hmmm... i betcha wanna kno dontcha..... welp, im not gonna tell ya, its a secret.























eh, ok, ima softy..... easiest and fastest way to get better gas mpg is to drain the lead from your foot. heres the rules for increase gas mpg:

under no circumstances can you run your truck over 2,000rpms. even when accelerating, which means, your top speed = 60MPH.

there ya go, so far, i have noticed a definite increase in MPG.

 

i could do that for maybe a day....or my auto would upshift me for no reason...

 

hmm.. i'll have to try that for a 1/4 tank or so and see what I can get.. it'll get to me after a while because I have a major leadfoot sometimes

 

I'd done almost the same thing with the Civic, and have noticed that I get a 50 more miles per tank. What I did was not rev it over 2,000 rpms while accelerating. It sure helps

 

Your increase is??? I'd rather you post numbers than a "definite increase". That's about as bad as saying add this intake and get 20 HP.

Come on you know better.

 

ok well put it this way, my needle is says just under 3/4 of a tank left and i just rolled over 150miles. where usually im at 150miles with LESS THAN 1/2 a tank. that better?

 

yea but when that Borla exaust kicks in and the engine sucks in that air from the intake and the truck gets up and goes...i could care less about MPG for about 30 seconds LOL but ill give it a shot too...see what i can get at..

 

Correction: Easiest way to increase MPGs is to over-inflate your tires by 10-15 PSI.

 

^^^^^rofl


ok well one thing my f***in manual truck dont evean got a tack so how to tell what 2000 is.. :-p i shift be sound and if i got music up by speed sooo ???

 

try putting a few springs under your pedal so you can only press it slowly.

 

Are you crazy, stay under 2000 RPM's, that's funny!

I actually did that once and only once, it was beneficial, but I can't remember the numbers. It take longer to get places that way and you can't hear your exhaust when you accelerate. Gas is now over $3.00 here now, It just doesn't seem to weigh out for me, I bought the truck to enjoy it.

 

I personally can't stand driving like an old grandma.. I have it up to atleast 3000 on every gear unless I'm in a hurry, then it's always redlined. I don't imagine that could be too healthy, but oh well, 302 swap here I come

 

i can't merge into traffic from a stop and stay under 2000 in an auto

 

Yeah it works for mpg but kills the fun factor haha
but yeah, just pretend there's an egg under your gas pedal. or just look at the tach. oh and slow down! 55mph is generally the ideal speed. that's why the speed limit used to be 55 (to save gas). People complain and now it's 65 in most areas. Congrats you just lost ~2mpg. I think i read a mpg bulletin for long haul truckers that every 5mph over 55 will cost you 1mpg. Something to that effect. Messed up thing is doing 55 may actually get you pulled over for going too slow in some areas.

 

^^^^^yea it will. The speed limit here is 70 on the interstate

 

Id like to see you jump in my truck and keep it under 2000RPM.

I have a 4 cylinder with 31" mud tires and 3.73 gears, you have to keep it above 2000RPM for it to move.

Before I put on the lift and bigger tires I was getting roughly 300 miles a tank and I get the same with the bigger tires. Only catch is that I drive mostly on the highway and with the bigger tires you dont have to rev the engine as much to go the same speed.

Yes the more you floor it the more gas you consume but what fun is it if you cant floor it.

 

wow, not flooring it, when did that help gas milage?

 

I take a 12% grade up and over a hill (like a mile and a half? each way) on my way to and from school... sometimes multiple times a day... try staying under 2k (even though I don't have a tach) with a 2.3L and 31" tires while taking the hill at a decent speed (ie: not 2 mph in the bottom end of first). I live in a hilly area... unfortunately the under 2k method is outta the question for me... although it will work for all you other people where it's somewhat flat... you just have to kinda step on your ego intead of your peddal now and then...

 

ive never noticed it to help. a ranger gas guage is all over the place. wait till you fill up and tell me your mpg, that last part of the tank will go fast just watch.

i get 15mpg consistantly, doesnt matter how i drive.

