2003 ZTS - horrible gas mileage - 16.3mpg - HELP

[IH84DZ]

Originally Posted by PWGuy

Ok, an update - the tank was about half-emtpy at 103.3 miles. I filled it up last night to the FIRST CLICK ONLY and the amount filled was 4.940 gallons.

So I achieved 20.9mpg on the last 103.3 miles.

Now, I did take the car on a few extra jaunts around town out of necessity in the 103.3 miles without considering the affect on my test.

I also filled it with premium gas last night and the fill-up previous to last night.

Lastly, I removed the K&N filter from the stock airbox about 25 miles ago and added a Fram filter from Walmart.

Averaging just over 20mpg for primarily short cycle city mix isn't all that bad. Especially if you are running ethanol blend and the ambient temps are cooling off below 70 degrees. In my SVT with primarily highway on ethanol blend I average 25mpg. If I burn an entire tank at 70mph I get about 33mpg. This goes down to 30 at 80mph.

The fact is you may never average much better if you drive short trips with no extended run times above 55mph. Allowing the engine to warm will not increase your mileage necessarily but it will certainly extend the life of your powertrain... so you are kinda making a tradeoff between saving every drop of gasoline and keeping your rig in proper working order.

[whynotthinkwhynot]

Well, now that you know how to properly calculate fuel economy, then keep an eye on it. It's not a perfect system, but it's the closest we can get. I just read that the governor of CA was going to allow refineries to make winter blend 3 months early to offset the high fuel costs. That will surely reduce your fuel economy.

A tank every 2 weeks shouldn't really get into fuel separation, but you might want to try regular use of FI cleaner. One time treatments don't work. Treatments over time work. I always recommend Lucas fuel treatment, but I make sure that I point out that you don't purchase the little $4 5oz bottles. Always purchase at least a quart for $9 which has graduated marks on the side so you can gauge 4 oz treatments (the size needed for our tank), and then after that purchase a gallon container for $32. Use it to partially fill the old quart bottle for treatments. I regularly see a 3 mpg improvement in the van and the car using this. Since gasoline is over $3/gal, it's cost effective to use it just for the mpg bump. Now in your case, I don't know if it will increase your mileage that much, but you can check it out. I'd run a quart (8-4oz treatments) through there an monitor your mpg for each tank. If it's cost effective for you, then keep it up. If you ever notice your mpg dropping suddenly for one tank, then forgo the treatment on the next tank. Since you don't use all your gasoline up, some remains, and over time there can be a residual buildup. One tank without treatment fixes that.

[PWGuy]

Originally Posted by whynotthinkwhynot

Well, now that you know how to properly calculate fuel economy, then keep an eye on it. It's not a perfect system, but it's the closest we can get. I just read that the governor of CA was going to allow refineries to make winter blend 3 months early to offset the high fuel costs. That will surely reduce your fuel economy.

A tank every 2 weeks shouldn't really get into fuel separation, but you might want to try regular use of FI cleaner. One time treatments don't work. Treatments over time work. I always recommend Lucas fuel treatment, but I make sure that I point out that you don't purchase the little $4 5oz bottles. Always purchase at least a quart for $9 which has graduated marks on the side so you can gauge 4 oz treatments (the size needed for our tank), and then after that purchase a gallon container for $32. Use it to partially fill the old quart bottle for treatments. I regularly see a 3 mpg improvement in the van and the car using this. Since gasoline is over $3/gal, it's cost effective to use it just for the mpg bump. Now in your case, I don't know if it will increase your mileage that much, but you can check it out. I'd run a quart (8-4oz treatments) through there an monitor your mpg for each tank. If it's cost effective for you, then keep it up. If you ever notice your mpg dropping suddenly for one tank, then forgo the treatment on the next tank. Since you don't use all your gasoline up, some remains, and over time there can be a residual buildup. One tank without treatment fixes that.

Where can I get the Lucas product in the Quart and Gallon containers?

[Dizle]

My car <---------- is getting 29-30mpg's, last tank was about 50/50 city/ highway driving like a grandma in the city and 70-75mph fwy. Wish it were better, I've replaces spark plugs, cleaned MAF, disconnected the battery for 15-20 mins, ran a can of sea foam through a tank, checked tire pressures. I just replaced the fuel filter, probably first one @ 75k but who knows hoping that will get me a few more miles. Still not bad I guess, does short shifting in this car decrease the mileage? I shift at like 13, 20, 28, 35 and 40mph (no tach :( ) or so driving like a grandma seeing what kind of mileage I can squeeze out of her minimal a/c.

