Fuel Mileage 11.2

[2000cuminspower]

I have a 86 ranger 5 speed, New cap rotor wires and plugs. New fuel filter and air filter, new fuel pressure regulator. it Runs very good after all this maintenance. It has 235/75/15 tires on it and i also have run 1.5 cans of sea foam thru the intake to clean it out. Also has a new O2 sensor. this last fill up i went 64 miles and burned 5.557 gallons. I did have the hubs locked in (but was in 2wd) and was wondering if that could be the cause of poor mileage. If i unlock them will it come back up around 18 highway?? if all i ever get is 11 that would suck!!! LOL



Edit. with tire correction it's actually about 15% off so I got about 13.4. but will I jump to 18 with Hubs unlocked?

 

[Hagan]

Is this city driving or wheeling? And whats a Cumins?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Cumin; a spice indispensable in good chili.

 

[2000cuminspower]

Cumin; a spice indispensable in good chili.

That'sy user name On the cummins forum. so I just used it here as well. And a mix of both Highway. City

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I was joking, it was inappropriate, sorry.
As far as the hubs locked in I don't believe that they would cause the mileage loss you are seeing. I run mine locked during the winter, and get about 50 kilometers less per tank, usually 500 Km during summer. Combined losses of extra warmup and idling plus hubs locked in equate to 10% for me. There can be lots of factors, including driving style, mileage of your engine, general upkeep, how much stuff you carry- extra wieght = less mileage.
Sorry I can't help with specifics, hopefully some one else chimes in.
Good luck,

Richard

 

[RustedRanger]

My first thought is that the tires are too tall. I have killed the mpg's on vehicles going to tall with the tires.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

My first thought is that the tires are too tall. I have killed the mpg's on vehicles going to tall with the tires.

Good point, the taller than stock tires will throw out the speedo so the calcs are off, as well there is more rotating mass to move = less mileage. I don't think this by itself would cause that bad of a fuel mileage loss, but combined with other problems.....

Richard

 

[2000cuminspower]

Lol it's okay! and yeah i will get a different gear for the speedo... and the tires are oversized by 2.5 inches so that may be the main problem. Everything else runs perfect now tho!!!! Its a fun lil truck

 

[FordRanger1991]

Pretty dang sure the tires are not your problem for that horrible of mpg. I ran 33s on my ranger with stock gears and 2.9 engine and manual tranny and was able to get 14 in town. Also the tires are not 2.5 inches bigger than stock more like 1.1 inch to be exact. I am thinking your speedometer is off so your not getting the right mileage numbers or you got something else going on. The hubs locked in could give you less mpg but cant imagine that much worse. So make sure your tack is right, unlock the hubs, run over 100 miles then check again. Then we can start looking at other things

 

[RustedRanger]

I think it can make a big difference because it's a small motor,it's tuned for torque but being a 2.9L it can only make so much. There should be a ton of threads in the archives on this topic. Also it depends on what tires came stock....mine came with 205/75/15's and now it has 225/70/15's which are about the same diameter and I have gotten 22 mpg avg (back roads and highway,some in town driving) out of mine with 165,000 miles. (with a couple mods).

 

[FordRanger1991]

I think it can make a big difference because it's a small motor,it's tuned for torque but being a 2.9L it can only make so much. There should be a ton of threads in the archives on this topic. Also it depends on what tires came stock....mine came with 205/75/15's and now it has 225/70/15's which are about the same diameter and I have gotten 22 mpg avg (back roads and highway,some in town driving) out of mine with 165,000 miles. (with a couple mods).

Tires that little of difference from his stock tires would not make that much of a difference. That engine has more than enough power to push his tires with great gas mileage. The tires are not the problem if I had 33s and still got 14 in town with 6 inch lift and stock gears. My bros ranger can testify to this also. There is something else going on...