Fuel mileage

[skater]

A member sent me a private message about the fuel mileage of our campers.

My '91 with a 460 gets about 12 mpg normally and 9.5-10 mpg while towing a car.

I've heard that the ones with the 351 actually do worse mileage-wise, possibly because the engine has to work that much harder. Anyone with a 351 want to chime in?

And how are the V10s? I've never heard anything about their mileage.

[lowbudget]

My 89 with the 460 has never done better than 9.4 without a trailer, but it has a C6 tranny (no overdrive). It does have EFI however. If the mileage on the rig wasn't so low I'd consider swapping the tranny. I also wonder if the less aerodynamic shape of the old B190 would do any better with the E4OD? One unrelated question. Does anyone else have a white rig with aluminum frames around the windows? Is my rig a really early version of the 89's?

[Alaskan]

Excellent question for our resident statistician.....

skater...the C4 trans is a three speed where the E4Od is a 4 speed

We need to compare the gear ratio's and see how that would would relate
to rpm and mph & fuel mileage

Obviously Ford thought there was a reason to go to the E4OD...lets
determine those reasons...

Perhaps the OD in the E4OD is just slightly over one-to-one...

[skater]

Excellent question for our resident statistician.....

skater...the C4 trans is a three speed where the E4Od is a 4 speed

We need to compare the gear ratio's and see how that would would relate
to rpm and mph & fuel mileage

Obviously Ford thought there was a reason to go to the E4OD...lets
determine those reasons...

Perhaps the OD in the E4OD is just slightly over one-to-one...

Anyone have the gear ratio information? I know ours are geared "low" but I don't know what they are (though it is standard so it shouldn't be hard to figure out).

[Alaskan]

And..... did they all have the samerear gear ratio....

[skater]

And..... did they all have the same rear gear ratio....

Yeah. I'll look at my receipt for my transmission and see if it has a gear ratio listed. I do know that I asked the guy at the shop about it and he responded that the new transmission would have the same gearing as the old one.

[Alaskan]

I'd guess that all E4OD transmissions had the same ratio's in all 4 of their gears...I'm just wondering what the 4th gear was, how much over 1-to-1 to make it an overdrive tranny

You see a pretty significant RPM raise when when you push the button and drop it back into 3rd gear

In the post above I was referring to the rear-end gear ratio in the E350 vans ....if they were all the same.

Might be able to find that ratio in the Owners Manual or by installing the Vin Number at Fords website

[Alaskan]

BTW......Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) and wind resistance are major factors in fuel mileage.

And....we can't change either one of them

So.....what are the things we can do to making our over-the-road costs less painful at the pump... ??

[skater]

BTW......Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) and wind resistance are major factors in fuel mileage.

And....we can't change either one of them

So.....what are the things we can do to making our over-the-road costs less painful at the pump... ??

Smooth starts and stops.

Reduce as much weight as possible. I unload stuff that I know I won't use for some trips; for example, the laundry detergent if I'm taking a short trip.

Go slower - keeping it at, say, 55 mph should improve mileage noticeably if you normally travel at 65 mph.

Keep the tires inflated. You have to be doing this anyway but here's another good reason.

Don't run the generator.

[Alaskan]

yep..... 65 mph is gonna be painful for us now with $4-a-gallon gas

50 to 55 will help that quite a lot.

and, you're right about keeping the tire pressures at max

toss out all those canned goods ya been packing around

maybe even watch your fresh water level....when full with 20 gallons will weigh 185 pounds

[skater]

maybe even watch your fresh water level....that when full with 20 gallons will weigh 185 pounds

Excellent point - don't fill it unless you need it. And keep the waste tanks empty as much as possible.

[skater]

The axle ratio in mine is a 3.55.