Where can I get a drop in replacement filter to get rid of this lifetime thing? Autostore can't look it up it says not replaceable. I'd like to do the cabin air filter as well.

What else can I do maintenance wise or after market to improve fuel economy?

Sorry to kind of hijack your thread

[IH84DZ]

Originally Posted by Dizle

My car <---------- is getting 29-30mpg's, last tank was about 50/50 city/ highway driving like a grandma in the city and 70-75mph fwy. Wish it were better, I've replaces spark plugs, cleaned MAF, disconnected the battery for 15-20 mins, ran a can of sea foam through a tank, checked tire pressures. I just replaced the fuel filter, probably first one @ 75k but who knows hoping that will get me a few more miles. Still not bad I guess, does short shifting in this car decrease the mileage? I shift at like 13, 20, 28, 35 and 40mph (no tach :( ) or so driving like a grandma seeing what kind of mileage I can squeeze out of her minimal a/c.

Where can I get a drop in replacement filter to get rid of this lifetime thing? Autostore can't look it up it says not replaceable. I'd like to do the cabin air filter as well.

What else can I do maintenance wise or after market to improve fuel economy?

Sorry to kind of hijack your thread

Short shifting in my experiments does not improve economy. Fuel consumption is directly related to load. The lower the load - the less fuel consumed. RPM's don't really mean anything when you consider the air volume at high RPM's and light load. The engine speed can increase dramatically without much of a change in air volume. The amount of air volume entering the engine is what determines fuel delivery and the amount of load an engine is under will be the #1 varible in air volume. Shifting into a high gear too soon will increase load and result in a reduction of fuel economy.

I've always been a skeptic when it comes to additives especially tank-based injector cleaner. Adding a solvent to my tank especially with an old fuel filter is likely to loosen material trapped in the filter and do the opposite of what you want. Decarbing top ends will improve fuel economy and driveability but there is really only a few ways to do it properly and they can be dangerous to the person and to the engine if performed incorrectly. I chose not to explain this procedure in public forums like this simply due to Murphy's Law.

Other than having a top end decarb done professionally every 60,000 miles or so, running high quality petrol gasoline, keeping your air filter clean, tires properly inflated and cargo weight to a minimum - the rest is environmental, fuel blend and driving habit related.

[whynotthinkwhynot]

Originally Posted by PWGuy

Where can I get the Lucas product in the Quart and Gallon containers?

Any auto parts store. Quarts will be there with the other fuel additives. It's in a white container that looks like gear oil. Make sure it's the fuel additive and Upper cylinder lubricant is what they call it IIRC. Then check around the diesel stuff, and you'll find the gallons. Ask a representative, and they will know. Like I wrote, try the quart first. If it works, then get a gallon. It might not make much of a difference with the number of miles you put on the engine.

[whynotthinkwhynot]

Originally Posted by Dizle

Sorry to kind of hijack your thread

You should search for the "Duratec Stealth air intake" or ask this question in Duratec performance for the 03-09 Duratec engine. Don't ask in the Ti-VCT forum because that's the new GDI engine.

[FordCustomerService]

Originally Posted by Dizle

...What else can I do maintenance wise or after market to improve fuel economy?...

Hi Dizle,

Check out these tips to improve fuel economy: http://owner.ford.com/servlet/Conten...=1239636411265

Feel free to reach out to me via PM if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Crystal

[PWGuy]

Update regarding poor mpg in my '03 ZTS.

I took whynot's advice and bought the Lucas product he recommended. I've followed his instructions for every gas fill-up - before pumping, I add 4oz of the Lucas product (it's more of a gel than pure liquid) to the gas tank, then fill up to the FIRST CLICK. I do not "top off" or go any further once the pump stops on the first click.

Also, I thought premium would potentially help increase my MPG but my data shows mixed results. The first two fill-ups were encouraging but they were with the summer blend, most likely.

Lastly, I did try different gas stations as well but since December 10, I've decided to now stick only with a specific BP station and specific pump - 87 octane gas to better refine my results.

10/23/12 - 203.3 miles on ODO - 9.458g filled (w/ 93 octane) -- 21.5mpg
11/2/12 - 176.8 miles on ODO - 7.308g filled (w/ 93 octane) -- 24.2mpg
11/17/12 - 157.7 miles on ODO - 7.158g filled (w/ 87 octane) -- 22.0mpg
12/10/12 - 122.3 miles on ODO - 6.842g filled (w/ 93 octane) -- 17.9mpg
12/31/12 - 138.6 miles on ODO - 7.178g filled (w/ 87 octane) -- 19.3mpg