I have a 2005 4.0 V6 Auto Double Cab Ranger, I do up to 480 km on 78 lit (300 miles on 20 gal, 1gal US = 3.8lit ??) which returns +- 14 mpg or +- 6km/lit. Is this acceptable or can it be better ? If better, then obviously the question is how/where/what etc. In S.A. we run 95 octane unleaded and I run mostly at +- 4000ft above sea, nowadays, at +- 1000ft above.

After the last lube service (110,000km), plugs were changed. Dealer fitted NGK's not "platinum" from Ford. Now at idle, in drive, a slight miss-miss. Shift into "N" or "P" and it splurges from 800rpm to 300rpm, sometimes stalls, sometimes recover and miss-miss etc. starting is easy, then will idle ok with miss. Just after driving and shifting out of gear will the stall happen, about 50% of the time.

Any ideas ?
Manie

 

wow! you need to go to autozone and have them run a diagnostics a.s.a.p
I have never heard of your problem before, so im clueless there. but that is NOT normal.

 

14 mpg is OK if you are towing a trailer with a 4,000 lb load or you drive with the pedal to the floor all the time. I think you may have a problem and I would start with putting Motorcraft or Autolite Platinum plugs in it.

 

In S.A. So I will probably try to get Motorcraft Plat's. I hear they are expensive though... Thanks for the input. Did a check again on figures from logbook. Doing about 7.5 km/lit. How does that convert to MPG in US gallons ?
Manie

 

That is about 17.7 mpg. That is an acceptable highway mileage number for a 4WD Ranger with the 4L SOHC engine.

 

FWIW, in the cold my truck will get anywhere from 10mpg(below zero city) to 16(80 degrees,city) So I think you mileage maybe in the correct range. I'm not sure what you got before this.

If you can get your hands on autolite plugs those should work for you. As far as the motorcraft plugs they are a double platinum plug. To get the 100k mile tune up interval. Which is overrated when other plugs are cheaper and get a slight bump in mileage (copper).

Im not sure what the "dealer" did. They should fix it. Especially if this just happened recently.

 

I was going to say, 14mpg is pretty good at this time. You're in S.A. so in the southern hemisphere making it summer, def should be seeing higher MPG.

With this crappy winter blend I'm seeing anywhere from 13.4mpg to my last tank yesterday at 15.7 mpg.. In the summer I should see higher, closer to 17-18 mpg

 

ive got a 94 4wd and i was getting 15mpgs. i changed the spark plugs and plug wires and it shot up to 18mpgs. in the process i accidently crossed one of the wires and it started to miss. that may be the explanation to your missing problem. mine was a tad bit harder to start though.

 

I just racked off 18.4 today in the 30's*, up from 16's and 17's when it was at or near -10* every day I drove.

 

Surprised no one else commented on your math. Looks like you are dividing miles driven by the size of the fuel tank, which isn't accurate. You need to use a trip odometer and divide miles driven by number of gallons pumped at next fill up.

 

I'd be doing some investigation. That mileage seems bad to me even with winter blend. If you are on summer blend 87 octane it should be a lot better. You don't say if you have 4x2 or 4x4.

I haven't had my truck all that long, but I've filled the tank five times and averaged 18.2 so far on winter blend with a 4.0L 4x4 auto. It is bone stock with 25K miles. Most of the miles have been my 40 mile round trip commute on 2 lane roads. Temps have been between -10 and 32 F.

I'd take it back to the dealer if it misses. Crappy mileage and a miss = a problem.

 

Thanks for all the input. Just to clarify, SOHC 4.0L Auto 5-speed 2x4 with diff lock, double cab, built in S.A. No, not dividing miles by tank size, I regularly (almost ALWAYS) run down to "empty", then fill up, normally 75lit to (once only) 81.4 lit ! Guess I just made it to the pumps...
Manie

 

Try this site: www.trackyourgasmileage.com

Good info. about "hypermiling" here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermiler

 

Are you doing a lot of hilly driving?
95 octane?
Here in the 'states' we use 87 octane in our 4.0.
My engine would not like that high an octane at all.

 

We're in S.A. remember ! Un-leaded fuel comes ONLY in 95 octane, zilch else.... 87 is available but is leaded still. And yes, some hilly driving, definitely not flat level road, but not excessive gradients, at least not with the 4.0 up front !
Manie