. I was also just looking for something to do to my truck this weekend haha
 
fuel filter from walmart $7.00 removal tool from auto zone $5.00 face full of fuel prices less ,at least to any one who say me try to get from under the trac with a face full of fuel,and try to get my eyes washed.:eek:
 
Using the fuel gauge (especially the Sport Trac's) is a very inaccurate method of checking gas mileage.



The only accurate way is to record the exact miles driven down to the ten of a mile and divide by the exact gas used to fill your tank to the exact same level (to the closest hundreths of a gallon.)



The only way to know that the tank is filled to the exact same level is to fill it unitl you can see the gas in the filler pipe at the nozzle restrictor. I don't recommend always filling your tank to this level, but for a few tanks every few months to check you mileage will not harm your evap system.



...Rich
 
I don't use the gauge, I use my odometer and my gas receipt.



However inaccurate this may be, I got 14.5 for some 70-75 thousand miles, consistently. The past three tanks have been 17.5. I might have gotten that once out of 50 tanks before.
 
I seemed to do better on a trip today after tanking up with 89 because I was towing the jetski and knew I'd hit some hills. 300 miles out of 3/4 tank.



P.S. Did my first official "gingerbread man" off the tube today at Deep Creek Lake in Maryland.:lol:
 
350-400 per tank is what I consider standard. I need a fuel filter change and a new set of plugs, new tires etc. 63K miles on OEM everything except brake pads, they got replaced at 61K. New shocks would be nice too... but that's not happening for a bit.


 
I've also noticed a jump in my mileage over the last few months. I have no aftermarket upgrades to my ST other than a tonneau cover. I used to get at most 325 mile in a tank, roughly 17 mpg. Now I am easily going over 350 miles/tank, and just over 20 mpg. No idea why. I have about 77k miles on the truck.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
980/tank since I waxed it this weekend.



Seriously, if you have $129 laying around, get a scangauge. I bought one about 3 weeks ago and love it. I've been taking it around town and seeing around 13MPG on average.



I've been running some 200mile drives up and down I-78 between PA and NJ (very mountainous) @ 80MPH, averaging 19MPG sustained over about 4 hours of driving.



Very insightful tool, worth the money.
 
STylin,

I don't doubt that you had an improvment in your gas mileage, however you clearly stated that the gas mileage improvement was measured based on your miles per tank of gas...



"Usually I had to fill up around 200, but I could squeeze 230 out of it. Now I can squeeze 300 out of a tank"



That would clearly indicate that you used the fuel gauge to measure the amount of gas you used which is highly inaccurate.



The reason I object to this type of inaccurate mileage statements is because people think these milage figures are accurate and think they should get these same milages. Not to mention the fact that the 2001-2002 Sport Trac's had 20.5 gallon tanks that could be over filled by 3 or more gallons, While the 2003 and later Sport Trac's have a 22.5 gallon tank that can also be over filled. The over filling depends upon the gas pump used and how slowly you pump in the gas afte the pump's auto shut-off.



I have easily put 5 or more gallons into my tank after the pump shut off while my wife will stop pumping gas when the pump shuts off, which can account for a difference of 80 or more miles per tank!



I have gotten as much as 430 miles per tank n my 2001 Sport Trac. and about the same on my 2003 Sport Trac but I have not attempted to pushed the 2003 as far as the 2001. My actual measured mileage for both the 2001 and 2003 is about the 17.5 mpg around town in mixed driving and about 20 mpg on the highway during trips with a high of 21.7 mpg.



...Rich








 
RichardL, you are wasting energy typing, that you don't need to be. I apologize if I was misleading.



If one doesn't track MPG regularly, the only indicator of changes in fuel economy, would be a change in the amount of time between fill-ups. Since I always reset my trip meter after each fill-up, I noticed that I was getting more miles out of a tank. Hence the my third sentence, which read, "I just noticed that I was getting a lot more miles out of a tank". This was purely the INDICATOR, that my fuel economy has changed.



I've already clarified above, that I'm not using this method to measure my MPG!
 
I should add that I have slightly oversized tires, so my MPG may be even less accurate than what I think… but the tires haven't changed recently.



Also, I may have put in a few tanks of 89 octane. Has that been proven to increase fuel economy? Hmmm… Our local station charges the same price for 87 and 89.
 

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