Ford F150 Forumz banner

3.5 Ecoboost fuel problem

16K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  Mr Mac 
#1 ·
Man I have a real problem with my fuel mileage. I like to travel to see all I can in our great USA so I got the best F-150 I could find, a 2012 Lariat super crew. I got out of a 2008 Silverado 2500 HD getting an average 13 MPG because of the fuel expense and was blind sided with a truck that has at times averaged 9.2 MPG. I have had this truck back to the dealer several times plus dealers in Colorado, Missouri and other PA dealers with the same answer, everything is ok. At 3000 miles I got my best mileage for a tank of gas, 18 MPG, but have not seen anything like that since, now at 21,500 miles. Does anybody have any suggestions to get me to at least 18 MPG highway besides trading it ?
 
#2 ·
Mileage depends on driving conditons

My mileage is all over the place depending on my driving conditions. When I drive to my parents house, about 100 miles RT, mostly 55 mph with a few small towns to go through, I get 20 mpg. Around town 35 mph and lots of stop and go, my mileage drops to 15. On the interstate hwy at 72 mph I get 18-20 mpg depending on headwind or tailwind, and how hilly. When I pull my travel trailer on the interstate, my mileage drops to 9-11 mpg, very dependent on headwind or tailwind. in my mind the two biggest factors that affect mileage is how often you have to accelerate from a stop and how much of wind drag you have. The turbo the gives the Ecoboost great torque is also what sucks the gas mileage down. If you accelerate hard, you're going to get worse mileage. Bottom line here is that I don't think your mileage is out of line with what other F150 Ecoboost owners are getting. Most people don't report what their driving conditions were when they report their gas mileage.

I also own a Ford Fusion hybrid and have been disappointed in not getting their claimed 47 mpg city/hwy. I looked into this and my understanding is that the EPA highway test is done at mostly 50-55 mph (who drives 55 mph on the highway??). My point here is that I think Ford is "aggressive" when it reports its gas mileage figures.
 
#3 ·
Milage

Milage is a combination of a lot of things. Driving style has a lot to do with it.
Have you learned to use the instant milage screen? Keep gree above the white line. I call it floating the pedal.

You have a Super Screw which is BIG and HEAVY. No mention of 4 wheel drive which can account for a lot. There is another thread on this board about the vacuum pump that hold out the fwd. If applicable you should read it.

Have you changed tires? Mine came with Michelin AS and I replaced them at 40k with MS2, exact same size. I also run a pound more air in my tires. What gear ratio in the rear end? I have 3.07 straight axle which I am sure is what Ford gave to the milage dweebs. What was the sticker mpg when you bought it? Mine was 19 - 23. 20 trucks on the lot that day and most had milage stickers lower some way lower than mine.

I have 65k on mine, and I can get 20 easy on the freeway. No wind and not using winter gas. Ethanol craps the gas milage big time for me. Any wind at 80 especially a head wind drops mpg by 3-4 in a heart beat. Mine is sensitive to dirty air cleaners. I change my paper one frequently. Living in the South West not hard to understand.
There are threads about the gap on the spark plugs, mine runs fine so I am not pulling mine. Way to lazy for that.

You are aware of that the mileage computer can be set for different periods.
What is yours set to?

What oil do you have in the engine? I use nothing but synthetic in mine.

The fun in driving is back with the ecoboost. Loving every minute of it.
 
#4 ·
I have to concur with Drangd. In my short stint with the Ecoboost powered F-150 Screw I was also able to keep the mileage around 20-22 on average by keeping the cruise control on and staying at 65 mph (DFW highways). Even the little hills there showed me some dramatic dips in mileage with the instant mileage readings but overall it still fared pretty well for a truck that size.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top