Front fender vents brought me here.
 

I recently decided to do aero mods on my 2000 Mustang when my gas mileage dropped after being forced to switch to E10. One of my ideas was to vent the front fenders to reduce pressure build-up.


I have completed the first stage, and although they work, I am not sure they work well.

If anyone is interested I will post more, but I am tired of being ignored on other boards, and I will no longer do a long write up, just to receive no replies.

You are too quick to blame E10, especially if your gas log is all the accurate logging you have to go by.

The premise of venting the engine compartment to reduce drag is also faulty. So yeah, save the write-up for... if someone asks for it.

Have you done a full tune up? Including all those little things like ERG valve, PCV valve, oxygen sensors, fuel filters, fuel accumulators and other maintenance items?

You might want to check the owner's manual and any steps you can take to clean and lube items before replacing them.

On my +30 year old collector car I shot a bunch of PB Blaster in the warm-up regulator and similar items with diaphragms and it seemed to help. I also replaced all the vacuum hoses and other parts which wear due to age and heat.

The biggest thing I did was to clean and lube up the distributor, if the engine is the heart of the car, the distributor is the heart of the engine. It idles baby smooth now, like a different car.

Link to post by kach22i:
Distributor service (Clean and lube) real easy without removing the pinion gear! - Page 7 - Pelican Parts Technical BBS

I blame E10 Because I had a 3 MPG gain when I found a station selling pure gas , and a 3 MPG loss when that station went to E10. I know E20 might be better, but mixing that would be hard as I have never seen an E20 or E85 pump where I live.

I am venting the fender well, which on my car is sealed off from the engine compartment.

I did have a problem with #6 spark plug having ash deposits on it and slight pinging problem. I fixed it by installing a filter to keep oil out of the PCV line. I then cleaned out the engine with MMO. No more pinging, no more ash.

As for the distributor, do you mean the camshaft position sensor? The 3.8 hasn't had a distributor in a long time.

I do need to clean the IAC , I don't idle much but that might help a little.


Paul

LOL I just realised I got trolled. I forget other sites are like slashdot. I will add these two too my ignore list. I didn't think I would have to do this so soon.

Some of us have found ethanol up to 40-50% in the blend to have no effect on fe.

Venting wheelwell probably same as venting engine compartment- it is promoting flow through an area that has draggy shapes.