4.0's usually do poor in winter??????

[94EXPLODER]

Hello,
I have a 94 explorer..4x4...4.0 3" body lift and 31's
My gas mileage went from 250miles/tank to 200miles/tank
250 was fall time driving
200 is 20 degrees out and 3 feet of snow...
is it normal that 4.0s do poor in the cold weather??

 

[ex91]

yes its colder out truck burns more fuel it idles more, driveing in snow it harder than clean nice days, you have /may use 4x4 spin now and then i live in canada i run 23 to 25 mpg winter 18 to 19 mpg now rember canada has 4.55 l to a gallon and the usa has 3.785 that is why it sonds like i geet really good mpg

 

[Hahnsb2]

Tell us you actual MPG, Miles per tank is next to useless.

 

[exbass94]

EVERY vehicle does worse on gas in the winter because of winter-blend gas.

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Yes the mileage goes down significantly with most 4.0's when it gets cold out. Changed your thermostat recently?

 

[AllanD]

EVERY vehicle does worse on gas in the winter because of winter-blend gas.

BTW, "winter mix" fuel contains a disproportionate ammount of butane

Butane is the four carbon alphitic hydrocarbon (Methane is 1, Ethane is 2, Propane is 3)

Butane is a "natural" hydrocarbon, but most of the butane that is used commercially is a byproduct of the "catalytic cracking" process used to make the really heavy hydrocarbons into more useful "lighter" hydrocarbons
used in Gasoline and Diesel fuel.

Butane is also blended into "Liquid petroleum gas" often refered
to incorrectly as "Propane", the thing is the percentage of butane
that is mixed into propane is variable depending on season and locality.

Down south in some areas you can buy butane as a commercial
fuel like us yankees buy propane.

butane stops boiling at 0.5C so it doesn't want to come out of the gas cylinder at -15F... making it pretty f-ing useless in February up north.

But for motor vehicles it simply doesn't have the heat energy
of the heavier molecules (By volume) so you have to burn more of it
to go the same distance.



AD

 

[Ozwynn]

BTW, "winter mix" fuel contains a disproportionate ammount of butane

Butane is the four carbon alphitic hydrocarbon (Methane is 1, Ethane is 2, Propane is 3)

Butane is a "natural" hydrocarbon, but most of the butane that is used commercially is a byproduct of the "catalytic cracking" process used to make the really heavy hydrocarbons into more useful "lighter" hydrocarbons
used in Gasoline and Diesel fuel.

Butane is also blended into "Liquid petroleum gas" often refered
to incorrectly as "Propane", the thing is the percentage of butane
that is mixed into propane is variable depending on season and locality.

Down south in some areas you can buy butane as a commercial
fuel like us yankees buy propane.

butane stops boiling at 0.5C so it doesn't want to come out of the gas cylinder at -15F... making it pretty f-ing useless in February up north.

But for motor vehicles it simply doesn't have the heat energy
of the heavier molecules (By volume) so you have to burn more of it
to go the same distance.



AD

my brain hurts now ........ so can I use my butane torch on sunday so loosen some rusty parts?........... gonna be almost that cold....

 

[AllanD]

That depends... if you live in North Dakota you are probably screwed unless you keep your torch in your armpit so it doesn't get too cold before you attempt to light it.

You think your head hurts?

I suffer migranes, someone said it was because my brain is overfilled...

I can't think up a proper stinging retort before I develp another
headache in the attempt.....

AD

 

[pwd72s]

Oregon recently made 10% alcohol mandatory for all passenger car fuel. Mileage of our Ranger 4.0 dropped from 21 average to 17. A clever way for the politicians to raise the gas tax without raising the nominal amount. Oregon tax money also "invested" in an alcohol plant...which has the corn it uses shipped in from the midwest by rail.

To say more would mean getting political.

 

[calypso93]

I'd check the thermostat like Sasquatch said. If the temp doesn't come up, the MPG suffers. Other thing to consider is the warm up time before you drive off.

 

[427ford]

200 is 20 degrees out and 3 feet of snow...

3 feet of snow??! You're constantly running in 4 wheel drive, lower gears... I'm sure that'll kill your MPG.

 

[93ranger420]

250 miles per tank? wtf, my ranger has 31' bfg mt and i still get 17-20 mpg on the freeway, can do about 300 miles on a tank just driving around town?? this is on a motor with 265k also, but if you figure your in 2wd in the fall and now your in 4x4 all the time in snow, of course its going to go way down, its alot more weight it has to turn.

 

[Ak_Ranger]

If you live where you get snot you will definitly get less milage. When I lived up in AK my old ranger would get 18mpg in the summer and around 15-16 in he winter and my old silvarado got 19 in the summer on the highway but only 16 in the winter due to the auto 4wd kicking in on snowy and icy roads and city milage went down to around 12 or 13 in the winter where summer was only 16 in town. I think it doesnt matter what you drive you are going to get poor fule milage in the winter especially with snow.

 

[yodaman1151]

in the snow you are driving slower, letting your rig idle longer and running in 4WD. so it takes more gas to go the same distance in winter as it would in summer/fall

 

[Stranger ranger]

200 miles per tank is 10 miles to the gallon. I got that with my ranger solid, winter or summer, but I had other issues.