I have.. My seal started leaking sometime about a year ago. I had it replaced by a local mechanic whom I know and trust. Had new fluid put in too.

No significant change in drive slop. It has been pretty much the same since new.

 

dont run cruise on the highway, thats the opposite of how to save mpg. If its flat its ok, but anywhere with elevation changes will have your rpms all over the place. just drive smart

 

Nor do I. My last truck had the 2.5L I4. Ford's published towing/hauling specs aside, I wouldn't mind having a I4 powered Ranger again. Unfortunately it was also a 2WD and just this side of a death-trap in the snow. I got tired of getting stuck in the parking lot at the grocery store every winter and decided it was time for a 4x4. My 'wants' were 4x4, Ex-cab, and cruise control. W/ a Ford, that pretty much meant I got the 4.0L V6.. need it or not.

In retrospect I probably could have done w/o the ex-cab. But even then, IIRC Ford had discontinued the I4 + 4WD configs by '03, when I bought. And getting factory cruise would probably have been a trick.

I briefly considered a less-well equipped truck I found locally w/ the 3.0L V6. Knowing what I know now, I'm glad I passed on it. I do not find much to like about the 3.0L. Most report mileage only marginally better than the SOHC 4.0L.. and it definitely isn't as powerful. All things being equal I'd rather have the 4.0L than the 3.0L. (Flex fuel is unheard of up this way, so that's a non-issue.)

 

This is probably the ticket! Our interstate speed-limit is 65.. but most are doing 70-80 MPH up this way. I find 70 MPH to be the slowest I can reasonably do w/o being run-over.

That is on the Interstate. As I've said, I've found a new way to work that is more direct, but slower going. Average speeds on that route are ~35-45 MPH. That should make for more efficient runs. I haven't run it much in truckzilla. Mostly I'm driving my toy these days. It gets 50% better mileage right off the bat..

 

That's not entirely true.

Sure, you can do better w/o cruise, but it requires some pretty careful driving and attention. And you can just as easily get far worse mileage w/o cruise than you can w/. For me, the slight disadvantage cruise yields is entirely worth the convenience.

..Unless you're talking about a vehicle equipped w/ an automatic trans! Then you've got a point. My manual never randomly down shifts on me.. so RPMs are never "all over the place" w/ the cruise set. If you have an auto.. then all bets are off here.

 

As someone with a soft tonneau, E-fan, CAI, duel exhaust, underdrive pulleys, and upgraded coil pack, I can say the fuel economy hasn't changed much. The tonneau, CAI, and exhaust seemed to make the biggest difference in all honesty in terms of giving me an extra one to three MPG.

The coil pack and pulleys improve acceleration, but haven't done anything to improve fuel economy, and if anything seem to lower it. The e-fan is hard to gauge, but I've never noticed any substantial gains with one, and idling in traffic it does a terrible job at cooling the engine.

As mentioned elsewhere, weight and gearing is big. I have the stock 3.73 gears, but I have added a large heavy cargo box behind my seats. I'm going to be removing this and the extra poundage stored in it. It would be interesting to see if the fuel economy improved by removing as much weight as possible from the truck. I would venture an hypothesis that the fuel economy would improve a bit.

 

Yep, sorry.

 

The poor fellow is asking about performance mods that SECONDARILY may increase MPG. He does not want to change the way he drives and keeps saying so. I found too that all those tips do help MPG and make driving more relaxing. He does not want to relax. He wants to go faster and if he can go quicker and get better mileage good, if not, which will do the least damage to MPG.

I think the 2 things are generally mutually exclusive. I have tried the cap on/ cap off, tailgate on/ off, up/ down never made much of a change for me on the 4 pickups I've had. In fact at least 2 of them got better mileage with them on and up. I didn't do the math to see if it was statistically significant though.

Now look, I am off topic, sort of.

Mods, couldn't say. I did better the first couple of tank fulls with a K&N, also with Splitfire plugs in my 300 straight 6 F-150. That was my only change and went from a consistent 10 to a consistent 12 MPG. Again, that was the only change made to test the plugs. Not so lucky in this Ranger.

Well, I need to go work on the Ranger.

 

i try to get mine to shift at around 2k RPM but its not possible. automatic 3.0 tends to rev high, which sucks. only time i get low RPMs is when im going about 50 when the overdrive kicks in and i sit at 1500RPM. kinda wish i got a 4.0

 

Hmm just excel slowly.. and DONT USE K&N use VOLANT for air induction..

but like i keep readin the money you spend will take a long time to make up in fuel savings.

 

Wouldn't help you keep the revs down. Not enough to matter anyway. The only way to do that is to be able to pick the cogs yerself. So far the only way I know of to solve that problem involves having a lever sticking though the floor of the cab!