Speaking of gas milage....

[bwright1818]

My '93 has always been terrible on gas milage when driving into a strong, cold head wind, like when I used to go skiing up in NH. On a calm, summer day on the highway, I might get 19 mpg; while on a cold day, driving into a head wind, I will get 12....ON THE HIGHWAY. Has anybody else noticed this? To this extent? Is it because the IAT sensor is over correcting? It seems that, with cold, dry, dense air, you would do better, not worse, than in the summer.

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

What engine?

 

[adsm08]

Cold dense air carries more oxygen. More oxygen means more fuel.

 

[02RangerXLT]

Driving into a headwind doesn't help either...

 

[martin]

When the air is denser it takes more power to push the brick through it.

 

[4x4junkie]

I think the most mine's ever been down to because of a headwind was 15 MPG (that's with the 4.0L too). Are you also driving uphill in addition to the headwind? (into the mountains?) I could see 12 from doing that...

 

[mp3deviant721]

Driving into a strong headwind will drop gas mileage.

 

[adsm08]

When the air is denser it takes more power to push the brick through it.

Yeah. This is a very good point. Our trucks, no matter what year, are basically bricks. The 1st and 2nd gen more so than the rest, and the 3rd less so, but you still can't really make a brick aerodynamic.

 

[straycat]

I know my Ranger gets a bit better gas milage in the cooler season in Florida. The high humidity and the high 90 temps put a damper on everything. When we get the dryer air here it helps out so much here.

 

[bwright1818]

Mine is a 4.0. I know it's a brick; but in the summer it is, too. I guess I have spent a long time in this truck (seventeen years) and so I just never noticed whether other bricks, such as my girlfriend's 4-runner (communist that she is, LOL) do the same thing or not. Good thing EPA doesn't set milage figures in a head wind.

 

[Mark_88]

Hills and headwinds are my trucks nemesis...or is that nemisi?

Someone on here once said that Rangers have the aerodynamics of a brick...I was sitting in the parking lot and a few gusts of wind swept through...my truck seemed to be the only one that was actually moving in the wind...all the others seemed to be aerodynamic enough that it just slid over them...

Partly why I removed my camper top...

 

[BlackBII]

I routinely get 18-22 with my 4.0...but I drive like a grandma when driving the BII. It's a hazard.

Your gas mileage is more dependant on your driving style than anything else. (Aside from the obvious, like engine displacement and induction type)

Hills and headwinds are my trucks nemesis...or is that nemisi?

Someone on here once said that Rangers have the aerodynamics of a brick...I was sitting in the parking lot and a few gusts of wind swept through...my truck seemed to be the only one that was actually moving in the wind...all the others seemed to be aerodynamic enough that it just slid over them...

Partly why I removed my camper top...

Nemesis..they are two separate issues...unless it was a headwind while going uphill...then it'd be a nemisi.