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Howdy Fellas,
I've owned my new truck about six weeks. Today I checked my trucks MPG driving into work and noticed it dropped since last week.
The first screen shot is today, November 4th. The second screen shot is on October 25th. The drive and weather conditions were similar for each commute (set the cruise at 70 MPH). I did notice the rear tire pressure was down to 33 lbs and the front down to 34 lbs (tires with green tip valve cover filled with nitrogen).
Did you refill your tank between the runs? It could be the switch to winter blend fuel.
I believe the switch-over to winter-blend fuel was on September 15th for most of the US.
Give them time for the fuel to trickle through the system, get to your retailer, and into your fuel tank....it could certainly be related to the fuel.
Also, when it's cold outside, vehicles use more fuel. Cold lubricants are not as efficient and the truck itself may run in a warm-up mode for longer...which is usually a richer burn.
The OP stated his tires had lost air, which tends to increase rolling resistance.
Environmentally, cold air is denser, which actually increases the resistance to an object cutting through it.
These are all very small factors that all come together to give you a noticeable decrease in fuel economy in the winter.
As others said, my guess is winter fuel - I always see a drop at this time.
Originally Posted by Jonesy0027
I did notice the rear tire pressure was down to 33 lbs and the front down to 34 lbs (tires with green tip valve cover filled with nitrogen).
For future reference - ambient "air" is ~80% nitrogen which is what you get filling with a standard compressor. Outside of race applications with extreme temp differentials, filling with pure nitrogen is just snake oil for the dealer to make a buck.
As others said, my guess is winter fuel - I always see a drop at this time.
For future reference - ambient "air" is ~80% nitrogen which is what you get filling with a standard compressor. Outside of race applications with extreme temp differentials, filling with pure nitrogen is just snake oil for the dealer to make a buck.
I didn't think about the winter fuel blend change over. I'll bet that is why my MPG has changed.
I'll bet your right! New car dealers will charge a fee to top off with Nitrogen.
Tire pressure was going to be what I said, along with the winter fuel. Keep the tire pressures up for better fuel economy. My truck from the factory came with about 45psi in the tires, and it had dropped down to mid to low 30's with the cold weather change. Going back up in pressures will impact your fuel economy, and also impact the feel of the vehicle. Higher pressures will likely lead to a more choppy ride, but will also increase the responsiveness to inputs (which is a benefit in my opinion). And in my case, I suspect I've got some tire wear tendancies when running at the pressures in the door jambs that would indicate I should run a slightly higher pressure on the front tires (I've got the larger 3.5L ecoboost adding more weight on the front axle).
Don't believe the lom I've seen mine climb to 26 with a 5.0 every time you reset it take a while to settle out mine stays about 20.3 now pretty steady I checked it manually and it's close
It's probably the winter blend fuel but the low air pressure probably doesn't help either.
I got my truck late Aug (it's an F250 gasser) and my mileage started out around 15mpg, now it's down to around 13. Part of that is the type of driving I'm doing now but part of it is the winter gas.
If your tires need air just top off with air. Nitrogen is a waste of money for a regular vehicle.
Howdy,
Drove to work today and my MPG is back to normal.
Same tank of gas as yesterday (probably the winter fuel blend). I did air up the tires to 35 lbs.
Kind of weird getting different MPG with the same weather and driving conditions (cruise at 70 MPH). Doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to the MPG. Wondering if the humidity was different each day? Not really a tragedy just weird.
You did say you put air back into your tires... That could be it.
The other thing to realize is that MPG is best taken as a long term average. You have to take day to day changes with a grain of salt because of the variation in environmental conditions. I probably wouldn't look at day to day differences too much, and look at the average MPG for a full tank of gas or even longer.
You did say you put air back into your tires... That could be it.
The other thing to realize is that MPG is best taken as a long term average. You have to take day to day changes with a grain of salt because of the variation in environmental conditions. I probably wouldn't look at day to day differences too much, and look at the average MPG for a full tank of gas or even longer.
Markag, Good thinking!
The next time I fill up, I'll try and remember to reset 'trip 2' and check the MPG for the entire tank. I'm old and pretty forgetful...
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