bought a explorer. 21mpg?

fiveoho · Jun 24, 2009

just picked up a explorer saturday. 99 EB 2wd 4.0 with 169,300 miles. truck runs great. maintenanced well and kept clean. my message center (center digital lower console) has been continually displaying my fuel economy right around 20-21MPG. is that right? sounds way better than i expected. crawled underneath the truck and read the diff tag, 4.10 ! how on earth am i getting 21 mpg city driving with 4.10s?! granted, i have been babying it since i got it. it actually read 23.5-24.5mpg on the interstate on the way back home when i bought the truck. bought it saturday and have been driving it every day. since its only been city commuting for the past 4 days, its been consistant with 20-21 mpg.

when its time to fuel up again, im going to check it the old fashioned way. until then, was going to see what you guys had to say about it. if its accurate, thats pretty awesome.

thanks for any info

revhead347 · Jun 25, 2009

Sounds a little on the high side, but not impossible. I have gotten as good as 21 mpg on the highway with my F150, which is substantially bigger than an Explorer.

Kurt

1slow95 · Jun 25, 2009

I would get over 20mpg in my Explorer all the time, 22-24 I think. Of course that was no a/c and mostly highway.

I don't trust those electronic mpg indicators. My Jeep constantly shows 19-20mpg average, but I'm only getting 16-17.

fiveoho · Jun 25, 2009

had several other people give that same comment - sounds high, but possible.

i just wasnt sure how accurate the factory ford message center was

fiveoho · Jun 25, 2009

Low-5.0 said:
I would get over 20mpg in my Explorer all the time, 22-24 I think. Of course that was no a/c and mostly highway.

was that 22-24 figure from the electronics or you figuring it up yourself? what was the specs on your exploder?

Gearbanger 101 · Jun 25, 2009

Is it equipped with the 4.0L SOHC engine, or the 4.0L OHV engine? The SOHC engines are pretty sweet set ups backed with the 5-speed automatic. My '01 Explorer Sport gets pretty reasonable mileage on the highway as well. I can't really speak for the in town mileage, since I'm usually not in a position to drive it very easy....but I could believe 20-23mpg with some restraint of the accelerator pedal.

fiveoho · Jun 25, 2009

Gearbanger 101 said:
Is it equipped with the 4.0L SOHC engine, or the 4.0L OHV engine? The SOHC engines are pretty sweet set ups backed with the 5-speed automatic. My '01 Explorer Sport gets pretty reasonable mileage on the highway as well. I can't really speak for the in town mileage, since I'm usually not in a position to drive it very easy....but I could believe 20-23mpg with some restraint of the accelerator pedal.

mine has the 4.0 sohc. from what ive read, the sohc seems to be more of a efficient motor compared to the ohv. but the ohv seems to be more maintenance free. i think the sohc motor makes like 205hp. seems like the ohv is more around 160. only thing that worries me about my motor is all the miles ....and i hope to goodness that mine has already had the timing chain(s) recall done

so you're thinking that 20-21 in town figure sounds doable?

Pokageek · Jun 25, 2009

That's pretty good. If I feather, and I mean feather..like 30 second 0-60 runs on my qx4 with the 3.5 DOHC Z engine, I can get almost 19. Otherwise 12.

p.s. The vehicle does not know whether it is driving in town or hwy or starting and stopping..no kidding. Unless you are going up hill, you can get the same gas mileage anywhere.

Gearbanger 101 · Jun 25, 2009

I've got 240km on my SOHC engine now and the only things I've replaces is a water pump and now upper plenum gaskets. Otherwise, no issues at all. Yes, the timing chains rattle every once and a while on start up, but that's more of an annoyance than anything.

20-21mpg is doable in town if you're really footing it, but I wouldn't count on that being the norm for regular driving.

fiveoho · Jun 25, 2009

Gearbanger 101 said:
I've got 240km on my SOHC engine now and the only things I've replaces is a water pump and now upper plenum gaskets. Otherwise, no issues at all. Yes, the timing chains rattle every once and a while on start up, but that's more of an annoyance than anything.

20-21mpg is doable in town if you're really footing it, but I wouldn't count on that being the norm for regular driving.

