Abysmal Fuel Mileage

[Langwilliams]

What we really lack right now is refinery capacity. and oil companies don't want to invest in refineries. Investment into the future cuts into Today's profits. and Wall street only cares about today's profits. It is why so many companies are going private.

Four smaller refineries have come on line since 2015. The last major refinery opened in 1977. The last major one opened processes 200,000 barrels a day, the newer ones process 25K, 35K, 42.5K, 60K an 84K. Existing refineries have added capacity an efficiency to increase output over time. Those numbers came from the EIA.GOV website.

It's no secret gov policy wants to push the public to electric cars and has raised CAFE standards so with the potential for reduced demand in the future an very strict environmental requirements investing billions in a declining industry doesn't make sense. The CEO of Cevron stated: “How do you go to your board, how do you go to your shareholders and say ‘we’re going to spend billions of dollars on new capacity in a market that is, you know, the policy is taking you in the other direction.”

The gas prices are a public policy choice. Rising gas prices were said to be going through a "incredible transition" by someone we all know.

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[Dgc333]

I guess you should update your information for the 21century.

I don't need to update my information at all. The only explanation for you getting better mileage with premium is the 91/93 you are using is E0 and the 87 is E10 or E15. I have never seen a technical article that you will see any measurable difference so it's not just me, it's the entire automotive community.

My 21 Ranger, 17 Ecoboost Mustang and the 15 Ecoboost Mustang never saw/see any measurable difference between 87 and 93.

 

[JasonTremor]

I generally don't get into mpg discussions, but I'll throw in a point of view.

Mpg gained on 93 versus 87 all depends on how the engine calibration is setup from the factory. At steady state cruising, the knock sensors will add spark timing up to the max defined in the calibration or until spark knock occurs, whichever is is lowest. The cars I've seen the biggest difference in were setup from the factory recommending premium 91+ octane, but allowed 87 octane with a disclaimer that performance would be reduced.

Since a supra 2.0 was used as example earlier in thread, I'll use that as an example. Based on what I read on the 2022 Supra 2.0 specs, premium 91 + is recommended with an allowance for 89 if 91 not available. If running 87 and then switching to premium, I'd bet a few dollars that it would pick up 5-6 mpg.

 

[Old Red Replacement]

Gas with less or no ethanol gives more energy and mileage.

EPA added more, thus crappy mileage in summer too.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...hanol-availability-ease-pain-pump/7283707001/

 

[seanellaz]

Tow Mode + Gear Lockout.

I set my gear lock outs to 7 max while in town and 9 on highway. I drop it to 8 on long drawn out uphills.

10th gear is dumb.

I can sort of idle along at 75mph in 10th even pulling my light aluminum overlanding trailer, I think the motor turns a little under 2k RPM. Motor seems pretty happy here. I installed a 3" flowmaster cat back stainless steel exhaust, wrapped in fiberglass stem to stern with muffler delete. It purrs pretty quiet (due to the wrap serving as kind of exterior "muffler") and the cabin stays cooler absent the blazing heat which would otherwise be coming off the exhaust. I also installed an Injen Cold Air Intake with a huge round filter. I think together they let the motor produce enough power for level road constant speed without lugging. To climb or accelerate I do need to downshift, which is fine with me.

 

[Apples]

There are a lot of smart folks on this web site, and surely one of them happens to be a gasoline chemist? If there is, perhaps he/she will add some light on why ethanol is used instead of MTBE. Other than, that is, the political aspect, as in the donation monies from the fat-cat-pockets!

 

[Adamsat6100]

Since I switched to sports mode driving I've noticed the gas milage readout hits a better mpg faster on the lower end of gears. Possibly test some different pedal pressures on the mpg readout to find what the best acceleration would be for your driving conditions. I've experienced some dramatic mpg changes due to the most minuscule amount of foot pressure on the pedal.

How do you change to sports mode?

 

[Adamsat6100]

How do you cfange to sports mode?

 

[Tremordan831]

I have been watching my fuel mileage over the last couple months as gas has been rising. Lie-o-meter says 13.8 MPG and hand calculated says 14.86. My commute is 6 miles in bumper to bumper, stop light to stop light, traffic. Last 2 weeks been driving it like a grandpa and still haven't crossed 15 MPG. Even with a terrible traffic, stoplight commute I feel like I should be doing better than sub-15. Or should I just start considering a N/A gas engine or hybrid for my commute?

