Gas Mileage stinks

My 1986 Ford 3/4 ton van with a 6 cylinder 300 c.i gas engine got 3 mpg in the winter and 8mpg in the summer. And to think I put up with that long enough to get 250,000 miles on it. I sold it to a guy who put another 75,000 mile on it, than the engine blew. That truck was the picture perfect rust bucket, but, man if those walls could talk! If the van"s a rockin".....NEVER let your son get a cargo van for his 1st vehicle!

Roger

I went looking a couple years ago for a base, simple, 4cyl import PU and they were almost non existent then.

People still just dont understand the effect that has on milage, and blame it on the engine.

Kinda tuff to change it with 4wd, have to change both. I had an OLD F-100 with a 352 in it, got 10-12 mpg, changed the gears to 3.07 (i think it was) and got a steady 25mpg at 75mph on the hiway. and that was back in 1976. I've been buying trucks based on that rear end ever since.
My current 1997 K2500 6.5 turbo Diesel gets 20+ at 70mph, and its got 230,000 miles on it. It will still pull a loaded trailer just fine, yes the mpg goes to hell when hauling but i dont pull most of the time.

I've got four diesel trucks right now with 3.08 axles and none can get 25 MPG.

I had a 1964 Sunbeam Tiger sports-car (Carol Shelby designed) with a stock small-block Ford 260 V-8, two-barrel carb and 3.07 axle coupled to a four-speed manual trans. Whole car only weighed 2200 lbs. It got 22 MPG with it once on a long trip. And, that was a lot lighter and more aerodynamic than any Ford pickup. And - I was a member of a Sunbeam Tiger club and knew many other owners. All reported the same sort of mileage and some had 2.70 rear-axles.

My little Isuzu mini-4Wd truck with a 2.2 diesel gets 27 MPG at best.

My best 6.2 diesel (379 cubic inches) in a 1/2 ton Chevy 4WD truck with 3.08 axles and a four-speed manual with a .7 overdrive gets 24 MPG at best.

I went with my dad in 1959 to pick up the only new car he bought in my lifetime. It was advertised as Ford's best fuel-mileage rig. A two-door business coupe (as they called it back then) with the "Mileage-maker Six" that was 223 cubic inches. Three speed stick on the column, manual choke, high rear-axle ratio, and windshield wipers that ran off the fuel-pump and stopped whenever you stomped on the gas pedal. He verified once, on a 400 mile highway trip at 60 MPH that it got a whopping 19.5 MPG which he thought was pretty impressive. Maybe at the time, it was.

Computer chips are stupid. If the factory saw more opportunities to engineer for better gas mileage, they would have done so.

Bottom line is, if he wanted gas mileage for ROAD TRIPS ONLY- he should have bought anything with a 4 or 6 cylinder engine in it. Either that, or borrow a car.

There are no miracles for gas mileage- just common sense.

It is every day that I hear of someone trying to get better gas mileage out of something with a V8 in it, even after they put monstrous tires on it.

Not much you can do to improve mileage with chips.

Only ideas that may help a little are changing to a smaller highway tread tire. Those all terrain truck tires get heavy. A gear swap to a higher ratio may help also. In the end, you may get your mpg up to 14-15..

As mentioned in earlier replys, slowing down will make a difference. My 05 Dodge 3500 with a cummins/6speed will hover around 19mpg empty if you keep her around 2000 rpms, 12-14 mpg pulling a 24' goose neck with an MD and 70D aboard. Run the crap out of it like you had to be there yesterday and it will drop to 14-15 empty/8-10 loaded. With the price of diesel as it is she only comes out to play when really needed and sometimes on "date" night when driving the old minivan just doesn't look good!

I had 4.8 liter 99 GM extended cab 5 speed--avg 19mpg

5.3 " 01 " AT " 15.5 mpg 5.3 05 " " " " 15.8 mpg

The cheapest way to improve mileage is to slow down. Interstate speed limit is between 75 and 80 mph depending on where you are. I never drive that fast unless I am in the Camry.

Face it if he only needs transportation, he sure is hauling around a lot of scrap metal for the ride. Add some pulling power low gears, and replace some of the gasoline with oxygenating compounds like alcohol, and it starts to add up, or down.

Remember a number of years ago when almost all the pickups running around were 4cylinder Toyotas and Nissans? When an American truck came with a v-6 except unless when special ordered with something larger.

It's the American way. Spend money!

Even with gas approaching $5 a gallon, TV commercials still praise the mighty horsepower and crew/club cab. Add all the extra size for safety, and the ability to see over the guy in front of you.

I found out last weekend why so many had purchased these off road 3/4 ton 4X4 super trucks. So they could haul that one big load of a 56" flat-screen home from the store!

If these off road 4X4 super trucks are so tough why do they stop and creep over the measly little speed bumps in every parking lot?

Sorry to drop a load in your thread but if he want mileage, loose weight and drop some displacement.

I guess if you wait a year or two he could drop $75,000 and get a new hybrid pickup with astonishingly good 16mpg

However, this new one gets 13.8 to 14 wheather it's loaded or bone empty. That really torques me off! :>(

It's almost as if "high fuel usage" was built into the newer ones. What's wrong with that picture anyway?

Allan

This was the "re-new" year around this outfit; Geeze! 7 years goes fast!

Anyhoo, I traded for a new Power Stroke and the wife for a new Navigator.

Okay, fast forward: Pickup sees a constant 14 and the wifes car will "nudge" 17.

Now, what I did was to shut off the fuel readout on the pickup and it "kinda" makes the hurt go away some if I can't see it. Out of sight, out of mind? Just plain parking the dirty rat helps the most. :>)

Wife doesn't put on a thousand miles a year, so that one doesn't smart quite so much, but still.

These new vehicles just plain suck when it comes to mileage. Everyone is bellerin' about it.

I mostly drive my old beater Chey 'cause it'll go two weeks on a tankful of fuel. Go figure.

Allan

No, I would probably rather keep my wife, well, and my life if she was to read this.