Modern Vehicle Tune Up

[Fishindude]

Noticed the mileage on my 2011 F-150 w/ 80,000 miles has gradually decreased by about 2 mpg.

Changed the air filter with no improvement. Do they actually do anything with modern vehicles to "tune them up" that would improve my mileage?

[SpaceCadet12364]

Plugs, oil+filter, trans Oil + filter if auto and some manuals need regular fluid changes.

[Harry Chickpea]

Part of it might be the seasonal shift from gasoline that is more pure in the winter to adulterated with ethanol in the summer. Part could be rolling resistance from different tires. Some oils for high mileage cars claim to reduce blow-by. Fuel injectors that are partially clogged can be a problem. Something like Lucas gas additive may help.

[logbuilder]

When was the last time you replaced the fuel filter?

[Nimrod]

Add a bottle of concentrated injector cleaner with your next fill-up.

If that doesn't work put in points, plugs, distributor cap, rotor, and a condenser.

[Yvonne's hubby]

Originally Posted by Nimrod

Add a bottle of concentrated injector cleaner with your next fill-up.

If that doesn't work put in points, plugs, distributor cap, rotor, and a condenser.

I doubt you will find any points or condenser on a late model vehicle, but it's time to replace the spark plugs and reset ignition timing for sure. New air filter can also help the mileage. A new dis cap and rotor isn't going to hurt anything either.

[Shoden]

Originally Posted by Yvonne's hubby

I doubt you will find any points or condenser on a late model vehicle, but it's time to replace the spark plugs and reset ignition timing for sure. New air filter can also help the mileage. A new dis cap and rotor isn't going to hurt anything either.

Actually, on really late model vehicles, like the OP's 2011 F150, you're not going to find a distributor either, and the ignition timing is controlled by the ECU, so there's nothing to reset.

You can buy aftermarket ECU tunes that will remap the fuel and ignition for either more power or better economy, but in a truck, the small gain in mpgs is usually more than offset by the cost of the ECU programmer.

For the 2011 F150 (which engine?), you're looking at changing the spark plugs, and possibly the MAP sensor and O2 sensors, since they help with controlling the fuel/air mixture, and if they're going bad, they can result in the engine running too rich.

[Nimrod]

My toung was firmly in my cheek when I suggested points, plugs, distributor cap, rotor, and a condenser.

Just me, but I would rather have something I can fix rather than a bunch of mystery electronics.

[Fishindude]

Thanks for the tips. Will get some of this stuff done and see how it works out.

Points, condensers, rotor, distributor caps, etc. ?
Out of curiosity, what year was the last pickup that still had this stuff? Truck would have to be at least 20-30 years old, I'm guessing.

[HermitJohn]

Last American vehicle with points and condenser would be 1974. Some foreign cars had them at least to the end of the seventies. Some cars still had distributors and thus distributor caps and rotors through 90s. I am not sure when that completely ended since '91 is newest gasoline car/truck I have ever opened the hood on. I now drive only couple thousand miles a year, car and truck I have now, probably last rest of my life. Assuming I can continue to find or adapt parts and they dont ban older cars from the road. Though if health improves still like to restore a late 40s or early 50s car sometime.

[nosqrls]

Here is one for you the rear axle on some Audi's Along with manual gear box's have oil filters. Go figure.

[alleyyooper]

Worked on GM stuff in the mid 1980's that still had the points, condenser rotor cap. Brother had a 1976 Jeep with the 360 engine had that stuff also. Dad had a 1975 ford 350 with a 390 engine that had that stuff. My 1985 Jeep with the 258 six also has that stuff.
So if the last American car/truck engine with that stuff was 1974 all the above must be feren crap.

Al

[HermitJohn]

Originally Posted by alleyyooper

Worked on GM stuff in the mid 1980's that still had the points, condenser rotor cap. Brother had a 1976 Jeep with the 360 engine had that stuff also. Dad had a 1975 ford 350 with a 390 engine that had that stuff. My 1985 Jeep with the 258 six also has that stuff.
So if the last American car/truck engine with that stuff was 1974 all the above must be feren crap.

