Mpg

[seh6183]

My latest obsession with my 4.0 is gas milage. It's a 4x4 with stock tires but I'm trying to squeeze all the mpg out of it as I can because I drive it to work everyday.

I was thinking this for mpg:

K&N drop in filter
Magnaflow muffler
Jet chips ez tune programmer
Electric fan

I'm hoping this will net me at least 5 mpg in the city.

The real question I have is though, if I were to slightly lift it and put 33's on it, would that just cancel out all the mods I just did for gas mileage?*

 

[feellnfroggy]

It wouldnt just cancel them out, you would go backwards about 6mpg. I have a 93 with 33's and get 11-15 mpg depending on the day. but mostly crappy mileage. stock with 3.27's and 235's i got 16-18 mpg depending on how i drove. now i have 33's no lift and get worse, way worse.

best thing you can do is stay stock, maybe upgrade to 3.55 or higher gears if you dont have them yet. make sure to stay on top of your daily maintenance, seafoam with every oil change and use co-op fuel or any fuel without ethanol. The electric fan will help, so would an electric power steering pump. But thats about it. the intake filter don matter either way, the exhaust a freeer flowing exaust would make a little difference. How old is your truck might be time to make some adjustments to the cats or buy new ones.

 

[seh6183]

It wouldnt just cancel them out, you would go backwards about 6mpg. I have a 93 with 33's and get 11-15 mpg depending on the day. but mostly crappy mileage. stock with 3.27's and 235's i got 16-18 mpg depending on how i drove. now i have 33's no lift and get worse, way worse.

Lol looks like I'll be on stock tires for the rest of this trucks life. What size tires come on the 2010 rangers? They seem to be bigger, maybe I can stick some of those on my stock 15's and just lift the truck 2 inchs. Should look significantly better.

 

[Mac]

First you say your obsession is better mileage and now you still want to go to bigger tires cuz it might look better. Don't know what kind of tread you have or if you need the 4x4. Tread pattern can gain you between 1-2 mpg. Maybe move up to a 75 series. Think the 2010 can be had with the 235-75, 4x4's come with 255-70's. I could get 21 mpg in good weather with my 4x4 ext cab, 4.10's and 265 tires.
Dave

 

[seh6183]

First you say your obsession is better mileage and now you still want to go to bigger tires cuz it might look better. Don't know what kind of tread you have or if you need the 4x4. Tread pattern can gain you between 1-2 mpg. Maybe move up to a 75 series. Think the 2010 can be had with the 235-75, 4x4's come with 255-70's. I could get 21 mpg in good weather with my 4x4 ext cab, 4.10's and 265 tires.
Dave

I'm trying to find a good compromise of looks and MPG, with MPG being more important.

 

[TheTopher]

Don't bother with the intake or exhaust. They let the engine breath easier at higher RPMs only, where you shouldn't have the engine if you're shooting for good mileage.


The e fan will help a little, the tuning software most likely will not. Remember, "performance" and "efficiency" are two VERY different things.

I'd say taller gears and lighter wheels but the best thing you can do is adjust the nut behind the wheel.

 

[02RangerXLT]

K&N's suck... Get a car... seriously, the 4.0 is NOT a city motor, thats for sure... for better mileage? Swap to a manual tranny, remove all excess weight, go to smaller tires, and like someone said get different gears. Also, drive reasonably, try to avoid routes with stop signs or stop lights...

 

[Original_Ranger84]

Well seeing as it is a 4.0L 4x4... I would say you have eithe 3.73 or 4.10 gearing. If you have 3.73's leave them on otherwise go to a junk yard or find a ranger with 3.73 gearing and swap them out (you can sell your old axles to offset the cost).

If you want bigger tires go with a larger rim as well as make them alloy, I would say some ranger 16" rims and then get a set of H/T tires (thats highway terrain tires) in size 245/70/16 standard load. Larger tires and the lower gearing in your axles should give you a good 3 - 4 mpg highway I would imagine but your in town mileage will drop...

Ditch all the extra weight you can in the truck, like if you carry around a toolbox (how many time have you actually had to use any of the tools in it?) take it out.

Keep your heater controls off because on the newer vehicles the A/C constantly cycles dropping your gas mileage in town, if you get hot roll the windows down. Windows up and heater on on the highway though.

Wash and wax your truck to increase aerodynamics (trust me it works i see about 1 mpg increase on the highway on average from a dirty to a clean truck)

You can do the exhaust and the intake(drop in filter ONLY, and no larger then 2.5" pipe for the exhaust) just for the cool factor but it won't really help your mpg's (won't hurt them either)

Also The electric fan will suck up alot of power, it may not be physically attached to the engine but its electronically connected to the alternator. ever stand by a car and hear that loud click and then the fans going off? thats e fans and the motor actually goes to higher rev's to supply the power to the fans. A properly working clutch on your mechanical fan with have very little resistance at high speeds and not slow your engine down.

Also not sure what year you have, but if its a 2000 or newer you may gain a couple mpg if you swap out you front cv axles and hubs with those of a 98 - 99 ranger and put manual hubs on it. You would have to get out to lock them in but I notice a 2 -3 mpg difference in town and highway between the hub being locked in and not.

A few mods you might think about would be like:

Underdrive pulleys
LIGHTWEIGHT Tonneau Cover
aluminum skidplates on the underside.
removal of any bug shields (on the hood, or visors)
shorter radio antenna
downgrade your mirrors to flappy mirrors instead of the larger mirrors

also be light on the gas from stoplights, the next one is just going to turn red anyways, whats the rush? Keep it below 65 on the highway if possible.

