I used up 1/4 of a tank, and i only went 50 miles! Its a 98' 2.5L 4 cylinder....i know the lift and 31 inch tires dont help much, but there is no way that my gas mileage should be this bad! What could be wrong? (everyone else says they get close to 70 miles on 1/4 tank in a 2.5L)

 

I get about 100 miles before the needle hits 3/4 full on my 3.0

 

#1. Your tire size vs. stock tire size plays a BIG role into computing mileage. For example.....taller tires = slower tires = less revolutions per mile than stock. My truck usually gets about 250mi per tank, multply it by what the difference is on your speedo check on the freeway/highway(like 13%, it's been a while). BAM! suddenly that 250mi on your dash becomes 300mi. That's your issue.

#2. Inaccurate speedometer on dash.

#3. See #1.

 

But you are rollin' stock tire size(or almost). His speedo is off because of his stock tire of being approx 27.5" tall, and his new tires of being 31" tall. Thus making inaccurate calculations.

 

My 97 F150 4.6L v8 gets around 15 mpg............If im calculating right.....my 4 cylinder manual ranger is getting 10 mpg. Theres no way my mpg is that bad cuz im using 31 inch tires.

 

Are you going off of what your trip meter says? If you are, that's wrong.

 

yeah, on my trip meter it says 50 miles and i used 1/4 tank....What should i be going off of? (im sorry if im being redundant.....its a new truck for me :P)

 

Do a "speedometer check" on the highway/freeway. The difference between your trip meter and the actual amount traveled on the highway, is what you multiply the trip reading by. Then divide by gallons to fill. presto bingo, accurate mpg. The tires are throwing your speedo off to think it's not going as far as it actually went.

 

so lemme get this straight.....Reset my trip, drive a ways on the free way and check to see what the odometer says i traveled (about how long should i drive it on the freeway?) subtract the two readings, then multiply that by my trip and divide by my gallons used? and that should be my mpg?

 

......bump......

 

gas guages are no where near accurate. my needle wont move until 75 miles from pinned full and then it starts dropping fast.

 

Lance , If it helps I have a the exact same truck . I normally get around 80 miles from full to 3/4 . 50 miles from 3/4 to 1/2 . 50 miles from 1/2 to 1/4 and another 70 from 1/4 to E . for around 240 - 250 miles a tank with 14 gallon fill up from E . this has been my average for the last 2 years .

If it helps rolling stock with mainly city driving I normally average 17.8 MPG . and around 23MPG on highway @ 65MPH .

 

Stock everything I almost always got 23 - 24 mpg. on my 02 3.0 auto w/ 4:11 rear end. I think the larger tires without a ratio change in the rear end are going to hurt particularly in the smaller engine. Just my opinion. Innacurate odometer readings makes trying to use it to determine mileage an exercise in futility.

 

get a scan guage or scal tuner..

 

I also have a 98 Ranger 2.5L 2wd...mine has the 3.45 rear end and came stock with 205/75r14 (26.1") which I have upgraded to 225/70r15 (27.4").

I was considering a ScanGauge until I checked the compatibility list at http://www.scangauge.com/support/Com...Vehicles.shtml and saw this:

1998 WORKS ON ALL VEHICLES EXCEPT: Ford Explorer and Ranger - No Speed, Distance or Fuel Economy information (MPH, MPG, Miles driven)

As others have said, don't trust the gas gauge to tell you exactly how much gas you've used. The only way to see how much gas you've used is to fill the tank all the way up, then fill it all the way up the next time. However much you put in the 2nd time is how much gas you used between fill-ups.

I calculate my MPG using the trip odometer. I reset it every time i fill up, after noting the mileage on the receipt. I divide the miles driven by the # of gallons put in and that is my MPG. It varies based on how much city/highway driving I did between fill-ups. My last 3 were 20.8, 22.3, and 18.8 mpg. I do mostly city driving and a lot of the highways around here have hills that require me to drop down to 4th gear so it's not exactly "ideal" highway conditions even when I'm on the highway.

I guess since my tires are 1.3" larger than stock I should add 5% to my miles driven (1.3/26.1=.0498). That would be a 1mpg increase at 20mpg, so that's nice to know.

I guess since I drive my truck during the course of employment and am compensated for mileage I should bill them for the mileage based on that extra 5% too...lol sorry for the rambling I'll stop now.

 

^^thanks for writing it all out.



btw....my scan gauge does all that, but my trucks an 01.

 

I have 36K on my truck and I have 3 of the stock tires still, and the Right Rear is a replacement (same as the stock though) because I got a flat that ruined the tire. The tires still look brand new and have like-new tread depth on them. Those stock tires kick a$$ when I need new tires in about a million miles I will replace them with the same thing (goodyear wranglers I think or whatever they are)

 

so next time i fill up just mark down my odometer reading, and the next time i fill up after that i mark down my new odometer reading and how many gallons i used to fill up and thats my MPG? (wow, i hate figuring this crap out haha)

 

Pretty much, except you have to multiply the calculated miles by a certain factor since you are using a non-stock tire size.

When you look at your door sticker you'll see the stock tire size, most likely in a metric size ratio (ie 205/75r14). I'll use 205/75r14 as an example here, since that's the stock tire size on my truck.

To figure out the tire diameter in inches you can calculate manually (which I won't get into here) or just go to a tire calculator like this one: http://www.therangerstation.com/tech...nch_Tires.html and plug in the numbers.

A 205/75r14 tire is 26.1". You're currently using a 31" tire, so you need to find out the % difference. 31-26.1 is 4.9". Divide the difference (4.9") by the stock tire size (26.1") and you get your % difference (4.9/26.1=18.8%).

To get the proper miles driven between fill-ups, you take the difference between the 2 odometer readings, then multiply that by 1.188.

As an example, the "50 miles" (as indicated by the odometer) that you stated in the op would actually be closer to 59.4 miles (if your stock tire size is the same as mine) once you take into account the non-stock tire size.

 

But.......that doesn't counter anything i typed in regards to your reply. Your speedo is electronically controlled. Takes a signal from the trans, to your computer, to your dash. Computers/ecu/blah are calibrated to the stock tire size. Yours is working properly. His...is not. Neither is mine. What does replaceing tires have to do with this thread?

Oh...and those tires on your truck now.....BLOW *****.

 

x2 on that last part lol

 

50 miles to a quarter of a tank!? Holy Smokes....Want to trade trucks?! Im LUCKY to see 45 on a 1/4



(Never had my spedo adjusted either to compensate for tire size so....)

 

I also get this...

 

It might have been my guage but when we went out to Apopka (40miles both ways+all the mudding is about 60miles) I didn't even burn 1/4 tank, I am not even to the fouth with the miles I put on today (10, to and from work).
WHooo!! I hope it stays that way!