Looking to Increase fuel mileage

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Andy Williams

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Just bought an '05 ST and don't really know a lot about cars/trucks. Looking for anything that I can do to improve gas mileage. Read a little about the X Cal, but don't know if I will be able to handle it. Anyone able to provide some advice? Thanks:D
 
Xcal and a cat-back exhaust would be your best bet. There isn't really anything you can do that will make a huge difference. Mine seems to coast farther since I put Mobil 1 ATF in the transfer case and Mobil 1 gear lube in the axles, so maybe I picked up a little mpg there.
 
The biggest thing, and this goes for just about any vehicle, is to drive a little bit slower. Make use of the cruise control when you can too. Otherwise, simple modifications like an exhaust and an intake can both increase horsepower and mpg. I am not too familiar with the xcal nor have any inclination to replace my chip so maybe someone else could chime in on that one. Good luck with your new ST!!
 
Do a search on XCal2 & you'll find plenty to read up on. It reprograms your engines computer for better performance & gas milage, and save the OEM program out to the unit so that when you need to take it to the dealer you can set it back to the original program. You get it from Wayne Foy @ Hypnotic Illusions (site sponsor), and the full name of the unit is SCT XCalibrator 2. One of the cheapest upgrades you can do is to use synthetic oil. I chose Royal Purple (recommend it highly), and run it in the engine, tranny, coolant and soon in the differential. Next would be a cold air intake (CAI) of your choice.
 
Your gas mileage will improve gradually until you have about 5,000 miles on it. The engine will get bad mileage until the engine is broken in. It will get much better by that point without doing any mods. No mod will speed up this break-in period.
 
afwill,

If you don;t have at least 10K miles on your Sport Trac, your engine is not broken-in yet, so you are not likely to be gettng the best mileage until then.



What kind of mileage are you getting under what driving conditions. I get 20-21 MPG driving 70-75 MPH on open highway away from any major cities. My city mileage is about 15.5-16.0 MPG but I don't live in a large city and don't have to deal with rush-our traffic, etc.



Some members cannot get better than 16-17 MPG on the highway and only get about 11-12 MPG in the city. I find that the Sport Trac gets very poor mileage in heavy city traffic like Dallas, Ausitn, and Houston. Just 10 or 20 miles in that kind of traffic will ruin the average MPG for that tank of gas. There is not much you can do about that.



The major factor that you can control is your driving habits. If you drive like a little old lady you will probably get a noticable improvement in your MPG. If you drive faster and harder, you will get less MPG.



Occassionally, a vehicle can be returned with a chip or programmer to get better mileage and sometime even give more power, but if you want better mileage and better performance, you might find that one off-sets the other.



I would first recommend increasing the air pressure in your tires to about 35 psi. Check that no brakes are dragging, you have a clean air filter (preferable a K&N or similar free flowing filter. You might want to switch to a full synthetic oil, and perhaps switch to an electric fan.(especially if you do a lot of city driving).



Good luck,



...Rich
 
Yeah, Steph... I was thinking same thing. I'd say get a Toyota. You'll never get great mpg from a Trac.
 
Yeah, I can't break 11.5-12 mpg in town, and 17-18 highway... I've even changed out my plugs and wires, new tires, new shocks, and I change the oil religiously. I get no better mileage out of Mobil 1 synthetic than I do dino-oil Castrol GTX. I want the xcal2, but I feel like there's a problem somewhere that needs attention, just haven't figured it out. There was some talk on here about the CAT being blocked...but I haven't had time to check into it. Part of my problem could be driving habits, but I don't think that's really the case... I went easy on it for a tankfull and didn't see much improvement. Not enough to make it worthwhile anyway.



Good luck to you.



 
Yu will never get good gas mileage driving a truck or SUV. If you want good gas mileage, but a car. If you wersatility, buy something like a Trac. A Prius, or matrix for that matter, wont tow a trailer or sit 4 comfortably, but a Trac will. How much is that comfort worth for you.



For me, it is worth every penny I spend it gas.





Tom
 
:rolleyes:I have a 01 ST . I started with the K&N air intake system along with a airaid thtottle body spacer, then did a cat back exaust by Gibson. My mileage went from 17 to around 20 mpg average with much improved performance. I plan to get an excaliber2 with my tax return. A friend of mine increased the mileage on his F150 by 2 mpg with a tonneau cover so, I may try that too.
 
Lemme see. 1.put on a K&N air filter

2. removed "air horn" restricter.

3. use 89 -90 octane fuel from a high volume station, fresh !

4. have Pirelli "H" rated tires @ 38 PSI (39 rear) 265/16/70

5. use "cruise control" when possible

6. plan my trips

7. Trac is in good tune, regular , carefull, service; has hard tonneau cover.

8. "Baby" kept clean and polished (5% ?)

and since my tires are oversize and have not adjusted (calibrated) the speedo, results below may be off, guess which way ? 3%

:cool:

get 7 litres per 100 KM , translation, 33.60 mpg in US gallons
 
Allen,

I'm sorry, but I do not believe that your Sport Trac, or any Sport Trac can achieve a 33+ MPG average. Perhaps you should show how you calculated that number? Perhaps it should be 23 MPG which would be excellent mileage for a Sport Trac. Also, you are only showing that average for 100KM, which surely cannot be considered an average MPG



I suspect that you drove 100KM and just pumped 7 litres into the tank. The fact that perhaps the pump shut off once does not mean that's all the gas it would hold or all the gas you used.



I get suspicious when people give the fuel in exact gallons or litres as well as the mileage in exact miles. Pumps are now accurate to the hundreths and thousands of a gallon and odometers record mileage to the 10th of a mile. It would be higlhly unusual to drive any distance and stop at the gas pump at exactly 100KM and that the fuel tank took exactly 7.000 Litres.



To achieve 33+ MPG for any distance would require that the Sport Trac be going down-hill, with a tail-wind, the engine at idle and the transmission in neutral. And then, it would not be an average since you would need to drive back up the hill against the wind with the transmission in "D".



...Rich





 
Toyota Prius 150k mi. in order to get a cost benefit out of it.
Click to expand...



You will never save money buying a Prius. You initial investment breaks even as soon as the batteries need replaced.





Tom
 

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