Ridiculously low Gas mileage ENOUGH already WTF is going on ?

[HPR]

I let my truck warm up almost EVERY time I drive it, up to the 10 minutes. Mostly that's to the gym 1 mile away 5 days a week. It has probably idled more than been driven at this point. 1500 miles since Oct. I do get on it once and a while. There also was a leveling kit on it since Nov maybe. Dash shows 21 mpg, last longer trip was 29. Something seems wrong with yours.

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[sunismymed]

the 4K tow package comes with a higher gear ratio for the drive axle which is already less economical from a fuel stand point than an non 4K tow package.

While its no surprise that towing something would give much lower mileage,
I had now idea that getting the 4K tow package would reduce mileage when not towing.

Wouldn't, or couldn't the car be reprogrammed / optimized with that package installed?

 

[James L. Harrison]

Ive had this truck 4 months. I don't drive a lot and I currently have about 2k miles on the odometer.

AWD, 4k tow running 245 65 17s and 1 inch front level lift. K&N drop in filter, no other mods. 89 octane gas used every time. Standard drive mode. I use it for personal transport and dont haul any heavy loads. Tire PSI set to 35.

I live in NW Indiana and do mixed driving of hwy and streets. I drive normally and I'm not a leadfoot. I don't use remote start or sit in traffic. I am getting absolute horseshit mileage. I have not seen 20mpg. I understand the figure may be off a tad with the slightly different tire size but other people with the same truck and mods are claiming 30mpg. WTF gives already? I bought a small truck to save on gas mileage. My V6 equinox was a gas pig and got better mileage. Its one of the reasons I dumped it. With the the gas $ now going through the moon its starting to bother me. I have the money but I didn't buy a "baby truck" to piss money away on gas. I bought this truck to get a few more mpg than the equinox and I was expecting to get at least 22mpg. I understand going up a size in tires may kill 1-2 mpg but come on now. Enough with this BS already. Im tired of the.excuses. Im seeing 17-18mpg tops. Less than 280 miles per tank. I am always putting gas in this truck. I've reset all settings twice to start from scratch to see if that helped and it has not.

Anybody have any ideas what could be going on? I cant be getting 10-12 less than other members with the same truck. Winter gas blend, altitude, driving style/ BS already. 10-11 mpg less than others is NOT normal. Something is wrong here and I'm getting pissed. The biggest reason people buy small trucks to save on gas.

Ive had this truck 4 months. I don't drive a lot and I currently have about 2k miles on the odometer.

AWD, 4k tow running 245 65 17s and 1 inch front level lift. K&N drop in filter, no other mods. 89 octane gas used every time. Standard drive mode. I use it for personal transport and dont haul any heavy loads. Tire PSI set to 35.

I live in NW Indiana and do mixed driving of hwy and streets. I drive normally and I'm not a leadfoot. I don't use remote start or sit in traffic. I am getting absolute horseshit mileage. I have not seen 20mpg. I understand the figure may be off a tad with the slightly different tire size but other people with the same truck and mods are claiming 30mpg. WTF gives already? I bought a small truck to save on gas mileage. My V6 equinox was a gas pig and got better mileage. Its one of the reasons I dumped it. With the the gas $ now going through the moon its starting to bother me. I have the money but I didn't buy a "baby truck" to piss money away on gas. I bought this truck to get a few more mpg than the equinox and I was expecting to get at least 22mpg. I understand going up a size in tires may kill 1-2 mpg but come on now. Enough with this BS already. Im tired of the.excuses. Im seeing 17-18mpg tops. Less than 280 miles per tank. I am always putting gas in this truck. I've reset all settings twice to start from scratch to see if that helped and it has not.

Anybody have any ideas what could be going on? I cant be getting 10-12 less than other members with the same truck. Winter gas blend, altitude, driving style/ BS already. 10-11 mpg less than others is NOT normal. Something is wrong here and I'm getting pissed. The biggest reason people buy small trucks to save on gas.

I have a '14 Focus ST 2.0 turbo with 6 speed manual tx. I get close to the same as you on it, and it is about 300 lbs or so lighter than yours IIRC.

