02 Ford Explorer..any tips

[Brettchuck]

Hello, I've got a 2002 Ford Explorer XLT 157K highway miles. I drive about 70 miles one way to work all on the highway..70mph. I've added an open air filter system, throttle body ext, use synt oil. I keep it up to par. I average 20 mpg now and was wondering if there are any other tips out there to improve my mpg?
Thanks,

Brett

[SVOboy]

Slowing down will be the best thing, keeping you tires inflated (or overinflated) will also help. Aerodynamic improvements can also be had if you're willing to do them.

Do you need the truck? You might save the most by trading it in for a more efficient car.

Welcome to the site!

[Brettchuck]

Thanks SVOboy.
At this time, the SUV is used to it's fullest. I'm a single dad with custody of my twin 5 year old daughters. We have horses so it is used to pull my trailer as well. As I'm 6'7" tall, and with my kids..smaller cars are not good for us. LOL

[SVOboy]

Gotcha. I assume it's out of your price range to get a commuter and use the truck only for hauling/towing?

Since most of your driving is highway, I think you would benefit most from slowing down and aero mods. You can poke around in the aero section for some ideas there.

Good luck.

[omgwtfbyobbq]

I'm going w/ SVOboy on this one unless you haul your horses and kids into work w/ you every day. It'd be easiest just to get a small beater car for a commuter and work w/ that. It should only take a few months of your commute for it to pay itself off in gas saved, and if you test drive around there should be something that'll allow for your 6'7" frame.

[Brettchuck]

Thanks guys for the info. I'll do some checking around and see what I can find. Any suggestions on cars that will hold up and not break the bank?

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Anything as long as you do the repairs yourself. Older Hondas/Toyotas tend to be pretty reliable, but parts are fewer and more expensive imle... I've heard that K-cars are absolutely the cheapest thing to own and maintain since there were so many of 'em, they were fairly reliable, and people junk 'em left and right.

[SVOboy]

Hondas are always good in my experience. Look around at civics on craigslist and things and see what you can find.

[Telco]

What kind of fan do you have on it? I gained about 2MPG changing from a mechanical to an electric fan on my 96 Tahoe. The fan is not needed at highway speeds, all it's doing is beating the air for no reason and putting a big load on. A clutch fan does allow it to slip when it's not getting hot, but it is still robbing about 30HP. I suggest a DC Controls fan controller with whatever fan you decide on. Flexalite is now making a fan set with shroud which pulls 6000CFM at max speed, which is more than the clutch fan will pull at redline. A 99 Silverado clutch fan will pull about 5000CFM at redline, and Chevy trucks are now being equipped with them from the factory, so towing is not an issue.

Another change would be long tube headers and a free flowing exhaust, but not too large. You don't say what engine you have now, I'm assuming you have the 4.6L V8. 2 inch duals or a 2.5 inch single line should work well. Be careful on muffler selection, SUVs are big boxes and the wrong muffler, even if quiet, will set up horrible resonance inside the truck. If resonance becomes a problem, adding a short glasspack at the back of the system will eliminate most, if not all resonance. Ford engines require a crossover on duals, which will also help with resonance. A proper exhaust can help gain up to 2MPG as well, and both mods will give you a lot more low end horsepower. Not only will this make the Exploder more fun to drive, it will also make it easier to pull the horse trailer, which will help save fuel then. Make these mods and keep your foot out of it, and you will save gas.

And, these two mods should make enough low end torque that you can change gear ratios. You can test this by putting a 10 percent taller tire on next time you get tires, if you still have enough power to get down the road this too will save fuel by working the engine less. Remember to multiply your mileage by the percentage difference of tire heights to get the correct MPG, and having taller tires will mean that you are going faster than the speedo shows.

[Gary Palmer]

How about it sounds like more?

With your height, you might look into a Honda Wagon, from 88-91. The roof line is about an 1.5" taller than a stock honda, but it still gets pretty close to the same mileage as a stock Civic. If you get the Wagon, you can also remount the seat, to give you some additional leg room when your driving. With twin girls, you could use it to cart them around, except when you need to haul the horses or things.

By the way, if your getting 20mpg out of that vehicle, your already doing pretty well, for it's size, weight and that sort of stuff.

[Ryland]

I say sell the exploder, and ride the horse, I would imagine that if you can aford horses that you can aford a comuter car, take as many compact cars as you can for a test drive, if they have a sun roof they will have less head room, I know a number of people who are close to 6' 7" who fit just fine in Honda's and VW's, and love them because of the head room, check out something like a VW TDI gulf.

