Poor fuel economy? Poor gas mpg, mileage, milage.

Originally posted by gdub520:
happy new yr and welcome aboard...which engine do u have? the 4 cylinder 2.0 zetec or the 2.5 duratec v6???...my only experience is with the v6 and from what i can tell the car just gets not so great mileage in the city...im guessing i get somewhere around 18 give or take in the city but on the highway now i've been getting 31-37 mpg lately...biggest change was tires on the front...before the new tires i was getting if lucky mid to high 20's on the highway

my city mileage is still relatively poor but i think a big part of it is how i drive...im a madman

It is the v6, 2.5 L, 24 valve. I don't know a lot about engines, these are just numbers to me, mtx, atc I'm not sure. If everyone has poor mileage with this engine then I can suffice because I love the car.

Originally posted by MotorCity:
You could change the fuel filter, put in something like Techron fuel system cleaner, change the air filter, and make sure your tires are inflated properly.

As far as "reconditioned and new" from a dealership...don't count on it.

You may also want to look into replacing your spark plugs and possibly the wires too.

None of these should cost you a ton of money.

Welcome to the CEG!

I am going to look for the techron cleaner, thankyou. I will also look into the plugs and wires, etc.

"Reconditioned and new" from a dealer, I agree, I am suspicious but the mileage apparently might not be too bad from you and others are posting?

I did get a 3 year "damien chrysler" powertrain warranty when I bought the car from the local dodge dealership, I should look into the details. Power train, however might not help with wiring etc (and probably anything else i will need). I should look into this.

I was kind of the "unintelligent comsumer" when I bought my contour. It kinda went like this; I seen it, I wanted it, I bought it!

Time to learn more about my car now, other then it is great. <grin>

thanks for the feedback.

For some reason (not just picking on you) everyone has this thing for "per tank". 350km = 217.5mi, if a full tank is 16 gallons then you are getting 13.6 miles per gallon. That is horrible even in really cold weather. Unless you let your car warm up for 15 minutes before you drive, there is something wrong. My Crown Vic gets 18 mpg at it's worst.

Maybe you should double check.

Yeah...even though my tanks holds 15.4 gallons and it says E, I usually only can fill up with about 13 gallons. Usually get about 300 miles out of that 13 gallons.

300/13 = 23.1 MPG City/Highway driving

Just replaced fuel filter. Will see if I get any improvement.

file this into your "quality is job 1 folder"
The fuel tank capacity was misprinted in the owners manual of the 98 and newer contours. The figure supplied is 15.4, however the true capacity is 14.8.
Not to say that this will drastically change anyones mpg figures, but I make it a point to state this whenever someone posts about fuel economy.

Like I said, I don't get this "tank" reference. Every tank guage is different too. Calculate per fill-up, then you know.

Sorry. I do the per tank. I didnt know my gas tank capacity. stupid me eh.

Originally posted by mondala:
Sorry. I do the per tank. I didnt know my gas tank capacity. stupid me eh.

So what are your recalculated numbers looking like?

I think the Zetecs have a problem with the MPG also. I drive one, Drive it hard in fact. Its a 95 with ATX. I get about 240 Miles Per full tank. That's city driving. HWY driving I get almost well over 350. I don't know if its luck or unfortunate though, But I live in a pretty centrally located area. 10 miles to Knotts Berry Farm, 15 To Disney Land, 10 to the Beach, about 15 or so to LA. All that meant is that I don't do much on the HWY.

Now is that bad? I did reset the computer once and drove it nice and easy, and still got the 240.

-Rob

Originally posted by MotorCity:

Originally posted by mondala:
Sorry. I do the per tank. I didnt know my gas tank capacity. stupid me eh.

So what are your recalculated numbers looking like?

Well.

I had a friend that said to "open er up" to 200km/hour and see what happens. It was driven by one owner before me; an older man 55 or so. (Dont know if this is why he suggested it but anyway.)

So I did. I had a 80Km drive on the 401. (big hiway between toronto and ottawa.) and for a good stretch I sped in 4th gear for a couple minutes then for about 5mins at 180km.

I think it may have actually worked.
I seem to be right on track for about 400km mostly city driving instead of 340 or so before.

So .
My numbers.
400km = 248 miles.
248 - 14.8gallons say.
=roughly 17mpg

if i give the car a tune up, plugs, wires, filter, engine clear, etc.. maybe i'll 20+mpg and that would be great

Originally posted by mondala:

So .
My numbers.
400km = 248 miles.
248 - 14.8gallons say.
=roughly 17mpg

248 miles / 14.8 gallons? Are you sure you used all of your gas? Unless you ran your tank down to fumes, it would only be accurate to divided by how much gas you actually put in.

For instance, even though my gauge indicates E, the most I can usually put in is about 13.0 gallons. So if I run it down and put in another 13.0 gallons, I have really only used 13.0 gallons, not 14.8 gallons.

It makes a difference: Your case for example.

248 miles / 14.8 gallons = 16.76 MPG

248 miles / 13.0 gallons = 19.08 MPG

i agree...if you run it all the way down...you would find yourself thumbing a ride complete with a little red gas can..

Originally posted by str8pipe:
i agree...if you run it all the way down...you would find yourself thumbing a ride complete with a little red gas can..

Roughyl 17mpg

248 give or take / 14 = roughly 18mpg then.

thats about right

I have a 1999 SVT, and I just replaced the fuel pump and sender unit. AND now it seems like Im getting bad fuel milage too. Originaly I had a bad sneding unit. ANd IO know this one is funtioning normal.

