Quote:
Originally Posted by hurk
I did not put on new tires. I've been doing stuff individually & there's been lag time between each item. As a side note, I'm only racking up about 100-120 miles a week on the car which was purchased in Oct 2007 - I bought it for the fuel economy. I've put 11,000 miles on the Escape in the 20 months that I've owned it. I drove an 86 Ranger Supercab for 21 yrs, then someone came knocking on my door & offered $3500 for it, which was kinda hard to pass up, so I sold it.
I followed Ford's guidelines to a T to help the car relearn it's fuel trim settings.
I kinda wonder about the last step in the procedure: it says to drive the car for at least ten miles. Does it matter if they're highway miles? And is it even necessary to bother w doing it?
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Driving it ten miles seems a bit soon for it to relearn. It shouldn't matter if the miles are highway or city. The PCM should relearn eventually, as mentioned within 100miles. You could also let it idle for ten hours and drive it one mile, it doesn't make much difference as long as the vehicle is running. I'll also suggest on replacing the air filter, and for the next oil change, use synthetic oil as it takes away some of the friction and flows smoother, which can increase mileage as well. Inflate the tires to around 34psi; providing max is 35psi as highway driving (heat) will increase pressure. If there is any excess crap in the vehicle, be sure to keep it at the house. 50lbs of added crap in a vehicle will reduce mpg by approx 2%. It's not much but it adds up.
My friend bought a Toyota Yaris, to get to the job sites and to run errands. With 300-400lbs of tools he gets 30% less mileage than he does with just him in the car. This car also has the small 1.5L engine so it struggles more to get up to, and maintain speed. Just a thought.
