When is the Payback?

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C

Can Trac

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Sep 20, 2005
Messages
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Location
Windsor, ON
So the general concensus around here to get better gas mileage seems to be to upgrade:

intake,

modified throttle body,

exhaust,

programmer,

under drive pulley,

synthetic fluids,

and a light foot :(

After spending $1600 +/-, when can one expect a payback in fuel savings?

I can buy a LOT of gas for that.
 
Even if you increased gas mileage 20%, it would take you 200 tanks of gas ($1600 mods/$8 per tank savings on a $40 tank of gas). Assuming your mods allowed you to drive 400 miles on a tank of gas, that is 80,000 miles. Even with all those mods, I expect you would only save 5% realistically, so it would take four times as many miles, which is 320,000 miles. I've never heard of a Ford lasting that many miles.



A cheaper option to save gas is to remove all unnecessary items from your truck. That would include spare tire, bed cover and bed, rear seats, car stereo, etc. The lightened load would give much better fuel savings than the mods you listed, and at no additional cost.



As a last resort, you could take the path I took and trade in the ST on something more fuel efficent.



 
Last Fill-Up:



*$41.56

*450.9 miles on the tank

*19.8 gallons to fill @

*2.09.9 @ gallon (Lewis Co, TN., 10/6/06, ZIP 38462) (87 Octane) =

*22.77 miles per gallon.

Again most of my driving is done at 90% highway, with slight grades along the way, and 10%

City. I do drive easy, most of the time, but I'm not afraid to hit passing gear, and "Blow

the Carbon" out of it from time to time! I have a regular stretch of road that I "Stomp" on

it every day, just to check everything out (shifts, throttle response, etc...). and make

sure all is well with my 'Trac.

This is the best mileage I have gotten out of a tank so far. It's usually around 410 to

420 miles on a tank. Can't figure out what the difference is, yet, but I know I try to be

as accurate as possible with the math/m.p.g. figures! I'll try to figure out the discrepancy

on this (my next ) fill-up!
 
I will start saving money at 102,000 miles, approximately, only 25k more to go. Since I plan on keeping my ST to 200K + miles, it's fine with me. My paretnt's used to bug me about spending money, now my dad's asking what kind of intake he should get for his S-10 and where can he get an XCal. Out of the ST, S-10, 04 Maxima, and 04 Beetle in my family, I get the best gas mileage...
 
Around town 19-20, highway 25-26. I regularly get 450+ miles to a tank with mixed, about 380-400 around town, and I regularly hit 500 with all interstate driving. I filled up just outside of Louisville back in June with 510 on the trip counter. I'm around 140 right now with 1/4 showing on the gauge (I know it's not THAT accurate)
 
If you are doing 18+ in town and 22+ on the highway..You are going good!! Too many people are complaining of MPG...If you want 30+ MPG go get a hybrid or small car!! Stop trying to make a SUV get great mpg!!



Just my 2 cents!!
 
Jeff C

yours is also 4x2 isnt it?

i think most of the gas mileag complaints

come from guys with 4x4s. i average 15 city with my 4x4

and have not had it on a good highway run yet to check it out

but im sure it will get the average of 19 to 20 mpg.



im not complaining because my last truck only gave me 12.5 city

and 15.5 highway if i was lucky.
 
Before i just traded my '01 4x4 in last week, i was getting 18-19 mixed driving and around 20-22 highway with over 120k on the odometer...Only mods i had were JBA sparkplug wires and kn drop in filter. My '06 ranger just got 18.75 mpg on it's first fillup completely stock, so i cant complain there either.



Good luck

ANdy
 
Realisticly, you will probably never recoup all of the money you spent on upgrades. An overall increase of 1 MPG may be all that you will ever see. Depending upon the price of gas in your area, $1600 is a lot of gas and is about what many people will spend for fuel for the whole year. My guess is that it would take about 7-10 years or more depending on fuel cost before you would break even. Then your ST will be heavily worn and ready to be replaced if it hasn't already been retired.



All of those items are designed to provide better performance not necessarily better gas mileage. You may see a very small inprovement in mileage under normal driving conditions, but if you tend to put your foot into it even just once in a while, you will likely see a decrease in mileage.



...Rich

 
I've made it to 270,000 miles in a Ford before, with the original unopened engine, and I've known of people taking theirs past 350,000. Drive it nice, change the oil a lot, and it should last for quite a long time.
 
Say your average fill-up is 20 gallons and you average 15 mpg. Thats 300 miles. If you do a mod that gets you 1 mpg more on average, then 20 gallons will get you 320 miles, saving you a bit over 1 gallon of gas. It is generally accepted in the truck magazines that the best mod per dollar spent for gas mileage is an exhaust system. The cheaper Gibson system is $275 at Summit Racing. Gas here is currently about $2.15, call it $2.50 for saving a little over a gallon per tankful. If my logic here is correct, 275/2.50=110, so you would need 110 tanks of gas for the exhaust to pay for itself. However the higher the price of gas, the sooner the payback period.

This is why my mechanicals are all stock. I just use synthetic fluids and call it good. Ain't no miracles out there.
 
I went from 14-15 city and 18 highway to 18-20 city and 24-27 highway....

The 24 highway was loaded 1200lbs of crap to Louisville and the 27 was unloaded to Massachusetts.



I don't feel like figuring it out right now, But I am happy with the numbers considering my escort is 24 to 25 mpg religiously..



Todd Z
 
Question. I average between 8 and 12MPG in the city, and 17-22 highway. Is such a huge difference normal?
 
Nobleman....that's about what I get. City mpg depends, no matter what kind of econobox you're driving, if you're sitting in traffic you're getting 0 mpg.
 
We went from 15-16 city and 18-19 hwy to 18-19 city and 24-28 hwy. The 28 hwy was last year on our trip to Dallas National meet and were loaded w/ truck cap avg. 60 mph.; the 24 mpg hwy was on our way back from Louisville with cruise control set at 75 mph with airconditioning on. :eek::D See profile for mods.



edit: I forgot one very important thing that I don't know if we can calculate; that is the Fun Factor, all the mods make the ST more fun to drive. :cool:;)
 
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