What would cause this bad mileage? Could my previous Sender have been that bad??

Roz

Originally posted by MotorCity:

Originally posted by mondala:

So .
My numbers.
400km = 248 miles.
248 - 14.8gallons say.
=roughly 17mpg

248 miles / 14.8 gallons? Are you sure you used all of your gas? Unless you ran your tank down to fumes, it would only be accurate to divided by how much gas you actually put in.

For instance, even though my gauge indicates E, the most I can usually put in is about 13.0 gallons. So if I run it down and put in another 13.0 gallons, I have really only used 13.0 gallons, not 14.8 gallons.

It makes a difference: Your case for example.

248 miles / 14.8 gallons = 16.76 MPG

248 miles / 13.0 gallons = 19.08 MPG

If you put 13 gallons in there then you needle should be just below (but still touching) the red line. (just found that out yesterday

)

My 98 SVT gets 21.7 avg. I drive maybe 80%hard(rev to 6k)/20%(rev to 4k). I have paper documentation since I bought the car in June. I figure it out every time I gas up.
I blows my mind that I can drive that hard and get that good a mpg. I have opened the throttle body and cleaned it up. I also use the Techron 3-4 times in 6 months, that helped. And finally the fuel filter was changed.
Wife has an SE Duratech. She gets about the same kind of mileage and she drives real easy.
Just do the filter, clean T/B, use Techron, and drive real hard to blow out the crap in your system. It should help.
Good Luck and welcome. You'll get the mod itch soon

Originally posted by rozwell911:
I have a 1999 SVT, and I just replaced the fuel pump and sender unit. AND now it seems like Im getting bad fuel milage too. Originaly I had a bad sneding unit. ANd IO know this one is funtioning normal.

What would cause this bad mileage? Could my previous Sender have been that bad??

Roz

The sending unit has nothing to do with your mileage. It is just part of the guage to give you an estimate of what is in your gas tank. Since your pump was replaced and if the old was really bad maybe this one is pumping more fuel and causing it to get a little lower mpg running rich. The computer will compensate for it and it should be back to what ever you were getting before after a tank. Plus if your other card was faulty then this one will defenitly show a diffrent reading on the guage. Both my SVT and Wifes Mystique get 22 to 28 mpg depending on driving. I check it everytime I fill up.

Originally posted by svtavino:

Originally posted by rozwell911:
I have a 1999 SVT, and I just replaced the fuel pump and sender unit. AND now it seems like Im getting bad fuel milage too. Originaly I had a bad sneding unit. ANd IO know this one is funtioning normal.

What would cause this bad mileage? Could my previous Sender have been that bad??

Roz

The sending unit has nothing to do with your mileage. It is just part of the guage to give you an estimate of what is in your gas tank. Since your pump was replaced and if the old was really bad maybe this one is pumping more fuel and causing it to get a little lower mpg running rich. The computer will compensate for it and it should be back to what ever you were getting before after a tank. Plus if your other card was faulty then this one will defenitly show a diffrent reading on the guage. Both my SVT and Wifes Mystique get 22 to 28 mpg depending on driving. I check it everytime I fill up.

Oh I understand that the sending unit has nothiong to do with the pump,or losing millage, I was just wondering if the sending units false readings are bad enough so that i could never accuratly see how much gas I have at any give millage.

Example.
before: i could go 120 miles on a 1/4 tank.

after:I can only get between 70 and 100 on a 1/4 tank.

So what im thinking is that my sending unit was really bad and I never could estimalte the correct millage.

Roz

Sending units really are that bad all they are are resistor cards with a float arm on them. Resistor cards can suffer from contamination in the fuel and wearing out. Ours seem not to be very accurate I know both of mine take a dive somewhere in the 200 to 300 mile range. The guage cluster has a lot of averaging to componsate for slosh and the tank varations also. Really the fuel guage is just an estimater and you should get to know your car and figure on mileage.

On one tank of gs, usually about 12 gallons, i can drive abou 220-230 miles. Is that about where everyone else is?

Hey Dude, i'm not much of a technician but , one of the things that makes the difference in a Contour is to use the overdrive only in open road , not in the city's traffic where you are always into the first two gears. Try this and see for results, It worked for me.

Tobah

Originally posted by AlbanianSteve:
On one tank of gs, usually about 12 gallons, i can drive abou 220-230 miles. Is that about where everyone else is?

Yeah, that is about where I am at. Wish it was more, but then again oh well could be worse, my wife has a 96 Explorer with the 5.0 V-8 and she only gets the same gas mileage but hers is about 23-25 dollars to fill up.

Joe

if you tires are not balanced does that make you mileage worse???

Originally posted by tobah:

Hey Dude, i'm not much of a technician but , one of the things that makes the difference in a Contour is to use the overdrive only in open road , not in the city's traffic where you are always into the first two gears. Try this and see for results, It worked for me.

Tobah

Just a heads up buddy, in signatre it says 5 speed. which means he has a standard transmission not an automatic.

Over drive would have nothing to do with it un less you mean 5th gear. Even then everyone with an 5 speed knows to use 5th gear when ever we can.

Roz

Originally posted by jfish1gta:
if you tires are not balanced does that make you mileage worse???

yes it does and having worn out tires is bad too.....But how much fuel you waste is dependable on the actual tire conditions and location. Because differnt temps and air pressure affect millage too.

Soo you and I can have the exact soame problems and ware on our tires but if you live 5ooo feet above sea level and i live 200 feet we wouldn;t be able to compare our findings.

Roz