Poor City MPG

[tommilner27]

I recently just got a 2019 Fusion Hybrid and in the city I'm getting pretty poor mpg (around 35mpg). I had a 2015 and was getting around the 41mpg mark, is there anything I should be checking or looking for?

 

Tips would be much appreciated.

[ptjones]

First thing I would do is to try some good injector cleaner and see how that goes.

 

Paul

[Cobra348]

IMO injector cleaners aren't needed for such a new car.  I had a '15. then a '17 and now a '20.  Somewhere between '17 and '19/'20 models they seem to have changed things in fuel economy.  I don't separate city vs highway so only really look at combined driving.  I have noted that when using cruise, the ECO mode seems to deliver better MPG than before.

 

As for city driving, I do notice a drop of 1 or 2 10ths of an MPG but then it comes back once I can get over 30-40 range.  Right now my displayed computer MPG is around 48.2, however using receipts from fillups I can assure you that is quite generous.  But I do meet EPA minimum recommendations.

 

I do not use what might be called best practices in all things hybrid.  I'm as consistent as can be in braking but the rest is whatever happens.  Three FFHs and never used injector cleaner.  Three Fiestas prior to that and never used injector cleaner.  Over 200K miles total between all of them.

 

End remark ... it's your car.  Do what you want if you think it will help.

Edited August 31, 2020 by Cobra348

[Waldo]

How many miles on the 2019?  You shouldn't even start to think about comparing fuel economy numbers until your over ~4000 miles.

 

Are you comparing hand calculations or the display in the screen?

[ptjones]

Logically speaking the simplest and cheapest thing to do is to put injector cleaner in the tank and it's not going to hurt anything.  Checking fuelly.com 2019 the average FE for 50 hybrids is about 37.5 mpg. Are you using the A/C all the time.?  That will kill your MPG's around the city, especially on short trips.

 

Paul

[2014FordFusionSE]

Another thing to check is the type of tires and the tire pressure.

My 2014 mpg dropped a lot when I switched to the Pilots which are not low, rolling resistance tires.

 

How many miles do you have on the 2019?

[Cobra348]

2 hours ago, 2014FordFusionSE said:

Another thing to check is the type of tires and the tire pressure.

My 2014 mpg dropped a lot when I switched to the Pilots which are not low, rolling resistance tires.

 

How many miles do you have on the 2019?

Good points  Tire pressure definitely affects mileage. I use OEM Michelin LRR tires with very good results.  Winter kills me tho as they are Goodyear UltraGrips that are directional tread and non-LRR.

[Waldo]

17 hours ago, ptjones said:

Logically speaking the simplest and cheapest thing to do is to put injector cleaner in the tank and it's not going to hurt anything.  Checking fuelly.com 2019 the average FE for 50 hybrids is about 37.5 mpg. Are you using the A/C all the time.?  That will kill your MPG's around the city, especially on short trips.

 

Paul

 

I don't see any "logic" in putting money into fuel injector cleaner in a 2019 vehicle of any type.  Fuel injectors get dirty over time and mileage, likely neither of which the OP has.

[mwr]

1 hour ago, Waldo said:

 

I don't see any "logic" in putting money into fuel injector cleaner in a 2019 vehicle of any type.  Fuel injectors get dirty over time and mileage, likely neither of which the OP has.

Even with time and mileage, do fuel injectors "get dirty" when using gasoline with the best additives (like Chevron)?

[ethermion]

Hmm.

 

Symptoms is bad MPGs in the city.

 

So...

 

Fuel injector cleaner?  Fuel injectors are only used in city driving?  (Never mind that the car is a 2019 hybrid where the engine isn't running 1/2 the time...)

 

Non LRR tires?  City driving?  Highway driving, maybe.  City, I kinda doubt it.

 

Symptom is compared to a 2015 in the same driving conditions.

 

I'd pull the battery and give the car a good cold boot.  I would also do some hand math on mileage.  Just because the computer says 35 doesn't mean that is true.

[Waldo]

Rolling resistance isn't like aero drag, it's not proportional to speed.  The amount of energy lost to rolling resistance driving a mile in the city is about the same as the amount of energy lost to rolling resistance driving a mile on the highway.  So high RR tires or low tire pressures are going to cost you MPGs everywhere.

