yup another mpg thread sorry
 

Hey guys Adam here. Just bought a 86 f150 with the big 300 in it. Love the truck but the truck has some minuses. The truck has only roughly 39k on the Leo. When i got it it looked as if it sat and it ran rough. It has the dreaded feedback carb. That's a minus all on its own. But anyway. I did a full tune up which included oil and filter change , spark plugs, cap and rotor. Done other stuff like new sending unit, water pump, new belts, power steering pump, and etc. I have adjusted the carb hundreds of times . It does not hold a tune as it were. Some days runs like a kitten. Then other days it coughs puts pudders, limps, and drags home. Some days it idles perfectly and somedays its like I got a huge cam in the engine makin it wanna just die. I work 10 miles one way to home. An I am averaging about 8-10 mpgs. I look at the forums an see 100-200k 4bbl 300s running 12-16mpg in town ! I had to clean up a lot of the vaccuum lines bc someone butchered them . Routed wrong. Lines not meant to hold vacuum was having vacuum. All kind of stuff plugged off, wires butchered. But I got that all straight. The truck still has some pep but not v8 pep that deserves to get that kinda mpg. I have been thinking hard on the Duraspark 2 swap with a 1 bbl yf carb for now. Then up to the offenhauser intake an cam and etc. But if 10 mpg is my fate I mind as well have the power to go with it. I mean I BABY this truck through town . I have tried it all. So someone please help me . Oh an the rear end is a 3.08 gear ratio . 8.8 rear end . Thanks guys an I love the site packed with easy goin Ford guys.

I'm responding to this post not to help you, but to let you know I'm going through the same EXACT thing (dreaded feedback carb, bipolar idle, Carb that likes to cough at me, etc). I just recently picked up the truck 3 weeks ago, and I've realized I'm getting barely 10.1 Mpg, and this is after Spark plug change, etc. (Admittedly I haven't done a motor oil change yet, that is being done this weekend be as though I just got the money for it). I'm running what I believe is 3.55 gears in the rear, although I'm not sure how to identify it without opening up the differential. I'm definitely subscribed to this, I want to see what the great collective hive of a mind that IS FTE has to say in response

O2 sensor would be the first culprit I'd suggest swapping. It's a tune up item that should be swapped every 35,000 to 50,000 miles in this year range.

The feedback solenoid on the carb or a carb rebuild is the second if the O2 sensor didn't fix it.

The computer will fight with you, so to adjust the fuel mixture you have to adjust it, reset the computer and adjust it again. turn the screw in untill it begins to stumble then out untill the engine idle smooths out. This should get you in the ballpark. Shut engine off, disconnect the battery for 5 min, then re-adjust again.

Sounds like the computer is going into limp home mode, and a bad O2 will definitely cause that.

If you decide to go with the DS-II swap those things would be considered moot.

Have you even asked your computer what codes it's storing and what *it* thinks is going on?

Fuel Injection Technical Library » How To Run a Self-Test
Ford Ranger/Bronco II EEC-IV Testing

Good job in all the work you have done. Do you have a timing light? If so, warm the engine up (short drive), then check the timing. Timing should be about 20 degrees BTDC at idle. If you raise the RPMs to 2000 or so, timing should advance to 30 degrees or so (right off the scale).

If timing does not advance with engine speed, then the ignition control computer is unhappy and has locked the timing advance to 10 degrees BTDC, the so called "limp-home mode". This mode is there to keep the ignition control computer from hurting the engine, but performance and gas mileage will suffer in this state.

If timing is not advancing with engine speed, then you can figure out why your computer is not happy. It could be something simple, like the O2 sensor as 81-F-150-Explorer suggests, or the temperature sensor. You can retrieve codes from the computer (OBDI), to find out why it is unhappy. That can direct you to potential fixes.

Properly running, you dreaded feedback carb system can deliver close to 20 mpg. That is darned good for a truck of this size.

I thought the same thing about swapping to a DSII when I got mine, which isn't a bad thing if you don't have smog checks in your area. But got to looking, and started reading allot an realized mine still had all the smog equipment. So decided to start checking thing. Found you could pull the codes so did that then replaced or fixed what was indicated. Then I bought a vacuum gauge (best investment I ever made) and used it to set timing and adjust the carb. Also opened the plug gap as far as I could without pinging, mines set about 52 now. All in all I got the TFI with the dreaded feedback carb to do +/- 14 in town and 18+ on the highway. And still looking for more. From what I've found pulling the codes and fixing what's broke goes a long way.

Wow guys thanks for all the swift replies. No i haven't checked timing yet. I have bad luck with timing lights an snap on tools already got me by the balls. Lol . Also pulling the codes is something I should try to do today. How do I go about doin that on this truck? I have a tercel with obd1 and all I had to do was jumper tc and cg and the cel would flash so many times. An just count it out. But how do I do that ? All of the smog stuff is removed by the previous owner. Am hearing wag better projected mpg numbers an I am geting anxious to short this out. Rebuilding carbs is something that I am a little intimidated by tackling. Am goin to look into that later. The truck was a companies' work truck I believe. So the body isn't perfect but its not horrible. Thanks guys I was going WTF!!! saying this can't be right. Thanks for all the swift an knowledgeable answers.

