I would consider part of the dealer's advice.

Vary your stations.

Are you frequenting the same station? That station could have cheap gas that requires that you give more throttle to get the power. Or pumps that are not calibrated properly.


Keep the log book and switch stations each time.


A 5.4 with 4x4 in winter WILL get bad mileage and the extra 2 mpg you are losing could be a bad pump/bad gas/other.

Maybe you have a cheapo in the neighbourhood siphoning gas from you thinking you wont notice it on the large tank.

 

From both the 2004 F 150's I've had since September (One 4x2 and one 4x4) I have a total mileage of 5000.
That is long distance highway travel, city (Houston in rush hour), and a little bit of off road.

The consistent, and overall consumption is 13.8.

Seems to fit in with sticker expectations and other users experiences.

Hope your mileage improves or you get it resolved.

Because even with your gas prices over there at a quarter of ours, it doesn't make any sense to be paying over the odds.

 

Just a thought, but maybe your computer has some bad info and thinks you're a lead foot. If I'm not mistaken, you can reset your computer by disconnecting the battery for several minutes. After the computer resets, drive like a feather foot for the next several miles and see if the shift patterns and injection info doesn't recurve itself. Just an idea. Can't really hurt.

 

Heck, I have a V-10 and I get better gas mileage than you guys!! I get 12.5 around town, an 16-18 for a cross country trip.

I have an F-250 SD, SC, LB, V-10, 4x4.

 

Best thing to do is keep a log (as someone mentioned earlier). Easiest way I've found to do it is run the tank until it's below 1/4, fill it up, write the mileage on the fuel reciept and toss it in the console. After a couple of weeks I add up all the gallons/miles and do the math. I don't think you'll ever get an accurate reading if you fill up with more than 3/4 tank already left.

I have the 5.4l, 18", 3.73 and I get maybe 12+ mostly city driving.

 

I will run this one empty and post my findings. As far as resetting the computer...FX4 doesn't have the mpg display Lariat has. All the computing is manuallly.

As far as Packers, I am Rochester, MN but I hope Farve will win this and put an awesome ending to a bad season (speaking of his father, of course)

I am using 87 octane and varying my service stations.

After I use this next tank, (and if I don't see any results) I will go to Zumbrota Ford or go to the cities and see how their service dept is and if they can assist. Thanx for all the input.

Financially it is NEVER acceptable to trade out two 1/2 mos after buying but if this continues over years and years, that's where the finacnial part of the equation comes into play.

I plan on doing everything in my power to keep this AWESOME machine...I hope things will improve.

Thanx...

 

Normally Im 100% Cheese Free but Im rooting for the Pack too. I would enjoy seeing them win another Super Bowl. Then we can say that the Vikes beat the Super Bowl Champs!

Would much rather be rooting for the Vikes right now but the wonderful NFL officiating team took care of that for us. Three blind refs, three blind refs...

Anyhow, it will be interesting to see what the mpg is on a full tank. Good luck with getting it taken care of.

 

Get one of those fuelman cards like I have. It shows on the monthly statement your miles driven and gallons used and it computes it for you. Very nice. I have a '04 FX4 Screw and get around 15.8 all around driving. Good luck

 

fuelman card?

 

YellowFX4Screw,

This might not help at all, but maybe it'll comfort you.

