Just bought 2000 Ranger 4x4, but I'm ignorant

[Madd Hatter]

I have a lot of questions about this truck, guess I'll get right into it and hope someone can help.

The truck has the Off-Road package, but the tires have been replaced with 32" mudders. The truck's a 4L 5sp. Rated at 16-20mpg from the factory. What kind of real world mileage can I expect? So far it doesn't seem good. I've gone 130 miles on my first tank, and I'm pretty much at 1/4. Yes, I realized the tires were going to be bad news when I bought it, but this much?!

How much will using 4x4 hurt mileage? Speaking of 4x4, I read the manual, but I want to make sure that switching back and forth from 2wd on the move isn't going to hurt anything.

How about shifting (as it pertains to mileage)? When I started driving, I just tried to keep my RPM's as low as possible, shifting at 2500, if that. Lately I've tried to shift closer to 3000, and once I'm at cruising speed make sure I'm in 4th/5th. Yes, this is my first manual vehicle.

Lastly, I have problems with the door ajar (comes on even when the door's closed) and em. brake (doesn't come on at all, guess how many times I've started moving with it on) lights. The door ajar has kind of gone away (maybe just ice around the door/sensor?), but the brake light still hardly ever comes on. The guy who owned the truck before had a stereo system wired in, and put in purple neon lights, so I'm thinking maybe all the wiring is messed.

I'd appreciate any insight.

[TheRangerOfDanger]

using 4x4 doesn't hurt your milage a whole buch, but it certainly will wear your tires down if on the road. As far as shifting to 4x4 on the move, its ok, but it's better for it if you do so stopped. your shifting sounds good (if you want to get better milage, shift around 2500, but once you get a feel for the torque curve, you'll see that in some gears you can shift higher or lower - ie, can sift from second to third at about 2000 - others also - just mess around with it some to learn) generally, above about 1800 is ok for lower gears and about 24000 is ok for higher) but the higher it revs, the faster you can accelerate....

[Madd Hatter]

Thanks for the reply, have one more question for anyone who can help.

I just filled it up for the first time, 12 MPG! With warmups, a bit of 4x4, crappy winter gas, and the tires I wasn't expecting 20, but closer to 15 would be nice.

The tires are inflated to 30psi. Has anyone had a K&N improve their mileage? Anything else?

[Madd Hatter]

I'm bumping this up, because I'm getting desperate for better mileage.
The tires say 55psi max for 2500 lbs. I was wondering if I could get 40psi in them safely? Or the max I want to run? Also, my friend reminded me that if my speedometer is off because of the tires that may affect my perceived mileage. I've gotta get someone to pace me and see if it was corrected.

Would a CAI kit help matters at all? I don't want to spend $250 for a K&N kit, but maybe if I could get one for $150ish. Or is just a filter going to help as much as anything?

I'm showing 90 miles on this tank and I'm at 1/2. I'm gonna have to park it at this rate.

[EVH5150]

Since your truck has larger tires, you may need to change the gear ratio. The truck was geared for stock tires. My 1992 for example came with P215 75R 15 tires and 3.55 gear ratio. Since then, I put P235 75R 15 on it and ever since has been a dog on the highway. Next year, I'm hoping to put 31's or 32's but I know I'll have to change the gear ratio to (I'm thinking 4.10) gears to help the performance. Should help milage too. Hope this helps. By the way, do you have stock rims on and if so, what size? I'd like to know if I can squeeze 32" tires on a 15X7 rim. I'm pretty sure the newer Rangers like yours has a 16" rim but wether it's 16X7 or 16X8 I'm not sure. thanks

[TheRangerOfDanger]

since you do have larger tires, you may want to change your speedo gear just so that you can know how fast you really are going. As far as changing the actual gear ratio, i wouldn't worry about that unless you have a really low (numerically) low-if you have a 3.45, i would say you're on the line, but 3.73 or higher is ok--i'll write some more in a while with more info

[2000mudder]

i have a 2000 4x4 off road with a 3.0l and auto with 33 in mudders and i dont drive it gentally and i get around 15 mpg. the speedometer was exactally correct with 32 in tires so the tires will not affect youre millage that much.i have a k&n filter, gibson exhaust and a jet chip.all those things help with milage and power.