Gas mileage going down as temps go down?

[Flak]

During summer and fall my avg was around 23mpg. Now with winter finally showing up here (at least in temps) I've noticed my gas mileage drops the colder it gets. I'm down to 16mpg avg now with temps at 0F or colder. I called two Ford dealerships around my area and was told "That's normal." If that's true, this will be my first car ever that's had a drop in mileage during winter.

[BIGFOOT]

winter blend fuel is the culprit.

[bpd1151]

It is true and you can add me to the list of owners experiencing the same issue(s).

 

Some of it's due to Winter fuel blends, some of it's due to the cold temp(s) providing denser air, which in turn makes the turbos work a lil harder to push that denser air around.

 

It happens.

 

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

[mjhpadi]

First, I bet it's not the first car that has gotten less mileage with the winter blend, because I've been keeping fuel mileage records since 1998 and every vehicle that I've keep records on experiences less mileage with winter blend fuel...just the nature of the beast.

Second, you can not use the computer in the car to track mileage between fill ups, it's just not accurate over a full tank, not sure why but it's not. For example, I filled up tonight and when I figured my mileage it was 20.1 mpg, however, according to the computer it was showing 19.2. You really need to keep records and fill the car to the same level on every fill to really measure mileage. It takes some work and keeping records to really track the mileage you are getting. However, my car has the Stage 4+ tune, and in the summer I will average 24-16 mpg. But when the winter fuels are delivered my mileage will drop to 19-21 mpg, and that's driving the car to obtain the best mileage. Any aggressive driving will lower the mileage more in the winter. Also, I've been told that the amount of ethanol in the winter fuel is higher then in summer blends, which means that although winter blend will have a higher octane, it will normally produce lower mileage. All of which has proven to be accurate with the records I've kept.

[SHOdded]

Not to mention that if you do not garage your car in the winter, the warmup time (for engine AND transmission) will really eat into your mileage. I am sure that if there were a thermos system like the Prius, the loss from winter fuels would be kept down to 10%, that's the expected loss from the winter blends anyway.

[Flak]

The average mileage is personally calculated. And I guess I've been lucky, this is the first car I've owned that has such a drastic difference in gas mileage in winter.

[larrylu]

The average mileage is personally calculated. And I guess I've been lucky' date=' this is the first car I've owned that has such a drastic difference in gas mileage in winter.[/quote']

 

My mileage goes down in the winter but nothing like what you are describing. My average driving short haul suburban, with no trips goes from 20/22 mpg in the summer to 18/20 mpg in the winter. My garage is not heated but its a lot warmer than outdoor temps. I will also state that I drive it pretty easy most of the time. I'm running stage 4+ so far through the winter with no fussiness whatsoever. I'm using a full synthetic oil but noticed no improvement to the mileage when I made that switch. I'm in upstate NY so we get our share of cold weather. Maybe the dealers response that your mileage was typical, was B/S to placate a complaining customer in the hopes that the problem would just go away.

[Mothball]

I have always gotten lower mileage as well on all of my previous vehicles but my SHO has actually gotten better by about 1mpg this Winter. The reasons mentioned before are certainly true with winter blends and warm-up time eating up a lot of fuel. Another thing to think about too is that the fuel system delivers fuel in a ratio to the MASS of air ingested. Along the same driving route in cold weather you may ingest the same volume of air as in warmer weather but since it's colder air it's more dense and will get a correspondingly greater ammount of fuel for that reason alone. Sucks huh? Oh well. At least it's fun to blip the throttle in the cold.

 

P.S.: I'm 99% sure that the increase in mileage for me came from running Blizzaks instead of the stock Summer tires.

[gpfarrell]

I expect my mileage to go down in the winter. I'll have the windows down if I'm waiting in the car in the summer time, but in the winter I'll let it idle if my wife is running into the store for something, or while I'm waiting for our kids to get on the bus. Mostly for the comfort of the heat, partly to keep the windows from steaming up.

 

No biggie to me!

[mjhpadi]

Thanks guys for pointing out additional reasons for winter mileage to be lower, all very valid points. One thing I do not allow my car to warm for more then a minute, and it is really amazing how you can watch the mileage drop on the computer, just sitting waiting on a light to change or at a drive-thru. All of those things will make mileage drop from summer mileage.

[shoman04]

3 weeks ago my mileage drop 5miles a gal after oil change & fluids change. when back to the dealer and ask if they fashed my car because I didn't fash it back to stock before going in. I went in for a updated mic for my SYN didn't think I needed to go back stock for that. The dealer told me to fash back to stock because the SYN guy may have fash back to 0mi new brake-in and it will run rich. It helped but not complete. THEN YESTERDAY MY SAM's CLUB TIRE GUY WANTED TO SHOW A 12SEC TAURUS TO CO-WORKER. And somebody had taken hose clamp loose on the HOSE REDUCER OF MY AIRAID INTAKE, I tigthen it back up and mileage went back up to 20.7mpg which is only 2mi less than stock and 1mpg less than LMS 4+ COMBINE HWY/CITY and that maybe winner drop. JUST A NICE KNOW.

[SHOdded]

That IS an oddity, and a good-to-know fact about the intake to add to the MPG trivia.

[swetrid]

Pretty much every car I have owned has lost about 2-3mpg in the winter.

[markssho]

I've noticed a hit of around 2 MPG's. However, this beast still gets better gas mileage than any Subaru I've ever owned.

[yowen2000]

My computer is telling me 24 mpg, but I calculated my last tank at 21.something, can't remember exactly. I am excited to see what'll happen in the summer. These numbers are with spirited passing and high throttle on on-ramps. Usually set the cruise to about 75 or 76.

[Night Hawk]

20/21mpg here using mobil-1 93 octane.

[Guest K4u2luz2]

All of those things that people have posted will definitely cost you some mpg's BUT I think it is yur knock sensor wiring. I had that problem on my 2010 and my mileage kept dropping. After fixing the chaffed wire my mileage immediately went right back up. I am now running a stage 4+ tune in Michigan and my mileage is consistently 22 mpg. So unless you let the car idle for ever (like my wife does every morning in her yukon) the mileage should never be that low.

[Flak]

Well, 2 weeks have past since this post and my gas mileage has dropped to 15mpg avg now. And it doesn't sit an idle, it's parked in a heated garage both at home and at work.