Typical Mileage? '86 302 EFI

[RobClark]

My apologies if there is another thread on this...if so admins can point me to it and close this thread.

Is this mileage 'normal' for my 22 year old Town Car?

Freeway: 22 mpg steady 55mph

Suburbs: 10 mpg. Most runs 5~10 miles. Lots of stop signs/lights. Engine 'cold' for half the run.

Thanks

Rob

[mrltd]

suburb milage is a tad low. highway dead on. I get 16-19 with my modded wagon. My 91 grand marquis got 19mpg no matter how I drove it.

[87mefull]

10-12mpg is low for suburban driving, but it depends on many different factors. If your rear axle ratio is a 2.73, it may be a dog off the line vs. a 3.27 rear axle ratio that my car had, which made it fairly easy to get it up to speed.

Here are some things you can do:
-You can upgrade to an HO intake/tb, which will give you a little increase in torque and overall throttle response. I noticed a mileage and performance increase when I installed my HO intake/tb with a Ford Racing 1 inch spacer. Its cheap too as mustang guys usually end up scrapping the stock HO intake/tb in favor of an explorer intake.
-A warm air intake may net some mpg gains.
-You can bump up the TV pressure on the transmission for quicker/firmer shifts, which will help gas mileage. This allowed the AOD in my grand marquis to shift quite fast when I set it to the max TV pressure setting, so I could be in 3rd gear by 28-32mph (not 100% on the speed, but it was in that range) under light/moderate throttle.
-Upgrading to 3.27 rear axle ratio, which seems to be the best for power/mileage in a stock panther usually.
-Dual exhaust nets some mpg and performance gains on a stock EFI 302 as the single y-pipe is restrictive.

I could pull 18-19mpg with a 140k 1987 Grand Marquis with an HO intake/tb/spacer, 3.27 open rear, and a performance dual exhaust in most suburban driving. In the Philadelphia though, 14mpg was the absolute best I could do and I was really babying it at that, just way to many stop signs, traffic, and poor drivers.

[mrltd]

He's in austrailia....no mustangs or explorers. Falcon parts...A complete falcon motor swap would be awesome. Especially a turbo 6...

[gadget73]

I'd be looking around for vacuum leaks, they'll cut into your fuel economy. The around town may be low, but its hard to really say. I do about 10-13 in town with my car, but thats mostly my driving. I could probably get 14-15 out of it but I drive so little that I don't really care about the bit of extra fuel it burns.