the 5.4 does great in the summer and on the highway i've seen close to 18 mpg on long highway drives, for a 1/2 ton its a great motor. for me fuel use has alot to do with driving style and idle time. i'm sure if i drove MUCH more conservative and felt like getting into a cold truck i could save a substantial amount of money. but alas no thanks.

 

im talking 5.4 excursion, not them little compact cars.

 

It's not so much what I did to the X, but what I was able to get it to do. This week it pulled over 15,000 lbs nearly 1,400 miles. Huge fan of the V10 now!

 

Put 355 miles on mine today. Decided for one more last ATV ride for the season with some friends. Got 7.8 mpg towing a 25' enclosed trailer with a Polaris RZR , two quads, gear and tools. Probably around #6000 total. I wonder if something is wrong, the last time I towed the exact same load at a little faster speeds I got a solid 9mpg. I don't know if they use a winter blend of gas like they do diesel because that might be the only difference I can think of. Time to change the PCV valve I guess.

 

Tousley Ford: $60.62
Ford Parts - Tousley Ford Parts Depot

Stewart

 

You may have a bad oxygen sensor. I know this is apples to oranges, but my '01 chubby 8.1L dually dropped from 11 down to 7 in the past few weeks. Nothing on scanner because it had not set the code. Then while idling the other day, the SES light came on. Sure enough, bad O2 sensor. Changed it and mileage went back up to where it had been. Bad thing is, I took a long time to notice it due to the short trips I had been taking in it.

 

Awesome price there Stewart! I love our sponsors!

 

Thanks for the info, I'll look into it. I guess the only way to know is to just change it right ?

 

I would scan it first as it may have a stored code that didn't keep the SES light on. My dually has 4 sensors at $80 a piece, not sure how many the Fords have. So, I made sure I had the correct one..My faulty one was on the left bank in the down exhaust pipe. Oh, and make it easier on yourself, if it is a bad sensor, and get the plug-n-play ones. Not the generic ones that you have to cut and connect the wires..

 

Damn, did think they where that pricey. I will for sure scan for codes, now I have to dig up the directions for my Scanguage and actually use it for something more than just monitoring.

 

This is what the back side, lower end of the reservoir tank looked like after I got it out. This is the exact place where all of our ambulances had there problems. As you can see, not much longer and I would have had a leak.

Also, if it doesn't leak coolant there, it would lose pressure here. See the cracks in the top?

 

Your Scanguage should be able to do it. It also could be a failing air flow sensor as well. Scan and see what you get.

 

I'm glad it all worked out for you. Makes me want hook up something big to mine and go for a stroll!! Great info and looking very hard at the Derale Tstat when I ever get off my butt and put in my 6.0 cooler.

 

You can check for those cracks/leaks by borrowing a tester from O'Reillys. It also has a cap tester on it which is how I discovered that 2 of my new caps were bad. A third one was good but didn't fit so that a 5 caps total I went through to get it fixed. Mine would just go into failsafe mode until fixed.

 

Well, no codes at all. I'll try changing the PCV valve. It might not be anything at all ..