 

[pontiac_fiero_g]

taller tires should help you if you do mainly highway driving but will kill you in the city.

 

[straycat]

I have a 4.0 2wd with 33x12.5's and a 4:10 rear gear and I gas up at every 300 miles and I still have 3 gallons in the tank when I gas up. I run highway and around down on errands. I am not complaining since I think this is good gas milage for a lifted truck with a roof rack.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

My Ranger (3.73 gears, 5 speed, 3.0L, 2wd, extended cab, 235/75/15 AT tires) was consistently getting me 20-22 mpg around town and up to 31 mpg highway with a tonneau cover and 100-150# in the bed.

Then they started monkeying with the gas again and added ethanol. Last time I drove it I was lucky to get 17mpg in the summer and 15 in the winter. I can't get gas without all the crap added in around here anymore. About the only way to gain more than 1-2 mpg is to run gas without all the crazy additives like ethanol.

 

[TheTopher]

My Ranger (3.73 gears, 5 speed, 3.0L, 2wd, extended cab, 235/75/15 AT tires) was consistently getting me 20-22 mpg around town and up to 31 mpg highway with a tonneau cover and 100-150# in the bed.

Then they started monkeying with the gas again and added ethanol. Last time I drove it I was lucky to get 17mpg in the summer and 15 in the winter. I can't get gas without all the crap added in around here anymore. About the only way to gain more than 1-2 mpg is to run gas without all the crazy additives like ethanol.

It's a conspiracy, man! The government mandates all these new additives for fuel which results in worse fuel economy so we're forced to buy more gas which means more gas tax revenue. That's their evil plan for sure!

(I wrote that as a joke, but now that I read it...I may be on to something)

 

[seh6183]

Don't bother with the intake or exhaust. They let the engine breath easier at higher RPMs only, where you shouldn't have the engine if you're shooting for good mileage.


The e fan will help a little, the tuning software most likely will not. Remember, "performance" and "efficiency" are two VERY different things.

I'd say taller gears and lighter wheels but the best thing you can do is adjust the nut behind the wheel.

I think the intake and exhaust should improve torque and throttle response which is what's most important at low rpm, part throttle driving. Also the tuner should advance the timing and lean the fuel mixture a bit, increasing power and using less fuel.

 

[seh6183]

Well seeing as it is a 4.0L 4x4... I would say you have eithe 3.73 or 4.10 gearing. If you have 3.73's leave them on otherwise go to a junk yard or find a ranger with 3.73 gearing and swap them out (you can sell your old axles to offset the cost).

If you want bigger tires go with a larger rim as well as make them alloy, I would say some ranger 16" rims and then get a set of H/T tires (thats highway terrain tires) in size 245/70/16 standard load. Larger tires and the lower gearing in your axles should give you a good 3 - 4 mpg highway I would imagine but your in town mileage will drop...

Ditch all the extra weight you can in the truck, like if you carry around a toolbox (how many time have you actually had to use any of the tools in it?) take it out.

Keep your heater controls off because on the newer vehicles the A/C constantly cycles dropping your gas mileage in town, if you get hot roll the windows down. Windows up and heater on on the highway though.

Wash and wax your truck to increase aerodynamics (trust me it works i see about 1 mpg increase on the highway on average from a dirty to a clean truck)

You can do the exhaust and the intake(drop in filter ONLY, and no larger then 2.5" pipe for the exhaust) just for the cool factor but it won't really help your mpg's (won't hurt them either)

Also The electric fan will suck up alot of power, it may not be physically attached to the engine but its electronically connected to the alternator. ever stand by a car and hear that loud click and then the fans going off? thats e fans and the motor actually goes to higher rev's to supply the power to the fans. A properly working clutch on your mechanical fan with have very little resistance at high speeds and not slow your engine down.

Also not sure what year you have, but if its a 2000 or newer you may gain a couple mpg if you swap out you front cv axles and hubs with those of a 98 - 99 ranger and put manual hubs on it. You would have to get out to lock them in but I notice a 2 -3 mpg difference in town and highway between the hub being locked in and not.

A few mods you might think about would be like:

Underdrive pulleys
LIGHTWEIGHT Tonneau Cover
aluminum skidplates on the underside.
removal of any bug shields (on the hood, or visors)
shorter radio antenna
downgrade your mirrors to flappy mirrors instead of the larger mirrors

also be light on the gas from stoplights, the next one is just going to turn red anyways, whats the rush? Keep it below 65 on the highway if possible.

Excellent post, thank you. The only thing I wanted to comment on here is about the heater controls. I'm almost certain the ac only runs when defrost has been selected, I don't think it runs when just the heat is on. My ranger is a 96 btw

 

[TheTopher]

I think the intake and exhaust should improve torque and throttle response which is what's most important at low rpm, part throttle driving. Also the tuner should advance the timing and lean the fuel mixture a bit, increasing power and using less fuel.

Let me ask you this, your throttle's job is to restrict air flow. So why would a device such as an air intake that opens up the intake flow have any benefit when the throttle isn't fully opened?


Bottom line is there's simply not enough air moving into the engine or exhaust moving out of the engine at lower RPMs for either of those to make a difference. If you google around for the guys who get the best MPGs, you'll find them building a "warm air intake" for their cars.