She's gonna be a highway queen

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Philip

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Haven't posted in a while, I just landed a job that's around 45 minutes each way ALL highway. I normally drive local/45mph tops averaging 18mpg with my 3.21 V6 4x2 1500.

Question, any advice to increase MPG's on the highway? Do those bed covers help at all? Also is it a myth to leave the rear tailgate open for more air flow? This IS my first big pickup truck, sorry for the newb questions.

Another thing, the dealer is calling me for my 1st service/oil change and I only have 2200 miles since I got it in September 30th 2017? I was going to wait till 5000 miles, is that bad for this engine?

I know you should do an oil change either 6 months or 5000 miles, but if I never tow, and pretty much never floor the gas, could it go say 5000 miles over say 8-10 months? I'd love to change the oil myself, but to be honest the way my back is, anything can set it off and then I'm walking around like a hunchback.
 

TerraNewf

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That milage seems low to me for that truck. My 2015 4x4 v6 and 3:21 rear was getting 21plus on the highway
 
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Philip

Philip

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That milage seems low to me for that truck. My 2015 4x4 v6 and 3:21 rear was getting 21plus on the highway

I should have mentioned, it's a good bit of stop and go/red lights etc. Also the A/C is used a lot over here. I never drive highway miles, but that's going to change end of month.
 

averageguy

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I know I will get burned at the stake for saying it, but I would put the miles on that oil before I changed it based on time. Everyone has there own opinion I'm sure there are scientific lab studies that prove me wrong but oil is not milk it does not spoil. Maybe if it was an extremely damp climate and you do a lot of short 5 minute trips or dirty dusty conditions. My .02 cents
 

69GWC

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I changed mine out at 2500 miles, for me its not that the oil was getting bad it is flushing out anything that might be in there from break in.
Ofcorse the fliter probably catching everything anyway but it makes me feel better about it and its not like it cost much.
jmo
 

bchap05

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I get over 20-26 highway with a Hemi so I would think removing the stops you will get pretty good. I changed my oil at 3k to Redline.
 

DavidN

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Oil change - I’m with @69GWC - flush out the break-in crap. It’s not that an oil change is gonna cost you an arm and a leg.
For Mileage definitely consider a bed cover (tonneau/cap whatever).
Improves the aerodynamics of your truck at highway speeds.
And @DRkNESS swears that his cab spoiler got him some improvement in MPG.
Keep the tires inflated a few PSI above manufacture specs (40-42).
Most importantly keep your driving style in check. Keep it foresighted, avoid hard acceleration and hard breaking, do more of a coasting and go with the flow. That way you should see some surprisingly good numbers!
 
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MADDOG

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I always do my first oil change before the recommended interval, then just run 'em until the mileage dictates the next one. With synthetics I don't believe the oil breaks down over time as much, or even at all, as conventional does.

Your mileage will improve with highway driving vs. stop & go. Adding a tonneau or cap will help. Tests show dropping or removing the tailgate does not improve mileage.
 

mohemipar

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I always do my first oil change before the recommended interval

Same here. My personal rule is either 2 months or 2,000 miles. I like to let the engine go a bit over its initial break in on the factory oil then get rid of it. Could very well be a waste but just what I do. I feel like my 6.4 ran noticeably better after the first change was done at about the 2 month mark, 1200 miles.
 

68PowerWagon

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I would say in the next few 1,000mi. or so you will see an improvement. It more than likely will be broke in by then. And more highway miles will help too. As heavy as these trucks are it takes a lot of fuel to get them up to speed. Tonneau cover or cap will help a little bit with mileage but probably not enough to justify it's cost. If you are going to buy one for additional reasons then go for it. Studies have show that dropping the tailgate or removing it not only doesn't improve fuel mileage, it can make it worse. If you notice there are many semi trailers out there with those wings on the back. The wind actually rolls around the back of the trailer or vehicle & pushes against the back. You will notice on all the major brand pickups that the top of the tailgate extends & some brands the tailgate itself kind of cups. All of these designs were to improve fuel mileage.
As far as oil changes... I personally like doing the first one a little early to get any break in material out. And again, personally I don't like to go beyond 6mo. on an oil change. For the amount of miles I put on that only requires me to change once in the spring & fall.
I don't normally promote anything like this but I did purchase a GTE Stage 1 Performance Chip for our 14' Durango with the 3.6L V6. It actually gave it a little more pep & we gained an average of 2-3mpg. I was so surprised with the mileage gains that I unplugged it for awhile to see if something else was contributing to the gains & sure enough I was back down 2-3mpg. Now I can honestly say it does not work this great for every vehicle, cause I also purchased one for my 16' Ram 2500 with the 6.4L & it did nothing for it. No performance gains, no mpg gains.
 

