I'm sure this subject has come up before, but I just calculated the milage I'm getting on my 96 F150, 2 wheel drive, long bed, with the 4.9 Liter straight 6. I drive about 60/40, highway/city, and I calculated my milage to be about 14.3 MPG, which is a little less than I was expecting. My 04 F150, 2 wheel drive, long bed, driving about the same highway/city ratio gets about 16 MPG, and it has the 4.6 Liter V8. What does everyone else average with their 4.9 straight 6?

Also, I cleaned the engine in the 96 a week ago using Castrol super clean, and hot water. The truck has almost 114,000 miles on it, and the engine compartment looks almost brand new! The engine doesn't leak a drop of oil, but it did have acumulated grime all over it, and the power steering pump was caked with fluid. The Castrol super clean is so powerful, it took the brand name off of the oil filter, I don't know if they use ink or paint to put their name on the filter, but it just looks like a generic white filter now!

 

That's really about right for the 4.9L. They were known for durability, but not fuel economy.

I used to have a '95 with the 4.9L and a 5 speed and never got above 17 in strictly highway driving.

 

When my 96 had 3.08 gears it delivered 19 highway/14 city. Now it has 3.73s and gives 16 everywhere. The 4.9 was designed to pull, fuel economy was never a serious design criterion. Put a 5000 lb. trailer on the back of both trucks and see what happens to the fuel consumption. The 4.9 will lose 1-2 MPG, the 4.6 will develop a major drinking problem.

 

Well my 94' model with now 219K pulls 16-19mpg without much of a problem.

 

A few years ago, I calculated the mileage in my 95 F150 SC, 4.9L, 5spd, 3.55, and it was around 15 mpg. My truck is loaded with tools, and the last time I had it on the scales, it right around 6000 pounds. Also, I drive it like it was a V8. I'm very hard on my truck.

Anyway, discouraged with the results I got, I found a cure; I haven't calculated the mileage since. Works wonderful.

 

California 'clean' gas has a lower energy content than that found in most parts of the country. Not less octane, just less BTU's per gallon. That really seems to kill the mpg in Ford Trucks. My buddy had several 4.9 liter extended cabs w/5 speed and rarely got over 15 mpg on Bay Area gas.

BTW, the motor is also known for low end torque in addition to reliability. It is very old tech and is just not ever going to get great mileage. Great truck motor, though.

 

I get about 15 mpg with about 90% city.

 

not a great deal over 10 mpg unfortunatly.