Miles before fill up = 251,174
Miles at fill up = 251,501
Gallons purchased at second fill up = 28.826 @ $100.00 even

Miles driven = 327
MPG = 11.31 (divided 327 by 28.9)

This is a mix of city and highway (60/40 city/hwy) with some stents of heavy acceleration (mostly onramps but some passing of idiots).

MPG seems to be a lot lower than it should be Was under the impression that mid to high teens is average?

Stock gear ratio, stock motor, 31.5" tires on stock rims.

Recent work done to the Bronco:

1. Shocks, struts, and tires were replaced two years ago.
2. New battery
3. New alternator and voltage regulator
4. New belt
5. Exhaust rebuilt (about a year ago) from catalytic convertor back with 3" to a 1 in 2 out muffler with 3.5" tips (sounds nice ).
6. I did an oil change 3 weeks ago (very messy, did not position my drain gutter properly ).
7. Shop replaced (a month ago or so) timing chain, gears, cover, and a hose from transmission cooler to transmission.

Future plans: (summer break)

1. Tune up (plugs, wires (motorcraft), rotor, cap) I have had all of that for a year now, just haven't gotten around to doing the work
2. I am thinking about taking it to a speed shop and having them rebuild the carb since I'm not confident enough to do it myself, nor do I have a clue as to how to tune it
3. Pull off front tires to try to find source of squeal (see below).
4. Considering replacing all hoses except upper and lower radiator hoses (they're a year old and in great shape).

Known issues:

1. Rear main seal is leaking a little.
2. Has some odd squealing while driving, goes away under breaking and sometimes stays gone for awhile. I'm thinking the brakes might be dragging.
3. Bushings probably need to be replaced as I believe them to be originals with 251K+ miles on them :O
4. Still has a "clunk" upon acceleration and braking. Did not lube the spline joint as suggested awhile ago when I started a thread about it.
5. Drivers side (left) window on removable top leaks
6. I think I have a small power steering fluid leak. But the resevior still says full ... so maybe it's just oil from the rear main seal blowing up on the bottom of the steering box?

Budget: $2-3K over the course of the summer (maybe more depending on wether or not I can sell my fish tanks).

I'm looking for suggestions about things I can do (within the aforementioned budget) that might increase my mpg's a little. I'm not a lead foot, I drive like an old fart most of the time My mechanical skills are novice at best, and my tool selection while great for avionics work is not so impressive for automobile work However I can rent anything I'll need

 

1. Heavy acceleration will kill MPGs in a hurry
2. There is no carb on a stock 1995 Bronco
3. Oversize tires will kill MPGs in a hurry.
4. Did you re-calibrate the PSOM for the taller tires?
5. Dragging brakes will definitely kill MPGs.
6. Aged ignition components are a huge contributor to poor mileage AND performance.

 

The carb part has me baffled, yours should be an EFI, and a MAF at that, which should be even better. You have pretty much a stock setup (31x10.5 R15 was my stock tire size), and rla pointed most of the possible causes, personally I would look into the brakes first, since they seem to be making noise. By all means, do the tune-up, and advance the time a notch*, it should help both economy and performance.

*This requires a special procedure, not just turning the dist. Ask if you need any help.

 

Yes I do have EFI (oops on that ) Thanks for replying

Ignition parts including what exactly? Basically I'm looking for suggestions about what to do or get looked at since it's hit 251K miles within a $2-3K budget over the course of summer.

I do plan on doing the bushings (as many as I can on my own ) and might even tackle the lower ball joints. Not sure if I want to try the uppers since they also affect the camber if I remember correctly.

Power steering box should probably be rebuilt/replaced. Shoot I might even get a new a/c compressor and lines and charge it

How involved is replacing the rear main seal? The shop I take it to said it would be around $1500 to do it, and I said wtf really??? Sooo I might consider that if it isn't overly complicated.

 

Ignition: Cap, rotor, plugs, wires. Inspect the coil for signs of leaking, corrosion. Replace if necessary. No fancy parts, good quality Motorcraft is fine.

