Gas Mileage in my plain vanila 99 Taurus - Ford Forums

foggysail · 06-24-2008, 15:34

Make that vanilla instead of vanila--- typo

I was given the car a year and a half ago by my brother. Gas mileage was always pretty good, somewhere between 23-25/gallon.

My last couple of tanks gave me 30/gal and could well be an anomaly that will resolve itself, maybe with the next tank of fuel. What got changed?? Well, essentially nothing except for a minor adjustment in the tire pressure.

I changed the tire pressure to 40 PSI! Car shows no differences in the ride but my fuel consumption appears to have improved. I need to check out a few more tanks before I can say with certainty that I have found a way to significantly improve my mileage. But I thought I would share my early results with the board for others to examine their results.

Foggy

**360ci** · 06-30-2008, 15:41

I get around 22-24mpg with 60% city driving. I touched 31mpg on the highway once but I didn't exceed 55mph! If your tires are rated on the sidewall for 35psi I highly suggest not exceeding that. Hot weather is the first reason, as you drive down the road the air inside heats up and expands and can lead to tire failure. The second reason is treadlife; as you increase air pressure the tire expands upwards and rounds off the tread pattern which will wear the tires out twice as fast in the center of the tread. Third is safety; going back to the second reason above allows the tire contact patch on the road to decrease so the higher inflation pressure will affect handing and braking, in an emergency situation it can prove fatal. If your tires are rated for 40psi then that's fine.

If your after more mpg try to take out any dead weight in the vehicle. You can upsize the tires to a higher sidewall or upgrade to a larger diameter tire with light weight aftermarket wheels which will also aid in economy. Running synthetic oil inthe engine and transmission also helps (I noticed a difference!).

RogerB34 · 07-01-2008, 16:27

Bad idea to inflate tires to 40 psi.
Should inflate cold to AUTO mfgr specs.
Taurus specs not 40.
Beat the crap out of the suspension for a marginal mpg increase.
Doesn't make sense to me.
If the car has 100k miles or more change out the Upstream O2 sensors. Proper operation is critical to mpg.
No they are not permanent.

mre_power · 07-01-2008, 20:01

i got 33 mpg on my 94 taurus. i think they are have an optimum speed for a for best efficiency higher then typical cars. meaning most cars are best at 55 mph but 33 mpg for me was over 3 tank fulls at 65-70 mph both to and from dayton ohio so wind was not factor

SHOZ123 · 07-05-2008, 14:18

Manufacturer specs are for the manufacturer speced tires. Unless you have the identical and usually crappy OEM tires then go buy the sidewall rating as max in front and a bit less in the rear. Rotate every 5k and they will wear even and you will get the best gas mileage.

That being said I over inflate mine on my Hyundai Accent but seldom exceed 60 mph.

foggysail · 07-14-2008, 19:22

My tires are all the same, replaced them last summer with Michlelin. They are quality tires and I plan to keep the pressure high BUT I will check out what they are actually rated for.

Foggy

EDIT: I checked the ratings on my tires last night. They are rated for 40 PSI so no big deal running them at 40