My dads got a 95 f150 short bad regular cab 4x4. All stock 4.9l v6 with about 80,000 miles on it. Dad loves the truck only thing is the gas mileage sucks. Is there any way of increasing it ? Would cutting the cat off and straight piping it make any diffrence?
would estimate 9 to 11 mpgs. He isnt crazy on the gas either. Just any ideas would help, Thanks in advance.

 

A good tune up might just cure your ills.. Plugs, plug wires, cap and rotor


Also the O2 sensor may be getting lazy I think most sources recommend replacing the O2 sensor every 60,000 or so...

 

Just had a tune up wanna say less the 5000 miles ago. But ill look into the o2 sensor.

 

First things first... pull the codes, computer is your best friends on these things. Then I'd go to air and fuel filters.

Check fuel pressure
vacuum leaks
Any and everything with a grease fitting, grease it.

Anything that creates drag will bring down mpgs: ujoints, wheel bearings, locked hubs, dragging ebrake, stuck brake calipers.... list goes on and on.

This is city right? Sounds about normal to me. Try and get an actual calculation though instead of guessing. I forget, is the truck dual tanks?

 

How many miles he average a day?

 

Well I'm sure bray could help my dad out with it. But no its one single tank.

 

Depends on miles. On average less then 75 miles

 

you say its stock but what size tires is he running?

 

i believe they are 235/75/15 goodyear wranglers. Whats an average highway/city MPG for the I6?

 

i dont know what to tell you on how to improve mileage but when i had my 93 4x4 with the i6, i got between 11-12 and that was with 32" tires

 

is the truck a manual or auto tranny?

what spark plugs is he running? Pull codes and see what comes up. also see if the fan clutch is operating properly. if its froze up it could be robbing power and mpg.

 

Not sure on the plugs or wires if he ever comes back to his thread where im not answering his details, he should be able to let you know. But, its an E4OD trans.

 

Sorry about the delay, the mobile site must not be up. But i think they are motor craft plugs and wire. But how do i check the fan clutch?
But my dad wants to know if taking the cat off would that have any impact on the mpgs?

 

only if its clogged. in which case replacing with a hi flow cat would be the way to go.

whens the last time he had the e4od serviced? he should probably check to make sure the PSOM is calibrated to his tire size. do a search on here for the process it wouldnt take long.

 

Check the base timing. Mine was at 18 degree's and was getting 10-11mpg. Now that I reset it back down to 12 (for a little performance over stock 10). I'm now getting 16mpg. I have a 15 foot truck too (f-150, ext cab, long bed, 5.0, 4x4 with a AOD and it's sitting on BFG 31's).