Premium gas

[TBlazin]

Does anyone use mid-grade or premium gas in their Windstar? If so, do you see any mileage difference? Better or worse? Just curious since Honda, Toyota and Nissan are geared for premium.

[garync1]

I saw a little better fuel milage with premium. But not enough to pay extra. Gas has came down some so I might put a tank in every now and again. Before about once a month I would run a tank to help clean the fuel system. But when gas prices went up it was fuel cleaner.. If we went on a long trip i would run premium. I hit 29 mpg running synthetic oil, premium gas and brand new air filter
once but never was able to get no higher than 27 mpg after that on hwy. Keep in mind weather as cars burn more fuel in winter than summer. Yep even with AC running. As for city I can get 17-20.My wife gets 20 I get 17. I have a heavy foot.

[TBlazin]

Originally Posted by garync1

I saw a little better fuel milage with premium. But not enough to pay extra. Gas has came down some so I might put a tank in every now and again. Before about once a month I would run a tank to help clean the fuel system. But when gas prices went up it was fuel cleaner.. If we went on a long trip i would run premium. I hit 29 mpg running synthetic oil, premium gas and brand new air filter
once but never was able to get no higher than 27 mpg after that on hwy. Keep in mind weather as cars burn more fuel in winter than summer. Yep even with AC running. As for city I can get 17-20.My wife gets 20 I get 17. I have a heavy foot.

What synth oil do you use? Thinking about going full synth on next oil change. I get 17-19 city/highway don't know about long road trips yet.

[garync1]

Mobil 1 full synthetic..

[Tomb stone]

Gary, what engine do you have?? My family has two 2000 SELs with 3.8L and we have never seen anything over 21mpg, and that’s on long highway trips. Usually its 17-19mpg in town. This seems to be the norm with posters here. I know that synthetic oil is suppose to be more fuel efficient, but and increase of 9 mpg is unheard of.
Is yours a 3.0L ??
TOM

[garync1]

3.8 engine with a little over 90,000 miles. I like you dont understand why others mpg ranges differ so. I live in NC. So I 95 is what I use the most beside other in state HWYs. I run 5w30 mobil 1 fully synthetic oil. I clean my PCV valve tube every oil change with carb cleaner, check tire pressure often and before long trips. My wife drives in town alot so even if 3000 miles are not on the oil if we go away for a weekend I always change the oil just before so they may affect my mpg increase. Because I give it a go over before we travel. Also I use fuel injecter cleaner 2 to 3 times a year if Im not running preimium gas once a month. So now that fuel come down I may start the practice again. If not redline fuel injecter cleaner is what I use. The only time I got bad mpg was when the isolator bolt problem came up.After that the mpg went back up. The other time they droped was a winter trip and I got 24-25 mpg. Most summer travel has 27-29 mpg. 29 being the most. I forgot to add the sparkplug change at that time.

[Tomb stone]

I’m envious!!!
I wonder why my m.p.g. is so low?? I have replaced the isolator bolts, cleaned the EGR ports, new double platinum spark plugs, new DPFE, new tires filled to 35psi, new air filter, recant oil change, and I also live here in N.C.
I replaced all these items before my last big trip to FL and still only Avg 21MPG.
Are you figuring out the MPG on pen and paper, or are you just reading the dash display (if installed)?? I checked my mileage with a calculator and it was almost identical to the display MPG. I believe I get about 510 miles between fill-ups on the highway.
The only thing I can think of is running some fuel injector cleaner through it and, maybe, a new set of plug wires…?? The van has about 70,000 miles in it and engine runs extremely smooth at idle, I can not even here it running when we are at a stop light.

[garync1]

Hey ,was glad when I hit the 29mpg the one time but I did forget to say also along with the other changes I did a fuel filter replacment as well still running the same factory spark plug wires.2001 Ihave the LX model so my electric power pull mabe less but have almost every option the SEL has. no leather and have 2 bench seats. But no travel range cpu like some have and no DVD player. You have alloy wheels so extra wt should be about the same. No when I do my mpg check I fill the gas tank up and take the receipt. Then when I get to were im going I top it off see how much fuel I added and check miles and use the calculator. If I add 10 gal to fill to top I divide the miles I went. I alway zero out my odometer when I fill. Example. 165 miles divided by 10 gal would be 16.5 mpg.That was just an example. I guess I am doing that right. Oh my father in law drove it GA and was impressed when it got 27mpg. He is a retired police CAPT. so he can back me up. He has a 2000 or 2001 chevy truck and was impressed with the room and gas mpg. He wished his truck got that as well.
But as for me I would say on the average of HWY miles 27 is right for me I hit the number quite a few times. went got some notes 25.3 27.6 27.1 29.1 and 26.9 16.3 I think that one was a city.

[pcguy13x]

i am on my second 95 windstar, both were 3.8lt motors. the first one was an lx, with all the goodies, digital dash, auto headlights, auto dimmming mirrow, power seat, basicly everything but leather and the security system. that one got 18mpg at best in town, and we were lucky to see 20mpg on highway. ended up with major engine problem, just before the problems hit, we were lucky to see 14 mpg. i bought a gl with bad tranny, but it had a new motor in it, put in nov 2001 with 32,000 miles on it, and i put in my tranny i had from the lx. i lost all options but the power locks/windows, dual a/c, and 25 gallon gas tank . but the good news is. i got 23mpg with this van in town, i et over 500 mile per tank(25 gallon). but it does not really get any better on the highway. still averages 23mpg, which i find odd. the motor now has about 70,000 miles on it.

i use 87 gas in mine, every once in a while i will notice a rough starting of the motor, and the next tank i will put in the 93, and that clears it up instantly, and that i about once every 3 months or so! i put gas in about once every 2 weeks, i drive it to and from work, and somtimes on the weekends too.