One more very common problem with both the feedback and non-feedback YFA carbs is a loose throttle body, if you can move the top portion of the carb, then the screws have backed out and the gasket is probably destroyed. This will make the truck run rich all the time. When checking timing, there is a connector near the distributor to disable the computer controlled timing, to correctly set it, you have to warm the engine up, cut it off, unplug the connector or shorting plug, restart it and set the timing, should be 10 degrees BTDC, then shut it off and reconnect the wires or reinstall the plug so the computer controls things again.

A 300 should do better than 10, that's down in the 460 territory.

I gave you two links with explicit instructions in Post #4 above. The procedure is the same as for your Toyota.

I wouldn't worry about rebuilding the carb until after you have the ignition control system figured out anyways. But you should check to see if the carb is loose on its mount, as 85Lebarent suggested. Two 10mm nuts hold it down.

That's a big problem. This will throw the computer in limp home mode as well. (rotten fuel Mileage). I wouldn't bother with pulling the codes yet as there will be numerous codes due to the missing parts.

You need to either replace all the smog equipment that was taken off, then run the codes, or you will need to go with a DS-II swap to properly fix this.

Ctubutis and galendar thanks a lot an everyone else for the input. Cutubutis thanks for those helpful links sorry for asking a question you already covered clearly. I will check eBay for a timing light snap on came by my job today an he told me $350 for the cheap one and $500 big ones for the good one. Hopefully this Saturday I can pull a Duraspark 2 with all the goods. This afternoon on my way home. I hopped in the truck an she fired right up. No stubbling, or surging, or backfiring. Just fired up. As I drove it home she ran beautifully . So I kinda got carried away with the throttle. I drove it good. An I could literally WATCH my gas hand fall. Literally. That was discouraging.

That's a good point, I forgot about that! :)

86bullnose - Don't get a Snap-On timing light unless you work in the industry and will use it all day every day... $350-$500 is obscene for a timing light, a good one should easily cost you under $100.

I bought a used Craftsman timing light like this one on ebay for about 20 bucks. It works great, you don't need to spend a lot of money for this.
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/CRAFTSMAN-PRO...T)!~~60_58.JPG

If your talking about a timing lite for the 300 why not use a vacuum gauge? That's all I use anymore and it works great. Apparently my harmonic balancer has slipped, which I have read is a common problem with the 300, and that was my only option. It's a lot easier than the light is I think. Just hook it up, set timing to maximum vacuum then back it off 2-3 points.

Yes, good point kedwinh. A vacuum gauge is probably more useful than a timing light. I guess I just recomended that because I'm more familiar with using a timing light to check timing than using a vacuum gauge. But agreed, vacuum gauge is probably even better in case the timing marks can't be trusted.

The (only) advantage of a timing light approach is this: using a vac gauge requires adjustment of timing, since you have to adjust to know if you are pulling maximum vacuum or not. With a timing light, if you have faith in the timing marks, you can check timing and know without adjusting anything if you are close or not to correct timing advance. I could be wrong, though.

Probably a stupid question but am a ask . How much does warm up affect mpgs? Not shore about how mpgs are influenced but I let ol blue warm up for a long time at least 15-20 minutes . Hit the throttle one time to disengage the choke an ol girl purred like a kitten she ran sooooo smoothly.

A warmed up engine likely does get better mpg compared to when its cold!

I've let mine warm up 10 or more minutes in below-zero temperatures.

But, I'm getting 0 MPG while doing that, so I try to take off as soon as it's warm enough to operate decently.

We don't often have really cold weather here but, even when it does get below freezing, I never let it idle more than about 1 minute. Just long enough that it idles good on it's own. But then again I have my chock backed almost all the way off.

So today didn't do much but got the lookin around on my truck an I realize my truck doesn't have a kickdown cable. That connects the carb and c6 transmission. Would that have an adverse affect on my mpgs? I always felt my truck shifts layed back and lax and late . I was goin to look into that . Goin to borrow a timing light to check that out. An the Duraspark conversion is soon to come soon as I get come cash .

The kickdown cable will only affect WOT downshifts, if your system is in limp mode the timing is locked at whatever it is set at static, probably 10 BTDC.

the past few days my truck has been running rather good. good power great idle still poor mpg. all i really did was continue playing with the air idle mixture screw, replaced the fuel filter and added some fuel treatment. i also have really been letting the truck warm up properly ( i think that was one reason for the irratic idle) so my bad for that. i have really been ***** footing the truck never driving above 35mph. and i calculated my milage and i am still getting 10.31mpg. i have yet to check timing. i have been soo busy these past days. anymore suggestions i will be glad to take. thanks guys.