Al

Young whippersnapper... LOL I think you either werent around back then or still in diapers. I was there all grown up in 1975 when the change happened. What you were experiencing are vehicles that have been modified. Dont believe me go to parts store online or off and look for a set of points for any 1980s vehicle. Heck go look for points for a 1975 Jeep 258. Wont find it, but you will for a 1974 Jeep 258.
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,ca...,parttype,7172
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,ca...parttype,11337

Many of the 1980s engines were last versions of engines made in the 60s and 70s so could be easily converted back. For example that Jeep 258 started out as AMC 199/232 in 1966!!!! Jeep at that time was owned by Kaiser, not related to AMC at all.

People especially hated the computer controlled carbs in early 80s before actual fuel injection was mainstream. People converted them back to non-electronic carburetors and with a non-electronic carb, you need a distributor independent of any computer, one with a vacuum advance. At the time junkyards full of cars with points distributors.... that would fit their engine!!! Cheaper than getting a late 70s electronic distributor with vacuum advance from parts store.

The electronic module vacuum advance distributors from late seventies were better mouse trap, but many from that time were much more comfortable with points distributor and used those which were also cheaper and easier to find at a junkyard. 80s Jeeps had an especially frustrating electronic Carter BBD carb on the 258, so you see all sorts of retrofits even today as people like having an old Jeep around to play with off road. The Ford MC2100/MC2150 being most popular, though some use new aftermarket Weber 38-38 or Holley 2300. Some go back to a pre-computer Carter BBD.

[HermitJohn]

Oh and yes some cars did have distributors into the 90s, but as I was trying to say, they were computer controlled up the wazzoo, no vacuum advance and for sure no points and condenser. They were just cheaper way to use one ignition coil instead of the multi coil system that everything changed to.

LOL, not all distributors are old timey....

What goes around comes around. I remember my dad trying to explain Model T technology. Was pretty far out and exotic to me. By way they didnt come with a distributor, had something called trembler coil, one for each cylinder..... sound bit familiar???

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trembler_coil

[joejeep92]

There is no official tune up for a 2011 Ford F150. You are due for a set of spark plugs though and possibly a fuel filter. 2 mpg decrease could also be only your perception if you are going off of the on-board mpg calculator if the average you are going off of is an accumulation of several thousand miles including winter idle time.

[JeepHammer]

I'm with Hermit John,
I was there in '72 when the GM HEI distributor came out and still had breaker points to trigger it,
In '74, GM went to all 'Solid State' (No Breaker Point Distributors),
In '75, Ford introduced the 'DuraSpark' breaker-less ignition.
Chrysler had been dinking with electronic ignitions since '68, but in '71 went to 'Breaker-less'...

Jeep, being an AMC product (A Mixture of Cars) didn't get the memo...
AMC/Jeep tried Prestolite electronic ignitions in '74-'77,
Then switched to Motorcraft/DuraSpark ignitions in '78.

Prestolite ignitions were the worst thing ever inflicted on AMC/Jeep owners,
And a ton of those owners switched back to breaker points for reliability.

AMC engines/distributors swap around like Small Block Chevy parts do,
So you are liable to find a breaker point distributor in any AMC/Jeep product still on the road...
At the time, guys could keep a breaker point ignition running, while they simply wouldn't learn enough about an electronic ignition to work with it.

Same thing is true of fuel injection and distributor-less ignitions today,
There are some guys that simply don't keep up, so they get lost.

The truth is, only about 1/1,000 people I talk to that profess to be 'Ignition' experts actually know how an ignition works, so they were off even when they 'Thought' they knew what they were doing...
Getting one to run is a LONG WAY from knowing SPECIFICALLY how it works.

