Drastic highway vs city mileage?

[Dirtman]

Oddball question/observation.

My 09 regular cab 2wd 2.3 auto gets great highway mileage (roughly 23-24) but city driving it gets like 14-15.

Does this seem right? I know city driving should be less but practically 10mpgs?

 

[RonD]

Look at the Door AXLE code, seen here: https://therangerstation.com/tech_library/axle_codes.shtml

Get rear axle ratio

4cyl Rangers often got the lower ratios, the 3.45 or even 3.08
These are great for higher speed MPG but suck around town

Automatics also use more fuel because engine idle is higher and there is always a load on the engine, even when stopped, in gear, i.e. take foot off the brake in gear and at idle you will move forward at 6-8mph, thats the load when stopped
Thats manuals main MPG benefit in stop and go driving

But you are right, 10MPG is pretty high, whats your idle RPMs when stopped in gear, should be under 1,000, 800 maybe?

Have to watch out for 4cyls, they vibrate like crazy under 700 in automatics.

I would also pull out spark plugs and see if they show Rich running, darker brown
And make sure they are Gapped correctly. I would use 0.050 gap

 

[Dirtman]

My axle is 4.10. Dunno if thats rare? No codes showing up and pulled the plugs and they are a perfect tan. Changed 4k ago with iridium's gapped .053 per spec in the owners manual. Rpms in closed loop idle is about 850-900. Fuel trims are decent. +10 is highest i get on long term.

 

[Ranger850]

I had an 08 Sport Trac 4.0, don't know what rear end was. But if I drove it hard around town, I'd get 14-15, but i could baby it and get 17. hwy 23 was the best I remember getting.

 

[sgtsandman]

My axle is 4.10. Dunno if thats rare? No codes showing up and pulled the plugs and they are a perfect tan. Changed 4k ago with iridium's gapped .053 per spec in the owners manual. Rpms in closed loop idle is about 850-900. Fuel trims are decent. +10 is highest i get on long term.

4.10 with an automatic is pretty standard from the factory. That gearing with a manual would be a unicorn or an aftermarket install.

The mileage you are quoting isn’t unusual for the city if that is what you mostly drive.


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[91stranger]

Mine gets terrible gas mileage in the city too. half of my driving is hwy and half city. my last fill up I reset mileage and drove as easily on the pedal as possible, got down to around 3/4 tank and refilled at 81 miles. so 81 miles divided by 6 gallons is 13.5 mpg! I was like dang that sucks..... its just a 2wd v6. seems the auto trans always got way worse mileage than manuals. I've had lifted 4wd's with loud exhausts that got better gas than this. I've done a lot to it too like new plugs, new ignition coil, new battery, cleaned the throttle body, cleaned the maf sensor, new air filter, new fuel filter, new fuel pump, so not sure why my gas mileage sucks so much.

 

[adsm08]

not sure why my gas mileage sucks so much.

3.0. It doesn't belong in something like the Ranger. Even the Taurus was pushing it.

It's big enough to suck on gas in town and stop and go traffic, and weak enough to suck on gas on the highway. You really gotta get it up above 3 grand to its happy place before it gets good mileage, and your auto trans won't let that happen.

 

[Ranger850]

3.0. It doesn't belong in something like the Ranger. Even the Taurus was pushing it.

It's big enough to suck on gas in town and stop and go traffic, and weak enough to suck on gas on the highway. You really gotta get it up above 3 grand to its happy place before it gets good mileage, and your auto trans won't let that happen.

What was it built for, if not the two or three (Areostar?) vehicles they put it in?
As a kid we had an Areostar and I remember that thing had to work hard to get up to hwy speed

 

[sgtsandman]

What was it built for, if not the two or three (Areostar?) vehicles they put it in?

As a kid we had an Areostar and I remember that thing had to work hard to get up to hwy speed

I remember the Taurus having it. Not sure what else. Ford has always had a “waste not, want not” mentality with their engines. The 4.0 SOHC was originally an engine from Europe. It was developed in the 1990s, if I remember correctly.


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[85_Ranger4x4]

What was it built for, if not the two or three (Areostar?) vehicles they put it in?
As a kid we had an Areostar and I remember that thing had to work hard to get up to hwy speed

To encourage sales of better engines.

 

[adsm08]

What was it built for, if not the two or three (Areostar?) vehicles they put it in?
As a kid we had an Areostar and I remember that thing had to work hard to get up to hwy speed

The earliest thing I can remember it being in was the 86 Taurus, so it was probably made for the Taurus.

It ended up in the Ranger because the 2.9 wasn't going to make emissions for 93, and the pencil pushers in marketing didn't think the Ranger would sell well with just a 4-cyl and a large V6 in the line up, and the bean counters in accounting said "Why design a new engine when we have this nearly identically sized other V6 over here, just use that" and the morons in design said "OK" instead of "But that will suck fuzzy monkey balls".

 

[adsm08]

The 4.0 SOHC was originally an engine from Europe. It was developed in the 1990s, if I remember correctly.


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The 4.0 SOHC is to the 4.0 OHV what the Cosworth DOHC 2.9 is to the OHV 2.9.

It is part of the Cologne engine family, even though for our purposes on this board we don't usually consider it to be.

It is more or less the same block (The OHV version has no provision for the rear timing chain), the casting numbers are different, but all the holes are the same. The heads are different. The jack-shaft for the rear timing chain on the OHC sits where a camshaft would be on a pushrod engine. The oil pan arrangement is different between the two.

 

[Plum Ranger XLT]

When I was a kid, my mom and dad bought a 1987 Aerostar new and it did have the 3.0L V6.

 

[Ranger850]

When I was a kid, my mom and dad bought a 1987 Aerostar new and it did have the 3.0L V6.

ours was an '88. Two tone Blue/Silver with the steel ranger wheels/Chrome cap with the red circle. My dad would take out the back seats and load his Honda Four Wheeler in it, and the rear door would close.

 

[1990RangerinSK]

What was it built for, if not the two or three (Areostar?) vehicles they put it in?
As a kid we had an Areostar and I remember that thing had to work hard to get up to hwy speed

The 3.0 Vulcan engine was, if I'm not mistaken, designed for the Taurus (used from 1986 - 2007).

It was also used in:

• Aerostar (1986 - 1997)
• Ranger (starting in 1990 or 1991)
• Probe (1990 - 1992)
• Tempo/Topaz (1992 - 1994)
• B3000
• Windstar (1995 - 2000)
• Sable (1986-2007)

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Vulcan_engine