[mustangv600]

Ok so heres the deal I fill up my tank and its gone in less than 2 days and I get only about 180 miles out of it and I do mostly highway driving. I mean granted its winter here where I am and it gets really cold lately but I dont think that I should be having this much trouble with gas and Im not lead footing it either.
Ok so heres the situation:
its at 91500 miles
fuel filter and fuel pump replaced around 84500 miles
cleaned and recharged CAI at 90000 miles
changed oil w/royal purple 5w-30 at 90000 miles
tires pressure just checked at 89000 miles @ ~ 32-33 PSI on 17" rims
I could try running fuel injector cleaner but personally its never helped my car it seems
my question is what should I do
would getting a tuner or UDP help at all with this problem i might have some cash to throw at it but with going back to college Probably not for a while I mean its burning gas like crazy and its taking all of my money and there are no leaks in the vacuum hosing or anything anyone have any solutions that I could try without buying a tuner or UDP at the moment

[ReverendDexter]

Couple thoughts:

What about 02 sensors?

Lucas Injector cleaner seems to be the only one worth a damn.

What speeds are you driving now that it's winter? Slowing down to the point where you're doing a lot more driving in a lower gear will definitely hurt your mileage. So will a lot of speeding up/slowing down (getting stuck behind idiot drivers, for instance).

[mustangv600]

Originally Posted by ReverendDexter Couple thoughts: What about 02 sensors? Lucas Injector cleaner seems to be the only one worth a damn. What speeds are you driving now that it's winter? Slowing down to the point where you're doing a lot more driving in a lower gear will definitely hurt your mileage. So will a lot of speeding up/slowing down (getting stuck behind idiot drivers, for instance).

wouldnt O2 sensors throw a code but yea that might be a good idea to have them checked and yea sometimes get stuck behind idiot drivers and I drive it like I do any other time of the year like normal but not speeding would transmission fluid do this also its due for a change soon anyways

[Ticket-Me-Yellow]

Hey look at the positive side at least your not as bad as my plow truck a 2002 F250 V10 which gets anywhere from 4 mpg to 6 mpg while plowing. I get 100 to 150 miles to a 24 gallon tank. hahahaha fml

[mustangv600]

bought some lucas injector cleaner hope it works lol cuz im gonna run out of money to keep this car running

[mcqueen]

O2 sensors would throw a code. I've got that now and I'd say I'm getting around 12ish mpg with a bit of a heavy foot.

You could try replacing your spark plugs and wires. Might not make a huge difference but you might see a little gain.

[ReverendDexter]

Originally Posted by mcqueen O2 sensors would throw a code. I've got that now and I'd say I'm getting around 12ish mpg with a bit of a heavy foot. You could try replacing your spark plugs and wires. Might not make a huge difference but you might see a little gain.

I didn't even think about plugs and wires, hahaha. Yeah, when the plugs starting going on the Cobra, my mileage TANKED. Went from 20+ down to something like 12 in the matter of about 500 miles.

Good call, man.

[Cricket]

o2 sensors may not always throw a code, but they could prob be changed if they are still the stock ones with those kind of miles. Try the plugs, wires, and o2 sensors see if that helps.

[goren813]

Plugs.

[mustangv600]

if I would replace the spark plugs should I go with NGK Irridium and do I have to replace the plug wires as well and what brand do you guys recommend and could I do this myself or should I have a mechanic do it?

[mcqueen]

Most people recommend staying away from NGK as they have occasionally caused problems in our engines. That being said, I personally have a set of NGK TR55IX ready to go in when the weather warms up. I think most people stick with Autolite plugs. Replacing the wires is just a good idea if you're still running factory wires at 90k miles. I don't have a brand recommendation as I haven't picked mine yet, but I wouldn't go with anything too horribly expensive. And this is something you should be able to do yourself unless you really don't trust yourself. The only problem I've heard of is the plugs near the firewall can be difficult to get to.

[ReverendDexter]

Do it yourself. For plugs I suggest just the basic NGK coppers, you don't need to do wires at the same time, but it'd be better if you could (I like NGK or Denso wires). You can get everything from sparkplugs.com

[goren813]

at high mileage replacing the wires won't hurt, easy to do it all. I run Motorcraft copper plugs, run fine, I stick with Ford's products for things like this and the oil filter. Proper gap is in your manual, I'm pretty sure .054 is what these cars are. $1.00 for the gap tool at auto stores. Don't forget anti-seize on the plugs.

[9986paulk]

umm a hole in the gas tank? haha I really don't know...My taurus doesn't get over 19 now with it being in the teens. Which is down from about 23. But yea just general maintenance could be part of the problem too.

[PacificMustang01]

Originally Posted by 9986paulk umm a hole in the gas tank? .

I was thinking the EXACT same thing.

First thing to check in this situation....Look for leaks! I've read a lot of posts on here about folks having problems of gas filler tube leaking. (Or whatever you call the tube connecting the outside fueling hole to the gas tank)

And my guess is that since fuel evaporates so quickly that unless it was a very fast pouring out you may not even see it on the ground. Put some paper down under it and see if it gets wet.

[mustangv600]

It's not a hole because when I had the fuel pump replaced they also replaced the fuel filler neck because it was leaking so thats out so Im left with spark plugs or O2 and Im changing the plugs and wires today

[mcqueen]

You might as well replace the front o2 sensors as well. They should be replaced around 100k miles. The passenger side one is a bitch, trust me. I haven't had the patience to get it changed..

[mustangv600]

Originally Posted by mustangv600 It's not a hole because when I had the fuel pump replaced they also replaced the fuel filler neck because it was leaking so thats out so Im left with spark plugs or O2 and Im changing the plugs and wires today

Way too cold and windy to do it today they look like a bitch to try and change too so idk might take it to a shop or wait for A warmer day lol

[mustangv600]

I changed the spark plugs today took about 3 hrs because I had to get another tool for the back spark plugs closet to the back of the engine bay. The old plugs were charred to a crisp I replaced the old motorcraft platinum ones with autolite platinum. only had one problem doing it was the reinsertion of the wires I took em off one by one but somehow still messed up wire 5 and 6 so I changed it around and she runs alot better now can feel more pep in the acceleration. Now I just hope I start getting better gas mileage.

[GreenFaleen]

do o2 sensors too, as for tranny fluid if your auto and its never been changed, leave it. If you a manual change it fast