what should I expect for mileage? - Diesel Forum

bryan10 · 02-16-2005, 03:02 PM

Hi - this is my first post to this forum so I hope this is in the right place.

I recently bought an 89 ford E350 van with 7.3 diesel - an ex-ambulance in near pefect condition with about 150k miles. It was used for long distance transfers as an ambulance, and to tow a food concession trailer by the people I bought it from.

The reason I got this particular vehicle was because the sellers said they consistently got 18+mpg on the highway, and 10-12+mpg when towing. I've been getting about 10mpg on the highway and less when towing or in the city.

It smoked a bit and began running rough, so I had it checked by diesel mechanic specialists (Dumas, in Long Beach Ca) and they put in a new injector pump and injectors, and glow plugs. I also put on new tires. The mechanics said it was now in great shape with no known problems.

It starts and runs great now and doesn't smoke, but I still get the same low mileage.

So my question is: what should I expect for mpg? Is there some problem that might exist that I could check out, that might result in the mileage claimed by the sellers? If not, I'm going to have to sell it and I've got so much money into it now that I almost need to keep it!

Any advice or suggestions by you experts out there would be greatly appreciated. thanks.
bryan

Super_Dave · 02-16-2005, 07:46 PM

How many rpm's are you running at?

"Winter" diesel won't get the economy like "Summer" diesel..

pon · 02-16-2005, 07:53 PM

Does So Cal get winter diesel? Long Beach isn't much different than San Diego. We can dip into the low 50's sometimes [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Pat

[ QUOTE ]
How many rpm's are you running at?

"Winter" diesel won't get the economy like "Summer" diesel..

[/ QUOTE ]

Mr_Roboto · 02-16-2005, 08:34 PM

A one ton ambulance box truck getting 18mpg?? My new 7.3 pickup truck didn't even get that on the highway and I bet your van has 4.11 gears.

My guess is that someone was calculating mileage out of the air, or just plain lied to you.

I don't know of ANY box truck getting 18 mpg, without a strong tailwind, and going downhill.

bryan10 · 02-16-2005, 10:20 PM

thanks all for the comments. I don't have a tach so can't say what the rpms are - also don't know the gearing. I've used the van for cross country driving - bought it in Salt Lake City, drove home to Iowa, towed a boat (4k lbs) to Las Vegas, then left the boat and took the van to Long Beach for the repairs, then back to Las Vegas and to Oregon, where I left that boat. then I returned to Iowa and picked up a heavier boat (9k lbs) and towed it to Baltimore and back. So I've used all kinds of gas in all kinds of weather..all with the same results.

what do you folks actually get with a similar 7.3? Is there anything I could have checked - i'm not a mechanic of any kind, but i thought i heard someone say something about an automatic adjustment for altitude that could have gotten stuck or failed? any truth to that?

again, your thoughts and advice are most appreciated...please keep them coming if you have any ideas.
bryan

Larry M · 02-17-2005, 05:19 AM

[ QUOTE ]
thanks all for the comments. I don't have a tach so can't say what the rpms are - also don't know the gearing. I've used the van for cross country driving - bought it in Salt Lake City, drove home to Iowa, towed a boat (4k lbs) to Las Vegas, then left the boat and took the van to Long Beach for the repairs, then back to Las Vegas and to Oregon, where I left that boat. then I returned to Iowa and picked up a heavier boat (9k lbs) and towed it to Baltimore and back. So I've used all kinds of gas in all kinds of weather..all with the same results.

what do you folks actually get with a similar 7.3? Is there anything I could have checked - i'm not a mechanic of any kind, but i thought i heard someone say something about an automatic adjustment for altitude that could have gotten stuck or failed? any truth to that?

again, your thoughts and advice are most appreciated...please keep them coming if you have any ideas.
bryan

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not familar with that year PSD or have any experiences with ambulances, but as already mentioned they are definitely not the most aerodynamic, and depending on gearing they will run fine at highway speeds, but reving it up will also hurt fuel mileage. Several members have the ambulance type or box body E-series PSDs and here are a few threads where they talk about their fuel mileages.

 HERE

 HERE

 HERE

 HERE

My read on those is that the mpgs might be anywhere from around 10 to 16 depending on many factors and how you actually drive it. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img]

Larry, keeper of the "little secrets" CLICK HERE [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

toalpi · 02-17-2005, 09:23 AM

Is this a box on DRWs? Or is it a SRW with a raised roof? What is the wheel base, 138", 158"? You can fill in your SIG at "My home" page. If you provide the axle code info, from the door pillar sticker, someone may be able to tell you the axle ratio.

Mr_Roboto · 02-17-2005, 10:18 PM

Well I got 15.5 mpg out of my F350 SRW with the 7.3 and 3.73 gears. That was ALL highway over tens of thousands of miles.

Super_Dave · 02-18-2005, 01:09 AM

I tow with my DRW E350 Shuttle bus, PSD. 15 is the best, and 12-13 is average.

Before getting it, I drove a 1991 E350 long wheel base dually. Got about 10-11 towing the same trailer (9000# loaded?).

How fast you're going is relevent. What speed are you going on the highway?:

satguy · 02-18-2005, 03:25 PM

If I stay below 65, I'll get 19+ on the highway w/ 98 E350(7.3 turbo)and about 1500# of tools inside. Same results with an 96 that had 200k+ miles on it. I towed a 24ft flatbed trailer, about 9k gross, from Vegas to New Orleans. I got 12-14 mpg (going 75+ in New Mexico and Arizona) My regular trailer is much higher than the van and the wind resistance takes over. I'll drop to just under 10mpg on a high 6k lb trailer.

bryan10 · 02-18-2005, 07:43 PM

I've added the info from my door sticker to my signature, in case it helps anyone diagnose my poor mpg problem. thanks again for all your comments.

Super_Dave · 02-19-2005, 07:34 AM

Away from the mechanics, how fast are you going? Does your ambulance have a three speed or four speed transmission?

bryan10 · 02-19-2005, 11:36 AM

thanks for the question about the transmission and speed - I had forgotten to mention what may be important (and have added it to my signature). this is the fact that I have a 3 speed automatice with the electric OD button, and that the speedometer reads faster than I am actually going (using the recommended tires). When the speedo says 65 I'm actually going 55. shoud that be telling me something in relation to the poor mpg? thanks.

toalpi · 02-19-2005, 12:28 PM

Your milage MAY be worse then your figures indicate. You need to see how far off the odometer is. You can change some of the sig info. C2 indicates 4.10 L/S (limited slip). The E indicates the E4OD. And fix the tire size.

bryan10 · 02-19-2005, 02:12 PM

I've made the changes to the signature and will do some road testing for a more accurate mpg because of the false speedometer reading - hope it isn't worse! thanks for the info - very helpful.