MPG Reading in Message Center

I have a 2004 Explorer Limited (40K miles) with the V8 and AWD.
Yesterday while driving my MPG readout in my message center started to
change. It was reading a constant 17.2 mpg (I actually got 18.3
yesterday) and then in the matter of five minutes it went up to 53 or
so. Everytime I pressed the reset button it would jump all over and
for a while it seemed like it was responding to throttle position
almost like it was a vacuum gage. I know I didn't discover a magical
fuel economy fix. Is it screwed up? Any idea what is going on? Is
there some secret function to this thing?

My '98 has both an 'average' and 'instantaneous' MPG functions on the
message center. I believe that they deleted the 'instantaneous' from later
models. If so, your MPG readout shows the average of the last 500 miles or
so. When you hit the reset button, that history is wiped out and it starts
from scratch, doing its best to show what it knows. You go downhill, it
climbs up; you coast to a light, it goes down. When you accumulate enough
miles for a short period to not affect the average significantly, it will be
stable again.
Incidentally, I found the instantaneous mode quite useful: taught me to slow
down when it dropped to 5 MPG climbing a steep hill at 70 MPH.

"Rob" > wrote in message
...
>I have a 2004 Explorer Limited (40K miles) with the V8 and AWD.
> Yesterday while driving my MPG readout in my message center started to
> change. It was reading a constant 17.2 mpg (I actually got 18.3
> yesterday) and then in the matter of five minutes it went up to 53 or
> so. Everytime I pressed the reset button it would jump all over and
> for a while it seemed like it was responding to throttle position
> almost like it was a vacuum gage. I know I didn't discover a magical
> fuel economy fix. Is it screwed up? Any idea what is going on? Is
> there some secret function to this thing?

On Apr 23, 4:23*pm, "Happy Traveler" > wrote:
> My '98 has both an 'average' and 'instantaneous' MPG functions on the
> message center. I believe that they deleted the 'instantaneous' from later
> models. If so, your MPG readout shows the average of the last 500 miles or
> so. When you hit the reset button, that history is wiped out and it starts
> from scratch, doing its best to show what it knows. You go downhill, it
> climbs up; you coast to a light, it goes down. When you accumulate enough
> miles for a short period to not affect the average significantly, it will be
> stable again.
> Incidentally, I found the instantaneous mode quite useful: taught me to slow
> down when it dropped to 5 MPG climbing a steep hill at 70 MPH.
>
> "Rob" > wrote in message
>
> ...
>
>
>
> >I have a 2004 Explorer Limited (40K miles) with the V8 and AWD.
> > Yesterday while driving my MPG readout in my message center started to
> > change. It was reading a constant 17.2 mpg (I actually got 18.3
> > yesterday) and then in the matter of five minutes it went up to 53 or
> > so. Everytime I pressed the reset button it would jump all over and
> > for a while it seemed like it was responding to throttle position
> > almost like it was a vacuum gage. I know I didn't discover a magical
> > fuel economy fix. Is it screwed up? Any idea what is going on? Is
> > there some secret function to this thing?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Yeah, I think that's what I did. Thanks for the reply.
Robert