Rear main seal replacement requires removing the oil pan which in turn requires jacking up the motor in most cases. Loosen the main bearing caps then some tools to push/pull the old seal out, then the same to install a new one. Involved enough that you may want some help from someone experienced.

 

Hmmm probably wait on the rear main then I'll have to double check the manufacture of the cap and rotor, I know the plug wires are motorcraft, think the plugs are acdelco (it was all in a bag in the back I found after purchasing it ).

What are the advantages of doing the 6 liter conversion? I've not done a lot of research about it yet, but will do some this weekend.

Looking at the passenger side, looks like it's going to be a bitch getting a couple of plugs out

 

Sixlitre tune up advances the timing and widens the plug gap for a bigger spark. The debate on the need for a "hotter" is still subject to debate. I have done it on my old '92 F350 w/5.8L engine. I did pick up a little MPGs but it could have been from the old crappy parts...I still think it is a worthwhile mod for most folks.

I find changing plugs from underneath and/or through the fender well to work very good on these trucks and many other vehicles with V-engines.

 

I'll have to explore those other angles to get at the plugs Once school is out I can comfortably leave the truck in disrepair for a couple of days if needed

 

I work decently on the 302 from the top, just use a u-joint adapter and some extensions on my socket wrench to get to the spark-plugs near the firewall.

 

Honestly, you really can't expect that much more MPG with what you have. It's a big, full-framed truck with 4WD and a V8... not designed for mileage. You didn't mention, but I'm guessing you have a 5.8.


Best advice to increase your mileage is to buy an old Prius to use as your daily driver, and park the Bronco. For not much more than $3K, you can get an older one & they're good for 300K+ miles. You'll probably save the difference in gas over the first year. I know, that's not fun, but on the bright side, it will give you time to pull the engine and replace the rear main, plugs, & other seals! Make the Bronco your toy & have your econobox daily driver.

 

Ok so hopefully I can start working on some of this next Thursday and Friday I have a question that I don't know how to trouble shoot.

Occasionally while turning the wheels there is a clacking/creaking sound and that sound goes away when I stop turning the wheel. Doesn't happen all of the time and it seems to happen more in reverse.

 

does your bronco have auto hubs by chance? they could be stuck locked in causing additional drag thus using more fuel.

fuel filter been changed recently? do the tune up for sure and bump the timing correctly and get back to us.

with that high of miles I would also suspect the motor just isn't as efficient thus the poor mileage.

and when you say you redid the exhaust is the stock Y pipe and stock cat still on their? the Y is a huge bottle neck as is the stock cat with that kinda mileage on it

 

Yup Bronco has auto hubs, I'll look into that hopefully (if it's too hot I probably won't do anything ... I hate the heat).

I plan on doing the fuel filter with the tune up (guess I forgot to mention that ).

Yea the motor is a bit worn out and I am not expecting like new performance, I was just disappointed in the mpgs. I'm kinda over that now

From the Y to the Cat is all original (at least I found no records about replacing the Cat). That wasn't even something I considered

Any thoughts on the noise while turning the wheel (usually when stopped and not very consistent being that I can't reproduce it at will ). It's almost like something is binding up or getting caught and then slipping back. I don't know how to properly describe it as I've never had a vehicle do this before

 

are we talking about a powersteering whine? or a grinding sound? if its a grinding sound I would suspect hubs, balljoints, ujoints in the front axle. If its the power steering pump look into doing the Saginaw PS swap. its bolt in and i can turn my 35's easily with out noise.
I suppose it could also be your steering box which if that's the case you better get on that group buy for the Red-Head unit.

oh and get that Cat converter either cut out and put strait pipe in or have a new Y pipe and hi flow cat installed (best option in my opinion).

 

It's not a whine and it's not a grind, well not any grind I've heard before. It sounds more like a ratcheting than anything else.

Will look into a high flow cat with Basani Y pipe. However that's a bit lower on the priority list