[ptjones]

On 9/1/2020 at 8:46 AM, Waldo said:

 

I don't see any "logic" in putting money into fuel injector cleaner in a 2019 vehicle of any type.  Fuel injectors get dirty over time and mileage, likely neither of which the OP has.

Spending $5 is wasting money when you're having a problem? He could have gotten a bad tank of gas and Fuel Injector Cleaner could help. A cheap potential solution to cross off the list. Interesting that OP hasn't commented back.

 

Paul 

[Cobra348]

6 hours ago, ptjones said:

Spending $5 is wasting money when you're having a problem? He could have gotten a bad tank of gas and Fuel Injector Cleaner could help. A cheap potential solution to cross off the list. Interesting that OP hasn't commented back.

 

Paul 

I believe the point here is this:  a 2019 FFH with an ICE that runs perhaps 50% of the time will not gain a damn thing fron injector cleaner.

 

I used injector cleaner once ... on a 2001 Dodge Neon with 140K miles.  Worked well.  And it was a damn good investment.  On a car with perhaps less than 30K?  Not so.

Edited September 2, 2020 by Cobra348

[ptjones]

I have used Fuel Injector cleaner lots of times with as many miles I drive in multi-able vehicles over the years and most times it improves MPG's. Twenty thousand miles is a good interval for adding Injector Cleaner.  My Son in Law is a Pilot and his car sits outside, not driven very much and he was complaining about his MPG's. I told him to use some good injector cleaner and he commented later that his MPG's were back.  BTW Fuel Injector Cleaner will not hurt your fuel system so there is no down side in using it.

 

Paul

[eisbaer]

You could throw 20 different things at why there would be a drop in mpg. For me starting at the lower $ end of the scale is the best option.

While it most probably would be a waste of $5 to try and have the same symptoms, I would actually do it every 20k just for piece of mind. I've had $5 blow out of my wallet many a time.....(figure of speech)

Now if it was $50 or 500, that would be a different story.

[billford]

If your using top tier fuel, it already has the best cleaners in it. No need to add anything else.

 

If your using discount fuel, it will have the minimum  cleaners, so you have to compensate by adding your own cleaners.

Edited September 5, 2020 by billford

[ptjones]

13 hours ago, billford said:

If your using top tier fuel, it already has the best cleaners in it. No need to add anything else.

 

If your using discount fuel, it will have the minimum  cleaners, so you have to compensate by adding your own cleaners.

 

Doing the math you will save a lot of money using discount fuel from BJ's , Sam's etc. and using injector cleaner every 20k miles.  Costco is Top Tier and usually the same price, but harder to find and you need a card.  I use BJ's, Sam's, Pilot, Flying J, Loves and Murphy USA and with 260K miles, my ICE is running Great and my BlackStone Labs oil report is very good.  It would be interesting if someone with a lot of miles of Top Tier Gas to add injector cleaner to see if it made a difference.  I did have one strange thing happen with Chevron Techron Injector Cleaner which is suppose to be the best and my mpg's went down 1-2 mpg for that tank, but came back on the next tank.  Not sure what to make of that.

 

Paul

Edited September 5, 2020 by ptjones

[billford]

Ford and others have been using deposit resistant injectors for years. Ford has a TSB written years ago that even says injector cleaning is not required.

 

But deposits still build up in the combustion chamber due to low quality fuels, top tier gas will slow or prevent it gradually, rather than trying to bulk remove it with an additive, which is hard to remove after it builds up.

 

With the spark plugs removed and a thin camera down the spark plug hole, you can easily see the top of the piston and see how clean they are when using top tier fuel.

 

As for the techron causing a drop in mpg, it's a known issue. A sign that it's working.  As it breaks down all the combustion chamber deposits caused by low quality fuels the deposits have to go someplace. The oxygen sensors get coated and skews it's readings. Also, the dissolved deposits  coat the spark plugs causing a weaker spark which also reduces economy. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 6, 2020 by billford

[RichFL]

I am also getting poor gas mileage. I have a 2018 Fusion Hybrid SE with 41,000 miles. I got it used from Carvana. The best highway mileage I have gotten was 39 MPG, I usually get mid 30s. I use the cruise control to let the computer maintain my speed (usually around 75 MPH). In the  the city ,I get around 30 MPG, sometime 12 MPH even without any aggressive driving. I try not to accelerate too fast and coast as much as possible. The electric engine almost never goes on for more that a couple minutes. I am always driving slow and coasting as much as possible. This is my first hybrid , my friend has a Honda Prius and he typically gets over 40 MPG in the city and on the highway. I am thinking about brining it in. 

