4x4 pickup mpg

[Joe]

Okay so I joined this website specifically to share this info with the world. I recently picked up a 2004 ranger xlt flare side, 4x4 automatic with the 4.0 sohc v6. Basically, this truck should get the worst mileage out of any ranger. It even came with a set of goodyear wranglers with a lot of tread, which should theoretically cause more rolling resistance than a normal street tire. It's great off road and has plenty of power to haul stuff.

The truck has 32,000 miles on it, so it's due for its first transmission fluid change. It's also due for an oil change.

When I bought the truck, the exhaust was rusted off. I went to advance auto parts and picked up the cheapest muffler they had, which happened to be a thrush glass pack (23 dollars) and welded it on. The glasspack was actually louder than the rotted out factory muffler when the RPMs exceeded 2.5k. See where I'm going with this?

The first time I calculated MPGs I got about 16 average. I heard that this truck with the big v6 and 4x4 will get about this type of gas mileage so I wasn't really surprised.

On a recent trip to cedar point, I stopped at a gas station to check my tire pressure. All the tires had about 20 psi, but the tires are rated at 40. I filled them up to 42 and got on the highway. The exhaust note is really annoying at any speed past 65, so I set the cruise at 60.

I averaged 25 MPG on my way home.

This may not sound atypical to you guys, but I was extremely happy to find that my truck got this type of mileage (which beats my girlfriend's convertible G6). This type of fuel efficiency is due to multiple factors, but I wanted to share the fact that putting a cheap glass pack on my truck has already paid for itself because of it's instant feedback from engine RPMs. I know that you have the tachometer, but with this exhaust setup, it's really annoying to drive at an inefficient speed on the highway. The bass from the exhaust at that speed is louder than my music and normal talking volume, which I simply can't have.

So that's my story (the main emphasis that you can get a 4x4 with good all terrain tires and not have to refinance your home to feed it). I'll repost if there are any changes after changing the tranny fluid, filter, and oil. I'm considering adding a grill block and some aero mods under the body as well because I commute 70 miles a day to go to college. I have never read about someone getting this kind of mileage out of a basically stock 4x4 ranger with the 4.0 v6.

FYI it has a vinyl bed cover and an extended (2 door) cab. Also, the legendary 25mpg commute aforementioned was on pretty flat ground in the summer with low humidity at 1000 feet elevation. If it's of any consequence, I was also driving south east so I had the thermal wind currents and electromagnetic waves of the setting sun along with the earth's rotation on my side

[Flakbadger]

Welcome. I traded in my 4.0 liter 03 manual Ranger 4x4 because of commuting to college. Best tank I ever got out of her was 23.87 MPG, never exceeding 60 MPH on a long drive between Portland and John Day Oregon.

Unfortunately the city gas mileage was destroying my wallet and the inevitable repairs threatened to destroy it permanently, so I traded it in and bought my Yaris.

Now I'm averaging 40, rather than the 16-18 I regularly got in my Ranger. After tallying up miles driven with gas prices, I saved myself $111 with the Yaris, even though I had to make 2 car payments during that time period.

Anyway, I hope you continue to do well on MPG's, but if you don't, there are acceptable alternatives out there!
If/when you mod the Ranger, put up plenty of pictures. I still love the damn things.

Oh yes and, welcome to the forums!

[Frank Lee]

Sorry, open exhausts do not give gains of that magnitude.

But I'm happy to hear you have improved the mpgs in some way.

[Flakbadger]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Sorry, open exhausts do not give gains of that magnitude.

But I'm happy to hear you have improved the mpgs in some way.

Frank, he said the following:

"I wanted to share the fact that putting a cheap glass pack on my truck has already paid for itself because of its instant feedback from engine RPMs. I know that you have the tachometer, but with this exhaust setup, it's really annoying to drive at an inefficient speed on the highway."

So he's not saying the open exhaust gave him MPG's directly, just indirectly via feedback.

EDIT: And no, that wasn't intended to sound dickish!

[Frank Lee]

OK, I'll go along with that, but I sure wouldn't recommend that as an econo mod as the last thing the world needs is another source of gratuitous noise.

[Ryland]

So your loud exhaust is doing the same job that a vacuum gauge or a scangauge would do, only the penalty for driving in a wasteful manner is that it gets really loud where as with a gauge to help you drive better you have to look at it from time to time.

I've pulled off getting 25mpg with my parents Ford Ranger pickup truck... while towing my commuti-car on a trailer! mostly because I couldn't drive over 50mph without it becoming unstable, so drive it slow and the mileage will jump up.

[jamesqf]

No experience with the Ford Ranger, but I kept track of my Toyota 4x4's mpg over about 10K miles (until the speedometer broke), and averaged about 27 mpg. Now this is almost always driven either with a sizeable load (hay, firewood, etc, sometimes pulling a trailer with a similar load) for at least half the trip, or up mountains on dirt roads that a non-4WD mostly couldn't manage. (Or sometimes in deep snow.) So I don't think your 25 mpg is really that out of line for a smaller 4WD, reasonably driven. If the muffler helps you drive reasonably, great!

PS: The only ecomods on this are inflating the tires to 45-50 psi, and removing some of decorative crap (like running boards) that the previous owner had installed.

[UFO]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

No experience with the Ford Ranger, but I kept track of my Toyota 4x4's mpg over about 10K miles (until the speedometer broke), and averaged about 27 mpg. Now this is almost always driven either with a sizeable load (hay, firewood, etc, sometimes pulling a trailer with a similar load) for at least half the trip, or up mountains on dirt roads that a non-4WD mostly couldn't manage. (Or sometimes in deep snow.) So I don't think your 25 mpg is really that out of line for a smaller 4WD, reasonably driven. If the muffler helps you drive reasonably, great!

PS: The only ecomods on this are inflating the tires to 45-50 psi, and removing some of decorative crap (like running boards) that the previous owner had installed.

I see the same with my Toyota 4x4, and with mild hypermiling I have hit 30mpg.

[Frank Lee]

FWIW I've gotten 30 hwy with a 3.0 a/t 2wd Ranger.

[JRMichler]

I drove the company truck once. It was a Chevrolet Colorado, 5 cyl, auto, 4WD, standard cab, open box (no topper). I drove 57 MPH using DWL and DWB and got 30 MPG.