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Crappy Gas Milage & Black TailPipes


ponder3

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This may be the gas blend in our area, noticed yesterday soot on the altima that my son is driving now, but it has 175k on it.

Like I said even the eco 2012 demo at the dealer had the same sooty tailpipes. Someone told me about a cooling timer of the turbo before turning vehicle off? Could be unburned fuel when you then start vehilcle up. Anyone ever heard of this?

EPA should get out on the Inerstates where you can't drive 55 mph.....

But overall I still love me Edge................

 

Ponder, you would be referring to a Turbo Timer. They actually work really well. The younger Generations use them on their fast cars that they speed around the city in. Below is a description and anyone correct me if mine is wrong. You can get them either installed by themselves or most alarm systems have them pre installed now adays. I have always had them on my regualar vehicles due to installing Viper Alarms.

 

A turbo timer is used to let you car idle for a moment to let the oil that flowing through your tubo cool down. Without the oil flowing and cooling, you would have bubbling hot oil just stop not only in your lines but in your turbo. This is bad for two reasons.

 

1. the oil that stops in your lines will bubble in one spot and produce residue that will eventually clog yuor lines and restrict oil to the turbo.

 

2. The turbo itself is cooled by the oil, and if it is just left to bubble in the turbo, it can cause residue and does not let heat escape the turbo which can cause heat damage to the internal shaft and bearings on the turbo.

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you most likely won't need a turbo timer. now a days turbos are oil and water cooled and as long as you aren't driving balls out up until you shut it off you are fine. If you are just let it idle for 30 seconds and you're good to go, but my guess is you aren't flying into a parking lot so you'll be fine.

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you most likely won't need a turbo timer. now a days turbos are oil and water cooled and as long as you aren't driving balls out up until you shut it off you are fine. If you are just let it idle for 30 seconds and you're good to go, but my guess is you aren't flying into a parking lot so you'll be fine.

+1 not really necessary unless you always drive your car like you stole it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a 2012 Edge Ltd with the 2.0 Ecoboost and am impressed at how well the little 4 moves the car aound. It's comfortable for me (6'3" 265 lbs). I had a 2011 Terrain for 8 months and traded it on the Edge because after driving 50 miles or so, I had the figits from being uncomfortable. The Terrain was a great little vehicle, but was just a tad small. I should have rented one for a weekend before buying. It never got decent mileage and had sooty tailpipes.

I have nearly 6000 miles on the Edge and it is getting crappy mileage and has sooty tailpipes. 90% of my driving is running on the Interstate at 65MPH, I baby it away from stop signs, etc, and hardly ever get on it enough to cause the turbo kick in. I get around 22-23 MPH at best.

I've thought about taking it to the dealer and don't reallly think they will find anything.

I used to have a 2007 Rendezvous, which also got crappy mileage, but wasn't rated that high. When I got rid of it after 4 years, the inside of the tailpipes was clean enough to eat off of.

I'm not sure how I could drive this Edge any easier, I use cruise most of the time on the highway and ease away from stops.

What am I doing wrong? Or is there something wrong with the car?

We love it otherwise.

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... if you are getting a mid20s to high20s in a Crossover SUV. Why are you complaining?

My wife has a 2012 Edge V6 model. Her old 2010 Chevy Equinox AWD with 2.5L 4 cylinder engine only got about 28mpg on highway and 20~22mpg in the city.

My other car 2003 VW Passat W8 gets mere 20mpg on the highway.

The 3.5L V6 puts out more power than my 4.0L W8 and eats less fuel, while moving a bigger/heavier body. I'm Impressed.

I understand if you're upset because you're not getting the advertised MPG.. do you have a AWD model? that would decrease the MPG.

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Well I can't speak for the OP but I can say that up until recently my wife and I have always been able to not only reach the highway ratings we typically exceed them. I am currently using an Audi A4 as my DD that I think was stickered for 27mpg; it is chipped has 200k on the clock and is getting 30mpg in stop and go traffic. Even my Subaru Legacy GT I had before that was stage 2 and was still capable of getting just under the highway rating for stop and go commuting. With the Edge we can barely come close on the highway driving like a grandma. I have a few friends that have recently found the same with new cars from various manufacturers, so I suspect the EPA may have changed their way of calculating the expected mileage.

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I drove from CA to Yellowstone at 75mph +/- then back for a total of 40+ hour drive and over two dozen fillups including a couple fillups when i was still in my neighborhood. I did not reset my gas estimate every fillup or trip to acurately see my general driving habit estimate. So far i am slightly under 25 mpg.