 

Any thoughts...

[ptjones]

I would start with injector cleaner, may take a few tanks of adding it before see a big difference.

 

Paul

[2014FordFusionSE]

6 hours ago, RichFL said:

I am also getting poor gas mileage. I have a 2018 Fusion Hybrid SE with 41,000 miles. I got it used from Carvana. The best highway mileage I have gotten was 39 MPG, I usually get mid 30s. I use the cruise control to let the computer maintain my speed (usually around 75 MPH). In the  the city ,I get around 30 MPG, sometime 12 MPH even without any aggressive driving. I try not to accelerate too fast and coast as much as possible. The electric engine almost never goes on for more that a couple minutes. I am always driving slow and coasting as much as possible. This is my first hybrid , my friend has a Honda Prius and he typically gets over 40 MPG in the city and on the highway. I am thinking about brining it in. 

 

Any thoughts...

 

I had mentioned it earlier in the thread. The biggest drop in mpg that I've seen overnight is when I switched from the OEM low-rolling resistance tires to Michelin Pilots. Something like 42mpg to 38mpg.

What tires does your Fusion have? What's the tire pressure?

(Low mpg is usually caused by multiple factors so tires maybe just one of them)

[Andrew M]

On 11/17/2020 at 3:21 PM, RichFL said:

I am also getting poor gas mileage. I have a 2018 Fusion Hybrid SE with 41,000 miles. I got it used from Carvana. The best highway mileage I have gotten was 39 MPG, I usually get mid 30s. I use the cruise control to let the computer maintain my speed (usually around 75 MPH). In the  the city ,I get around 30 MPG, sometime 12 MPH even without any aggressive driving. I try not to accelerate too fast and coast as much as possible. The electric engine almost never goes on for more that a couple minutes. I am always driving slow and coasting as much as possible. This is my first hybrid , my friend has a Honda Prius and he typically gets over 40 MPG in the city and on the highway. I am thinking about brining it in. 

 

Any thoughts...

 

As another member mentioned, are you sure your tire pressure are correct? I would definitely check the tires first and the let us know

[RichFL]

All the tires are at 34 PSI.

[Sky14FFH]

I used Techron a few tanks ago too since I had only done it once before in 6 years.  I didn't notice a difference like I have in other cars but for $5 (walmart) I thought what the heck.  Maybe I need more than one treatment?

[charleslam]

tires or tire pressure are probably the big one here.  Check your door jam on the driver's side to get what ford suggests your car.  apparently there are 3 different rim sizes for this car, and all have different psi ratings.  

 

I also have a 2019 ford fusion hybrid SE (non-energi)

 

i was getting around 30-35mpg combined before i switched to a K&N air filter.  i know there are a lot of haters for this type of filter so i will put the disclaimer, its your vehicle do what you want.  but i know plenty of people in the other ford fusion forum were advising against it saying they could "see holes and light through their K&N air filter", i didnt in mine with a light shining on the other end.  they also said it would kill a sensor in my car, it hasnt yet.  

 

I was then getting 45 combined mpg -ish when i had the stock michelin LRR tires.  they were getting low on tread and i have replaced them with a set of kumho tires.  not LRR.  and ive seen my mpg drop to now about 42 combined mpg-ish.  

 

I have also used STP gas treatment which is like $1 a bottle at walmart, doesnt do much for this car.  i know in my lexus and my old mitsubishi it would do wonders.  i would buy 10 of em and keep em in the back seat and use it at every fill up.  i really havent noticed anything gained or lost with the ford.

 

I also use my autoclimate control religiously, so AC always a pumping in the texas sun.  

 

just my $.02  Good luck OP.  

Edited July 12, 2021 by charleslam