460 Ford Mpg: 7.5 Liter Ford Engine Fuel Economy Guide
When you are towing a trailer, this may be the perfect engine to have under the hood. The only drawback to this engine is that you will not get great gas mileage especially when you are loaded and pulling a trailer at the same time.
One of the best ideas for upping your fuel mileage with this engine is to take your foot off the gas pedal. If you have it use cruise control and set it to 55 MPH. That will increase your MPG somewhat when you are on the highway. Just be careful with your foot when driving in the city.
To learn more about this engine just continue to read our article. It has the information you want to know about so you can make a great purchasing decision. Take a few minutes to read up on this top motor.
Ford 460 MPG
7.5-liter Ford Engine Fuel Economy
Fuel economy and the 460 7.5 L engine really do not belong in the same sentence. They are opposites and cancel each other out. You will not get a lot of miles per gallon especially when you are loaded and towing a trailer.
On average, owners are reporting less than 10 MPG and many are saying they are getting under 7 and no matter what they do, they cannot reach 7 miles per gallon. It is a very consistent motor mileage-wise.
If you hear of anyone getting more than 10 MPG, either they are lucky or they have some good fish stories to tell you as well. It is rare that RV owners with this engine inside can make it past 9 miles per gallon.
If your RV or tow vehicle has this motor under the hood, then take care of it. The days of high-powered motors are long gone and it is difficult to find a good motor with power that will last a very long time.
460 Ford Mpg
It is said that this is the motor you want in your RV or tow vehicle. It was built with power in mind and it is a great engine to have when you have heavy loads to move from one place to another.
It is also a very reliable and durable engine that will work hard for you. Its lifespan has been recorded as reaching 250,000 miles and keeps running like a top 30 years after production.
At its height, this engine produced 245 HP at 410 ft-lb of torque. However, while the power was there, the mileage wasn’t. You would be lucky to get 7+ MPG when towing a trailer as well as hauling heavy loads up over mountain passes.
Some owners have mentioned that no matter what they do, including driving with the wind, their mileage remained at 6.5 MPG. So do not expect to get great fuel mileage and be happy when you do.
Other owners have reported getting between 8 and 10 MPG but the higher the figure, the more suspicious other owners got.
10 Mpg in a Ford F250 With a 460 Engine
When you visit the different Ford discussion forums you will get the straight story on this mileage result. You will also hear some tall tales as well. You can ignore those tall tales as they report impossible numbers.
The most realistic mileage reported by owners was between 10 and 12 MPG. But that is when they are driving empty and not pulling a trailer. Plus, those are more like highway miles and not city miles.
One owner reported getting 11 MPG on the highway and when empty but he also stated that his regular driving was 8 MPG and 6 when pulling a toy hauler. Those are more believable numbers.
Another owner reported getting 15 city and 18 highway miles to the gallon but he also said his truck had a higher speed rear end and a different transmission. If this is true, and it could be, then good for him. But he was shot down right away by other drivers.
It is possible and realistic to get 10 MPG from the Ford 460 in a Ford F250 but it won’t happen to everyone.
Ford 460 Mpg Motorhome
The first thing you need to do in this situation is to put the thoughts of reaching double figures in miles per gallon. The best reported mileage for an RV with this engine was 8 to 9 MPG.
That was just one or two owners who said they were able to reach this mark. Other owners reported not being able to break the 7 MPG barrier no matter what they did.
One owner said he tried everything to raise his mileage, including driving with the wind, and his results never got above 6.85 MPG. He felt that if he coasted downhill he would still get 6.5 MPG.
Another owner echoed those sentiments when he said nearly the same thing. Except his MPG result was 7.5 no matter what he did to increase fuel mileage. He even stated that he lowered his driving speed and that move lowered his miles per gallon by .25 to 7.25.
Your results will be different of course. But do not expect to see more than 9 to 10 MPG on a good day. Expect to see at least 6.5 to 8 on most days.
95 Ford 460 Bad Mpg in Cold Weather
This has been talked about on different discussion forums and there is some validity to this statement. You probably will see a drop in fuel mileage during winter over what you get in the warmer months of the year.
There are some good reasons for this. One is that if you let your vehicle warm up before driving, then you will lose gas mileage. Two, winter fuel is supposed to have more alcohol mixed in it than summer fuel. Alcohol is said to evaporate faster which will contribute to your MPG loss.
