Horrible Gas Mileage 88lx 5.0

catman4115 · Sep 29, 2005

I cant figure out why I only get about 150 miles to a take of gas if im lucky, I only average 13mpg and I was thinking there is something wrong with the car. Ive already had the computer scanned there were a few codes and everything was fixed. But the gas mileage is still horrible. I was wondering if there was anything else I could do. The car has 3.73s, full exhaust and an aluminum driveshaft. Also its a 5speed. The car has new spark plugs, wires, air filter, fuel filter, cap and rotor. Thanks

slow5poh · Sep 29, 2005

yeah somethin' is way off. do u have a lack of power too? maybe the cats are plugged? somethins way off. thats horrible, even on a bad day i get 240 miles to tank. but im stock, is yours?

catman4115 · Sep 29, 2005

i have 373s, exhaust no cats and an aluminum driveshaft

jaackal · Sep 29, 2005

timing, emissions bull ****?

88 Fox GT · Sep 29, 2005

What's your timing set at? Are you sure your EGR is working? Are the 02 sensors old/bad? Run a diagnostics test and see what codes you can pull up, if you get any.

Jaswir · Sep 29, 2005

i get 190miles to a tank... car runs great... i herd thats adverage i dunno tho

88 Fox GT · Sep 29, 2005

I can get 250-300 miles out of my tank on my stock engine.

Jaswir, that's not very good mileage considering your mods. You might want to check into it because I think there is definitely room for improvement.

Copperstang87 · Sep 29, 2005

280kms or 170miles to a tank just changed the 02s, cap & rotor, plugs and wires, scanned for codes and none, ive just learn to accept the bad gas mileage.

stang8urimport · Sep 29, 2005

I get anywhere from 180-220 miles to the tank... It's pretty stock... all new plugs, wires, cap, rotor, timign set at 14, 93 oct., O2's, But I don't drive it like a grandma.

catman4115 · Sep 29, 2005

ther car didnt pull any codes

Blakthorn · Sep 29, 2005

does autozone still pull codes for free?

stang8urimport · Sep 29, 2005

88 Fox GT · Sep 29, 2005

Blakthorn said:
does autozone still pull codes for free?

Yes, they do here. You can easily pull codes yourself, or just buy the $30 tester like I did. Hook it up, push start and it will do all the work for you and get the codes.

catman, do you know how old the O2 sensors are? How light are you on the throttle, usually?

catman4115 · Sep 29, 2005

i dont know how old the o2's are but they werent throwing any codes. could they need to be replaced even if there arent any codes for it?, im pretty easy on the gas but i get on it once and a while. when i got the car checked, it came up with an egr code and a vacume code but the guys at the shop fixed both those problems but i havent seen any improvement in mpg.

Blakthorn · Oct 1, 2005

yea autozone here does it too, just made sure

Blakthorn · Oct 1, 2005

how do i pull codes myself?

8950HO · Oct 1, 2005

Copperstang87 said:
280kms or 170miles to a tank just changed the 02s, cap & rotor, plugs and wires, scanned for codes and none, ive just learn to accept the bad gas mileage.

If you haven`t already...clean the mass air sensor wires/elements with electrical contact cleaner.
Cleaning the mass air sensor on my 89`,which was dirty made a significant improvement in gas mileage,at least in my case.

jrichker · Oct 1, 2005

jaackal said:
timing, emissions bull ****?

Contrary to any beliefs you may personally hold, the emissions gear does not hurt gas mileage. When all the gear is working properly, the computer tunes the car for best possible mileage at cruse.

Here's a book that will get you started with how the Ford electronic engine control or "computer" works.

Ford Fuel Injection & Electronic Engine Control 1988-1993 by Charles Probst :ISBN 0-8376-0301-3.

It's about $20 from Borders.com see http://www.amazon.com/ . Select boo...very good, and I found it to be very helpful.

jrichker · Oct 1, 2005

Blakthorn said:
how do i pull codes myself?

Here's the link to dump the computer codes with only a jumper wire or paper clip and the check engine light, or test light or voltmeter. I’ve used it for years, and it works great.

See http://www.troublecodes.net/Ford/
OR
See http://www.mustangworks.com/articles/electronics/eec-iv_codes.html

IF your car is an 86-88 stang, you'll have to use the test lamp or voltmeter method. There is no functional check engine light on the 86-88's except possibly the Cali Mass Air cars.

Codes have different answers if the engine is running from the answers that it has when the engine isn't running. It helps a lot to know if you had the engine running when you ran the test.

Trouble codes are either 2 digit or 3 digit, there are no cars that use both 2 digit codes and 3 digit codes.

8950HO · Oct 1, 2005

jrichker said:
Contrary to any beliefs you may personally hold, the emissions gear does not hurt gas mileage. When all the gear is working properly, the computer tunes the car for best possible mileage at cruse.

Here's a book that will get you started with how the Ford electronic engine control or "computer" works.

Ford Fuel Injection & Electronic Engine Control 1988-1993 by Charles Probst :ISBN 0-8376-0301-3.

It's about $20 from Borders.com see http://www.amazon.com/ . Select boo... w/electrical contact cleaner at all times!!!

Horrible Gas Mileage 88lx 5.0

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