Fuel Mileage

[Stick]

We've touched on this before. I thought some may be interested. As you know, I parked my 1990 Ford F150 because it is so ****ed expensive to keep running. I drive a grain truck with a 8V92 Detroit and a 13 speed overdrive. I commute 450 miles each way to work. I normally run right on speed limit, which up here is 100km/hr, or 62 mph. Fuel consumption unloaded at 1900 rpm is right around 5 US gallons per hour. It makes no difference whatsoever how fast or how slow I travel, as engine rpm is always the same. Running at 62 I am only in 12th gear, but if i run it up to 75 I can hit 13th and still stay at the same rpm. Over 450 miles, the difference is 1.2 hours, which means 6 gallons of fuel. If i run it up to 85mph, I burn nearly 6 gallons US per hour. Another 1.4 gallons. No longer economical.

My F150 can't even begin to touch that kind of mileage. it has never once gotten over 10mpg, and it's a 302 with 5spd OD standard, 3.54 gears. I thought that combination would be ok, but it BITES! And.....every time it sees a dealership, it costs $800 or more. Just too ****ed expensive to keep running. Can't afford a new truck. So, I'll attempt to wear out a 1975 grain truck. Not in my lifetime! Haharrrrr!

[Jim Boyd]

If I had to commute 450 miles to get to work I'd find a different job or move closer to work

[LCHIEN]

I hope this is 450 mi each way per week? Otherwise there's no time left for anything!

So at 75 mph we're talking possibility of speeding ticket (possible economic disincentive) and 6 hours each way or
62 mph and no tickets but 7.2 hours each way
and thus 60-70 gallons of gas per week - what's the canadian gasoline prices like? $3/gal or $180-210 per week?

since you're only getting like 13-15 mpg and you drive so much it would be probably economic to
1) change jobs. You could take a pay cut of $500-700/ month with a 5-mile commute and still come out ahead, not to mention having 56 more hours of WW time per month (like Two weekends)
2) rent an apartment near work for the weekdays and drive home weekends
3) buy a very fuel efficient car.~45 mpg would use only 20 gals per week and save you $120-150 per week or $480-600 per month which would be
payments on the new car. Not to mention more environmentally friendly.

Just seems sort of obvious to me.

[onedash]

An F150 that gets less than 10 MPG???? I have a Chevy Silverado that gets about 17MPG and a TrailBlazer that gets about 15 mpg. (city) They both do better on the highway...Not a lot.
450 miles each way??? Thats far.....To far to ride a bike i think....

[Ken Massingale]

That's low milage for the 150, I believe. I have a '96 Dodge Ram with 5 speed auto, 318 engine and get 14-16 just driving around on short trips, around 18-20 on the Interstate and longer trips.
'Course, the F150 is a FORD!!! ;-D

[John Hunter]

That is about the same miles per gallon that my Chevy 1 ton duly 4X4 with a 454 engine gets. Your 150 should get much better MPG.

[Russianwolf]

I'd bet I get better than that in my 1970 Jeep J4000 and it has a 350 and is geared so low that I can't use first at all. Okay maybe it's close.

But something on the setup on that 150 is wrong, you should be seeing about 15 on it minimum on the highway. Problem is you have to find someone that can figure out what, the dealership doesn't want to fix it so you'll keep bringing it back.

What problems keep sending it to the shop?

[dick541]

I think I will stay with my Prius, I am getting 52 MPG at any speed, or any load. Ran up to Phila back in May and got 57.6, for 480 miles.
dick

[ed2kayak]

Subaru Forester 5 sp avg. fuel mileage since purchase 27mpg.

[beerdavis]

I drive a 1983 mercedes diesel wagon. I get 27 mpg going 80 mph running biodiesel made from chicken fat. I get good mpg and I stick it to the big oil companies and the wackos in the middle east and Venezuela.

[Whit]

F150 mileage

There must be something wrong. I have a 2004 F150 extended cab with the 7' bed(think that is the length), 5.? engine, 5 sp OD automatic. Have a fiberglas topper on it and got 16-17 mpg on a trip to Colorado this past summer. Drove 70 in Texas and 75 on I-25 in Colorado. Was suprised that it was that good. Expected it to be about 14-15.
You guys that are knocking the Ford. You do know that Ford stands for Fix Or Repair Daily. :-) :-)
Have been very pleased with mine. Is much quieter than the older Fords. they have added extra insulation.
Whit

[os1kne]

I don't mean to state the obvious, but there's something wrong with your Ford. My dad's work has around 15 Ford service trucks, most of the trucks are driven close to 50k miles per/year. Their trucks tend to get around 13-15 mpg on the hwy. Most of these trucks are heavier than the typical truck off the lot, with tool boxes, small cranes, compressors, etc. mounted in the bed - and most of the driving is done with a load - often in the mountains.

They do get worse mileage when towing, but still way better than the 5 mpg that you've been seeing. Now, their trucks are all newer than 1990, so I'm sure that newer/better tech gets them some improvement from 1990 (they tend to sell and get new at around 250k-300k miles, but not because the truck won't run any more). Even 10 years ago, when they still had 1990 trucks, they were still getting 10+ mpg. (I'm not meaning to be a cheerleader for Ford, because they have had 1 or 2 bad trucks over the years, but all in all they've done well.)

Personally, I had a 1986 Bronco with the 302 and auto trans. that I sold a few years ago. I always got 12+ mpg with it, even with 140k miles.

I'm not sure what the problem is, but I wish you luck.

[JR]

Hey, Stick, maybe you messed up the conversion from liters to imperial gallons. There's no shame in it. If it can happen to Air Canada it can happen to you!
http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-69-240-...y/gimli_glider

JR

[gsmittle]

My beloved 94 Suburban (5.7 l) gets a whopping 10 mpg, city or highway. At least I know I'll make a stop every 430 miles.... Towing I drop 1 mpg.

Too expensive to drive, too broke to buy something else....

g.