Getting better gas mileage

What are some modifications i can make to my 2000 ford explorer xlt 4.0 v6 SOHC to get better mileage?

Reply to
thedxsaint
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Higher tire pressure is one of 'em. Drive slower is another- if you drive 70 in a brick-shaped vehicle, you're mileage is going to be lousy. Get rid of the excess weight, if you're hauling around a bunch of heavy stuff.

"Drive less" works for me- rather than doing a trip today and another tomorrow, I'm waiting til tomorrow to do both.

Then there's the motorcycle, which gets over 50 mpg. I take that when I can.

There's no magic bullet to double your gas mileage, but if you drive half as much you achieve the same savings.

It may be unAmerican, but I'm thrifty. When the price of coffee or gas or whatever jumps, I cut back on it.

-Paul

Reply to
carbide

Your mileage will improve as the price of gas increases.

Bob

Reply to
Bob

You can cut back on other areas as well. For me, it means drinking Budweiser instead of Corona Light.

Reply to
Mikepier

Reply to
Big Shoe

... and there are always those rare-earth magnets that one tie-wraps over the fuel line. The helical field supertwists the carbohydrate molecules just before entering the intake manifold, resulting in at least 23% improvement of combustion efficiency. A 37% increase in peak horse power is an added bonus. Confirmed by carefully controlled studies from several leading scientific institutions.

Reply to
Happy Traveler

Sigh. We're drinking Miller Lites now instead of Corona Extras - half the price, but only about half the buzz, too.

My '91 EB 4x4, 200K got an engine rebuild about four months ago. It had some teething problems - lousy mileage, check engine light on, and so forth. He finally "cleaned the injectors" and that seemed to do the trick - no check engine light and the best mileage I've ever gotten (20 mpg mixed) for a couple of months.

Took it back in last month for some front end work. He popped the hood to listen to the engine (it still had a bit of lifter noise) and noticed a vacuum line was off - I think it was to the defroster or something like that. He plugged it back in, I left (having made an appointment for the front end work) - and was most annoyed to see the return of the check engine light and have my mileage plunge back to 13 or so.

After much scratching of heads, the mechanic finally concluded that my catalytic converter was a bit stopped up, which was causing the O2 sensor to trigger the check engine light (and the computer to keep the engine running full rich - thus the lousy mileage). However, the unintended vacuum leak apparently counteracted that and kept the engine running a bit on the lean side instead!

I don't have a new catalytic converter yet and at the $400 quote for replacement parts and labor it may get 'converted' into a straight pipe. However, I did pull that vacuum line back out, and now it's running fine and getting 20 mpg with no check engine light. I'm told that replacing the clogged cat with a straight pipe will also encourage the engine to run lean, so I can plug that vac line back in and have good mileage AND a working defroster...what do you think?

Reply to
John D. Goulden

"Rare-earth" magnets??! Bah! The pro's use supercooled superconducing magnets. You pull up behind a semi, hit the juice to the magnet, and the semi pulls you along. ;-)

-Paul

Reply to
carbide

That seems highly unlikely. The vacuum leak really only affects idle. If your catalytic converter was "stopped up" how could disconnecting a vacuum line instantly unstop it?

More likely there's a problem with whatever the other end of that vacuum line connects to.

-Paul

Reply to
carbide

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