I drive a 95 f150 and went from getting about 13 miles to the gallon to roughly 8 in a matter of a couple weeks. Anyone have any opinions of what it might be? its a 5.0 btw. thanks

 

yeah maybe do air intake exhaust you know the ussuall haha
seriously i ride in this truck everyday we dont know what the problem is it runs great but its getting horrible milage maybe because he likes to have a lead foot?

 

with that limited amount of information it is hard to say why.

when last tuneup?

what has changed?

etc.

 

he needs to change oil we need to check filters
[we r friends btw so i know about his truck]
have no idea on plugs but we have been messing with ppl goin fast and what not
its still running great but its gettn horrible mileage

 

Pull the codes from the computer and see if anything comes up. Here are instructions if you've never pulled codes before: http://www.thorssell.net/hbook/eectest.html . It would also be a good idea to test the fuel pressure and the fuel pressure regulator.

That large of a change over that short of time period with no change in driving habits probably means something is not working properly. I'm betting that this is not a tuneup related issue. Now if driving habits changed and you're full throttle "messing with people", that could be the cause right there.

 

Not to dissuade you from changing the fuel filter, but don't get your hopes up on that being the problem. Today's fuel is pretty clean overall, so short of some major recent, undiscovered problem with a given gas station's tanks or your own rusty tank, that's not a likely cause. I've changed several fuel filters over the last 15 years, and all I've ever poured out of the inlet end is clean fuel, even on filters that looked like they would have crumbled if you touched them. None of them ever solved anything.

Codes are your friends, and don't think that just because one comes up that you should change out the associated sensor. People here get a lean or rich code and automatically change out the HEGO (O2) sensor, when the sensor is actually doing its job.

Jason

 

ok so my dad thinks this truck has a f*ed up gauge so i was wondering can the gauge just drop and go bad but move around a little

 

The gauge won't have anything at all to do with fuel mileage.

-Rod

 

no kiddn bud
o wow
he is basing mileage off the fuel gauge he didn't run out

 

You can only gauge mileage by dividing the miles driven by the number of gallons it took to go those miles. You need to do this for several tank fulls to get an accurate reading. You do not have to run the tank dry, and you should not do so. Just keep a running tally of miles driven and gallons put into the tank every time you gas up and your data base will get larger and larger. It is fun and interesting to do also.

 

The point is that that isn't an accurate way of figuring out your fuel mileage at all. If you're really concerned about it, fill the tank and see how much fuel you used.

-Rod

 

start with basics.

do a tune up.