Think I found the problem (19 to 14MPG)

Boy do I feel silly!

I went to check my air filter today and it was clean. Then I noticed that the air duct going into the engine was halfway off the damned engine!

How could the mechanic have overlooked this when checking out poor MPG complaint?

I put the duct back onto the engine and tightened it up good. Hopefully that fixes it. Took a ride to the ATM and I think it seemed more 'responsive.' Hopefully having the duct off didn't do any damage.

I know, I should've had a look around there before going to the shop. But hey, I know squat about cars. I do check oil and fluids regularly, but for whatever reason didn't see the disconnected air duct. Shame on me.

Thanks for all your responses, hope you don't feel like you wasted your time. Many good suggestions in the thread at least.

Take care all,
CW

Something else that you might want to look at since your ductwork was off. the mass air flow sensor (what tells the engine how much air it is getting) is in the ductwork right next to the air filter. You should get some intake cleaner and spray it on the 3 wires in there to clean off any dust that was burned onto them while your ductwork was off. This may end up being just percautionary, but it is cheap and I think it is neccessary. My girlfriends contour was running like crap becuase of that problem. New sensor would have been $104. can of cleaner cost $5.

I also had the ductwork torn on one of my other cars and the intake manifold was covered in crap. If you don't get the mileage you are expecting, You might consider getting an intake system cleaning. I work at ford dealership and we do them. They are affective but expensive. We clean the MAF sensor and hook up cleaner to the intake and it goes in through the engine cleaning the intake, valves, even pistons.

I hope that fixes it but I don't get why. You've had huge amount of un-metered air enter the engine and the air/fuel mixture never got screwed up, and no check engine light at all?

No canatto, no check engine light. I also don't know how long the thing's been off, could be 1100 miles or more.

Thanks for the tip, Renegade. I'm a little worried now. When I checked the oil a week or two ago it was a good bit darker than usual. I have mobil 1 in and it stays pretty light.

Do you guys think an oil change (at least) and the intake cleaning might be wise? Or would cleaning the 3 intake wires possibly be enough?

Renegade, do you know how much the dealer intake cleaning costs?

Thanks again guys,
CW

Get an oil change. Sucking in all that unfiltered air causes a lot of dust to enter the engine. This can be really hard on Valve Stem seals. What happens is they wear prematurely and your car will burn a little oil.

Mobil 1 with a decent filter should be fine for regular 7500 mile oil change intervals.

Thanks, I will.

Would it be overly-cautious to 'flush out' the engine - I thought I might have the oil changed and put cheap oil in. Then after a few hundred miles replace that oil with mobil 1 or amsoil. Wanna get out as much dirt as I can.

Get an oil change. Sucking in all that unfiltered air causes a lot of dust to enter the engine. This can be really hard on Valve Stem seals. What happens is they wear prematurely and your car will burn a little oil.

Mobil 1 with a decent filter should be fine for regular 7500 mile oil change intervals.

Check your PCV valve. If it gets blocked it may cause oil to burn.

-Jay

The Ford dealer price for a total intake and injector cleaning is $160