Edited by jRE
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I'm not sure why some people are still comparing gas mileage to that of a cars. There is way more drag on the edge and it weighs more. So stop comparing it.

I wasn't comparing the the mileage of the Edge to the cars but rather the fact that all the cars I have owned have been able to easily surpass the EPA esimates even over the long haul with modified engines. So while I don't think the mpg of the Edge is all that bad I certainly can't get what they state on the sticker.

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I have '12 MKX, my wife and I were out on the NJ Turnpike for a trip to southern NJ, reset the MPG indicator, had the cruise set at 65 mph, and got a constant reading of 25.1 & 25.2 mpg, very happy with this figure. The MKX comes with the 3.7 engine. Around town, I avg about 16mpg, if I baby it, I can see a increase of 17 mpg.

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I have a 2013 SEL with just over 2,000 miles on it and getting what I think is good gas mileage. I mostly drive it in the city and drive on the interstate on the way to work, but the interstate on the way home is mostly stop and go. My overall gas mileage right now is 25.1mpg. Also recently I on my first long distance trip to a golf tournament which was an hour and half away with 3 people and sets of golf clubs and I averaged at 28mpg. So far I very satisfied with the gas mileage and I also have the black soot on the tailpipes.

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Wow, even with the price of gas flirting with the $4/Gal price tag, im glad I have the 3.7L Sport. My AWD at 13K miles is returning a very respectable 20.9-22 MPG in mixed driving with two hills a day in my commute. Now if the 3.5 Ecoboost was available in the Sport, that wouldve been my choice.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 2 months later...

I wasn't comparing the the mileage of the Edge to the cars but rather the fact that all the cars I have owned have been able to easily surpass the EPA esimates even over the long haul with modified engines. So while I don't think the mpg of the Edge is all that bad I certainly can't get what they state on the sticker.

I have done a 650 mile trip from Michigan to Tennessee. Flat and hills, 30 MPG down and averaged 31 MPG on the return leg. Cruise set at 70 MPH (65 in Ohio). That's resetting the MPG gauge at depart and checking the reading when we got home. I consistently show an average MPG above 25. My secret to impart to you is to put 40 psi in your tires. 35 psi makes a difference in MPG. Enough to be disappointing. My tires were at 40 psi when I drove out of the dealership. I checked. I have the 18" wheels. The tires are rated for up to 44 PSI cold. I also have black soot in the exhaust and used a quart of oil in 2500 miles. I am hoping that doesn't repeat. 9800 miles on the odometer. Edited by Garo
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  • 1 month later...

I am new to the forum, and also a new owner of a 2013 Edge Limited Ecoboost.

I am having terrible mileage and now have 4000km on the Edge (aka guzzler). Sticker says 6.6L /100km (HW), and 9.9L/100km (city). Well I am getting 11.9L/100km (HW) and 17.5 L/100km (city). Gulp. Dealers (x2) wont look at it until after 18000km as per Ford policy. What the hell!!

Trust me, it is not driven hard. I am so easy on this Guzzler. I drive it like an old lady.

My Mustang GT is driven hard, and I get 11.1L/100km combined!

Something is very wrong.

I feel that I have made a VERY bad mistake to buy this thing, to the point if I could return it, I would.

BTW. The sales guy thought I was kidding about the mileage.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I am getting a combined rating of 11.1 L/100km (21.19mpg) right now in my edge. It is quite literally 50/50 driving so I am pretty impressed. I should mention we are in the middle of winter right now, so this has gone up vs. the summer months. Keep this in mind too if you live in colder climates that your economy will go down. Denser air will require more fuel. I am not easy on the car at all. Here is why...

 

We drive a turbo 4. The turbo is on the SUV because the motor would be under powered without it. Therefore you want this thing to be spooling when you are accelerating both from a stop and a roll. By babying the vehicle and trying to not make it spool or boost very little, you are making the N/A aspect of the motor work that much more. Once a vehicle is up to speed its is much easier to keep at that speed then to accelerate to it. Trust me, accelerate as quickly and safely as possible to your desired speed then coast from there, but do not baby it to your desired speed.

 

Give it a shot and let me know your results. I hope this works for some of you, as I am seeing lots of "I baby my vehicles"

 

As for guys talking about tuned vehicles. You should know better than anyone else that a properly tuned factory car will always get better mileage then without the tune. That is what a tune does. Gives you a better burn of unused fuel from a factory tune. You should always see increased power and fuel economy from a tune. If you don't, return your tuner.

