I just bought a used 03 standard cab 1500 with an automatic transmission, a SNUGtop tonneau cover, and 95,000 miles. Unfortunately I didn't know about this forum until now. I bought a V6 for better gas mileage, but 14.7mpg isn't my idea of good gas mileage.

I was hopping for 18mpg or at least 16. The 1994 explorer with 210,00miles and 4.0liter V6 it replaced was getting 16mpg at least!

My question to you is, is there possibly a problem that needs to be fixed? I drive 10 miles to work 90% highway. I try to accelerate in the 2500 rpm range and set cruise control around 60. I keep a light foot. Should I do some maintenance for this mileage range or put in a certain type of spark plug? I've read through a lot of the threads here, but it looks like most people are looking for more power. I don't need more power, in fact I would sacrifice some fore more mpg.

I read that the power wire can give 1 to 2 mpg better which would help.

Any tips are appreciated.

 

power wires are not well liked by the people who I have heard of that use them, I doubt it would do much.

 

a tune up wouldnt hurt with that many miles. check the air filter and replace it if its too dirty, a good set of ngk plugs, and non ethanol gas should help out quite a bit. also using the cruise control actually hurts your fuel mileage if you drive on hills, even small ones. make sure you set the tire pressure evenly, I like to keep about 35 pounds in mine, and avoiding traffic are the easy ones. If that still isnt good enough, and you want to add mods, a muffler or cat back will add about .5 mpg

hope this helps

 

yea, just a tune-up would do a bit. it would get the truck running to at least what it should be. powerwire...i'm not to keen about. i mean, maybe if you drive very lightfooted, like u said u do, maybe you'll get better gas mileage...but it my case, it eats away at gas mileage...

and like mag said, maybe a free flowing muffler would help, but again, i mean u spend $300 on an exhaust to HOPEFULLY get .5mpg more...it seems like it would take too long to pay for itself at .5mpg.

also, try different gases. our trucks are supposed to run on 87 the book says, but try 89, see if it's worth the price increase for the mileage increase. throw some of that fuel system treatment in your next fill up to. in my maxima, i throw one in every tank along with 91+ octane...(it gets filled like once a month...cause i never drive it in summer). and that $3 bottle of gas treatment adds 60miles to the tank. at 17mpg, that's like just about $15 in fuel savings in a $3 investment.

what kind of wheels do u have? the 17's, or do u have some heavy ole' twenties? centerline has wheels are that lighter than hell...that'll save on gas.

 

id just go with the 100 dollar exhaust. get a goerlich muffler if your muffler shop carries em, if not, id just go with a 3in 3out single exhaust flowmaster, I prefer the 40, but get what you want, cause you're the one who gets to listen to it, and its probably going to be there awhile. (The 70 rumbles, but hardly sounds louder than stock). Also, single exhaust systems are a lot cheaper to have installed (mine was 45 bucks to have installed, and the goerlich muffler is about 50-60 bucks, so I got outta the shop for under a hundred bucks) The Goerlich is made on the same machine as a Flowmaster, but gets skipped on the name stamping machine (my dad is a dealer)

Good Luck!

 

Thanks for your replies. I've heard that there really isn't a "tune up" for cars made in the last 20 years because the computer is constantly tuning things up. What things would go into a modern tune up?

I'll definitely try some different octanes. My brother-in-law said there's a little gas station by his work that has 100 octane. Would that be a bad idea? I'm going to try pouring 1/2 a bottle of Seafoam down the brake booster vacuum line and see if that helps.

The rimes are on the truck are stock. I'll have to check on the size. The air filter looks new.

Thanks for the tip on the goerlich!

 

I don't think that 100 octane gas, if it gives you any gains at all, will be worth the price that you pay for it. Just go with 89 or 91 and see what happens with that.

 

if you do go with the 100 octane, make sure its not av gas, or any kind of leaded fuel

 

i usually use 87, but I havent been driving much this summer, and I guess the fuel in my tank degraded, because it was pinging, and I had to put some 91 in there to freshen it up. Once college starts (tomorrow) I will be driving a lot more and shouldnt have this problem.

 

If a higher octane won't do anything for mpg's or power, will it help clean the engine at all? I have to get gas today so my plan is to get 89 and a full additive.