Three, the colder air may require more fuel to help combustion, and four, reformulated gas is not as good nor lasts as long as regular gas does. No matter the reason, you may experience between a 2 to 3 MPG drop during those colder months.
Then with modern engines, the computer does the controlling of the air to fuel mixture and it may lower the air portion making the mixture richer. This would use more fuel as well.
Can a 460 Ford Get 14 Mpg?
If you mention that this is the fuel level you received on any of the discussion forums talking about this engine, you would be shot down before you got to make a second post.
It is highly unlikely that you will get this amount of miles per gallon even when driving empty and going downhill on the highway. Some people have reported these higher numbers but they were scoffed at and shown that it was impossible to reach that mileage to fuel level.
There are websites on the Internet that tell you how to improve the fuel efficiency of this motor. One option suggested was to slow down and go 55 mph instead of 60.
Another suggestion was to drive empty, while helpful not practical as the slowing down of your driving speed. But even with those suggestions, it is also highly doubtful that you will reach 14 MPG.
One owner did say he did reach 13 MPG on a consistent basis but he does not say what vehicle he was driving at the time. Different vehicles will produce different MPG ratings. The Lincoln had the 460 initially and that combination may have made 14 possible.
How To Improve Mpg On Ford 460
The two suggestions heard most often have already been stated. Take your foot off the gas and set your cruise control to 55 MPH. That will give you a little boost in your mileage rating.
The other suggestion was to drive empty but that is not always possible, especially when your 460 is in your RV. One website suggested taking the engine completely apart and rebuilding it with different parts.
This is a lot of work as well as changing the specs on this engine. When you are done, you may not be able to call it a 460 anymore. There are too many other adaptions you have to make to improve the MPG performance.
The cost in money and time may not be worth the little higher mileage you get per gallon. Owners who have had their 460s rebuilt have only reported getting 10 MPG on the highway and 7 to 8 in the city.
If you want to improve your fuel mileage, you may want to upgrade those rear gear rations and your transmission before you do anything else.
Shorten Accelerator Pump Stroke Ford 460 Mpg Improvement
According to our research, the 1987 model of this engine was the only year a carb was used on it. From 1988 till the end of production, the engine operated with a fuel-injected system.
This design makes it very difficult to do any modifications of this nature that would improve gas mileage. Then the upcoming link explains the whole accelerator pump stroke mechanism yet does not explain how this modification would improve gas mileage. Click here to see two diagrams and the descriptions.
While we saw lots of websites talking about this mechanism, they were targeting engines other than the 460 and different brands of vehicles. Then this link talks about how to make this adjustment but also does not say how this would improve fuel efficiency in a Ford 460 engine.
Ford 460 Best Mpg Speed
The best MPG you will see on a 460 is when you go slower. This is the same for every engine. The more speed you need, the more power is required. With more power requirements comes a higher demand for fuel.
That higher demand for fuel equals lower mileage per gallon. The highest speed you should go to get the best fuel mileage out of a 460 motor is 55 MPH. If you do not have cruise control it may be hard to maintain that speed consistently.
Some owners have tried this and it seems to improve their fuel mileage rating a little. They are not saying they got a 5 MPG increase but they saw a little improvement. With an RV any improvement is cause to celebrate.
If you can, you should give yourselves an extra day of driving time so you can go at this lesser speed. It may take you longer to get where you are going but at least you will have more fuel on that end to use when you need it.
Alternatives To Ford 460 For Better Mpg
If by alternatives it means what engines should you replace your 460 with, then there are quite a few options. One would be the 7.3 model or go to any one of the Cummins diesel motors that would fit your RV.
Some suggestions by owners when this question was asked were, to stop driving the vehicle with the 460 inside. Buy a smaller vehicle and use it as your daily driver.
To find better engine alternatives you can check out GM models or any other automaker brand that also produces their own powerful motors. You have quite a selection to consider.
You could also change your exhaust to a straight single design and cut out the catalytic converter. That may double your mileage.
Some Additional Words
The Ford 460 engine was and is a great engine if you want the power to get over steep inclines. It is designed to handle those tough assignments and do it well. However, you will sacrifice fuel efficiency to have the 460 under your vehicle’s hood.
You can try to improve the MPG rating but other owners have tried and their results have had minimal effect. Only a couple of independent owners have said they have doubled or got great gas mileage out of their 460 when they made their modifications.
For more information on the Ford 460 see our article Is Ford 460 a good engine.
