2002 Ford Ranger Edge 3.0L gas mileage problem?

Hi,

I have an 03 with the 3.0 L and found around town mileage to be poor also, maybe 13 or 14. Highway is only about 20 mpg in good weather. They all seem to get piss poor mileage. I believed the damn sticker and thought it would get around 17 in town, my old 4 cylinder Rangers did. This engine will probably last forever but the mileage really is shitty.

Mine gets maybe 13-14 mpg in town and a steady 22 on the freeway. I drive stop and go freeway about 60 miles each day. Add a tad of around town driving and I get 21.4-21.9 mpg. I keep track of every drop of gas I use for tax reasons so I know I'm dead on. It hasn't changed since I bought the truck new in 02 about 50K miles ago. Have you considered having the Oxy Sensor checked and having the codes checked? A partially collapsed exhaust might cause this too.

I have an 02 Ranger 4x4 4L V6. Around town about 13-15. However this is in the colder weather -New Haven, CT -. Warmer weather I'll get another 2 mpg. I've always been disappointed with the mileage I get. I keep my tires overinflated, keep up with the maintenance, light on the pedal, ect.

Something's up. I get 350-360 miles out of a tank with my 3.0.

I'm driving a '99 Ranger 2WD five speed manual with the 3.0L flex fuel engine. I've had the truck for two years and get between 18 and 24 mpg.

Yup, and that you should. 350-360 miles on a tank would be 21-22 mpg.

Did you check the obvious ??

Like air filter , spark plugs etc.

Running 98 might only make it worst because higher octane burns slower and your ignition will adjust itself to make up for it never use higher octane to try and fix a problem

You also have to get a more reliable way to check fuel consumption, half a tank is not 8 gallons. Also class A fuel (Shell / Chevron) can drop your consumption with 1 to 2 miles a gallon city/highway

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These milages make me feel better about the 14mpg I'm getting from my 04

150, 5.4ltr....

Not doing a thing for the 9mpg I'm getting from my '02 F350, 6.8l :)

Something still isn't right. While the mileage isn't stellar in these trucks, it's not as bad as what you are getting. Since it's out of warranty the dealer will want payment to check it out but geez, there has got to be something mechanically wrong...a dragging caliper an misaligned rear end, a mild slip in the clutch a dragging drum in the rear, something.

After 48,000 miles my 2002 Ranger 4x4 4.0L automatic w/ 4.10 rear end is getting 16.5 mpg on average in 70/30 city/highway driving. Variance is somewhere between 15-18 mpg depending on how I drive and what I'm hauling. Generally I do everything other than baby it when I drive. First few fillups returned around 13-14 mpg, but at around

1,300 miles it settled down to where it is now.

A friend's '03 Ranger Edge 3.0L 5-speed 2wd does get ~23 mpg after

30,000+ miles.

Your engine may just not be broken in yet -- give it some time. Otherwise you might as well take it to the dealer. It's under warranty, have them look at it.

jh

"" wrote: > Something still isn't right. While the mileage isn't stellar > in these > trucks, it's not as bad as what you are getting. Since it's > out of warranty > the dealer will want payment to check it out but geez, there > has got to be > something mechanically wrong...a dragging caliper an > misaligned rear end, a > mild slip in the clutch a dragging drum in the rear, > something. > > > > -- > R. J. Talley > Teacher/James Madison Fellow > NAR #69594 > NRA #133073736

interesting you bring that up. There is a "rubbing" noise when I stop that is not constant but is kind of an on/off pattern. Almost like something is warped. However, I know my rotors are not warped because the front end doesn?t shake when I apply the brakes. The engine seems to be just a little under-powered as well. Does that sound like something is dragging and needs to be adjusted? I only hear the rubbing sound when I apply the brakes. Thanks for all the help, it would really be nice to figure this out.... especially with the gas prices. Thanks again!

Tony

Mark, Keep in mind that OVERINFLATION of your tires will actually HURT your gas milage. The reason for this is because it changes the "footprint" of the tire on the road, or the amount of tire you have in contact with the road. Overinflating tires lessens how much tire is on the road and contributes to slip. The more slip you have, the worse milage you will get. The same goes for UNDERinflated tires. Only with this, you have more tire on the road, and causes the engine to do more work to keep it moving. Both conditions also increase friction between the tire and road which will require more fuel. Go with what it says on the door sticker for your tire pressure. As far as my truck goes. I have a 2000 Ford Ranger 3.0L Flex Fuel with a

5spd trans, and 3.71 gears in the rear. I have had the truck since it had 100mi and it has 97000 now. I dont usually pay attention to my in town gas milage, but when I was driving long trips on the highway I would get 20-22 on the highway. Keep in mind when driving around town, that the slower the engine is turning when you shift, it requires taht much more fuel to provide the horsepower to maintain speed. I drive down the streets in 4th gear at 30-35mph with rpms in the range of 1500-2000 rpms, and if I have to speed up drastically then I downshift.

Hope this gives you some more insight..

