the infamous gas milage question

[Dweano]

Haha oh ok...i stand corrected and less confused. Thanks AllanD Ill attempt to go the 4.56 route anyways

 

[partsguy84823]

ok i did the search forums and didn't quite get what i was looking for so here it is. I have a 94 mazda b4000 4x4 with a 4.0 4 inch lift and 32'' tires, and i only get 14.6 on average i do mostly hiway running, but i live in kansas with alot of hills but still i think i should still get about 17, anyone anything everything on the engine exhaust all stock.

First off I want to know where you are in Kansas with "A Lot" of hills. I have been everywhere in this damn state and have yet to find "A Lot" of hills.

Second, and getting back on point. I don't think that 14.6 mpg is at all bad for your truck. However, I would be sure you are calculating your mileage correctly. What I mean is this. You have a 32" tall tire, which is (and I'm guessing here) 3" taller than factory, (I assume you had 29" tires from the factory). This equates to approximately a 9.8% difference in tire size. Which means your truck is covering 9.8% more ground per revelution of the tire than what your speedometer/odometer think it is covering. You get a speedometer which reads 60mph, and you're actually traveling closer to 66mph.

But what does it all mean? It means that because you are traveling faster than your speedometer says, you are also traveling farther than your odometer says. So if your truck tells you you have traveled 250miles, you have really gone almost 275 miles. So lets pretend your tank holds 17 gallons of fuel. Your uncorrected fuel mileage would be 14.7mpg, but your corrected fuel mileage would be 16.1mpg...

So maybe you have thought of all of this, and I just wasted my time, but oh well... maybe you hadn't thought of this and I just made you feel a little better. Either way, if you're in Kansas, and I'm in Kansas, and we are both TRSers, we should get together and go wheeling and maybe you can show me some of these Kansas "hills" I seem to have missed out on over the last 15 years of living here...

take 'er easy, -Chris