Recent large drop in MPG... causes?
 

I've been getting 29ish MPG this winter, but I just took a 10 day vacation and am now getting 26ish MPG. Is there anything that could cause this?

I've had my FEH since June 06 and during summer I was getting 32ish and expected getting 29ish for winter time. I am very surprised by the 26ish I'm getting now though.

Re: Recent large drop in MPG... causes?
 

cold weather will do that.

~John

Re: Recent large drop in MPG... causes?
 

When we had the super cold of 20s I still was getting better MPG. It's about 45 out right now.

Re: Recent large drop in MPG... causes?
 

If you were on the highway cruising, just using the ICE, that will use more gas. Plus, highway cruising typically adds a lot of miles into the MPG average calculation (all those highway miles were at that lower ICE only fuel consumption).

I know that when I went on a trip, my MPG average went down, and upon my return, it took about 2 weeks of regular driving to offset that.

Re: Recent large drop in MPG... causes?
 

Did you have the defroster on all 10 days?

Re: Recent large drop in MPG... causes?
 

Cold temps will do it, as will fuel with ethanol added. It could be that you used a blend that contained more ethanol than you are used to. The pumps can contain UP TO 10% ethanol....which means you might have been getting 5% in your area and 10% while on your trip.

Re: Recent large drop in MPG... causes?
 

You might want to check your front end alignment (and possibly rear) or try rotating your tires. I recently had my front struts replaced, got a front end alignment, and rotated the tires. I picked up about 2 mpg which kind of suprised me. (I should have done them one at a time so I would know what had the most effect.)

I've got a 2" lift kit with 31x10.5" tires (which is why the stock struts wore out at 25,000 miles). I replaced them with Monroe® Sensa-Trac® struts, and the ride is far better then when the the stock struts were new.

Re: Recent large drop in MPG... causes?
 

After I've gone about 8,000 miles without an oil change, I seem to get a sudden drop in MPG. Getting an oil change bumps it up almost instantly.

Ford recommends every 10k, but I try to do it every 5k-ish for this reason.