Is anyone else here with a 2001-newer 2.3L engine getting this kind of milage. I used to only drive 5 miles a day, and the only time I watched fuel milage was when I took a 200 mile trip over the summer. and my estimates where close to 30 MPG's. I returned to school last week and I'm driving a 40 mile a day round trip. I put 30 bucks in on Monday, it gave me 3/4 of a tank. now, four days and 160 miles later i'm below a 1/4 tank. which estimates to be about 19-20 MPG's. which is terrible. its mostly all highway, averaging about 55-65 MPH. and not doing anything different from the summer time trip. is this massive decrease from the winter fuel. I know it does'nt get as good MPG's as summer blended fuel but this is rediculous. i'd be happy at 25-27, since i'm not working full time right now this sucks. my truck is pretty much stock. with the stock steel wheels (I know I need to get rid of these and get some aluminum wheels. the stock steel wheels are heavy), it has a soft tonneau cover with about 180 pounds of sand in it for winter driving. ony performance mods is a K&N Filter with the airbox mod.

Is there anything I can do, I know I have a bit of a heavy foot. and I can fix that. I could sell the Ranger and get a Honda but i'd rather not do that, as I like my small montly payment. There is a 92 Toyota Carolla that my 91 year old uncle had that I could use. but it has'nt moved in two years. When it was parked it ran great. it was wrecked a few times. all which where repaired, it has newer brakes, and it sat in garage for all that time. IIRC correctly its a 1.5l with an auto, and has about 120,000 miles on it. I know I can get better fuel milage out of that, but would the added insurence be more then gas in the Ranger would be in a month.

BTW, it has 53.900 miles on it.

 

My 07 is getting around 23-22 right now with it being cold and the winter fuel.

As for fuel economy on the highway I noticed my truck did better at say 70-80 than it does say going 60-70. Engine is more efficient in the higher rpm's than it is going 60-70. Everytime I have pulled a high mpg I was on the highway going 70-80. I have gotten from 35 and have pulled 40 mpg once, went 180 miles on 4 gallons of gas.

 

I get 18mpg city, 20mpg mixed, and around 22mpg highway..

I saw about a 2mpg increase when I went from steel to alloys.. but then got bigger tires..

15x6" Stock Argent Steelies 21lbs
15x8" Unquie Soft 8 Steelies 28lbs
15x7" Stock Explorer "Tear Drop" Alloys 18.2lbs
15x8" Current 15x8" Alloys 18lbs

weight per wheel according to my cheap scale.. rotating mass adds up.. so I would recommend some alloys!

 

I'm having the same problem as gasman. Any advice?

 

Don't forget to see how much ethonal your local government mandates to be mixed in. If you fill up 10 gallons in your tank, and your state mandates a 10% ethanol mix, then you really only have 9 gallons.

 

Speaking of gas mileage, my old '95 2.3L automatic with 112HP has only been getting around 20-22 MPG highway as of late. Is this due to the winter fuel? I had my EGR valve replaced during the fall, but before I would always get 23 city and 26 highway with the A/C on. I am noticing a lot more power now though so maybe that's it. Any ideas?

 

I had the same problem when I bought my 2002 2.3L 5 sp. manual regular cab. Here is what I did:
1. Calculate your true mileage. I put this first, as it gave me a good base line before I did everything else I am mentioning. It's easy to do, pm if you need help.
2. Check tire pressure. I run mine at 42lbs. all around the truck.
3. Whats your gear ratio? Mine is 3.73, open diff. If you have 4.10 then your mileage will be worse than mine.
4. Lose the 180 lbs. in the back. However if you absolutely must keep it in there you should figure this into your true mileage calculations. Run a tank or two without the 180 lbs. and then run a tank or two with it.
5. What octane are you running? I run 87. I have seen 85 octane, thats the only reason why I ask.
6. Where do you get your gas? I only get mine from Shell, BP(old amoco) or Quick Trip gas stations. Surprisingly this can make a difference.
7. Air Filter, plugs and fluid check including the rear diff. I changed it all.
8. Some people say they drive their trucks like they stole them and still get great gas mileage. Personally I think they are full of s---, but if they showed me actual numbers then I would eat my words Anyways I try to stay under 70 mph on the highway.

My last tank averaged 28mpg mixed driving.