Either your tires are flat or something in the motor isn't tuned correctly. I average 17-24 mix city/highway on the Tremor. Stock 32's mounted. For you to get that low mileage, something has to be wrong.

 

[Cwbyfan62]

I've had my Ranger about 26 months now. 7930 miles total. 9.4 mile round trip to work. COVID and my physical challenges limited my life for since I bought it.
Average 14-16 mpg. I believe in my accelerator so not a conservative driver.
Sometimes I do a round trip on the freeway just to let her run. Taking it to Malibu next weekend! Be interesting to see how it does in the canyons.

 

[Apples]

Ranger Pride: It is interesting to note, that ethanol blends reduce overall efficiency. For example, E15 blends, lower efficiency by 35% (total BTUs per gallon). And arguably, ethanol does increase the octane rating. However, the octane boost from MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether) is several times that of ethanol, and is a whole lot less expensive. We can thank big agribusiness' lobbyists for ethanol's wide-spread use.

 

[Dgc333]

I generally don't get into mpg discussions, but I'll throw in a point of view.

Mpg gained on 93 versus 87 all depends on how the engine calibration is setup from the factory. At steady state cruising, the knock sensors will add spark timing up to the max defined in the calibration or until spark knock occurs, whichever is is lowest. The cars I've seen the biggest difference in were setup from the factory recommending premium 91+ octane, but allowed 87 octane with a disclaimer that performance would be reduced.

Since a supra 2.0 was used as example earlier in thread, I'll use that as an example. Based on what I read on the 2022 Supra 2.0 specs, premium 91 + is recommended with an allowance for 89 if 91 not available. If running 87 and then switching to premium, I'd bet a few dollars that it would pick up 5-6 mpg.

What you say is absolutely true except for the increased mileage statement. What you are describing is at or near WOT. The mileage you get is based off light throttle cruising not what is happening at WOT. More timing when you are getting on it equates to more power and more fuel consumption.

At light throttle cruising your engine needs much more timing to run efficiently, much more than the engine could handle (or requires) at WOT for max power. The ECU will add this timing regardless of the octane of the fuel you are using.

 

[Okinawa Joe]

Fantastic highway trip mileage! I just did a trip to CT From VA, a total of 530 miles. I fueled up in Southbury CT, and drove to Winchester VA to fuel up before the last leg of my trip, I had 1/4 tank of fuel left. My truck took 15 gallons of gas, I had travelled 417 miles on that fuel. Checking the math on my phone revealed I had average 27.8 mpg on my return trip. AMAZING!
My truck is a 2022 XLT, FX4 with the 18" Hankook all terrain tires. I just hit 4000 miles on the odometer. Typically my dash mpg calculator indicated from 25 to 30 mpg depending on the grade of the road, I kept my speed on cruise control around 72 mph the entire trip, AC on. Each fuel stop I reset trip odometer and avg fuel reading. My tires are inflated 32 psi front, 34 psi rear.
My fuel, Shell 87 octane.

 

[GTGallop]

Good point ... many people don't realize that all ethanol basically does is dilute the BTU content of your gasoline. Its the BTU's that produce the energy to move you down the road. So less BTU's per gallon ... the more gallons it takes, resulting in less MPG.

YUP! That is exactly right.
It's a "feel good" measure.

Makes them hippies feel good because there are less emissions in a gallon of gas. But they neglect to consider it takes more gallons of gas to move the same distance now and because you are spending more gallons of gas, your emissions are the same to worse. Ethanol is the biggest scam going. And at a time when the world needs food, we are busy jamming it in our gas tanks so the hippies can pat themselves on the back.

 

[JasonTremor]

What you say is absolutely true except for the increased mileage statement. What you are describing is at or near WOT. The mileage you get is based off light throttle cruising not what is happening at WOT. More timing when you are getting on it equates to more power and more fuel consumption.

At light throttle cruising your engine needs much more timing to run efficiently, much more than the engine could handle (or requires) at WOT for max power. The ECU will add this timing regardless of the octane of the fuel you are using.

If 87 octane is sufficient, yes it will add spark timing during part throttle steady state cruising as well as full throttle.

If 87 octane is not sufficient, spark timing will be removed by the knock sensors at both part throttle and full throttle.

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