Sudden drop in Fuel mileage on a 1998 Taurus
Asked by Brenda Feb 10, 2011 at 12:23 AM about the 1998 Ford Taurus LX
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
I have a 1998 Taurus. I recently had a large drop in fuel mileage. It went from about 25 MPG to 20 MPG in a month or so. No change in driving habits. It has new plugs, wires, fuel filter, FPR, O2 sensor and alternator and belt. There are no leaks in the lines. It currently has 192,000 on it. Had another 98 Taurus before this that the kids are still driving that has 250,000 on it and still running like a champ. I am bummed about the reduced MPG though, especially with gas prices going up every day. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated!
7 Answers
first you got to concider the year and milage,weare and tear on the car,it may be a bad fuel injector,even when cut off a bad one will drip gas into the cylender.I sugest running a can of sea fome fuel injector cleaner in a full tank of gas to clean the injectors,the sea fome is the best on the market .
dbroph1958 answered 13 years ago
PAPA is right by starting with clean the injectors, if this does not help check or change your O2 sensor located on the exhaust manifold. The O2 sensor tells your computer how rich or lean the engine is running. I've been told that this should be changed about every 60K miles or so, not sure it needs changed that often, but it is a inexpensive part that can change your engine performance. A plugged catalytic converter can also reduce gas mileage because the car seems sluggish and requires more gas peddle to accelerate.
Papa, my step-son just suggested that today also! :-) I will definitely try that next. Thanks!
dbroph: I know that one 02 sensor was changed. My hubby put it on the OBD2 scanner and one came up as bad. He changed that one and the car ran better, but the mileage didn't improve. Not sure if it was the one on the exhaust manifold or not. He said there are like 4 of them in the car. If it wasn't, we'll try that after the Seafoam.
if you chang 1 it is best to change all of them,it should have 3 on it.
I am very happy! I put a can of seafoam in, and PRESTO! My mileage is back up to where it was before!! Thanks to everyone for the great suggestions!
