2.3l non turbo questions

[cavi]

Okay, I have had a few tanks of gas through the thing, and keep in mind it does run good, it passed smog with flying colors, under 20 hydrocarbons when it was allowed over 100. Anyway two problems, I am only getting like 20 miles to the gallon, WTF?
Second the temp guage only marks slightly over the first mark when fully warm. At first I figured that the thermostat was either not there or stuck wide open so I had it replaced and it did not change. So now I am wondering weather the sender is the wrong one, say from another model? Any ideas?

 

[88stangmangt]

do a tune up...and see if you can ground out the guage to make sure it sweeps fully.

 

[65ShelbyClone]

How many miles on the engine? How many on the O2 sensor?

 

[cavi]

okay, roughly 65000 miles on rebuilt engine, no idea on the o2 sensor, but keep in mind, it uses no oil, no codes, checked by ford, and when it was smogged it came in as clean as possible, so if the O2 sensor was off one would expect higher hydrocarbon levels.

 

[65ShelbyClone]

That's why I'm wondering. Usually poor fuel economy is followed by above average emissions. I suppose the cat could be just working very well, but I dunno. You checked the mileage the official way, right? Fill up, reset trip, drive at least 1/2 tank, then fill up again at the same pump?

Have you looked at the plugs?

 

[cavi]

that is exactly what I did, and the plugs are brand new, so are the wires.

 

[rd]

Our 89 na 2.3 automatic gets about 20.5 or so in average around town driving, mostly with the ac on. It goes to 25 if you add a 150 mile interstate trip to each tank, so I thought it was great!

It also doesn't seem to run very warm. I also put a thermostat in, etc. But it seems to idle in traffic on 90+ degree days with the ac on at around the 150-160 area, by my guess.

It goes over 130, because I can tell when it warms to that point, because the converter lockup activates..

I decided it was fine and just enjoy the heck out of my quiet, 20+mpg, air conditioned, "new" Mustang, with the stereo I put in for my kid! Much more fun to drive to work than my 5.0 with headers and dumps and 4.10 gears.

 

[cavi]

that does sound like mine, I am all in all pleased with mine as it is deffinitly better on gas than my F-150 which gets 12 at best. i do find the Mustang fun, it seems to really get into the power when it hits 3000rpm