 

[GreatWhiteNorth]

A couple of thoughts regarding the issue...

- larger tires = greater rolling circumference, so actual distance traveled will be more than indicated;
- that change to the diameter & circumference will affect the indicated fuel economy, which I find to be optimistic anyways;
- driving style impacts fuel economy quite a bit. I read in a (tuning related?) thread here somewhere full boost occurs early, like by 2,000 rpm? Easy driving, using minimum boost likely helps.

The only way to determine actual fuel economy is to calculate it using actual distance (not indicated) and fuel quantity used. IMO that's best done at a steady state 60 mph, flat highway driving, cruise on, no head or tailwind, etc. There are a lot of variables, such as is the tank getting refilled to the same level every time, regular or premium gas, ethanol content, tire pressures, distance driven, etc. Multiple long distance trips calculating actual fuel economy should give you a better idea.

Maybe your actual fuel economy is better than you think?

 

[Maverick2022XL]

While its no surprise that towing something would give much lower mileage,
I had now idea that getting the 4K tow package would reduce mileage when not towing.

Wouldn't, or couldn't the car be reprogrammed / optimized with that package installed?

It should be programmed for that particular package in other modules With that said there is no free lunch and whatever they are trying to keep constant MPH, horsepower, etc something somewhere else is going to be less sufficient. Add larger tires and lift and those setting differences might get magnified even more now.

I have to check but there are programmable module settings for the tires. Whether that affects how the MPG is calculated or how it shifts things around to maintain MPG I don't know. It should if nothing else correct the speedometer being off. Correcting the MPG in the cluster can also be done in the engineering test mode using a hand calculated MPG, comparing it against what the cluster is reading then using a preset formula to change what is called the AFE bias based upon that.

edit there is indeed a way to reprogram the tire size in the BCM module.
https://forscan.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15994

The only thing I can't say for sure without checking my as built data is the exact module address location the settings are stored at.

 

[Mike]

A couple of thoughts regarding the issue...

- larger tires = greater rolling circumference, so actual distance traveled will be more than indicated;

The change is .5" it should have almost no effect.

I put 33's up from 31's on my Tacoma and 37's up from 32's on my Titan. The Tacoma saw a minor bump. The Titan's was significant.

This guy added .5" and everyone's going nuts. lol

 

[GreatWhiteNorth]

The change is .5" it should have almost no effect.

I put 33's up from 31's on my Tacoma and 37's up from 32's on my Titan. The Tacoma saw a minor bump. The Titan's was significant.

This guy added .5" and everyone's going nuts. lol

According to this stock XL trim tire size is 225/65R17:

https://media.ford.com/content/dam/fordmedia/North America/US/product/2022/maverick/pdf/2022-Ford-Maverick-Technical-Specifications.pdf

... and 235/65R17 is optional.

If going from 225 to 245 the jump in diameter is 1" and difference in rolling circumference is +3.3" or +3.7%

I got that using this calculator: https://tiresize.com/calculator/

Plus the 245s are .7" wider than the 225s. It makes a difference. I'm one of the guys getting pretty decent fuel economy

 

[Mike]

.5 or 1” will have little effect. Does ford change the sticker on the falcons

when I jumped 2” on my Tacoma I barely noticed a difference.

 

[Darnon]

Weight of the new tires also plays a role. More rotational mass requires more energy to accelerate.

 

[Mike]

You kids need to go to Tacoma or other body on frame truck sites and rail about the effect of a 1” diameter tire increase

lol

 

[Gmood1]

Tires can make a major difference in MPG. The composition of the tire itself is a factor as well.
Driving style is a major factor. Forced induction if driven a certain way can give decent MPGs.

My Honda 1.5 turbo could get 37 mpg all day long running 80 mph.

The K&N shouldn't take away from the MPGs.
The tires and lift kick will.

I changed tires and rims on my hybrid and watched my mpg plummet. Went back to stock and the original MPGs returned.

