2.3 fuel economy
 

hey yall i'm lookin for a cheap ranger wit the2.3 in it for a comuter. Just curious the average economy on this motor i think it's about mid 20's but just wanna check because my 6.0 diesel gets about 14 mpgs and i want it to bo worth while if i get a ranger or bronco 2

when my truck was stock i got about 26.5hwy. I messed with the intake an reworked the exhaust;header/high flow cat etc and i got 29 hwy. Now that i have put 33' tires and 4.56 gears it i am still getting 24hwy.

Lots of ways to get the mileage up, first is weight: if you can get rid of extra weight, do it. Seats you don't use? Take 'em out. Anything on that truck that you can remove without affecting its safety, do it.

I had a 3/4 ton 390 pigup, and I was getting 27mpgUS out of it. The bench seat went out (130lbs), Honda seats went in (18lbs ea). Box came off (est 600lbs), wood deck and pocket sides (125lbs) went on. Insulation came out (50lbs+). Not only did the fuel mileage go up, so did performance: much better acceleration, braking, cornering, and (best of all) payload.

No need to make it look like a racecar, either. The big plastic door panels were replaced by 1/8" mahogany ply, half the weight, and looked fine with a couple of coats of polyurethane.

Innovate!!

Without trying for economy, my old 2.3 lima gets in the 26-28 range with mostly rural 45 to 55 mph two-lane and limited freeway driving. Fuel injected, 5-speed, short bed, 1985.
tom

My '95 5spd gets about 33 hwy and somewhere around 27-28 while I'm delivering the pizzas...Get the door. It's Eli.

Wow. I have a '93 Ranger w/ the 2.3L and 5spd. It's running low in #1 cylinder but I barely manage to get 21mpg after I adjusted for the speedo/odo reading low. I thought I was doing bad till I found that my speedometer was reading 12.5% too low. But still I'm only doing okay for what EPA gave my truck in FE ratings.

Maybe I should try the Honda bucket seats. The ones I currently have were swapped in from another ranger; nasty and dirt stained. But 18lb Honda seats will be quite a bit cheaper, brand new, than the 12lb cobra seats I was looking at. Sheesh you just listed over 600lbs(est) of weight reduction. That's 20% of the curb weight of my truck! If you included a few aerodynamic mods I imagine it would have done better FE. But wow, that is pretty drastic compared to what I did.

Allch Chcar:
If replacing your buckets will reduce weight by 600 lbs, they must be very hard to sit on, being made of lead. I'd check that weight figure. But, hey, what do I know? My truck is old enough to drink. It has a bench seat that I have removed and re-installed by myself (one person) when I put in the cruise control sensor, so I don't see how buckets can weigh that much.
tom

Hm?? Re-read my post: Ford bench, 130lbs. Honda buckets, 18lbs.

600lbs is easily saved on something like my 390, a little harder on a 4-cyl Ranger, but it can be done. My theory is, take stuff off until either it stops running, or the cops pull you over...

Sorry, I got lost in the post, and apparently turned off my brain.

Never mind.
t

I am told my Ranger will get between 22-24 mpg because it is the 4x4 variety. I will know for sure when I pick it up in March. :o