[Telco]

Originally Posted by theclencher

If that fan is pulling 30 hp there isn't much left for going forward!

My Tahoe had 210HP and 275 ft lbs of torque at the rear wheels before the electric fans per a local dyno. High RPM power is where the fans really made a difference, because with the clutch fan on WOT I'd get a nice, crisp shift, with the electric fan I'd get a hard jerky shift. RPM rise was so fast that the engine would hit the RPM limiter before the trans could shift, so a 1-2 shift would hit twice. When I put the clutch fan back on to sell it, the shifting cleaned up. Torque management was removed.

Originally Posted by theclencher

Headers and such really come into their own as the rpms rise, so "a lot more low end hp"- I don't think so.

I don't know much about the little engines and their headers, but this is the effect of LONG TUBE headers on a V8. Long tube headers build more to the low end, short tube headers build more to the high end. The closer the collector to the engine, the higher the RPM band for the headers is. I imagine that since the little engines make power with high RPMs, their available headers are tuned to boost power on the upper side, but domestic V8s typically redline at 5000 to 5500, with power building as low as 1500RPM, where long tube headers rule the world.

Originally Posted by theclencher

"Exploder"- LOL

What can I say? I'm a GM man at heart.

[Snax]

Let's just do a fuel consumption comparison between varying fuel economies for your daily commute of 140 miles round trip assuming $3/gal:

MPG | Gal. Used | Cost
--------- ------------ ------
20 | 7 | $21
30 | 4.6 | $14
40 | 3.5 | $10.50
50 | 2.8 | $8.40

Looking at just those numbers, you could pocket an average of $7/day by finding something that gets a fairly average economy of just 30 mpg. Multiplied by 20 or so work days per month, that's $140 per month saved. At 40 mpg, it's $230 saved. 50 mpg nets $250 saved.

So ask yourself, can you afford the payment or maintenance on a car and insurance that would put you at or hopefully under those savings figures for the kind of economy they return?

My bet is that when you throw in the cost of maintaining the Explorer, that becomes a clear yes if you shop around for something reasonable.

[Bill in Houston]

Then, the Explorer would last a lot longer, and you wouldn't have to replace it so soon. Same reason we try to put miles on my Element vs our more expensive Odyssey.

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Originally Posted by Telco

My Tahoe had 210HP and 275 ft lbs of torque at the rear wheels before the electric fans per a local dyno.

I think theclencher's referring to how much you gain compared to daily use.

[Telco]

Originally Posted by omgwtfbyobbq

I think theclencher's referring to how much you gain compared to daily use.

Well, I just wanted to point out how much I had to work with. A 30HP drain would make quite a bit more difference to a 100HP engine than a 275HP engine, which is roughly what mine would have been making at the crank once driveline loss was taken into account. And it does. My S15's 2.8L is only rated at 100HP and is stock, aside from a Crane cam I put in to help boost mileage (really wanted a Comp cam, but they were out everywhere I called, even Comp said 1 month wait) and the difference between electric and mechanical was astounding. With the mechanical my top speed was 70MPH and my mileage was 17 city 14 highway, just switching the fan boosted my highway mileage 5MPG to 19, and now the truck is far more drivable. Having to floor it for 30 seconds to reach highway speed was unsafe, and now I can reach highway speeds by the time I reach the end of the exit. I'm thinking Clencher may have forgotten the difference in scale, seeing as most of the folks here work with 50-100HP engines that already have electrics to begin with.

[omgwtfbyobbq]

But it wouldn't be a 30hp drain on a 100hp engine... Probably a percentage drain at whatever load. I mean, every bit helps, I've been debating going boosterless for this reason, but it's not like your S15 would go from 60bhp to 90bhp just from upgrading to an electric fan.

[repete86]

Originally Posted by Brettchuck

Hello, I've got a 2002 Ford Explorer XLT 157K highway miles. I drive about 70 miles one way to work all on the highway..70mph. I've added an open air filter system, throttle body ext, use synt oil. I keep it up to par. I average 20 mpg now and was wondering if there are any other tips out there to improve my mpg?
Thanks,

Brett

Replace it with a smaller car. Having a big SUV hauling one person 70 miles per day seems ike a bit much.

[Bill in Houston]

Use "highway" tires instead of offroad tires...