For the longest time, I thought I was getting 9 city/ 11 highway. After all, my truck is lifted, and at the time i only had the 3.55 gears so the truck spent more time in the higher RPM band than it does now with 4.56 gears. I calculated in the larger tires, and just about everything I could think of and still was getting between 9-11. For months and months, I complained about bad fuel mileage, added fuel injector cleaner, k&n air filter, etc., trying to boost the mpg up.
Then, one day, I ran out of gas. I had been in a hurry and thought that I had more gas than I obviously did. (Damn Fuel light comes on earlier than it should IMO, but anyways) When I rolled in the gas station to fill up, I filled the tank up to 24.2 gallons. While there is no significant difference between 24-25 gallons at first sight it can easily make a 1mpg difference in calculations.
This was interesting, I thought to myself, since I am supposed to have a 25 gallon tank. I usually filled up to the point that the pump clicked off (thinking that meant it was full or at least close) but I have come to find that many times the automatic thing clicks off much sooner than need be, sometimes by a gallon. Plus, each pump knowns when to turn off the click by fumes, not by a more accurate means. To make things short, sometimes I was putting in 23 gallons of gas thinking that i must have had 2 gallons left when i pulled into the station, when indeed i might have only had .5-1 gallon left.
To make a long story short, after thinking that I had been getting only 9-11, I recalculated with all of these new variables to discover I was getting 11-14. While this is not anywhere near great gas mileage, it goes to show that there can sometimes be a lot of error involved in these calculations that we might not even realize.
I'm sure you've thought it through a lot, and while I know you are discouraged, I must leave you with this thought. Even if you save 2-3 bucks per fillup, and if you fill up once a week like I do, than you are only saving $100-150 a year. While no cash is petty cash IMO, its really not a huge ordeal. I spend about $36/week on gas on my ride. Even another $5/week isn't really gonna break me at this point.
Now, had I gone from a hybrid car to this, I would be very .

Guess my point is, make sure you are taking in all of the variables. Many times we rely too much on computers and pumps and turn off valves to really know if we are getting exactly what we are supposed too. I now calculate my tank as a 24.3 gallon tank, since it never has been able to fill up more than that.

Good luck with your endeavor. Hopefully, the gas mileage will go up or you'll make a couple hundred more bucks a year and keep the truck anyways.

If we could just get these damn trucks to run on methane gas. I got plenty of that around.

 

I have 5.4, 3.73 rear and 235/75/17 tires and get 14.5 mpg doing mostly highway @ 75 mph and a little city. Truck only has 3000 miles on it. It is a Scab 4x4. My 2000 Scab with 4.6L, 3.55 got about the same mileage so I think I am about right.

Seems like you definitly have a problem.

Go Eagles!!

 

I have 5.4, 4x4 Lariat SC 3.73 gears & my truck from day 1 has been the same 12.2 mpg 3300 miles

 

I drive like a dumb *** and still get 11-14 mpg. If you're seriously getting 8 there's a problem! It's true you can't really get an accurate read on just a couple gallons of gas.

I guess you need to also consider the question of if you WERE getting 13 or even 14 mpg would you Then be able to afford the gas? Like other's said, it's a truck and gets poor mileage regardless. But the amount of money you'll lose getting rid of it so soon could buy a LOT of gas as well... Decisions, decisions..

Personally I have a motorcycle as well and run most errands on it when weather permits. 40mpg! But sadly, they don't make studded snow tires that'll fit my bike.

 

I was in the installation and service of petroluem fueling equipment for 5 years. From the tank to the nozzle and any electronics related to the fuel system. There are so many variables when discussing the accurate measurement of fuel that it can make your head spin. Everything from tempature compensated volume to dispenser calibration to softwall/hardwall hoses to faulty valving in the dispenser, ect..

It sounds like it was only 1 time that you got 8.3 mpg. You have done the right thing and documented the situation with Ford, now a little patience and check your mpg after you've run a couple tanks through.

You also stated in another post:

How many times is quite a few? And how long each time?
Also how long were the trips? I ask because if you have had it as cold as we have lately(below 20 degrees), short trips may not give the drivetrain time to loosen up. The rear end lube must be thicker that molasses at say, 0 degrees.

Maybe its time for a road trip? Good excuse to take one and get an accurate hiway mpg measurement.

 

As a side note- my GMC 1500 work truck(305 engine) averaged 8.1 mpg on 27 gallons when I checked it today. It does idle a lot however. It normally gets 10.5 average around town in the summer with no idle time.