So i have a 1989 2.3 efi 5spd ford ranger, and my fuel milage sucks *****, like 14 miles to the gallon and it used to be better, and tonight after hauling around logs most of the week cause of the weather, i ran out when i should of had two gallons to spare, I could see going through one extra gallon but two is rediculouse, I have a K&N cold air intake, i'm tole the filter is the K&N racing (the end isn't caped off it has a small internal cone too) no egr, no ct, and flowmaster super 44 and i used to get 20 mpg about 1.5 years ago when i bought it, i also had the fuel filter relaced last spetember, and it always gets worse, so any ideas, i mean i ran fuel system cleaners, and new plugs and wires, i put boch ir fusion plugs in and boch wires.

Let me know what you guys think open to anything short of replacing fuel injectors

 

Does your your engine have mass air ? If so try cleaning the sensor. Replace your 02 sensors. Do you have a catalytic converter ? It could be clogged. Get a new one or remove it if your state allows it. (please don't send me crap about "emissions" research how much pollution a volcano emits) Make sure your tires are inflated and your wheels are balanced. A vacuum gauge will also help. Towing Hauling anything will lower your mileage.

 

no it does not have a MAS, no catalytic converter, O2 sensors replaced last September, keep tires inflated, my only question is what is the vacuum guage for and how would i go about using it, i did however put 89 octane in it and it def runs better i don't have to give it as much gas as i would with the usual 87 octane gas, so i'll see how that turns out, who knows maybe my engine just needs a higher octane gas

 

Thats were the fuel mileage went

 

no need for higher octane unless the timing is advanced. In the times of high fuel prices most people don't buy a lot of high octane gasoline so it tends to get old sitting at the station. using old gas will cause your truck to run like crap.

 

well the logs isn't all of it, i average abou fourteen miles to the gallon and has slowly gotten worse since it got it, it was like 21 at first then decreased and ran out of gas every time it decided to decreas fuel efficiency, and again, it does run better with the 89 octane and except for steep hills i only have it half way open when i would normaly have it full throttle

 

I've replaced spark plugs, o2 sensor, air filter, cleaned the intake and MAF sensor and get about 20 mpg unloaded. Pulling an empty landscape trailer @ 70 mph took me down to 17 mpg.

 

i think its a little better now, i havn't had a chance yet to really run the tank town, but i've done all f that too, but having 4.10 gears would help getting me going were i live, that would really boost the milage, hope fully i'll be able to run a tank down low and get an average and find out how much better it is, thanks though

 

Winter formula gasoline also gets you lower mileage as well, so don't forget to factor that in.

 

get motorcraft plugs and wires.... i have an 88 tbird turbo coupe 2.3 turbo with good mods running 20+ psi and i get about 25 mpg.... i had other plugs and wires and got about 17 mpg

 

i did have motorcraft plugs and wires previously, but that was complete ****, so i went to performance, and i expect it to be worse in the winter, but not dropping in the summer into the fall and then steadying it out in the winter, but like i said it seemed to be better now but i still haven't had a chance to run the tank low.

 

An electric fan will help with the mileage but you need to figure out what's causing the original drop in mileage.

 

yeah i was actually thinking about an electric fan, but yeah i tried every thing i could think of for the gas milage