 

With that being said, it may be wise for lots of ecoboost owners to petition SCT to get our vehicle supported for tuning. The tuner will work for our vehicles but they have no canned tunes meaning you would need to find a local tuner currently. They just finished up with the 2.0L in the focus with good gains. I have sent my opinions to them, I would suggest you do the same.

Edited by Jmac88
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I am getting a combined rating of 11.1 L/100km (21.19mpg) right now in my edge.

 

Give it a shot and let me know your results. I hope this works for some of you, as I am seeing lots of "I baby my vehicles"

I have to admit that I'm one of those "I baby my vehicles" people with the same engine as you have. I've tracked my mileage and fill-ups since day one of ownership over the last 13 months. Over 21,909 miles (roughly 35,000 km I believe) I have used 853 (US) gallons of gasoline for a lifetime average of 25.68 MPG. About two thousand of those miles involved significant drag from a canoe on the roof. Thus, I'm reluctant to follow your advice.

 

You aren't using Imperial gallons in your MPG calculation are you?

Edited by Gimp
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<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="Gimp" data-cid="89449" data-time="1355945214"><p>

I have to admit that I'm one of those "I baby my vehicles" people with the same engine as you have. I've tracked my mileage and fill-ups since day one of ownership over the last 13 months. Over 21,909 miles (roughly 35,000 km I believe) I have used 853 (US) gallons of gasoline for a lifetime average of 25.68 MPG. About two thousand of those miles involve the significant drag from a canoe on the roof. Thus, I'm reluctant to follow your advice.<br />

<br />

You aren't using Imperial gallons in your MPG calculation are you?</p></blockquote>

 

I just used an online converter. When I do my taxes, I will make note of my fill ups and get my lifetime average. In the summer months my economy increases to 10.3 but still not as good as yours. What are your driving habbits? 50/50 hiway/city? I can't see a canoe adding that much drag as the edge is is not very aerodynamic to begin with lol. I goto the mountains (Rockies) quite often with a thule on the roof and don't really notice a decrease in performance. Most people in this thread are complaining of poor fuel economy though, so I thought I would offer my two cents.

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What are your driving habbits? 50/50 hiway/city? I can't see a canoe adding that much drag as the edge is is not very aerodynamic to begin with lol. I goto the mountains (Rockies) quite often with a thule on the roof and don't really notice a decrease in performance. Most people in this thread are complaining of poor fuel economy though, so I thought I would offer my two cents.

 

My driving is primarily 80 miles a day / 400 miles a week of rush hour traffic in metro Detroit. It's a mixed bag of stop and go with occasional short burst of highway speed followed by more stop and go. I try really hard to not become an aggressive driver. I see too many car wrecks every single day. In the stop and go conditions, I don't want to rear end anyone and I don't want anyone to rear end me. When I'm walking through parking lots I often glance at the tires on the cars around me. Most of them don't have sufficient tread. I always assume one of them is behind me and I drive accordingly.

 

The canoe does add a lot of drag. Consider that it's upside down and the air flow going over the windshield is catching in the underside of the boat. I can see the strain on the the front tie down ropes as I increase speed. A kayak and many roof boxes would be much more aerodynamic.

 

When my wife or daughter drive my car the MPG drops quite a bit. They both like fast take-offs and they really like the turbo on the Edge. They also get several thousand fewer miles on brake pads so that is the other impact of their driving style.

 

I think that most people are complaining about their fuel economy because they aren't getting the numbers that they saw posted on the vehicle sticker. We're seeing more things like that in the news now with the Ford C Max. The problem is that here in the U.S. the fuel economy numbers come from a very specific driving profile established by the Environmental Protection Agency. All manufacturers tune their vehicles to attain maximin fuel efficiency at those conditions. Unfortunately, most people don't know what those driving conditions are, let alone drive in that profile. Manufacturers and dealerships would be doing themselves a favor by educating their customers on how the fuel economy numbers are established. The might help to reduce a lot of unrealistic expectations.

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  • 6 months later...

Sorry to hear that brother... I didn't really think the eCoBoost was going to be that impressive when reading about it for the Edge model to be honest. However, I am an avid fisherman and I boat quite often and I can tell you one thing.. Those eCoBoost motors in the F-150 are down out right nasty as hell.. I know guys who own them and not only are they getting 25MPG, they are getting that while towing a 23' Center Console Grady Whites with T-Tops and cruising at about 60MPH... Those F-150's are putting out some SERIOUS power with the Turbo motor... I think in this situation, the Turbo eCoBoost motors are more for power in towing and certain situations like that than they are for CUV's..

 

Except Ford strictly limits towing with Edge and ecoboost.

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