2000 Escort, poor gas mileage

[cdawley1]

Hi,

I bought a 2000 Escort SE at a used car dealership. It has about 50k miles on it. When I bought the car, I noticed that the car was shaking when I would stop. I was also getting poor gas mileage. I thought it could be the spark plugs and decided to replace them. After I replaced them, I was still getting poor gas mileage. I looked at the coil and noticed that the spark plug wires were hooked up in the wrong order. Gas mileage improved from 16mpg to 25-26mpg. Is there anything else I can do to improve it anymore? My wife is the main driver of the car. She drove it to my grandparents house and parents house, about 45min.-1hr. away and used about a half of a tank round trip. I also replaced the air filter and no change. It passed emissions without any problems. Is there anything else that I can try?

[tfoti]

the first thing i think of when i hear of improving gas mileage is the oxygen sensor. being that your car only has 50k miles on it i dont think a new one would improve it a whole lot. maybe 1 or 2 mpg. i know even your tire pressure can affect your gas mileage. make sure they are inflated to the proper level. there is a sticker on the inside of the front passenger door (at least on my 94 tracer there is) and it tells you what the pressure should be. does your temperature go up and stay normal? maybe your thermostat is stuck open and is keeping your engine cooler than its supposed to. if thats the case then that will affect gas mileage.
or maybe your wife likes to drive like Michael Schumacher????

[bigrod118]

tfoti is right as far as the oxygen sensor, it can help, but at 50k, its not needed and wont do much, but a new fuel filter will, not sure how much, but 26 isnt bad.

[chevyn0va1]

Originally Posted by cdawley1

Hi,

I bought a 2000 Escort SE at a used car dealership. It has about 50k miles on it. When I bought the car, I noticed that the car was shaking when I would stop. I was also getting poor gas mileage. I thought it could be the spark plugs and decided to replace them. After I replaced them, I was still getting poor gas mileage. I looked at the coil and noticed that the spark plug wires were hooked up in the wrong order. Gas mileage improved from 16mpg to 25-26mpg. Is there anything else I can do to improve it anymore? My wife is the main driver of the car. She drove it to my grandparents house and parents house, about 45min.-1hr. away and used about a half of a tank round trip. I also replaced the air filter and no change. It passed emissions without any problems. Is there anything else that I can try?

You say you replaced the plugs did you use platnum or factory equalivilants? You didnt mention it but I assume you replaced the plug wires too? If you have spark leakage (noticiable buy little spark arcing at night) you will have the shaking you discribed. Pvc replacement may help but I would have the injectors cleaned/looked at. Also if this was a non highway car it could need a nice highway road trip.~ keep us posted

[Jet-Lee]

replace your wires, its worth the 16 bucks. You should put only the plugs made for the car, in the car, i.e. - MotorCraft. I switched from AutoLite Platinum to MotorCraft and went from ~17 to ~25. If you feel up to it, maybe your fuel filter too. Definately run some fuel injector cleaner through it. I recommend Lucas brand upper engine treatment. You can get it at AutoZone for about 4 bucks, IT'S WORTH IT! Good luck, and let us know how it goes.