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Shouldn't I be getting better mileage?

L

Liquid_force

CEG'er
Joined
Oct 12, 2007
Messages
148
Location
Lawrence, KS
Hey -
We haven't had ideal weather yet as far as MPG, but I've never seen my zetec auto do better than 27, it's usually ~25. From what I've been reading 30 is pretty common.

My driving is 95% to and from work - 50 mi round trip, about 10 mi in town and 40 mi at ~60mph on the two lane.
I don't drive hard - I used to drive a 2.3L turbo, no matter how I hard I pushed it, this little thing could never measure up.

It's bone stock. New plugs, wires, tires.

Am I worrying to much or do you think there are things I could try that might get me closer to 30?
 
Haven't pulled the egr, but I can definitely take a few minutes and do that.

Hadn't considered the e10 issue, but the one scientific study I could find tested a 2005 Taurus with a 3.0 and found it to do <1mpg worse with e10. Doesn't really explain my ~5mpg problem. There was also a Toyota 4 cyl with no change, and a Chevy 3.4L with almost no change.
 
Liquid_force said:
Hadn't considered the e10 issue, but the one scientific study I could find tested a 2005 Taurus with a 3.0 and found it to do <1mpg worse with e10. Doesn't really explain my ~5mpg problem. There was also a Toyota 4 cyl with no change, and a Chevy 3.4L with almost no change.
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Dont buy into any scientific gas mileage studies. After all they're the ones who do such a bad job of estimating gas mileage in the first place.
 
Dyoel182 said:
When is the last time you popped your EGR valve off to check for carbon buildup?
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Zetecs dont have carbon buildup issues and looking at his sig. its a 98+ so it doesnt even have EGR.

95pgt-t said:
you'll lose mileage if the gas out there has ethanol in it.
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The ethanol will hurt but only a little. i suspect its more likely that its just cause its an ATX.
 
don't trust scientific studies?? Wow, that's an interesting perspective...

Anyway - The API, who would logically want ethanol to be inefficient, (so they can sell more petroleum) did a study on 1989 vehicles and found mileage loss from use of E10 to average 2.6%.
A similar study done on 2001-2003 cars and light trucks found a loss of 1.4%

The heating value of ethanol is about 2/3 that of straight gasoline, but when it's blended at a 9:1 ratio the resulting loss in energy is pretty slight.

The moral of the story is e10 might have a minor impact, but were talking fractions of a mpg, certainly not several mpg.

I found this to be an informative read:
http://www.americanfuels.info/2008/03/ethanol-and-fuel-mileage.html
 
Liquid_force said:
don't trust scientific studies?? Wow, that's an interesting perspective...
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I wasnt being sarcastic. Look at how bad they goof on some cars real world gas mileage and then tell me you believe an ethanol blend is only going to cost you a fraction of a mpg.
 
95pgt-t said:
i heard 10% gas mileage decrease w/the ethanol blend:shrug:
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That's the number I've heard, too, and it strikes me as just about right, though the math that Liquid Force cites would suggest otherwise. I do miss the old methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) days, as it yielded better fuel economy and was also less corrosive.

For what it's worth, I just filled up the other day and observed 24.3 miles per gallon on the previous tank. Driving was comprised of some suburban cruising and light highway work, and commuting in Boston traffic 40 miles a day for five days. Further, I take great care of the car, but I don't drive like an old lady. If I want to put my foot in it, I put my foot in it. I was most pleased with this mileage.

On the current tank, I've not yet tripped the fuel light -- I'm just a slight bit north of 1/8 on the gauge and have about 295 miles on the trip odo. The numbers on this tank should be even better than the last.
 
A side question: when does the fuel light trip? I didnt see it in the manual.

I'm hoping to see 100 miles per quarter tank but that might be a little optimistic.
 
Dyoel182 said:
A side question: when does the fuel light trip? I didnt see it in the manual.

I'm hoping to see 100 miles per quarter tank but that might be a little optimistic.
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I think there are a number of schools of thought on this, but mine comes on at just under 1/8 of a tank.

With the four-banger, that's not totally out of line. In fact, you're doing it now. 27 to the gallon will net you 405 miles with a 15 gallon tank. You can't go by the gauge for this calculation, as it cries wolf, reading fuller as a precaution.

For me to hit those numbers with the SVT, I'd have to be doing some serious steady-state highway cruising.
 
Dyoel182 said:
Nope not that either. Plenty of people have noted noticeable worse gas mileage with the blends so whats so hard to believe?
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At some point you have to take basic math into consideration to determine if Joe Local's mileage calculations are within reason.
At a 10% blend ethanol's energy contribution would have to be zero for mileage to drop by 10%. In my world ethanol is indeed combustible. Maybe it's not in yours :shrug:

Mileage can appear to vary by several percent just by filling up at a different facility based on the slope of the surface. The fact of the matter is e10 simply CAN'T make THAT much difference. E85 on the other hand...
 
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LauraSVT said:
27 to the gallon will net you 405 miles with a 15 gallon tank. You can't go by the gauge for this calculation, as it cries wolf, reading fuller as a precaution.
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I was wondering about this just an hour or so ago as my gauge was squarely on "E". My car didn't have an owners manual when I bought it, and I've never bothered to look up the actual tank capacity. According to the gauge I was afraid it would die at any second, but at fill up it only took 11.88 gal. It was right near 27 mpg. I'd still like to see 30+ the way I drive it.

This tank is not E10, so we'll see what happens. :ponder:
 
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