240km....that about 150,000 miles?

so really a little timing chain noise isnt a big problem? i dont think mine has any noise. when the motor is idling it just sounds like normal valvetrain tones. timing chain noise is pretty noticeable i would think?

i'll keep footing around . i like the 21mpg. ive actually been doing exactly what pokageek does - 30 second 0-60 runs.

Gearbanger 101 · Jun 25, 2009

The timing chain noise is only really heard on start up until the oil fills the small piston in the tensioner to tighten things up. That little piston leaks down fairly quickly, so they tend to give you that first little “BRRAAPPP” rattle for about the first half second or so. There was a TSB on the tensioner I believe. You should be able to take it to your local dealership and have them run the VIN number to see if your has had it done, or qualifies to do so. Mike (SVT Tech) will have a better handle on what years qualified than I would.

fiveoho · Jun 25, 2009

Gearbanger 101 said:
The timing chain noise is only really heard on start up until the oil fills the small piston in the tensioner to tighten things up. That little piston leaks down fairly quickly, so they tend to give you that first little “BRRAAPPP” rattle for about the first half second or so. There was a TSB on the tensioner I believe. You should be able to take it to your local dealership and have them run the VIN number to see if your has had it done, or qualifies to do so. Mike (SVT Tech) will have a better handle on what years qualified than I would.

i actually called my local ford dealership yesterday and gave them the vin# to find out that very thing. they called me back and said that they could not pull any records on a vehicle thats over 10 years

i really wish i could find out some service history on it to see if the chains/tensioners have been changed. any suggestions?

1slow95 · Jun 25, 2009

fiveoho said:
was that 22-24 figure from the electronics or you figuring it up yourself? what was the specs on your exploder?

'94 Limited 4.0L OHV auto. That was figuring it up myself.

I also had a 4x4 Ranger with the SOHC 4.0L and I got 21-22 mpg with it.

My 4.7L V-8 Jeep will approach 20mpg on the highway. In town I usually get 14-15. My speedometer is off by a couple mph though, so it's probably 1 or 2mpg lower.

I got 58mpg on my last tank of gas on my bike.

fiveoho · Jun 29, 2009

message center now displays 20.0 mpg. swapped out my 235/70/16s for some continentals, 255/70/16. its been slowing dropping over the past 3 days and ,for now, has seemed to settle on 20 even.

Mike97gt · Jul 2, 2009

gearbanger PM'ed me about this but I can't pull up oasis on a truck over ten years old..

The recall was a long time ago and is now expired.. you can tell if it was done by looking at the tensioner on the driver side head and if it's flat it's not been done.. if it stick up in the middle past the wrench flats it's the recall one or a new one.

chances are it's been done since you have no noise.

If your truck was having a issue with the chain/guides you would know it , that thing would make a racket all the time

fiveoho · Jul 2, 2009

svttech76 said:
gearbanger PM'ed me about this but I can't pull up oasis on a truck over ten years old..

The recall was a long time ago and is now expired.. you can tell if it was done by looking at the tensioner on the driver side head and if it's flat it's not been done.. if it stick up in the middle past the wrench flats it's the recall one or a new one.

chances are it's been done since you have no noise.

If your truck was having a issue with the chain/guides you would know it , that thing would make a racket all the time

i may have bragged too quickly. i noticed yesterday on startup i heard a 'BRAPP' noise for about a 1/2 second. ive had this explorer for two weeks now and its only done this once....im assuming that was timing chain noise. should i worry or just drive it?

also- gearbanger seems pretty knowlegable and mentioned a explaination of some sort of small piston filling up with oil in regards to the tensioner. after hearing the noise, i was considering a oil change with some lucas oil stabilizer. in my mind, that -could- quiet it down (even tho its only done it once) but would it be too thick to fill that small piston he mentioned? if so, that would mean the noise would last longer upon startup if oil couldnt get to the tensioner..right?

MysteryMachine · Jul 14, 2009

I have a 95 4.0 exploder. It gets great mileage compared to what my Ram got when it was running. Never sat down and figured out what I'm getting though. I don't feel manly in it though. I miss driving my Ram

fiveoho · Jul 14, 2009

after new tires, going from a 235 to a 255, it dropped about 1mpg. the message center still averages 19.7mpg in town! i manually checked it the other day and to my surprise, the message center is right on the money - 19.88mpg !!!

mackey · Jul 23, 2009

Mine makes that noise of the timing chain. Only when starting and cold...

I have an 01 sport.

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