Some Zetec Questions - CEG Archives

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I haven't been getting great mileage from my 1999 Mercury Mystique. I get 24 mpg no matter how I drive. It gets 24 mpg on the highway and in the city. I'm slowly getting the regular maintainence done right now. I've changed the fuel filter, going to change the thermostat and get the ATX flushed. I read that the oxygen sensor is good for 160 000 kms. The car is at 158 600 kms so should I change it? As it looks original. I tried to look at the sparkplugs but I'm not sure how to remove the spark plug wires. My Haynes manual doesn't help in that detail. I tried to remove one but didn't pull really hard as I didn't want to damage it. Any suggestions?

Replace...
Spark Plugs
Plug Wires
Air Filter
Fuel Filter
Oil change

Seems like you have gotten the majority of the regular maitence done. I think your economy is decent. My tour is getting about 23 City right now because of the colder weather. I never got an NOTICEABLE gains on the freeway until you spent about half of a tank on the free way. Next time you spend about 100 miles on the freeway from a full tank, stop and fill it back up and do the math (I assume you know how too), it should be between 31 and 34 MPG. I get abotu 32 MPG on the freeway. I can never see any gains on occasional trips on the freeway.

Originally posted by AliasJerk:
Replace...
Spark Plugs
Plug Wires
Air Filter
Oil change

That is it right there.

I have gotten as high as 35 mpg on my 99 mistique on mostly highway, it is a bit lower in winter with headlights, wipers and defroster on, around 27city this time of year. mine is a manual tranny, but many things can factor in.
besides maintenence, check tire pressure weekly, also driving habits like jack rabbit starts can have a negative effect, also in case of a manual gear box, run it in the highest gear you can for the driving conditions. for the most part, gas mileage is in direct porportion to the weight of the right foot.

I got about 35 mpg driving down to the Dragon with the supercharger installed and no tuning.

Originally posted by LocoGSR:
I got about 35 mpg driving down to the Dragon with the supercharger installed and no tuning.

you and your damn (EX)VCT engine Hector. I kind of want to get a 98+ zetec tour...

I've found out why is was so hard to get the sparkplug wires off, it looks like they are the original sparkplugs! So I'm getting new spark plugs today.

Ehhh... VCT ain't that great. Just one more string of things to go out. Besides, my silvertop is faster than the one I raced at the track.

Speaking of which...I got my Zetec to do an 18.4 at the track last Friday. Yep, 3 tenths faster than my last trip down the strips.

'97 SILVERTOP PWNS!

o, and I get craptacular in-city mpg. Like 20-something on a good day. highway is like 29. My car guzzles too much gas

Zetecs are strange... I will know someone that gets close to 30MPG in the city, and then someone like me who gets 24 to 25, which is what the car origionally was advertised to get. Either way, yeah that silvertop Zetec is an awesome engine. I knew a guy on here who had a 95 Zetec Tour with a stick. Took it to the track and DEAD STOCK ran a 15.7... Friggan amaizing for a little zetec.

Originally posted by AliasJerk:
I will know someone that gets close to 30MPG in the city, and then someone like me who gets 24 to 25, which is what the car origionally was advertised to get.

For me there was always a HUGE difference between city and highway mileage. On long road trips I'd get like 32 mpg at over 80 mph... which is far better than my new Mazda 3 is getting. Makes me wonder what the heck I bought a compact for. In the city I couldn't even get 20 unless I drove grandma-style!

speaking of fuel filter is there a how to on it i don't think it would hurt if i changed mine considering it has 93k on the stock one

Post deleted by Cris'pus

Originally posted by GS474:
speaking of fuel filter is there a how to on it i don't think it would hurt if i changed mine considering it has 93k on the stock one

BETTER ONE

Sticky IT! someone! I've been meaning to do that for awhile. I figure at 103,xxx on the original filter, it's time to change.

my 99 mtx got 36.3 mpg on my last trip on the highway, but i was very carefull about my shifting patterns and i kept it around or under 65 the whole way, my 02 focus only had 11,000 miles when i got it and that never got over 31 mpg, but it was auto

*was searching for posts* Got a bag of autolite 5364s sitting in a bag next to my table waiting for install tomorrow

.. in a silvertop-powered mystique

I'm taking the 15.whatever with a huuuuuge bag of salt. Maybe at high altitude? Dunno. I do know that zetecs are super picky about conditions - on different days at the same spot (particular freeway onramp), I've flown onto the freeway faster than I ever imagined, and gotten the "0-60 in .. eventually" too.

