Gas Mileage
#11
winter gas and gas with ethanol will lower your MPGs, try finding gas without 10% ethanol and you will get 2-3 mpg better. Also when the mix switches to summer gas you will get better mileage. I was getting 16-20 depeding on how i was driving last summer, only getting 12-16 in the winter. I have autostart and let it run for a while and warm up a lot and my current average is around 12.6, but thats lots of short trips, in town driving, get 16 or so highway.
But after reading all of your posts, I guess my 12.5 mpg is mostly my own fault. 1 - I have a lead foot, 2 - I warm the truck up sometimes in winter, 3 - I do mostly city driving (95%), and 4- I use the ethanol gas mix. But I reiterate, the truck stays! (I'll cut back on cable or something)
#13
How are you calculating you MPG? The computer in my 2010 F-150 XLT says 12.6. However, simply dividing tue number of miles on my Trip Meter by the number of gallons I fill my tank up with I get 17.8; the last time I filled up I had driven 411 miles and used 23 gallons of gas to fill up.
#15
Higher octane fuel is a joke. The only motor I have felt I difference in with high octane fuel was my Honda cbr. I have a platinum with a recently installed 50 series flowmaster and a k & n filter and I have seen 20 on the highway. Keep in mind that's not my avg, I do alot of highway driving and my truck avg 14mpg. Its my fault it's so low bc I usually cycle my remote start twice to get it warm in the morning. You might think about getting an exhaust and filter (cost me about 250) and that will help your economy a bit
#16
Senior Member
iTrader: (1)
<rant>
Ethanol mixed gas really pisses me off. The positives definitely do not out weigh the negatives. Personally, my motorcycles' gas tanks are plastic and deform because of the crap mix. Never had an issue before and getting non-mixed fuel is almost impossible in northern NJ.
As everyone has been discussing, ethanol mixed gas also lowers mpg. The biggest problem is that ethanol does not mix well with gasoline. It separates in the tanks so you can get 1% or 20% at the same gas station depending on the amount of gas in the tanks.
And they're trying to push 15% across america. Sucks for anyone with a vehicle over a few yrs old, not to mention any motor (motorcycles, lawn equipment, generators, etc). 15% will drastically reduce motor life for those that weren't designed for crap fuel.
</rant>
Ethanol mixed gas really pisses me off. The positives definitely do not out weigh the negatives. Personally, my motorcycles' gas tanks are plastic and deform because of the crap mix. Never had an issue before and getting non-mixed fuel is almost impossible in northern NJ.
As everyone has been discussing, ethanol mixed gas also lowers mpg. The biggest problem is that ethanol does not mix well with gasoline. It separates in the tanks so you can get 1% or 20% at the same gas station depending on the amount of gas in the tanks.
And they're trying to push 15% across america. Sucks for anyone with a vehicle over a few yrs old, not to mention any motor (motorcycles, lawn equipment, generators, etc). 15% will drastically reduce motor life for those that weren't designed for crap fuel.
</rant>
#17
Senior Member
I have the same truck as the OP with the 5.5 bed. I have just over 3000 miles and from day 1 I have always averaged 16+ mpg. I have reset the trip/mpg setting and manually checked against the computer. Not very much difference as the comp seems to be pretty close.
I always use 87 octane and about 50/50 with city/hwy. I do drive with a soft foot so I know that helps the mpg. I know that 5.4 will suck fuel if I let it ;-)
I always use 87 octane and about 50/50 with city/hwy. I do drive with a soft foot so I know that helps the mpg. I know that 5.4 will suck fuel if I let it ;-)
#18
Senior Member
iTrader: (1)
Higher octane fuel is needed for high compression engines. That's why you notice on your cbr which has a compression ratio of about 13:1. I run super on my motorcycles (KTM 950 adventure, 450 exc, 450 xcf).
A gallon of regular gas has more energy(power) than a gallon of super. The reason for higher octane is so it doesn't burn as fast in high compression engines, causing detonation.
Basically, use the lowest octane you can for your vehicles.
#19
Originally Posted by BobbyC
Not really.
Higher octane fuel is needed for high compression engines. That's why you notice on your cbr which has a compression ratio of about 13:1. I run super on my motorcycles (KTM 950 adventure, 450 exc, 450 xcf).
A gallon of regular gas has more energy(power) than a gallon of super. The reason for higher octane is so it doesn't burn as fast in high compression engines, causing detonation.
Basically, use the lowest octane you can for your vehicles.
#20
Hmm, maybe gearing differences are negligible. I have a FX4 with the 3.73, and similar miles, and I get about the same mileage so far