 

Call me full of S***, or whatever you want but I get 25 mpg's all day long on the highway in my lifted 2wd with 31's and 4.56 gears. It's got the 2.3 in it.





Allen

 

Whats your speed on the highway? Sorry had to edit this real quick. Allen, go to this gas mileage tracking site and track your gas mileage. If you really do get 25 mpg's "all day long" I'll offer you a public apology. Mods if it's not alright to post a site on here you may delete this and I can PM it to him.

site: http://www.trackyourgasmileage.com

 

In my '05, right now I'm getting around 23-25mpg mixed driving. When I have the 150lbs of sand in the back it goes down to around 20. I don't baby it and usually go about 75-80mph on the highway, and during the summer I AVERAGE 28mpg, sometimes higher, sometimes lower. I think its just a combination of the gas, the colder temps making you run on "choke" mode longer, and the weight in the back. Look for an increase with warmer weather.

BTW, 40mpg in a ranger? Dude, Mark98xlt, drugs are BAD!

 

I don't have my job of 10 years anymore (been 2 months now) where I was driving 200 miles a day in my Ranger so it may be a while before I actually use that site to track. I would fill my tank (20 gallons) and then drive 100/110 miles ONE WAY to work daily. After almost 600 miles I would need to refuel again. I did this at least 5 if not 6 days a week for almost 10 years. I know what mileage I was getting because I was spending anywhere from $150 to $200 a week for gas..........for 10 years. OK, a little over 9 years.

Then............construction home building took a dump and after ten years with the same company there's no more work all of a sudden. That's how I racked up 370,000 on my Ranger with it's second engine that I've just pulled in order to address some issues. Thanks for that site, I'll definitely use it when I get the chance and post up the results.

I DO NOT drive like a mad man at all.

EDIT: sorry, I just edited because I saw that I can record an individual trip as well. Coming soon. Thanks again for that site!




Allen

 

No problem! I feel ya on the housing market also, I'm an electrician. Commercial work is keeping us busy now though. Personally I like those sites just for the simple fact I can numerically see MPG differences in everything I do (add weight, drive 10 mph faster, etc.). Hey wait I just noticed something, in my original post I said those with the attitude of "drive it like you stole it" are full of **** when they claim great MPG's. You just said that you don't drive like that, therefore I would definately be interested in seeing what your mileage is with your current setup. Damn, I just might owe you that apology............nahhhhhh

Check out this wikipedia link also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermiler

 

Yeah, well my truck's still down til at least tomorrow cause I just hit another snag regarding my transmission tailshaft housing. I should still be up and running tomorrow though. I'm curious to see what it will show on that site!

I better be getting good mileage because gas prices are through the roof here!




Allen

 

I have a '99 with a 2.5L in it and I get 14 mpg. I don't complain though, I'd rather be driving an American truck than a Honda or Toyota any day.

 

How does that site work? Do you have to manually enter the stats from each tank? I have like a decade worth of fuel logs on 2 Rangers and my toy car, all in M$ Excel. I can convert it to other formats like CSV and the like. If one of those tracking/statistics sites were to take it, I'd gladly upload all of my records.


BTW, you guys w/ the I4 getting <20 MPG are doing something wrong. I have a fully loaded FX4 LII w/ the 4.0L SOHC, 4WD, and every option imaginable, save the auto trans.. and I can still bang out several tanks of 20+MPG in a row on summer blend fuel.

 

I looked around that site and could not find anywhere to import your info. Looks like you would have to manually input it. You might be able to find a different site where you could import your data. I also frequent www.cleanmpg.com You must register to post in the forums, however the vast array of knowledge there is pretty astounding and they could very well have the ability to import excel sheets.

 

Signed up to cleanmpg.com. Interesting crowd. I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb w/ my 4.0L nipping at the 20 MPG mark.. yet on these forums I am way ahead of most.

Seems they do not have an import feature.. yet a member posted a stub of a windows script that shows promise. Should I find some time I might take a stab at working that up.

In the meantime, they've got a lot of interesting ideas and tips. They have guys w/ 4-banger Rangers posting MPG figures in the 30's!

 

Glad you found it, there are some pretty interesting characters there! I just filled up yesterday, 379 miles on 14 gallons which works out to 27 MPG average. Not too bad for winter blend. However one thing I have noticed since yesterday, I filled up at a Flying J and there gas is friggin horrible. I normally go to a BP station.