Then again, the mystique's a "sometimes it starts great, sometimes it doesn't start, idling too high and misfiring all the time" car - not bad misfires, but misfires nonetheless. I think it's the old spark plugs. They're older than yo mamma!

Man some of you people are going way to long on your original fuel filter. I change mind every winter.

Originally posted by jtour:
Man some of you people are going way to long on your original fuel filter. I change mind every winter.

I've changed mine every spring, at the same time as the cabin air filter, regular air filter, breather filter, gapping spark plugs, etc... My car gets a good spring cleaning.

Originally posted by jtour:
Man some of you people are going way to long on your original fuel filter. I change mind every winter.

If the old one works just fine (I wouldn't go more than 4 or 5 years on one) then the only thing changing it achieves is lightening your wallet.

Originally posted by SVTfrog:

Originally posted by jtour:
Man some of you people are going way to long on your original fuel filter. I change mind every winter.

If the old one works just fine (I wouldn't go more than 4 or 5 years on one) then the only thing changing it achieves is lightening your wallet.

I disagree. It is preventenative maintence. The whole idea of that is fixing things before they break to stop more expensive or inconvienent problems. After a year, mine had a good deal of rust. I wouldn't want to be driving and have the gas just start pouring out over a simple $6 part.

Originally posted by Matt R:

Originally posted by SVTfrog:

Originally posted by jtour:
Man some of you people are going way to long on your original fuel filter. I change mind every winter.

If the old one works just fine (I wouldn't go more than 4 or 5 years on one) then the only thing changing it achieves is lightening your wallet.

I disagree. It is preventenative maintence. The whole idea of that is fixing things before they break to stop more expensive or inconvienent problems. After a year, mine had a good deal of rust. I wouldn't want to be driving and have the gas just start pouring out over a simple $6 part.

Thank you Matt R

SVTfrog....if $6 bucks is killing you in the pocket book you have bigger problems.

Originally posted by Matt R:
I disagree. It is preventenative maintence. The whole idea of that is fixing things before they break to stop more expensive or inconvienent problems. After a year, mine had a good deal of rust. I wouldn't want to be driving and have the gas just start pouring out over a simple $6 part.

Not all of us live in rust states.

Of course it's a good idea to replace something that is rusting away.

Originally posted by jtour:
SVTfrog....if $6 bucks is killing you in the pocket book you have bigger problems.

The money doesn't really matter to me at all. Though I have three cars. I imagine if I did preventive maintenance to the degree some people take it, it could end up being a slight financial burden.

My point is, that the fuel filter does not necessarily need to be replaced every year. What is the point of replacing something that works perfectly fine? Would you replace a clean air filter just because it is "time" to do so? And this "time" being some arbitrary amount that you have decided is when it needs to be replaced.

Now in matt r's case, his is rusting to the point he feels it would be a good idea to replace it, so of course he should replace it. It could also be a good idea to replace it more than usually called for if you routinely use cheap gas.

I replaced mine on the zetec over 3 years ago and OMG my car still runs fine (judging by many posts I see on here, better than many others' zetecs). Crazy isn't it.

Anyways, it's your money/time/car, do whatever you feel is approriate.

Originally posted by Kremithefrog:

Originally posted by jtour:
SVTfrog....if $6 bucks is killing you in the pocket book you have bigger problems.

The money doesn't really matter to me at all. Though I have three cars. I imagine if I did preventive maintenance to the degree some people take it, it could end up being a slight financial burden.

My point is, that the fuel filter does not necessarily need to be replaced every year. What is the point of replacing something that works perfectly fine? Would you replace a clean air filter just because it is "time" to do so? And this "time" being some arbitrary amount that you have decided is when it needs to be replaced.

Now in matt r's case, his is rusting to the point he feels it would be a good idea to replace it, so of course he should replace it. It could also be a good idea to replace it more than usually called for if you routinely use cheap gas.

I replaced mine on the zetec over 3 years ago and OMG my car still runs fine (judging by many posts I see on here, better than many others' zetecs). Crazy isn't it.

Anyways, it's your money/time/car, do whatever you feel is approriate.

True, Dont get me wrong Im not changing parts to change parts. A $6 dollar part wont kill me and I live in Chicago so I do have salt/snow to deal with and one last thing

Read my sig