---------------

Back to the subject at hand,
Scan your codes, and little things like checking the mentioned O2 sensor with a multi-meter...
O2 sensors oxidize over time and become less responsive,
Throttle position sensors wear and get out of adjustment, without showing a trouble code,
MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure) sensors collect crud internally and are less responsive without showing a trouble code.

Lets not forget about our old friend, CORROSION!
Corrosion can creep into ANY electrical connection, so unplugging them, cleaning, then using a good dose of Dielectric Grease in the connectors at regular maintenance intervals is always a good idea...

These are LOW VOLTAGE sensors, so it takes very little corrosion to cause problems.

A multi-meter and a vacuum gauge/pump are still your best friends.
A vacuum gauge will tell you if you have valve sealing problems, valve guide problems, leaking rings, ect.
And it will tell you if you have a bad spark plug wire, spark plug, ect.

Spark Plugs are NOT designed to run 100,000 miles, although they *Will* continue to work, they are not 'Optimum' past about 25,000 miles, and your fuel mileage/efficiency will drop when they degrade with use.

Plug wires are the same... Factory plug wires fail regularly at about 75,000 miles, and show serious degradation at about 50,000 miles.

[Bellyman]

Plugs. At 80k miles, they're probably getting a little tired even if they're supposed to go 100k.

I wondered about plug wires but wasn't sure if your truck had the coil packs right there on every plug and if so whether plug wires would be likely to give you anything. (?)

[Belfrybat]

The mileage on my 2010 Terrain increased by 1.5 mph after I put on a set of new tires. They are Yokohama YK580. I could tell a difference right away in the way they gripped the road and better handling in wet weather.

I only have 47,000K miles, so am a ways off from a tune-up, so was very happy to see the mileage difference with the tires.

[joejeep92]

Originally Posted by JeepHammer

.

---------------

Back to the subject at hand,
Scan your codes, and little things like checking the mentioned O2 sensor with a multi-meter...
O2 sensors oxidize over time and become less responsive,
Throttle position sensors wear and get out of adjustment, without showing a trouble code,
MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure) sensors collect crud internally and are less responsive without showing a trouble code.

Lets not forget about our old friend, CORROSION!
Corrosion can creep into ANY electrical connection, so unplugging them, cleaning, then using a good dose of Dielectric Grease in the connectors at regular maintenance intervals is always a good idea...

These are LOW VOLTAGE sensors, so it takes very little corrosion to cause problems.

A multi-meter and a vacuum gauge/pump are still your best friends.
A vacuum gauge will tell you if you have valve sealing problems, valve guide problems, leaking rings, ect.
And it will tell you if you have a bad spark plug wire, spark plug, ect.

Spark Plugs are NOT designed to run 100,000 miles, although they *Will* continue to work, they are not 'Optimum' past about 25,000 miles, and your fuel mileage/efficiency will drop when they degrade with use.

Plug wires are the same... Factory plug wires fail regularly at about 75,000 miles, and show serious degradation at about 50,000 miles.

An easier and better way of testing that O2 sensor is with the scan tool you cleared the codes with. It should display switching rate as well as voltages. I have never in my life as a professional technician had a TPS cause a mileage issue, more like stutters or dying.
Permatex comes out to the shop once a year to tell all the techs how to use their products correctly and one thing they say every year is that dielectric grease is not a conductor and to use it sparingly. GM also says as far as unplugging the sensors, their connectors are only designed to be unplugged and then plugged back in a few times before the pins lose their tension so keep that in mind.
Plugs and wires wise, this vehicle has no plug wires but has a coil on plug system, they have removable boots though that should be replaced when plugs are replaced. Plug wise, Ford disagrees with you, the service interval is much higher than 25,000. Ford said 100,000 miles for the longest time but they had problems with the 3v 5.4 plugs sticking in the heads.

[beenaround]

Originally Posted by yvonne's hubby

i doubt you will find any points or condenser on a late model vehicle,.

lol