Gas milage in cold winter

[557SCJ]

Hello everyone...


Lately Ive noticed that my ranger is getting significantly worse gas mileage. Yes i do know it gets worse in the winter but it seems just to much. I drove approximately 46 miles and I calculated it out to 11.8 mpg. I put in a 10 dollar bill and gas was 2.59 a gallon. So im prety positive my calculations are correct. my ranger has 197000 miles on it.

Btw when i say cold it is cold! 5 degrees when i drove that 46 miles. these were about 1/3 highway miles but the rest was around town. Any idea if this is about normal?

thanks and happy holidays.

 

[Jay FX4]

This summer I was getting between 19-21 mpg city. My last few tanks, about 13 mpg. And my truck only has 35K miles on it.

 

[Big Jim M]

I'm thinking you need a more reliable check of yoour milage a ten dollar bill worth of gas isn't a good enough test.
BUT that said in the winter the milage suffers from the choke being on every time you start the engine. Also the defroster uses the a/c compressor.. so if it is on the a/c is on also.
If the vehicle seems to run Ok then most likely it is getting the best milage it can under the conditions. Most bad milage is from an engine that isn't running good and the driver KNOWS it isn't.
Big JIm

 

[557SCJ]

Thanks for the answers guys.

It gets about 15-17 in the summer around town and 19 on highway.

It runs like a top ever since I changed that plug. That was about 3 months ago.

 

[Colin]

Doesn't help that they put more ethanol in winter gas.

 

[wahlstrom1]

I'm averaging 11.5mpg..... and with winter weight my truck scales at 5200lbs. Cold temps, deep snow, idling time all lead to worse mileage and winter gas doesn't help either.

 

[Capt Jay]

Winter blends of gas have a great effect of mileage. Winter blends have less BTUs and thus less power.

 

[bigcountry]

well down here im not to sure they change the blends of gas conserding the lowest it might get is in the upper 30s but the number one killer of gasmileage is humidity in my 3.0 i get worse milegae than i do in the winter cept when its in the 30s and my truck has been sitting for about 8 to 10 hours

 

[Capt Jay]

My understanding is they change the fuel blends nation wide. There are a limited number of refineries. If you need a total expiation just ask anyone running E-85.

 

[bigcountry]

oh no i wasnt sure i hadnt even heard of that thats why i said what i said bout it no need to explain i believe ya. hahaha let me tell ya thats the last thing a southern boy is thinking about the changing of fuel blends of gas at the pump the only thing i think about when i go and pump is weither i want to run 93 or 83 hahahaha thats about it. thanks for correcting me learned something new tonite