Gas saving tips

[koda6966]

I agree, Ranger owners shouldn't expect too much from their rangers; a nice old accord, civic or prism would be a much easier fix to the fuel problem.

Prisms don't have that good MPG, my ex girlfriend has one along with her Toyota truck.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

lol, I think there's a failure of communication here. I'd have to show you what I'm talking about. As for a regular shell, I've heard claims increase and claims they reduce your fuel mileage. With my personal experience, my shell on my truck doesn't make any noticeable difference with or without it, and yes I constantly check my mpg. I have a regular shaped fiberglass shell, which pretty much gives my truck the same shape as a bronco. The shells I've been looking at would make my truck's shape similar fuselage of an piper cub.

Like a old fastback Mustang? That would be a neat idea but it would really reduce the things you can use your bed for.

 

[MAKG]

Prisms don't have that good MPG, my ex girlfriend has one along with her Toyota truck.

The Toyota automatic seems to suck off significant mileage from the Prizms, but I do get a reliable and repeatable 35 MPG on the highway out of mine. It's got a stick and a 4A-FE (1.6L). The 7A-FE (1.8L) does get worse mileage, as one might expect.

It's also quite easy to drive these badly. They like to REV. I mean cruising at 3000-3500 RPM. But it's a direct-acting OHC and can take quite a bit more than that.

 

[hihoslvr]

yeah, I've thought about goin' the econo car route; I'm not concerned so much with my pride taking a beating but my ride being able to take a beating. My Rangers paid for, has air bags, full insurance, I know the maintenance history, and it's also "warrantied" until 75,000. For the amount of money I would put into a cheapo beater, I'd rather just save my dough, and ride my bike.

 

[koda6966]

The Toyota automatic seems to suck off significant mileage from the Prizms, but I do get a reliable and repeatable 35 MPG on the highway out of mine. It's got a stick and a 4A-FE (1.6L). The 7A-FE (1.8L) does get worse mileage, as one might expect.

It's also quite easy to drive these badly. They like to REV. I mean cruising at 3000-3500 RPM. But it's a direct-acting OHC and can take quite a bit more than that.

Yea, she had the 1.8L Auto.
She liked accelerating too, so that ate up her mileage, she only got around 22-25. Still, thats better than her Toyota and my Ranger. (12-15, 18-20)

 

[hihoslvr]

so do u think a wing on my topper would help?

Umm, some of you guys are really smart, but apparently don't understand sarcasm (the lowest form of humor)...

Anyway, yeah, I did notice about 1mpg decrease with my topper installed, (it's an aluminum constuction style). I put one of those inflatable donuts btwn the cab and cap, and that seemed to help smooth out the airflow. I average 20mpg, with the stock P235/70's and 4.10 gears. But seriously, I don't want to get into a pissing match with everybody about mpg's; if you can get better, and want to share your secrets, that's cool. Personally, I'm lucky enough to not have too drive much these days.

 

[merc2dogs]

With my explorer I went from 3.27 gears to 3.73, and picked up 2mpg. I can almost count on 23mpg highway running 65-70, apparently by moving the engines most fuel efficient speed to the speeds I drove at normally.

A bug shield adds a bit to mpg by deflecting some of the air up off the hood and away from the base of the windshield, removing the drag from the hood surface and bypassing the 'clutter' of the wipers.

There's a lot of small things you can do to cars/trucks to improve mileage, a lot are counterintuitive. Smaller motors don't automatically mean better mileage, sometimes the small motor ends up overworked and using more gas for the same work. As a totally FLUKE example, with my old mustang 2, I went from a 2.8 v6 to a mild 351 windsor (headwork, cam, 725 carter carb) kept same gear ratio and tire hieght and went from 19-20 highway to -28- highway as long as I kept the secondaries closed, only got half that in the city if I was lucky.
Mileage was NOT anywhere in my considerations when I built it, but I went with the old rug style toploader overdrive tranny with a 3.25 low and a tall overdrive because I didn't want to change the rear gears and calculated that the extra low 1st & 2nd in the tranny gave me a final drive ratio that was lower than a 4.10 gear, was -hoping- that the taller overdrive would keep me in the same highway mileage rang but wasn't obsessed about it. Was realy amazed when I found out how good it was doing on the highway.

