Wonky mileage change
- Thread starter benenglish
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@benenglish , I know what happened. When I was in high school I worked after school and weekends at a large gas station. One of the guys that worked there got a new VW Beetle. He kept telling everyone how much gas mileage he was getting. Well, me and a buddy started slipping a half gallon of gas in his tank every other day, or so.
His gas mileage was going through the roof. He was bragging to everybody what that little VW was getting. We kept this up for about a month and stopped. His gas mileage dropped considerably. He got real concerned and we were afraid to tell him or anyone else. He had a mechanic look at it and, of course, didn't find anything wrong with it.
A couple of weeks later he traded the VW for an Olds Cutlass. The VW owner and my buddy have both passed on and as far as I know, the secret was never revealed.
His gas mileage was going through the roof. He was bragging to everybody what that little VW was getting. We kept this up for about a month and stopped. His gas mileage dropped considerably. He got real concerned and we were afraid to tell him or anyone else. He had a mechanic look at it and, of course, didn't find anything wrong with it.
A couple of weeks later he traded the VW for an Olds Cutlass. The VW owner and my buddy have both passed on and as far as I know, the secret was never revealed.
I used to count the green lights on the way to work. There were 29 lights on the journey. I used to count the red lights and base my journey on the total red lights. 10 or more bronze, 5 to 10 silver, less than 5 was a gold medal day. It is funny what you do to pass the time on daily journeys.
Yes, I had a zero red light day. I buy lotto tickets on those random days…
The mileage would vary greatly with the number of red lights. Greater than 20% week to week.
Yes, I had a zero red light day. I buy lotto tickets on those random days…
The mileage would vary greatly with the number of red lights. Greater than 20% week to week.
I have always gotten better mileage on the open road vs. The city/stop crawl traffic. I also notice a drop between 65, 70, 75, 80, 80+.
I had a 97 nissan pickup with the 2.4l 4 banger for a while and got worse mileage on the highway that around town. I chalked it up to have 4.10 rear end gears turning 3,500+ rpms at 70mph.
I had a 97 nissan pickup with the 2.4l 4 banger for a while and got worse mileage on the highway that around town. I chalked it up to have 4.10 rear end gears turning 3,500+ rpms at 70mph.
I had a dodge cummins that started getting unusually good fuel mileage. The kink it that is as the fuel milage got better the truck got harder to start. It got to where it got 26mpg but would not start unless I gave it a shot of starting fluid.
It turned out to be an injector issue. so I replaced injectors and starting problem solved, but so long to the great fuel mileage.
It turned out to be an injector issue. so I replaced injectors and starting problem solved, but so long to the great fuel mileage.
My cousin had the same truck with the same engine new about the same time yours was made.
He figured it was underpowered and geared poorly.
He bought the v6 hoping for better mileage than the v8 but was not happy with how it turned out.
I had a buddy who told me his gas mileage was slowly, erratically getting better. A year or so later, he was on a road trip and noticed that the wheels on his analog odometer would sometimes catch on one another and stop, only to break free after a while. Over time it got worse to the point where he would go to fill his empty tank and the odometer would only show he had driven a handful of miles. Don't know how this worked out when he sold the car.
I feel the same. I don't use it enough to dump it but if I had only known then what I know now I wouldn't have bought it. Lousy gas mileage, no cruise control, no exterior keypad to unlock the doors, a gigantic turning circle, and door panel tops that aren't parallel to the ground are the things I hate about it. That doesn't mean that, overall, it isn't a fine truck; it is. But if I ever buy another I'll know much better what to look for
Lots of factors.
I notice the following have changes in my mpg. Oil change, fuel blend, fuel type, temperature, tire pressure, use of AC, use of headlights/radio, cruising speed.
Some gas stations get contract deliveries of fuel. While the minimum octane might be 87, you could get higher. I have noticed my 2018 F150 5.0 V8 4x4 with 36 gallon tank has a good computer for tracking range. I get 650-715 miles of range. 18-19 mpg. Premium fuel and mid grade gives me better range. 55-60 mph gives better range than 80-85. 33 psi gives worse range than 36 psi in the tires.
I notice the following have changes in my mpg. Oil change, fuel blend, fuel type, temperature, tire pressure, use of AC, use of headlights/radio, cruising speed.
Some gas stations get contract deliveries of fuel. While the minimum octane might be 87, you could get higher. I have noticed my 2018 F150 5.0 V8 4x4 with 36 gallon tank has a good computer for tracking range. I get 650-715 miles of range. 18-19 mpg. Premium fuel and mid grade gives me better range. 55-60 mph gives better range than 80-85. 33 psi gives worse range than 36 psi in the tires.
You've heard the old joke about neighbors adding/taking gas at night to give you good/bad mileage?
ETA- @Geezer knows the joke!
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Ford sells a stick on option. Couldn't imagine life without it.
Same here, I now realize.
I had up until recently a 2006 ram 1500 with almost 300k miles and one of the MDS systems that experienced the same thing. I some how slowly gained an extra 5! miles per gallon. Ignored it until I eventually started having noticeable lack of power, starting and rough idle issues almost a year later. The local shop took a crack at the engine and came up with the plugs were toast and the build up / gap was so excessive the truck was going into semi limp mode to compensate. In short it ended up running on half of the cylinders for X amount of time and likely why I saw the increase in MPG. Just took that long to finally get bad enough to physically notice. No light popped up and it didnt trigger full limp mode for unknown reasons. Cleaned everything up, intake, throttle body, new plugs, harness, battery and seals. Ran like a champ and once the computer adjusted itself again, I lost all those gains in MPG within a few tanks. It might be worth checking on those wear and tear items and verify all the seals are good on the intake parts. The computer might be within range or erroring reporting out a mil light or code.
Have you recently aired up your tires? At the last shop I worked at we had a sister shop that specialized in hybrids. Whenever an oil change was done they would use the correct 0w20 oil and air up the tires to 40 psi or more. Customers always raved about their mileage increases after service. The little things like tire pressure and correct oil viscosity do a lot for any cars mileage.
Yes but I don't think that's enough to account for this much difference.
I took a trip to Livingston, mostly highway miles, and filled up after about 140 miles total. Mileage was 17 mpg. That's better than normal but still down from the single fill-up that was at 20 for around town driving.
Once I've burned another couple of tanks I'll know if anything has really changed. I'm leaning toward the theory that I just made a mistake in my record-keeping and calculations.
