Bad Gas Milage!

[TNT]

I have a 1998 Ford Explorer four door with a 4.0 liter pushrod v6 with 106 thousand miles and i get terrible fuel milage can someone give me sum pointers?

[Scream And Fly]

Does it still have the original oxygen sensors? If so, change them. A full tune up wouldn't hurt either. :)

Greg

[TNT]

Thanks for the reply Greg is running for president in ur future?

[chynewalkr]

if your willing to invest a few hundred bucks an electric fan will help out.

[TNT]

well i invested in on a k and n air charger system and im looking into a fan, exaust, mass airflow sensor and a oxygen sensor i am also looking into the fuel system

[stvhelm]

put a tester on it. if the check engine light ever came on it set a code and the computer will ignore future readings from that sensor and run in a fault mode. If its a fuel system related code it will mess with your gas mileage.
Also you gotta stop puttin 20 bucks in and do 30 now. gas prices are insane. maybe your used to goin a certain distance on a certain amount of money. that screwed me up big time.

[Rickracer]

One of the biggest mistakes I see with folks trying to save money on gas is buying "non-branded" fuel like "Racetrack", and they wind up shooting themselves in the foot. If this is you, switch to a better brand of fuel, and you will gradually see an increase in mileage and driveability. The cheaper brands of fuel don't have the detergent additive package that the better brands do, and it causes deposits in the injectors and on the back of the valves which detract from fuel mileage. Another thing to consider is that you have upgraded the intake system, the exhaust is just as important if not more so. There are cheap O2 sensors and there are better ones. The Denso brand has proven to be better than the perennial Boschs that most parts places have available. :cool:

[TNT]

hey rickracer,
thanks so much for you reply i will consider the following thanks

[brotherxb03]

I know this is a old thread, but my wife has a 2002 explorer with a 4.0 and the mileage in town is high 12's to 14's and we drive it easy I think it's the nature of the beast.It get about 21 on the highway.

[pyro]

My '98 4.0 I6 Jeep Cherokee can get better than 23 MPG driving 85% highway, and 15% stop-and-go. The trick is to drive conservatively. Slow, easy take-offs. Get off the throttle and coast for a long distance before an approaching intersection. When you're driving on back roads, let it accelerate a good 5 mph above your cruising speed, then let the momentum carry you up the next hill, let it slow down 5 mph below your cruising speed as you go up the hill. Cruise control tends to fight this, and can hurt gas mileage on back roads. On the freeway, slow down and enjoy the scenery. As you drive faster, you are fighting wind resistance with horsepower.

I highly doubt that a aftermarket intake will help mileage. Actually, it may hurt mileage. If you feed your motor more air, the ECU is monitoring manifold pressure and mass airflow, and it's going to just give it more fuel to make up for it.

[zmoz]

Giving anything a standard tuneup should help quite a bit. My Cherokee went from 11mpg to nearly 25mpg highway when I changed the original ignition system. :eek:

[Charlie M]

I found that if I take my wife with me my milage goes from 7 mpg to 11.5 mpg. I can't figure that for nutin' but its true

[Fish]

I have a 1998 Ford Explorer four door with a 4.0 liter pushrod v6 with 106 thousand miles and i get terrible fuel milage can someone give me sum pointers?

TNT,
O2 sensor are a good idea. Also try these two things:

1. disconnect your ground cable from your battery for 15 minutes. This will reset your onobard computer.

2. Clean your MAF sensor. you will need alcohol and a q-tip. it is a little box on the snorkle near the battery. Unscrew screws and carefully take it out. you will see two little filaments (kinda like the fialments in a lightbulb). CAREFULLY clean these with the alcohol q-tip.

The MAF works with the o2 sensons and if it gets carbon or other crap on it, it sends the wrong signal to the computer and you get the wrong fule mixture. Cleaning and resetting the comuputer should help and is pretty simple to do.

[Rickracer]

....clear codes, nor reset the random access (adaptive) memory. Most OBDII computers have to be cleared by a scan tool, or a certain number of trouble free cycles. Brakleen is about the best stuff to use for cleaning MAF sensors.

I highly doubt that a aftermarket intake will help mileage.
This is somewhat subjective, but since we do a lot of intake systems, aftermarket exhaust, and tuning chips at work, I can tell you that pretty much anything you do to increase efficiency of a drivetrain has the potential for increased fuel mileage. If the motor doesn't have to suck so hard to get air in the motor, it can use the power saved to drive the car. Same with the exhaust. I usually tell people that they will likely not see an increase in the fuel mileage till the "newness" wears off, because they tend to flex the new found responsiveness, power, (and exhaust note, :D ), which will tend to decrease fuel mileage somewhat. Generally a chip or tuning device, intake system, and free flowing exhaust sytems can increase fuel mileage as much as a mile or two per gallon, if driven conservatively, and within the parameters of the tuning device. Many have economy modes, which can make considerable difference, again, if driven conservatively, and within the design parameters of the programming. :cool:

[Fish]

Doh, thanks for clearing that up rick. Mine is a 95. I ahve a dramaitc change in mileage problem periodically and the battery and maf works, but mine is older and I did not realize there was a difference in newer motors. I will try brakecleen, thanks. Say hey to barbara for me.

fish

[J Lamb]

I found that if I take my wife with me my milage goes from 7 mpg to 11.5 mpg. I can't figure that for nutin' but its true :rolleyes: I have the same problem. Must be the "you better slow down your gonna get a ticket or get us killed, look out for that bike". I get better mileage but the trip takes longer :D. If I drive over 70 I'm "drivin like an idiot" :mad: . Ofer to let her drive but no.