How to get better gas mileage?

[bassmaster]

I know programmers will and those chips say they do but what would give me the best performance in my 01' 5.9?

 

[dapepper9]

The way to get the best possible mileage out of these trucks is having a recently tuned up motor, well working trans, non-oversized and highway tires, tuner can help. Things like that. Plenum fix and exhaust work will prob help you to. Bottom line is you won't get much out of it.

I'm on stock tires and gears with stock cat, Maggy muffler, and superchips 91 octane and I'm getting maybe what the truck is rated for brand new from the factorty at 17mpg highway. Most of my driving is highway. I'll know more prob tomorrow night or Thursday morning what my combined average mpg is.

 

[bassmaster]

Yea I have 285 A/Ts, MagnaFlow exhaust, decent trans, mostly city driving. Whenever I'm on the highway I'm towing my bass boat too. I just want to know what will give me a little more

 

[Merc225hp]

Welcome to RF

Full tune up
Fix the plenum gasket
SCT tuner

 

[crazzywolfie]

make sure all the tires are properly inflated could help get a bit better mileage. i usually run my tires at about 5psi below max which is usually about 45 or so psi.

 

[dapepper9]

Yea I have 285 A/Ts, MagnaFlow exhaust, decent trans, mostly city driving. Whenever I'm on the highway I'm towing my bass boat too. I just want to know what will give me a little more

City driving is where these really drink. If you upgrade to 3.92s that will help with both mileage and towing or you can downgrade to stock size tires. I agree with Mark and going with SCT tho. I only got my superchips because I found it cheap.

 

[Stegs]

cheapest and easiest thing i can think of is something i just thought of yesterday for my truck

I dont really care about mpg since i drive less than 1000 miles a year, but drop your spare tire out of the truck


I dont know what a spare tire and rim weighs (maybe 100lbs)


Why drag it around? (if you have towing on your insurance you dont need it)

truck is 100lbs lighter, and its free to do, take less than 5 min...

 

[ronbridges34]

I have an 03 4x4 with 20" wheels and I get between 10 and 11 mpg with the 5.9litre engine.

 

[dodge dude94]

The spare doesn't weigh 100lbs....maybe 50. lol The wheels I pulled off the 76 were about 75 lbs each.

 

[ADudeOnSkis]

Buy a Subaru.

 

[newrammer]

What all these guys said and don't hammer down. Seriously if you haul ass you're gonna suck gas. Back when gas was 3.50 a gal, I wouldn't ever go above 2k rpms. I'd get the finger a lot but hey they're not paying my gas bill. But I'd get about 14 mpg. And that's with my 2500 5.9

 

[crazzywolfie]

winter gas also hurts fuel mileage a lot.

 

[dapepper9]

What all these guys said and don't hammer down. Seriously if you haul ass you're gonna suck gas. Back when gas was 3.50 a gal, I wouldn't ever go above 2k rpms. I'd get the finger a lot but hey they're not paying my gas bill. But I'd get about 14 mpg. And that's with my 2500 5.9

I'm currently paying $3.05 iirc for my 91oct lol. It sucks but to me it's worth it. I also give the finger a lot but not because people go slow but because people go to fast and tailgate me to the point where I can't see their headlights.

I'll get you my average mileage with my superchips on performance tomorrow morning. I think it's gonna be bout the same maybe slightly higher and that's with and hour of doing 80 on the interstate yesterday running 2500k on the tach

 

[newrammer]

I'm currently paying $3.05 iirc for my 91oct lol. It sucks but to me it's worth it. I also give the finger a lot but not because people go slow but because people go to fast and tailgate me to the point where I can't see their headlights.

I'll get you my average mileage with my superchips on performance tomorrow morning. I think it's gonna be bout the same maybe slightly higher and that's with and hour of doing 80 on the interstate yesterday running 2500k on the tach

I could probably watch my gauge drop if I were to do that lol. I wont go faster than 65 on the interstate, I am that guy

 

[crazzywolfie]

i personally find running 91 octane in the winter is a waste of money. the only thing that i put 91 octane in in the winter is my snow blower or snowmobile. fuel mileage drops so drastically in the winter that cheap gas is really the way to go.

I could probably watch my gauge drop if I were to do that lol. I wont go faster than 65 on the interstate, I am that guy

i would go faster than 80 on the highway if i was allowed

 

[dodge dude94]

I do 80 down the interstate and still manage 13ish. lol

 

[ADudeOnSkis]

I find that on the highway, with 33" tires and 3.55 gears, if I stay around 65 in 5th gear and only hammer when I need to pass, I can get around 16. The only time I've done an all highway tank was with a faulty TPS and I dont know how much that effed with it. Also a 5speed.

Just buy a subi.

 

[dodge dude94]

I rarely do all highway either especially considering I have to drive nearly 20 miles to get to the highway in most cases.

 

[newrammer]

But that was back when it was 3.50 a gal....Now I don't really care at 2.30..It's actually not bad now to fill up 36 gallons at that price

 

[headhunter123]

Better gas mileage? Here's the cheap way:
Drop the tailgate, dump the spare, change fluids regularly, tune ups, spark plugs, filters, tires psi. Stop getting fat and lose weight. Drive downwind and downhill.
These trucks are heavy and the aerodynamic design shaped like a square. Not much you can do.