Gas Milage Question

[DannyD]

Hi,

I have a 2000 Ford E-250 & it's my understanding that they should get
approx 18 miles to the gallon. Having a 30 gallon gas tank, that
means I should get about 540 miles to a tank of gas.

I have driven 6000 miles in this van so far. A few times I've managed
to get 15MPG but sometimes it's as low as 12. I generally get 450 miles to a tank of gas, but sometimes it's been under 400. In these cases I'm forced to get gas in Canada. This obviously hurts in the wallet.

I drive under 70 on the highway. My tires are inflated properly. I do idle sometimes for a bit, but nothing out of the ordinary. Other than checking the fuel & air filter, does anyone have any suggestions as to why the milage is so poor on this truck & what I might be able to do to correct it?

Thanx in advance for any help.

Danny

 

[Glen Rice]

Unfortunately the only two items that come to mind are weight and speed. You might try driving a little more conservately for a tank or two and see what results you get? Hope your mpg does'nt kill you profits.

 

[DannyD]

I'll try that. By Golly, I'll go so slow that hitchikers will be asking me if "I" need a lift!!

Seriously, I will try that. Make 65 my top speed for a few tanks & see what happens.

Thanx for your time,
Danny

 

[Twmaster]

To be honest it sounds like you are getting close to as good as you are going to get. You can of course try to drive a bit more conservatively and such but I'd be shocked if you ever consistantly got 18 MPG in a gas E250. Are you sure you aren't confusing the mileage rating with a Diesel van?

--
Mike N

Faster than a speeding poulet.

 

[merkurfan]

I've had my share of Ford vans. First off, I am not sure how Ford comes up with their MPG guesses but my guess is the truck is completely empty, going down hill, with the wind at its back. I had a 1997 E250 with a 4.2 V6 (JUNK ENGINE WARNING!) that got 16 in town, 17 on the highway, that was after adding a K&N air filter (buy one, it should help, and cost as much as 3 paper filters) before the filter was 14.5/16.1

Next I bought a 91 E350 extended hightop with a 7.3 diesel, got around 16 MPG no matter what I did. Loaded/empty/flat foot it did not care.

Now I have a 1997 E350 extended/hightop (sprinter killer) with the 7.3 Powerstroke, with 4500 pounds of cargo in it I can pull almost 20 MPG out of it with the superchips programer. It was high teens before the computer reporgram.

15 MPG is about all your going to expect out of a gasser, if it is the 5.4 that is about right. If it is the V10 it's amazing.

 

[LDB]

Besides looking at what speed your are going to cruise look at how quickly you get to it. If you have a tach you shouldn't see the needle above 2500 except for pulling heavy hills or passing. If your normal driving style acceleration revs the engine up that is burning your mpg as well.

Leo
truck 767

Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.