New Member w/ Gas Guzzler

[Bubba Bob]

Hi yall,

I live in South Alabama. I drive an 85 F150 that averages 13 mpg. I recently pulled a double axle enclosed trailer 800 miles and averaged 12 MPG. I think that's excellent gas milage If I do say so myself... Now that I see this truck gets 12MPG pulling a trailer, I feel it should do MUCH better empty. Thats why Im here... I hope to learn a bit...

[ELF]

Welcome, Bob. 85 f150 eh? auto or manual tranny? Lets see 85 was the last year for carbs on most fords. Lots of them had fuel injection in 86.

[Bubba Bob]

Auto Slushly

This was the first year Ford offered Fuel Injection in a truck. Still trying to figure out if that's a good thing or bad

[Bill in Houston]

Welcome.

What kind of driving do you normally do? 13 mpg might be about right. :-) Seriously, if you are cruising on the freeway a lot, I would expect different mileage than if you are delivering mail, or spend a lot of times idling.

[Bubba Bob]

Originally Posted by Bill in Houston

Welcome.

What kind of driving do you normally do? 13 mpg might be about right. :-) Seriously, if you are cruising on the freeway a lot, I would expect different mileage than if you are delivering mail, or spend a lot of times idling.

Right now I dont know what kind of driving I do... I just moved from Texas out here to Alabama. Looks like it will probably be a lot of city driving, but Not too much traffic or stop lights.

I recently cut the cats off and put on a new manifold-back exhaust system, and installed a tachometer so I can keep my revs down. Im hoping for about 14-15 just from that.

[Gary Palmer]

Welcome to GasSavers: If your getting the mileage you said, 12 towing and 13 without, then your no worse off than you would be with a carburated engine, probably better. I really doubt that it would be worth trying to fit a scanner to the truck. They can do a little better, maybe, on a good day, going down hill, with a tail wind. If you were hauling something heavy on a regular basis, then they become a pretty effective vehicle. However, they were made to haul, and although I don't know how they did it, they don't seem to get very much better mileage, empty.

There are things you could do, but they mostly involve changes to the drivetrain, in one form or another, in which case you'd be ahead from a cash standpoint to buy a cheap Honda, or something that was capable of getting some mileage out of the gas.

Good luck

[Bubba Bob]

Originally Posted by theclencher

Brutus gets 12 pulling a big trailer and 18 or so empty. 302, EFI, a/t, 4x4. Put the cats and the mufflers back on, pullen 'em off ain't gonna doo yoo no good.

The cats had long ago fallin to pieces and ended up in the muffler. THe muffler was well clogged.

BTW, what's your deffenition of "Big Trailer"? Because the 302 isnt capable of "big trailers". LOL

[caprice]

My K5 Blazer used to get 10-11 MPG and it has a 5.0 L similar to yours, but it has a 2 barrel carburetor, and a mechanical ignition advance. Also I don't have overdrive.

After changing the nut behind the wheel to not go over the speed limit, and race to the next red light, I started having the windows cracked instead of all th way down. Also I increased the tire pressure, found some flat hubcaps, did a 2/3 grill block, carburetor rebuild, and fixed the broken ignition advance (also advanced the base-timing a little). Now I can get over 16MPG. It isn't great, but it is a lot better than it was!

You could start with a tune up, and make sure your ignition is working properly. Try a throttle body rebuild, clean out the EGR valve, you know, your basic engine check-up stuff.

[Bill in Houston]

Is this the kind of vehicle where Seafoam might be helpful? And a PCV catch can?

[Bubba Bob]

Originally Posted by theclencher

I think a tilt, double-axle, 18' x 7' heavy-frame flatbed with a 10,000 lb GVWR (I don't know what it weighs empty?) with a couple tons of vehicle or ? on it counts as "big". But she ain't no speed demon with the trailer out back.

http://www.hhtrailer.com/05SpeedLoaderEX.asp

That's a big load for a 302. Oh well, still probably beat some Geo's off the line. Oops, forgot where I was, disregaurd that last statement

Is this the kind of vehicle where Seafoam might be helpful? And a PCV catch can?

She's been Sea Foamed.

Whats a PCV catch can for? I did change the PCV valve though...