RLJ10X

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Hey Phil, Congrats on the new job. You're probably making a little more money, right?

That Pentistar is a great engine. You have a nice, new truck. Take it from someone who used to pay close attention to mpg. Let it go. One or 2 mpg one way or another isn't going to have any effect on your life any way. Enjoy your truck.

BTW, the only cheap way to improve mpg is: drive slow.
 

huntergreen

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I have never seen an improvement in mpg with a tonoeau cover.
 
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Philip

Philip

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Thanks guys for the advice and replies. The dealer called me today, and offered a free wash on my 1st visit. Thought that was cool. I also made sure each tire was 39psi today cold. Bumped it up to 41psi each tire. Steers a lot easier surprised how only 2psi can help. The hotter months are a few months away, so we'll see how that goes with MPG's on the highway and using the A/C non stop.

Thanks to you guys here, I did research and didn't realize how much metal particles were in the oil only after 1000 miles, I guess because of the casting/machining process, some burr's are left to fall off etc. That might explain how the first 1000 miles, the engine idled smooth, but just a bit rough/vibration-very little though. NOW it purrs, literally you can barely tell she's running.

On a side not, I might have the shop remove my side step nerf bars, just today I bottomed out on a high curb when I drove over it, it bent the under side a bit, nothing major. I honestly love the trucks look without the nerf bars, plus better clearance. They make those electrical ones that fold up, but they are $$$....
 

indept

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I have never seen an improvement in mpg with a tonoeau cover.

Reason being is they have the aerodynamic's pretty well worked out. I have the soft toneau cover on mine and we had a freezing rain about a week ago. I scraped the ice from the glass and went on the highway and doing about 70 - 80 mph the cover rippled in the wind and broke up the thin sheet of ice on it. I looked in the mirror and there was a vortex of ice just behind the cab spinning in place as I was going along at that speed. It finally threw all of the ice after about 1- 2 miles.
 

huntergreen

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Reason being is they have the aerodynamic's pretty well worked out. I have the soft toneau cover on mine and we had a freezing rain about a week ago. I scraped the ice from the glass and went on the highway and doing about 70 - 80 mph the cover rippled in the wind and broke up the thin sheet of ice on it. I looked in the mirror and there was a vortex of ice just behind the cab spinning in place as I was going along at that speed. It finally threw all of the ice after about 1- 2 miles.

Exactly right. This was shown on myth busters in 2004 or there abouts.
 

Ratket

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Do not drive around woth the tail gate down- Bad idea- where in Phoenix did you get the truck? I am new to AZ.
 
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Philip

Philip

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Do not drive around woth the tail gate down- Bad idea- where in Phoenix did you get the truck? I am new to AZ.

Bill Luke Chrysler Jeep Ram 2425 W Camelback Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85015

Awesome dealer, best experience I ever had buying a vehicle. I'm still new to Arizona, been here since May 2017. Honestly I like the weather, it's sunny all the time, but I miss NY I want to go back so bad. I might move to either Gilbert or Mesa, because my new Job is in Tempe AZ. My lease is up in June though, it's up in the air. I read reviews of apartment complexes and it's either roach infested or scorpions everywhere LOL. No joke.

My apartment has none of that, except some kinda crazy tenants. I didn't realize how bad the drug problem was out here in the West, there's **** heads with no teeth everywhere even in GREAT areas. I'm guilty of giving some of the panhandlers cash here and there, but I stopped cause honestly they are just going to buy drugs with it.

Sorry to rant here, but my advice to ANYONE is to NEVER move away from family/friends. I miss being able to pick my brother up and grab a beer, see my niece after etc. The silver lining is that after a year I'll be eligible to transfer back home if there is an opening and keep my job.

You said you're new to Arizona, PM me if you want to know some decent areas, I've driven the entire map pretty much. Best part of Arizona is the freedom/guns, and Vegas is 5 hours away drive, or 1 hour flight!
 

Ratket

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Ya I know the area I live in pretty well, I’ve never been down to Phoenix, everything is just so much more affordable here and the weather is great. Every place has drugs and or it’s draw backs. Some places are just worse than others or it is more obvious. I can’t stand going to Vegas lol - way to crowded
 

jwperry

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I'm getting very similar mileage (on average) as you with my '17 with a lot of highway miles. I do 52 miles 1 way to work, of which about 49 are highway. My average MPG (when hand calculated) is consistently between 18.5 & 19. My dashboard average sits above 21mpg though. I keep it my speeds between 57-65mph.
 

torque_converter

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Anybody still on the fence about Regular vs Synthetic should watch this:
If you want to skip right to the proof:
If bed covers improved mileage the manufactures would produce a plastic one that costs them about $1 to make and would put them on every truck to improve the fleet mileage #.
 
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