I know the horse is dead, but..... poor gas mileage

AlanEdwards

Registered User
I bought the car 2 months ago and got 19-20 mpg on the hwy and about 17-18 in the city. A couple of weeks ago when getting on it, the car would bogg down at around 3K RPM's, so after recommendations here on the forum I changed the fuel filter, and it corrected the power problem. The trouble is that since then, I'm getting about 16 mpg hwy and 13 city. What's up with this? I was told by the Ford place 6 weeks ago that I needed a MAF, but I checked it out myself and the filament was clean, but cleaned it anyway. Since then I've been told the electronic module on top of the MAF could have poor electrical resistance and could have been what the Ford dealer was talking about, not the little housing filament. Also, when I get on it hard and it's night time... I can look in the mirror and see smoke coming from me, in the headlights behind me. I can't see this smoke in the day at all. Does this sound like a bad MAF after all, such as the module being bad like that guy said could happen and the air/fuel mixture is bad, and I'm using too much fuel?

Merry Christmas to all,
Thanks,
Alan
 
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You're running too rich. Are you throwing any codes? Yes, a MAF giving the wrong air flow numbers could cause you to run rich. But there are any number of other possible issues that could cause that.
 
Mike8675309 said:
You're running too rich. Are you throwing any codes? Yes, a MAF giving the wrong air flow numbers could cause you to run rich. But there are any number of other possible issues that could cause that.


Thanks for answering Mike. Nope, no hard codes thrown, at all. I had it scanned at the Auto Hobby Shop on base.
 
It's normal to see the fuel smoke in the headlights at WOT. Your probably using more gas because you've got your foot in it more. If your going to change something in the hope of improving fuel consumption, start with a fresh set of plugs and o2 sensors.

David
 
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