 

[GreatWhiteNorth]

You kids need to go to Tacoma or other body on frame truck sites and rail about the effect of a 1” diameter tire increase

lol

Dunno Mike. I came from a gas hog Nissan Frontier with the offroad package. I bought it with K02s mounted. I was so desperate to see if I could improve the fuel economy that I bought a set of used steel rims, installed a set of 65 series car tires, was amazed by the improvement in fuel economy. Bigger wider heavier tires negatively affect fuel economy, and every bit matters.

 

[Mike]

By this theory there should be a huge difference between the stock Pirreli AT’s and the optional Wildpeaks.

are we seeing that ?

 

[Captain]

Ive had this truck 4 months. I don't drive a lot and I currently have about 2k miles on the odometer.

AWD, 4k tow running 245 65 17s and 1 inch front level lift. K&N drop in filter, no other mods. 89 octane gas used every time. Standard drive mode. I use it for personal transport and dont haul any heavy loads. Tire PSI set to 35.

I live in NW Indiana and do mixed driving of hwy and streets. I drive normally and I'm not a leadfoot. I don't use remote start or sit in traffic. I am getting absolute horseshit mileage. I have not seen 20mpg. I understand the figure may be off a tad with the slightly different tire size but other people with the same truck and mods are claiming 30mpg. WTF gives already? I bought a small truck to save on gas mileage. My V6 equinox was a gas pig and got better mileage. Its one of the reasons I dumped it. With the the gas $ now going through the moon its starting to bother me. I have the money but I didn't buy a "baby truck" to piss money away on gas. I bought this truck to get a few more mpg than the equinox and I was expecting to get at least 22mpg. I understand going up a size in tires may kill 1-2 mpg but come on now. Enough with this BS already. Im tired of the.excuses. Im seeing 17-18mpg tops. Less than 280 miles per tank. I am always putting gas in this truck. I've reset all settings twice to start from scratch to see if that helped and it has not.

Anybody have any ideas what could be going on? I cant be getting 10-12 less than other members with the same truck. Winter gas blend, altitude, driving style/ BS already. 10-11 mpg less than others is NOT normal. Something is wrong here and I'm getting pissed. The biggest reason people buy small trucks to save on gas.

You should unmod your truck…. What was the mpg before you did the mods? Did you bother to check it? If it wasn’t broke, why did you fix it?

 

[BradG]

Guys you are being too hard on the OP. Sure he’s got some mods but like about 20 other posts, people with the same mods are still getting much better mileage than him.

And so just to add my .02–My Mav gets HORRIBLE mileage as well. I just rolled over 1000 miles on it, Lariat AWD FX4 4K, only mods are mudflaps, engine cover, roll up tonneau.
I have a 10 mile commute, mixed hwy and city, and my average on my dash is around 19.6. Trip 2 odometer was reset with 16 miles on the truck and it’s overall average is 19.2. On a recent fill up, I actually hand calc’d it at 17.5!!!! I’ve been driving like a grandma as well. I just took a little roadtrip on Thursday, 100 miles round trip, cruise set on 71 on the highway on the way down and cruise set on 79 on the interstate on the way back, I reset my trip odometer before, and the mileage showed 22.8! No reason that shouldn’t have been like at least 26-27, Nebraska is flat.
I have the instant mileage screen on the dash on all the time and it never goes over about 25mpg even when cruising at 60mph.

So what are your ideas for me? Remove my engine cover because it’s keeping my engine too hot? My mudflaps causing too much drag?

The only thing I will say that it has been really cold here. I am going to wait a couple weeks and keep checking it. If it doesn’t improve this spring, its going into Ford. I traded in a 2014 Dodge Ram Crew cab with a 5.7L Hemi and it averaged almost 18mpg in the same commuting sitution. One of the main reasons I got this truck was for the mileage. Hell, i was talking to my neighbor and he has ‘20 GMC Sierra and he’s averaging 22!!

I‘ve read enough of these posts on this site that I truly believe that there are some Mav’s that have some sort of problem that is reducing the gas mileage. I’m wondering if Ford can update the ECU or maybe they will add an ECO mode, as mine doesn’t have it. Or maybe I will have to do a PiggyBack so I can pick the eco program. Or maybe I will just sell the damn thing for $5k more than i paid for it and go back to a full size truck that will actually get better mileage than my Mav!!

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