How to get the best mpg out of a 99 4 speed auto v6 Ford Ranger

[Whitetail Ranger]

The pic is a bit small but i wanted to make sure it be small enough to upload.

[ecomodded]

That's a good Hack , I would not bother with a belly pan after seeing the truck , I can't see in the photo , is there a scrape plate on it, that slopes down over the oil pan ?
Also is the spoiler as low as the axle ? or can it / could it or would it be be too obtrusive on the trucks clearance requirements.

[Whitetail Ranger]

The air dams especially the garden edging comes down to the point where its just about level with the front Axel. Because of the body lift configuration i wouldn't loose anymore ground clearance with them on or off since all the suspension components are in the same placement in height. The only thing that lifts the truck higher over all is the bigger tires which is like maybe an inch if that. And no this specific ranger doesn't have a skid plate over the oil pan. Ive seen some rangers in this year that had them but not a lot of them. Thought about getting one.

[elhigh]

Hi,
Getting into the middle 20s with that rig is actually pretty good, so I'd say you're on the right path.

Anything you can do to encourage top gear earlier is good, and torque converter lockup is good. There have been a few threads talking about forcing TC lockup, look for Orange4Boy's "Freezing the Slushbox" for lots of good info on forcing lockup on his Previa. It won't be a 1:1 translation for you but there should be good info to help point your way.

[Whitetail Ranger]

Also notice the garden edging isn't as long as the other valance due to wheel clearance when the wheels are turned left or right. This whole valance style inspired me to do this after seeing the new 2012-2014 Ford F150's valance styles. : 3

[Whitetail Ranger]

And yes elhigh mine would be locked up in overdrive. But some people advised against this but i did think of installing a TC lockup switch. Right now what sometimes i do is if i drive like say 30 to 35 mph ill turn overdrive off and the torque converter with lockup in third. Forth being overdrive. And when i accelerate gently in that lockup to 40 or 45 mph if the speed limit gets higher i'll turn overdrive on and then it jumps from third to forth and either stays locked up the whole time or it will unlock then shift to fourth and then lockup. Ive seen a video of someone that installed a torque converter lockup switch as it locked up second and third. As they accelerated moderately hard it shifted hard as to the fact it was suffering shift shock which can snap input shafts. I think a torque converter lockup switch can work if its done with care and at least done when cruising most of the time. I know manuals wouldn't suffer shift shock cause engine power has to be disengaged when shifting vs auto don't and the toque converter sort of dampens that shift shocking effect through the fluid when its unlocked.

[Whitetail Ranger]

Sorry..Uh did i shut down the momentum or something..Not getting any responses back from my last comment. By the way once these Good Year wrangler tires finally wear out ill be looking for a lower rolling resistance tire with a finer tread on it....Listening to these things i have one now going wubwubwubwub gets pretty old and i can only imaging how much frictional resistance that may have.

[ecomodded]

I think you might be able to change the torque lock up settings threw the ecu or the transmissions ecu. Its a guess , since you can change what rpm the gears change at you *might* be able to change when lock up occurs. These ecu driven cars are nice to tune , you change a few settings instead of turning a few screws or bolts in most cases.

[Whitetail Ranger]

Hmmm..Maybe....One friend i live with who works at an auto shop had suggested that i could possibly intentionally miss aline the lick down linkage to make it up shift sooner. But that may cause problems when i need to call for power and it up shifts way too soon.

[ecomodded]

You could buy (there might be a free bootleg one) a ECU tuner program to use with a laptop so you can do the changes to the up shift yourself.

I know this to be true with my '05 Ranger , I do not know about your '01, One of the Ranger forums will have the information on your '01 Ranger