I preface this post by saying I am not whining about the gas mileage in my 2003 4.6 2wd expy

New 12 mpg city 15 mpg highway
(God It Sucks)

But i'm trying a few things you all might be interested in.

1st i'm an Amsoil rep so i'm using the full synthetic 5w-20
I put it in my 3.0 ranger 1994 (best vehicle I have ever owned) and it improved engine mpg by about 5%, also ran smoother and quieter and developed no leaks. Put it in at 110k and flushed the first change after 3k miles

Next I bought the Cold Blue high volume air filter, can't say I noticed too much of a difference. Maybe a slight improvement in power.

I just ordered a full set of the fuel performance magnets. Two go on the fuel lines, one on the air intake and one on the bottom water hose. Kind of hokey science but for 100 bucks it's worth a shot.

As soon as it get's warm i'm taking a 12 pack of beer and 6 hours and i'm gonna put in the Bosch Platinum +4 plugs.

When it's out of the manuf warranty i'm gonna put the full Amsoil synthetic transmission fluid in. It will prolong the tranny life and get me another 5% mpg.

I don't want to do the chip upgrade because you must use 93 octane fuel so what's the point. (more power though)

Current mileage after 7500 miles and the synth oil and volume air filter are about 15-16 mpg mixed driving. Last tank with 80% highway was 16mpg

 

OK, I'm not shooting...



Buuuuuut.....

5% mileage increase from switching to synthetic tranny fluid? Nope. Not gonna see it.

Air filter? Well, that's under debate elsewhere.

Magnets on the fuel line/water lines? Calling that dubious science is doing it a favor. There is nothing that suggests that it works at all--except for some self-serving studies done by magnet companies. I would suggest that you'd get more mileage by taking your $100 and getting:
1. 95 dollar bills
2. A few rolls of packing tape.
Tape the dollar bills into an air deflector on the front of the truck to reduce drag.

As far as amsoil's superiority to other oils...well, as you said, you're an amsoil salesman. They certainly seem to think it will, although I've never seen an 'impartial' study finding the same. I suspect that your $$ would be far better spent on the things discussed in the EOG (i.e. oxygen sensors, tune-up, etc.).

 

Please, you guys are cracking me up! Pump up the tires a few pounds, go light on the throttle, and believe it or not, keep it clean and waxed.

 

I'm an Amsoil rep to get the discount, never sold a quarter of it but I love the product. Took the tap out of the valves on the Ranger and it runs much smoother. I'm sure Mobil 1 is as good as Amsoil but I certainly believe in synthetics.

As far as the fuel magnets it's cheap and worth a try, my wife spends more than that in 45 minutes whenever she's out of the house. I believe 3-5% from all synthetic in the tranny is reasonable and i'll let ya know in 2 years and 4 months :-)

I agree that by far driving habits is the biggest change you can make but other small changes will help incrementally.

Love My Ford

pepper

 

12 city and 15 highway. Most of us here with the 4.6 and 2wd get better than that. I have the 2000 version and I'm always around the upper 15's in the city. Highway I've gone from 18's to 21.

 

I had the computer checked at FORD, all they said was no firmware update available and everything looks fine. Hard to believe you are getting over 15 in the city. They did say mileage would increase a bit over 10k miles

 

I average 14.5 driving to work and back on my '99 4x4 w/5.4...about 15 minutes city streets and 15 minutes highway driving.

On the highway it stays around 16.0-16.5...with me, the wife, and 4 teenagers plus luggage.

BTW, I run QS 5W30 dino and non-synthetic tranny fluid.

I have to agree that its hard to imagine getting a 1/2 mpg increase in mileage from running synthetic tranny fluid. However, I will be changing it this spring and will be putting in Mobil 1 synthetic so I'll let you know then.

I think hkiefus has the best advice...

As far as the magnets go...

 

Don't make too much fun of the magnet's. They are levitating flying saucers over at area 51 with them