 

Late last year, I realized a few things. Driving the 20 miles to work going 65mph instead of 75mph gets me there at nearly the same time, without the stress of trying to get around people moving slower, and I get another 2mpg. That may not seem like much, but in a 20 gallon tank, that that is an extra 40 miles which is another round trip to work. The RPM difference is about 2300 vs 2800. So, when I drive to/from work, I stay in the right lane at 65, turn up the music, and relax. It really did make a difference in driving stress.

However, the best way I found to reduce fuel costs is to just leave the thing at home, take the train, and ride the bike.

 

I just draft behind the big tractor trailors and get about 15-20 more miles to a tank of gas!

 

becareful, sometimes those tractor trailers can stop faster than you!

 

I've been saying this all along! Dave of 'Dave&Julie' fame said it many times too!

I can't speak for FMD. But I can for myself. I have a log of every drop of gasoline that has been put into my truck since I took delivery of it in July 2003. By changing my driving behavior as FMD described my average mileage jumped at least 2-3 MPG! I was getting an average of 16 MPG and tanks as low as 14 MPG. I can now get as high as 19. I've even nipped at 20 on very long highway drives. My lifetime average has improved to 17 MPG while my 3 month average is up to 18 MPG. My last fillup (Saturday 4/23) worked out to 18.5 MPG.. That was by driving very conservatively and shifting under 2k RPM MOST of the time, keeping it under 70 MPH indicated (more like 67-68 MPH according to the GPS) on the highway, and only very occasionally tearing *** away from a stop-light like a teenager.

This is all w/ a 2003 FX4 LII.. basically the heaviest, least efficient Ranger trim possible.

All that said, driving this way is frickin' boring! Getting on the local super slab w/o going above 2k RPM makes for very very unhappy tailgaters. 2k RPM in 4th gear works out to a little over 40 MPH.. and that's damned low to be reaching for 5th, especially on an incline.

I also recognise that I could improve my mileage even more by keeping it under 60-65 MPH.. but unfortunately I just can't make that 5-10 MPH sacrafice. As it is I practically get trampled at 70 MPH indicated around here most days. 60-65 is just too slow for the highways around here.

The engines in the Ranger (well, at least the old 2.5L I4 I had and the 4.0L V6 I have now) are pretty damned torquey, despite what the OHV guys say. It will lug right along at well, well under 2k RPM. It won't exactly put you back into the seat, but I can get through traffic shifting as low as 1200 RPM. In fact one afternoon, just for ****s and giggles, I drove the ~3 miles of city streets from my office to my aparment w/o touching the accelerator once! By shifting smothly and w/ some careful clutch work I was able to get all the way up to nearly 30 MPH in 4th gear on the main drag.

I've never heard of anyone getting pulled over for going 55 on an interstate highway. In most areas the minimum is at most 45 MPH. In fact some states mandate that vehicles pulling a trailer are limited to 45 MPH.. although that is rarely enforced in my experience.

+1

Driving in the right lane at 65-70 MPH also means everyone is driving around you instead of the other way around. This means you can lock in the cruise control and relax even more. It is one-step removed from auto-pilot!


The bottom line is that if you want to save money on gas, changing your driving habits and behaving like a rational grown up is unfortunately what you have to do! I know it sucks, I know it isn't any fun. I would love to haul *** around town, bouncing off the rev limiter in each gear and squealing tires constantly if I could. But I for one just can't afford to drive that way. If you want to have the 'fun factor' and 'hear the exhaust' all the time, then you simply will not get stellar fuel efficiency while driving. I believe that stands true w/ any vehicle out there, especially our pickups!

Remember, +/- 2 MPG is only ~5% on a Civic getting 30 MPG.. but it is almost 12% on a 4WD pickup getting 17 MPG!

 

same with me i noticed it to decrease my mpg driving slow plus its no fun and people get mad behind you or atleast i do. i get between 15-18mpg 18 is only when i drive highway a lot on that tank.

Nick

 

I am also one of those guys who has tracked my mpg religously and I do around 85% highway driving. Up untill 2 months ago, i was the guy doin 80-85 in the left lane and was getting around 17-18 mpg. Now i do as ya'll said, set the cruise control at 70, put on some tunes and just roll. I now get average of 21-22 mpg, with a high of 24 on a tank last week. Some of it might have to do with the switch to from winter gas, but that was a huge jump. I also agree that it is alot less stressful!