OK not sure if this belongs to GTE forum, I am new to the forum and please feel free to move this a more appropriate discussion.
So I am still feeling out our "new" 04 ranger 2wd 3.0 automatic Edge that we bought couple of weeks ago. Bought it out of town so it was 2.5 hrs on the highway at 70 mph, got 17.5 mpg. Then it was driven in town(suburban area) for a week and mileage was 14 mpg when I filled it up.
No check engine lights are on, it runs ok, no smell of gas, wheels have swapped to 15s sometime in the past and tire pressure is ok.
Air filter is clean, new-ish. Rear axle is 4.10.


Am I freaking out for nothing? any thoughts?

 

Welcome to the forum

If its not stock tire size then you will need to do an odometer test, you may be basing your MPG on incorrect data, miles traveled, speedometer will also be off
Larger diameter tires will show LESS miles traveled on odometer

I think you can get GPS apps and compare that to odometer in truck
But GPS is not all that accurate either because of hills and curves, it's basically a level straight line device

Closer to 20mpg on highway, and 16/17 around town in a 3.0l automatic

 

Tires are 255/70/15 instead of 16' indicated on door label. I will check my speed with Garmin later but driving home my chase vehicle 04 buick was showing about 70 also.

 

Skinny tires, chassis low to the ground are what gets good MPG, pickups have neither

Rims don't matter, overall diameter does, use this: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiret....jsp?techid=53

 

You also need to check the spark plugs. Worn plugs will also effect performance.

I have the same setup with my 04 XLT (3.0L, Auto tranny, and 4:10 rear). When I am running 70 on flat interstate I get about 20mpg. If I slow it down to 65 the mileage goes up to 21.5. The worst mileage I have gotten has been 17 and that was all city driving in the city with the AC running.

 

My '03 Edge (3.0L/Auto/4:10) consistently gets 21mpg. That is majority highway miles with some city. Right now, my engine stumbles when idling, so a tune up is in its near future. That SHOULD make it get a bit better mileage, maybe not...

 

Thank you all. Just got back from dealer getting additional keys as truck only came with one key. $160 something later now I have 3 keys so I am set to buy blanks and program myself even if we loose one.


It is encouraging to hear from everyone that there is hope to get my mileage up. I understand I did not buy an econobox but was hoping to get more than 14 mpg in town.
Truck has limited service records that indicate plug wires have been recently changed but no record on plugs. I will go ahead and replace them , what plug is recommended for the 3.0?

 

Ford Motorcraft

 

^^^^^^^^ X2 NOTHING else!

 

Went out and pulled two plugs, currently the truck has newish looking Autolite APP 104, not much deposits of any kind, however the center electrode is almost too small to really observe

 

And there is your problem. The APP 104 is not for the '04 3.0L engine. That goes in a lot other Fords but not a 3.0L built in this century.

Get a set of Motorcraft SP413 Suppressor Spark Plugs

 

Will do! Probably this weekend, looks fairly easy to access compared to transverse V6s I have had to work on!

 

I'm not sure, but you might have the OHV engine in yours, otherwise i can help with the plugs (just did mine) but if you can't see the center electrode, it's worn out, check the gap.

These engines wear the electrodes differently depending on the bank they're in. (Center Vs ground)

As for the MPG, you can run 15's or 16's, but that tyre is *phat* 255 is going to slit the throat of your mileage and take a dump on it.
You can probably take the stock tyre and equivalent it, does the door say 255/70/16 or slightly different?

Looking at a tyre calc, i'm betting that your size on 15's should be same as mine, 235/75/15 - dropping the profile to a 70 allows the width to go up to 255 with very little chance in rolling circumference - but that width with the "power" Rangers have, will kill the performance and MPG.

 

Engine code is U for mine so that should be "Vulcan". I could see the center electrode but it is too small to really evaluate it. Looked ok, not crusty or oily. I am not expert on cars but have seen Harley plugs for last 30 years.
I did remove both plugs from passenger side.


My door tag says 235/70/16 which according link provided here has the same 29" height as the 255/70/15 currently installed. I am guessing the stock aluminum wheels got pulled and stock 15" steels were installed with incorrect tires. Tires are new so I am probably stuck with them.

 

There are more than a few "fine tip" spark plugs on the market, they look wore out before you even install them, lol

If tires are same diameter then speedo and odo are correct

 

So yeah, rolling radius is very close, no real issues with reading your odo as RonD said.

If you're running the Vulcan motor, plugs from the left, will look and wear differently than plugs on the the right.

When i pulled mine, they looked fine, except the gap was about 100 thou and the was no fine tip on the center electrode of those plugs on the drivers side bank, they were worn right down.

I don't need 100k mile service plugs, so installed some regular half platinum NGK's and i'll get regular life out of those.

Here is a plug i pulled from the passenger bank, you can see the center fine wire electrode, but the ground electrode is so worn, the gap is around 100 thou.


Is is a comparison between banks, left is from drivers side (no center fine wire electrode left) and right plug is from passenger side.


AP & XP is is just single or double platinum, depending on which reference or Ford dealer you talk to, depends on which plugs are supposed to be used, which have been superseded etc.



A lot of this crap is why i gave up on Motorcraft/Autolite plugs as there so was much contradicting info.
I went with these, correct specs, but will not last 100k miles, for the cheap price, they don't need to.

 

Those are some good close-ups. Mine looked like the right side only no wear on side electrode so probably very little wear on them. I will still replace them either the motorcrafts or the ngk 3186s.
Owners manual does not indicate plug gap , around 45 thousand ok?

 

Code for NGK's is TR5GP

Plug gap is .44 thou.

 

I will swap those tomorrow along with heater valve which started leaking, hopefully it is available locally. Have to find some humor in the fact that our youngest pulled in the driveway with steam rolling out from under the hood just minutes after I sold the old good running car the ranger replaced!!

 

Ha, yeah, crap happens.

Curious if it's the heater valve leaking, or the T pieces right next to it?

 

It is the valve, the actuator broke right where it goes inside the valve body. Got one at parts store that looks like the old one however its not motorcraft.
Curious about the way the original was installed, the flow arrow is toward the engine away from heater core?

 

That sounds like it might be backwards, i assumed the valve would show direction of flow towards heater?

 

I agree, tried to research a bit but ended up putting it on the same way as the original.

New plugs are installed and truck is gassed up, I will give it a week of city driving and we will see if my mileage has improved any. Sort of following good old rule of starting with easy and cheap fixes.

 

I just had a look and can't see anything arrow-wise on mine, but i do want to add, though this will help, it's not going to over ride the huge tyres, they will make a large difference to MPG.

 

I am already thinking of next step, maybe fuel filter which should be replaced anyway, also sometimes fuel pressure regulators can mess things up. I did notice a slight miss on idle while driving it this weekend. Also on these trucks, is the converter supposed to lock up like it does on many vehicles? For example on my gm vehicles of this era it locks up and you drop some rpm.