A lot of performance mods also work to improve mileage, higher compression ratios for one, simply because you are able to extract more power from a given fuel/air charge. Anything that is designed to improve efficiency from the 'racer' catalogs, without being intended to get a bigger charge into the engine (as in 'race' cams, or bigger injectors) will make for better economy

Driving technique makes a difference also, put it into the next gear as soon as it can be, get your foot off the clutch as soon as possible, don't feather it out for half a block as I've seen a lot of people do. If you don't NEED first to take off, second does fine and saves a few drops of fuel. added up a few drops here and there total up to a couple gallons. and don't use the truck as a rolling self storage bay, if you don't need it in the truck, get rid of it. I normally carry between 500 and 800lbs of tools in my explorer, and pick up a full 14 miles per tankfull when I run 'empty'.
Dropping the tailgate on my old 2.3 ranger 4x4 gave me an extra 10mph on the highway with the same mileage, or increased mileage if I drove at the same speed

ken.

 

[red85]

Do what I did and add a hydrogen generator. I am spending a third less on fuel than I used to. The only thing to consider is that it creates a heavier load on your charging system and it gets the engine a little hotter.

 

[rickcdewitt]

from my understanding there is a pocket of air in the bed that the surrounding air bounces off with less friction than when flowing along a solid surface like a camper shell or tonneu cover

 

[MAKG]

A BUG SHIELD? That's so silly as to be hilarious.

Most Exploders came with them stock. I thought mine looked stupid, so I took it off after about six months. Wanna guess what happened to the mileage?

You guys are trying to remove little dinky flow obstructions off a brick. It's going to flow like a brick.

 

[hihoslvr]

Do what I did and add a hydrogen generator. I am spending a third less on fuel than I used to. The only thing to consider is that it creates a heavier load on your charging system and it gets the engine a little hotter.

Dude, I thought that you were pullin' my leg, (I just don't get sarcasm...), so I googled "hydrogen generators": wow, that's some interesting stuff, I'm still reading through everything.

 

[red85]

Dude, I thought that you were pullin' my leg, (I just don't get sarcasm...), so I googled "hydrogen generators": wow, that's some interesting stuff, I'm still reading through everything.

I wouldn't bs on this subject. I am very serious about saving some coin on gas. I built my setup for about 45 bucks and I'm still tuning it. I have a few different "reactor core" designs that I'm playing with right now. I have some aluminum pieces that should really produce a good amount of Browns gas once I put the DC to it. I've also made some changes to my bubbler that will help get the HHO into the intake stream a little quicker.

 

[CaptainStomp]

A BUG SHIELD? That's so silly as to be hilarious.

Most Exploders came with them stock. I thought mine looked stupid, so I took it off after about six months. Wanna guess what happened to the mileage?

You guys are trying to remove little dinky flow obstructions off a brick. It's going to flow like a brick.

My ranger came with a bug deflector attached to the hood. I actually liked the look of it. Anyways it was blown off by one of those drive through car washes. I've heard a few theories how a deflector could help mileage and some that could hurt it. Like MAKG said my ranger still drives like a brick, I didn't notice any difference at all. There's a noticeable drawback to the deflector too, it had scuffed off some of the paint where it was attached to the hood, algae liked to grow in there too, but I was able to remove that.

 

[mhughes165]

I wouldn't bs on this subject. I am very serious about saving some coin on gas. I built my setup for about 45 bucks and I'm still tuning it. I have a few different "reactor core" designs that I'm playing with right now. I have some aluminum pieces that should really produce a good amount of Browns gas once I put the DC to it. I've also made some changes to my bubbler that will help get the HHO into the intake stream a little quicker.

yep, it got into a big argument on here before about people not beleiving it works, but ive done it like u and i know it works....im doing another one when i finish the 4.0 swap on the truck

 

[red85]

That's the thing about finding ways to save fuel. You absolutely have to be creative. I like to tinker with anything that might give a little boost to vehicle performance. When I found this theory on a board I like to visit, I had to try it. When I saw those hydrogen bubbles coming up through the water the first time, I just had to play a little. I grabbed my propane torch and lit one of the bigger bubbles. KABOOM! At least I knew enough to put some soap in the bubbler to prevent a really crazy explosion.