The problem is that it is a 6.9Ltr V-10. They suck on gas, you should have went diesel and you could have gotten 12-14mpg city and 20-22 highway unloaded. Sucks to get the wrong engine... That V-10 is only a v-6 with 4 cyl added on the back end.

I am with John on this one. It took about 30,000 to break my engine in. I had a noticeable change in the amount of power and gas milage right away. It will just happen one day, and you will notice it. ALSO, use Chevron Fuel System Cleaner.. It sells at Wal-Mart for 5.97 a bottle. This will keep your Fuel Injectors, Cylinders, and O2 sensor clean. If you have a flex fuel you need to change that fuel filter once every 25000 for atleast the first 75000 miles, and it takes a special filter.. It has 3 tube connections on it.

That seems counterintuitive.

I'm with you here. Less "footprint" equals less friction. Less friction equals better milage.

This is where you lose me. Yes, if you have a lot of "slip" your milage will suffer. But are you really saying that you *are* going to have a lot of slip with (slightly to moderately) overinflated tires? Under "normal driving conditions"?

Every time I've looked at milage competitions or solar car competitions, invariably the winners had hard skinny tires, they aren't going for comfort here. And a lot of times, just three wheels, an easy way to get rid of 25% of the milage robbing friction in the design :) I would be interested if you can prove them wrong.

Hard to argue with that, but there are "tweaks" we can try :)

Don

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Don, I hear what you are saying, but lets look at a couple of other things. You say "Under "normal driving conditions"?" and in return I say "What do you consider normal driving conditions?" When you look at the fuel ratings on car stickers, you get the milage that the car would get under "Normal Conditions", but there is NO SUCH THING. If you look in the owners manual on every car manufactured and read what normal driving conditions are, you will find they dont exist. There is no place on earth that one can find "normal" driving conditions. Now when you talk about the amount of slip on the tire from an overpressurized tire then you have to take into account several factors. Some of these would be speed, wind direction, wind speed, drag, weight of the vehicle, etc, etc.... If you look at the electric cars that race, the reason they only have 3 wheels is becuase they are extremely light, and are balanced according to their design, this also helps cut down on drag. If you can point out ONE electric (completely Electric) car on the road today that is IDENTICAL to one of the cars that has raced in one of those races then I will bow down, but I dont think you will. You will also notice that those cars are designed to have no drag on them. Cars require a certain amount of tire on the road to prevent slip, to the amount allowed by the car designer because of the factors I have listed above, Especially when it comes to trucks. The other thing you have to look at when it comes to trucks, is that the drive wheels are on the rear of the vehicle, not the front. This reduces the amount of down force on the drive tires, and increases the amount of slip exponentially. So if you overinflate your tires, especially on the rear of a truck, then you have increased the amount of slip exponentially. The major problem with this is that roads are not perfectly flat, thats why we have shock absorbers and moveable suspension, and when you hit a bump, the rear of the vehicle comes down at a slower rate than the front. This increases the amount of time that the front (non-driven) wheels are on the ground, and the rear of the vehicle is in the air.. Now if you reduce the amount of air in the rear tires, to specified pressure, then the tires do part of the shock absorbers job, and thus the rear tires stay in contact with the ground more, and have less slip.

I hope this answers any questions you have.

p.s. there is also slip created from the mechanical drag caused by the front wheel bearings, brakes, 4X4(if applicable), the rear wheels have to push all this, and overinflating them will also shorten tire life as well as reduce gas milage.

"Donut" snipped-for-privacy@donut.net wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

<top posting only because the auto student is>

pkurtz,

You are taking my examples *way* to literally. The reason I put "normal driving conditions" in quotes is because I know there is no such thing. How about average driving conditions? You know, that state it which the vehicle is most often driven, that work for you?

And when I referred to the three wheeler's, that was just another example. So no, I wont be able to provide an identical car on the road that you ask for. That was never my intention.

Your argument still falls flat (no pun intended) to me.

Harder tires (more inflation) equals better milage. Softer tires (less inflation) equals worse milage. On average.

To take it to some extremes. If you are driving on ice, then an under inflated tire may increase your milage, as it provides a bigger footprint, thus more traction, and without traction, you'd be slipping. Of course your milage would be way worse than normal, but you might be able get somewhere.

On the other hand, if you are driving around in a place with little precipitation, let alone the frozen kind, then a smaller footprint would be good for your milage, and you *can* achieve this by overinflating your tires.

Not saying you should, mind you, you do have to factor in the altered wear. Higher risk of puncture, and most likely shortened life of the tires. And of course, less foot print equals less effective braking.

I really just don't buy your argument that there would be significant "slip". If your driving so fast that your vehicles tires are leaving the road surface, then you aren't too worried about milage I'd guess :) And even at moderate speeds, wouldn't inertia negate most of the alleged "slip"?

You used the word "exponentially" twice. As that is a mathematical term, and you are an auto student, I suppose you could produce the study or research that provides those numbers. You probably have easier access than I would, so I'd appreciate seeing them, or links to them.

And if you're curious about the comment I put at the top of this post in <>'s...

Don

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