I have just turned 94,000 miles on my 2004 XLT 4x4 and my gas mileage sucks!

When it was new I was able to get about 400 miles on a tank of gas. Granted that was before they started adding ethanol to the gas.

Now I'm BARELY getting 300 miles per tank.

Next month I'm planning on a 3000+ mile trip with my truck pulling an enclosed sled trailer.

What can I do to increase MPG's?

I am going to talk to two local stealerships this week about a tune up:

1. Plug Change
2. O2 sensors
3. MAF
4. Fluids

What else should I be looking at for a tune up/mpg increase before a 3 thousand mile journey?!

Thanks!!

 

Fuel filter kills mileage... should be done every 10-15k... check for the emergency brake rubbing too

 

Clean the tb
Clean the maf
Change the fuel filter

Proper air inflation in the tires.

Drive slower.

 

Miles per tank is immaterial - what is your actual miles per gallon?

 

buy chevron or shell gasoline 93 octane. change air filter, fuel filter, wires plugs, dist cap, proper inflation of the tires. synthetic oil, fuel injection cleaner, oh a make your wife loose weight. that way your truck will be running at its top efficiency for its age.

 

Clean your MAF sensor, easy and cheap to do (there is a writeup on here and it takes about 4 min to complete) $5 for MAF cleaner at local auto parts store

Clean your throttle body $70 or so at dealership, $5 at home and a couple hours
Check your PSI in your tires= free
Clean your air filter= $4 for a air filter cleaner kit if you have a K & N drop in or the like
Change your fuel filter $80 at dealership, $4 for fuel line tool and $12 for filter at dealership

 

Putting higher octane fuel than what your truck requires will not help MPG, may even hurt it more. But using a quality gas like from top tier supplier is always a good idea. 04-08 Trucks do not have dist. caps or wires. At that mileage a plug change may be in order if not already done.

 

Bigger wheels and tires plus the 10% ethanol cost me a total of about 3 mpg. Ethanol is about a 10% loss, by itself.

 

Do you seem like you are down on power? My dad had one of his COP go bad on his v10 and he lost 2mpg. It was bad for a long time without his knowledge.

 

Thanks for all the replies guys.

I've been to lazy to figure out the actual mileage, I normally just reset the trip odometer.

I run 35's in the summer; so I expect to crap mileage, but for winter I'm running stock 265's BFG A/T's that I've aired up a little.

My local Stealer-ship I went to wanted $400 plus parts and $85 per each plug broken. I tried to bargain with them saying that I would pay for half of the broken plugs if they picked up the rest. "No deal" the service manager said. He did acknowledge that it was a poor design by Ford. But he would not agree to eat some of the cost of broken plugs. He said that they did not have good luck removing plugs and have broken almost all that they tried. Then they wanted $130 for a coolant flush. I politely declined and walked out.

I drove another 20 minutes down the road to the next dealership. The service manager actually laughed when I told him what the other guy told me. He is going to charge me $130 plus parts and labor for plugs. $45 for the first two broken plugs then he'll eat the rest. $89 for a coolant flush, (I forget the transfer cases fluid charge), Fuel filter, changing wires for plugs if needed, tire rotation and something else. To top it off, they gave me a 2011 Fusion as a loner car at no additional charge! Total quote is $413 if I remember correctly.

Yesterday I was only "shopping" for quotes, but I decided to leave my truck at the second dealer since he was more reasonable. Future maintenance will now be handled by this dealer.

 

That gets me. I am shocked they can put 10% ethanol when a car has to be marked when it's 15%. Does the 5% really change how the car has to be engineered?

 

You are looking at that the wrong way. E85 is up to 85% ethanol - not another 5%. E85 requires different injectors, fuel trims, pcm paramters and has a different stoichiometric than gasoline.

 

Woow!! IFyou are getting all of that work done for $400, I would not hesitate. I do all of my own work, but that is so cheap Iwould let them do the work. I know guys that spent more than that for the plugs (must have gone to the 1st dealer).

I understand the plug issue is a Ford design problem, but the dealer (any dealer) is a franchisee, and has not fault with the design. For them to eat the cost of the plug repairs is really not fair - they did not screw up the plug design. Ford is the culprit, and they should be the ones to eat the cost. I am surprised that the legal system has not forced Ford to do the labor for free...they have tsb's about the plug issue, and have even designed removal tools to compensate for the poor design. Why does the customer have to pay for the mess up? Why should the individual dealer have to pay?

Many dealers do eat the cost (I go to one here) as a gesture to keep customers happy and hope they will return. But, it is truly not their responsibility.

Anyway, go for the gold....the 2nd dealer is a gem!

 

What dealer ship is this? I am near Green Bay and thinking about the plug change soon.

 

Work was done at:

Eric von Schledorn Ford
W4873 County Road RR
Random Lake, WI, 53075

Total Damages: One broken plug and total $439.

Work Included:
1. Plug Change
2. Wires Replaced.
3. Replace Fuel Filter.
4. Engine Coolant Flush.
5. Change Transfer Cases Oil.
6. Tire Rotation.

And free rental car (2010 Fusion).

Expensive, but not as expensive as what it could have been I guess.