5-6 MPG. Somethings not right.

[liftedranger]

I have a 3.0 V6 Ford Ranger, Its lifted 4 inches with 33's..but 5-6mpg driving normally? Come on somethings got to be off or gone bad...any ideas or advice to look for/check would be great!

 

[James86]

Is the CEL on? What's your tire PSI? Check your fuel filter lately? How about air filter? Check your plug gap? All these things can affect the overall economy of your vehicle. I picked up a good 3-5 MPG just tuning up my vehicle at 100,000 ( plug, wires, DPFE sensor since CEL was on, fuel filter, air filter, tranny flush). Might be something else, like a torque converter not locking. My dad's Bravada had a bad solenoid for the torque converter but it still ran fine, and he lost about 5 MPG give or take. Best of luck figureing out tthe problem.

 

[Kingoverace]

Think James86 hit it pretty good, start tune-up, then see if your EGR valve, and line isn't too clogged up.
this is my post post from similar thread
- Good spark, can pull a plug and see whats going just by way the tip looks, too hot..etc..back of Hanyes has a good plug chart
- Proper tire pressure, FOR road! NOT dirt
- Aligned tires
- Fuel pressure
- Oxy sensors
- Clean EGR line and valve (even a crack in the line)
- Clean MAF
- Black exhaust smoke??
- Clear air intake passage
- Draggin brakes, E-brake FULLY released lol, its been done
- Proper tire size for the gear ratio
- Tailgate closed not down, Mythbusters special

But I have to ask dude.....Your complelty sure your calcualtions are correct??

 

[liftedranger]

My truck has a 20 gallon tank, I completly filled it up. Reset trip odometer I drove 50 miles and I had half a tank. 50/10=5 Being 17 and still in high school and working part time, gas bills are costing me an arm and a leg everyweek. I do go to a technical highschool taking up automotive so I will go over everything you guys have listed and let you know how I make out, this is what happened to me today...

My wheel bearing completly blew apart, I snapped the caliper mounting bracket, brake pads fell out, and I destroyed my rotor all while driving down the road. $300.00 later its all fixed.

 

[lifted4.0]

i didnt read the post very closely, but i dont know if someone mentioned the bigger tires

did you reset your odometer? what were the stock tires on the 3.0? 28's? you have to compensate for the bigger tires if you havent...

IE if your odometer reads 100 miles, with those 33's you might have actually gone 120 miles

 

[scotts90ranger]

yeah, a bad wheel bearing will do that... I was going to ask about the speedo recalibration also.

have to ask, why is this in forced induction?

 

[Mforrest327]

Thats why you was only getting 5 to 6 MPG. A dragging wheel bearing will suck the fuel something awful. My '97 GMC sierra went from 13 down to 7 due to a bad wheel bearing. Found out it was the wheel bearing when the tire snapped off doing 80 on the freeway. Replaced both of them and went back up to where I was. And just my opinion, if the one went bad, the other isn't far behind. Change both when you do the one.

 

[kennykenny]

My truck has a 20 gallon tank, I completly filled it up. Reset trip odometer I drove 50 miles and I had half a tank. 50/10=5

Seems you already may have solved your problem, but thought I'd bring it to your attention that your math isn't exactly correct.

Fill your tank, then drive until more fuel needed. Then you need to take the number of miles you've gone and divide it by how much fuel was replaced on the next fill up.

 

[liftedranger]

How do you re calibrate your odometer? Yes, I am going to do the other wheel bearing when I get it in the mail buying it off line because Napa charged me 200$ for it.

 

[Mforrest327]

I know you can buy a hand held programmer such as one from superchips and it can recalibrate your speedo. Im not sure if there is another way or not.

 

[lifted4.0]

you can just do the math...

if your stock tire is 28 inches tall...and you have 33s now...thats an 18% increase...

soo if you go 100 miles on your odometer...18% increase, you actually went 118miles then use that as your miles..yadda yadda..gas mileage found

unless you want to spend the money for the tuner so that its permanently fixed

 

[jaymegriffiths]

you can just do the math...

if your stock tire is 28 inches tall...and you have 33s now...thats an 18% increase...

soo if you go 100 miles on your odometer...18% increase, you actually went 118miles then use that as your miles..yadda yadda..gas mileage found

unless you want to spend the money for the tuner so that its permanently fixed

except the hieght of your tire cant be used to determine the distance you travel if im correct youd have to measure the distance around the tire and compare against stock

 

[scotts90ranger]

being true that actual tire diameter isn't what's printed on the tire, the circumference of the tire is as far away as multiplying the diameter by pi (3.14)...

 

[Sevensecondsuv]

The circumference to diameter ratio is the same for all tires (it's PI, which is roughly 3.14159) so comparing diameters gets you the same result as comparing circumferences.

 

[lifted4.0]

yup, a 18% bigger tire is 18% bigger no matter how you look at it...18% bigger radius, circumfirance..whatever