Filled up my truck yesterday for $42. Gosh, she's expensive.... Anyway, both tanks appeared empty according to the gas gage. Average fuel consumption was 14.02 miles to the gallon from the last fill-up. Drove to work this morning and realized the needle was moving rather quickly. Put about 40 miles and the needle is almost at the 3/4 mark for the rear tank. Granted, is was very windy and I was driving around 75 mph, should my truck be eating this much gas? Are the fuel floats crapping out? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I pretty much keep the truck tip-top, and recently replaced the O2 sensor too.

Dan

 

I have basically the same truck with 170K and I get almost 20mpg highway. If you're not having any drivability issues, I'd look at the usual suspects: air filter, ignition, dragging brakes, ect.

 

what size tires do you have? 32s? you may be loseing some there, i have 35s and i get an average of 13 in town, and 15 on the freeway. but i drive hard most of the time, and go down the freeway at 75...my foot rarely leaves the floor on the freeway.

Idiomaticman

 

""Are the fuel floats crapping out""
There are no floats on the 1995 models. They are EFI...

Tyre pressure OK?
Transmission and rear axle levels OK?
Wheel bearing draging...Maybe?
Front caliper sticking?
Parking brake not releasing all the way??

A head wind as you mentioned could make it drop too.

ftwfred

 

I think he means the floats inside the tank, the sender units.

Justin

 

I see. I assumed the fuel guage was working. Because he posted::
""Filled up my truck yesterday for $42. Gosh, she's expensive.... Anyway, both tanks appeared empty according to the gas gage""

Mine has the 4 speed so the 75 MPH would kill my mileage too.

ftwfred

 

That doesn't necessarily mean anything. My sender unit is off, It's accurate at full but reads empty at just under 3/4 tank.

Justin

 

Not knowing what is in the tank should not effect the MPG. Mine both stay on full forever, But really fly down below 3/4 tank. I can go 150 miles on the first 1/4 tank and only 125-150 on the last 3/4 tank
ftwfred

 

my guess is that he has a heavy skinny pedal foot. i know i can get as bad as 8mpg and as good as 18, and i have 35s, its all about how hard you push the truck. his gearing may be an issue too.

you could try replacing ignition parts...plugs, wires...etc. that may help, replace your air filter, run some injector cleaner/engine cleaner....all this could help in the miliage....even try running some high octane gas a few times, that may help to clean out some carbon bulid up too.

Idiomaticman

 

Bimmer said his last tank got 14.02 mpg, but that on this tank his needle was dropping really fast. All i'm saying is that what the needle says doesn't really mean anything. I just refill every 200 miles and leave a business card in front of mine.

Justin

 

ford gas guages are horrable. i go by mileage. about 500 to a fillup. what leaves a few gallons in each tank. i've noticed that these trucks fill up a slightly different amount every time. this could make your gas mileage appear very low or very high depending on how much was pumped in. do the gas mileage for a few fillups then take the average. calculating the mileage tank by tank only works if the tank is filled up to the exact level every time.

 

Thanks for the input guys. Yes, I meant the floats inside the fuel tanks. Recently changed the oil, air and breather filter, as mentioned above, changed the O2 sensor (as well as anit-freeze and rear differential fluid too), and basically have new tires with the proper tire pressure (35psi). Right now, I'm running 235 60 R15's (I think) on the truck. I have around 15000 miles on the current plugs/wires.

Would the air injection tube/thermactor tube assy have anything to do with this? Mine is rusted out and have the parts to replace it, but just haven't had the time to do so.

As far as gears, I'm running 3.55 and brakes, the fronts are still good (truck has almost 89k), and the rears seem to be good too.

Again, thanks for the input.

 

regarding bad fuel milage
check your fuel presure at your fuel rail.
fast way to check, start engine pull the vacume line off the fuel regulator see if truck reacts to the increased fuel pressure.
If no change like black smoke out fo the exhaust or stalling the vehicle than your secondary fuel pump on the frame rail is not working properly.
The fuel pumps in the tanks are pushing the fuel through the secondary pump causing a lower pressure spray from your injectors.
Pressure should be 42 lbs running normal , vaccume line off the regulator up 60 plus lbs.

 

I thought that the 4.9 litre had 50+ PSI fuel pressure??
ftwfred

 

About how many miles before you guys have to fill up again? I am only getting 150 a tank, is this normal?