i know with SUV's your not going to get the best gas milage. When i first bought my 03 Explorer 4x4 with the 4.6L V8, i was expecting to get about 14-18 in the city and 22-25 on the freeway.

My wife drives the vehicle the most and the last tank i had was 11 mpg. It was mostly city driving.

Is this normal/average?
Are there modifications that i can do to improve efficiency?

 

Hi,

I can't but help write a bit about the way many of us drive today. And I believe our driving habits don't help the lousy MPG that many of us experience. First a bit about what I drive.

I have 2003 F150 4 X 4 with the 4.6 and a manual transmission with close to 4k on the odo.

My first tank of fuel and the truck got a a bit over 15 mpg in mixed driving. Since then the mileage has steadily gone up. Currently I am getting about 17 in mixed driving.

Just drove back from the Ocean (I live in the DC area) and I could tell that the mpg may have been close to 20 but no doubt with the next 200 miles on the tank being a lot of city driving I will be back to my 17 or hopefully a bit better mileage.

Now to the general thoughts on our driving habits.

I drive a section of rt 29 that has lights spaced maybe 1/2 mile to a mile apart. Even though folks can see the light ahead red and know the light is not going to turn green anytime soon, they do not coast the last 1/4 mile. They zoom up to the line of cars and stop and wait. Then they all zoom away from the light and repeat the drill to the next light.

I try to coast when I see the light ahead red. This model of driving is hated by drivers behind me. I get passed and the driver cuts in front of me to wait one vehicle in front of me at the light.

It seems to me that this style of driving (zooming from light to light) not only wastes fuel but is hard on transmissions and brakes.

Perhaps (and I know this will not happen) if folks had to change gears and not just press on the gas pedal folks would coast just a bit more.

In the good old days, there was a coast to coast economy run that was sponsored by Mobil. These professinal drivers got incredible mileage out of ordinary vehicles and they had to make the trip in x days, so they could not go 40 mph either.

The old saying was to pretend that there is an egg between the gas pedal and your shoe and you don't want to break it.

I try to use that model most times. But if I really need to get by someone in a hurry or to avoid a dangerous situation, I use the power that the engine was built to deliver. And when I travel to Western MD to mow the meadow on my property with a 1,000 pound mower in the bed, I really can't go slow on a 400 mile + round trip and expect to get the meadow cut. Sooo, my mileage suffers.

Perhaps if we all changed our model of driving just a bit, our mpg would go up and maybe even our accident rate and tempers would be moderated.

Yup, not likely to happen. But thanks for giving me this opportunity to express my thoughts.

And tell your wife to stop breaking the egg.

Give us an update on your MPG in a month or so.

Chip

 

Your 100% right. Ironically enough, i am one of those drivers that will pass you to get one car ahead.... lol. I do agree, the methods you use for driving will affect gas mileage completely. My wife is the main driver of the "X" and she drives efficiently and cautiously.

My main concern, was there anything that i could do to improve gas mileage and performance at the same time. Like intake, exhaust, etc.

thanks for your thoughts.

 

What on God's green earth lead you to expect those mileage figures? Its not what was posted on the window for EPA ratings was it? My 99 explorer with the 3.0/Auto gets a maximum of 20-21 highway.

 

hkiefus, agree, i dont think any V8 engine with the shape and bulk of an expedition will get anywhere close to 18 in the city, much less for a 4x4. i have a 2wd 4.6 F150 supercab and i get low 18's on the highway, and low 15's /high 14's in city driving. I have a very light foot, i coast when i can, i run 37 psi in the tires, i keep the truck empty as i can, etc to maximize mileage. 2003 may well have technological improvements to help mileage that my 97 does not have. in city driving, 13 to 14 mpg for a late model ford expedition 4x4 is probably good.

 

to clarify, i have an Explorer, sorry for any confusion. (dont think this makes a difference with mileage).

i will have to tear out the window sticker again to clarify, but i would expect at city driving to get at least 14 mpg.... i am barely getting 11mpg. The freeway isnt so bad... i get about 20-21mpg.

for the last damn time..... IS THERE ANY IMPROVMENTS THAT I CAN DO TO MY EXPLORER (4.6 V8) THAT WILL IMPROVE GAS MILEAGE!!! (besides driving more conservative)

(my apologies for the freak outburst)

or are you telling me what i am getting is just life and to deal with it. Give it to me straight....

 

sethro,
What gear ratio does your Explorer have? It seems with that big a difference between city and hwy mpg, you must have a numerically low gear ratio (hwy gears). Maybe the transmission is shifting and/or lugging down more than usual in city traffic because of this.
Just a guess.
One more thing, THANKS. At least there is one person out there who gets worst mileage than me.

 

I think what you are getting is about what you can expect to get. If there was more mileage for free, the factory would have probably tried to get it themselves. The greatest impact to mileage can be had, most likely, by how you drive it. Also, you could increase tire pressure not to exceed the sidewall rating. In giving that advice I assume no responsibility whatsover for you inflating your tires to any other pressure other than that suggested by the manufacturer.

 

hkiefus - i kinda got the picture from everyone that the mpg that i was achieving was about the best i am going to get. that is what i wanted to know. I am not going to mess with the tire pressure. i will leave them alone, to dangerous to mess with.

other brother - i dont know exactly what gear ratio i have. If my memory serves me correct, i have the 3.73 LS (limited slip???). getting bad gas mileage isnt something i am thankful for . lol

thanks everyone for showing me the light, once again...

 

sethro, any confusion was on the reader's part as your original post stated the 4.6 was in an explorer. I didnt know ford was putting 4.6's in the explorer so i was thinking expedition all the way. 11mpg in an explorer is a tough thing to live with, i agree. The 4wd option combined with mostly city driving are major factors for 11mpg i dont know the 4wd setup in the late model explorer but would assume it is not full time i.e you keep it disengaged unless needed. mpg may improve as you accumlate more mileage--would be interesting to know what you get on a full tank of highway driving. If you are running the explorer with little to no cargo, driving it easy, keeping it in 2wd when you can,and if the dealer can find no mechanical problems then 11 mpg is the number. was the mpg measurement done exactly i.e.once every 2 months i fill my tank to the top of the fuel filler neck, set the odometer to zero and when i refill, it goes back to the top of the filler neck. Explorer doesnt have a huge tank so if the fill/refill differential was 3 gallons (easy thing to happen) then it would make a fairly big difference.

 

i mis-read all the time... i think it was new for 03 that they put the 4.6L V8 in the Explorers. I love the power, just not the fuel milage. It isnt full time 4WD, but it does have this thing called Advanced Trac, which is kinda like full time 4WD. I dont know if this system is causing a problem with the fuel mileage, but i am suspecting so. To figure out mpg, i do exactly that... i fill the tank to the top, run her til she is empty (fuel gauge is sitting right under the "E" line) and i fill her up and calculate. I also have the onboard computer sys. that shows temp and mpg. it even shows that i am getting 11-11.5mpg. I've only had it on the highway once, and that was pulling a 22" trailer, loaded with bikes and four-wheelers. I am going on vacation in two weeks, so i will see how good of milage i get and let ya'll know. I will keep an eye on the mileage for a few more weeks. if i dont notice a big difference in they city milage, then i will assume that 11mpg is what i get (after a trip to the dealer).

l8ter

sethro