cold weather = poor milage?

[stickyjazz]

I have noticed that my mileage is down quite a bit during cold weather. At first i thought it had to do with idling the engine to warm up before the am and pm commute, so I decreased it to a minute but it does not help.

I have a 98 2.5l w atx....usually I get 475 km/s tank. In cold weather, i am not breaking 400km/s a tank.

Anyone have same experience or do I have a problem with me car?

 

[BrApple]

yes the cold weather does decrase gas milage .... check your tire pressures, make sure the e-brake isn't sticking if you use it. make sure your regular maintinence is up to date with filters, etc ...

 

[Tony2005]

Normal. With the cold weather, engine takes longer to warm up. So, it is on high idle for a longer time. In addition, the DEF and FLR/DEF also turns on the A/c (to dry out the air) even when you have it on heat.

 

[elraido]

And with cold air being more dense than warm air, the engine needs to add a little more fuel to get the right mixture

 

[Big Jim]

Biggest thing is the time it takes the engine to fully warm up. It is not just the higher idle. It is also the richer mixture while it is in "choke" mode and it is also that the cylinders themselves tend to be wasteful until the cylinders and combustion chambers are fully warmed up.

 

[cliff7080]

96 contour 2.0 4 cyl.

Most of my driving is on the highway, very little in town. Usually 100+ miles each trip, so warm up shouldn't be a big issue or have too much effect. I;m down from over 30MPG to around 25 or 26.

I was thinking it might have something to do with the gas blends. I know the winter gas is different to the summer gas.

 

[AliasJerk]

it is entirely normal, during the summer/spring/fall my contour would average anywhere between 29 - 36, now if I drive like an old man I can barely get 29, and if I have any bit of a lead foot I average about 26.

It drastically decreases when you have the car idleing, believe it or not, idle takes quite a bit of fuel to sustain.

 

[andy]

winter gas blend

winter gas blend

I think the winter blend gas has something to do with it as well. I get 3-4 MPG drop every winter. Plus with poor weather conditions I brake earlier and more often (as opposed to just coasting during other seasons) and therefore have to accelerate more. Might not seem much, but adds up...

 

[mcgarvey]

Cold weather has a huge effect on these cars, it seems. IMO there are a few reasons:

1. more time idling/warming up

2. winter gas blend has fewer btus per gallon

3. fuel does not vaporize as readily when injected into cold air, causing an incomplete burn and less power produced per power stroke

4. cold air is denser, which means that the throttle position you're used to is actually allowing more air and thus more fuel into the combustion chamber

5. (and this one is marginal at best) Denser air creates more drag against the body of the car, resulting in more fuel consumption to maintain the same speed.

 

[RedStarMN]

mine gets even worse when its realy cold as I have to hold the pedal down for a few min just to keep it idaling and not shut off again before it can drive...but thats only when its like 0 or colder ...and it was -10 the last few days. sucked ass..I have not got a chance to go over it, but I was going to check the MAS, I know its pulling a Cat code as well on my service engine light, so I am sure that does not help. I just need some time and warmth to look at it a bit.

 

[mikeswartz]

if you feel that your drop in fuel mileage is excessive, this is the time of year that a coolant sensor can go bad. if the coolant sensor goes bad and reads that the engine is too cold it will keep the fuel mixture rich resulting in lower mpg's. the downside is that when this happens it usually doesn't illuminate the check engine light and a snap on or ford handheld needs hooked up to read what the coolant sensor is acutally reading. i went through this last winter in my mystique/zetec.

 

[RedStarMN]

I would not have thought of that...how much MPG difference did it make? Mine sucks ass, but I have no warm air mpg to put it against, and it the 2.5 vs the 2.0 I had before..then again its also a bigger fuel tank and its still lower Miles per tank.