Need some serious help

[jbmb06]

I have a 09 ram 1500 4.7 I've owned it since October 09 it has 29000 miles, I usually only drive it in town, so I usually get 11.5-12.2 mpg, well about 5-6 months ago I notice my mpg's dropped to 9.1 so I thought maybe I drove it hard or something that day (which I never do) so I thought I'd just reset it and keep an eye on it, well it's never got any better and then about a month ago I put some new 20x9 wheels and 33x12.50's on it, so now my mpg's are down to 8.1.. So I took it to a highly reputable shop in my town and he said it sounds like maybe an 02 sensor, well I dropped it off today and he said he can't find anything wrong with it, he said he had it on his computer for an hr looking for something and he can't find anything, he drove it, it doesn't puff any black smoke, it doesn't leak anything, so he said take it to a dodge dealer and see what they say, so I just called one of the biggest dodge dealers in my area and that ******* tried to blame it on my tires but this started way before I put the wheels and tires on, I know the tires didn't help matters but I should still be getting better than 8.1 mpg.. So if anyone has ever had this problem or heard of this problem, I'm open for any suggestions, please help!!

 

[jbmb06]

No help! Ok am I making to big of a deal outta this, should I expect 8.1 mpg?

 

[Ocelot]

Probably not a big help, but where I live mileage drops in the fall as soon as they start selling winter gas and there is colder weather. Mine usually jumps back up around April-May

I will add that I get around 13 MPG around town in the winter though. More like 15 in the summer and a good 20-21 mpg on long highway trips.

Ray

 

[Reaper26]

it should be a good bit better than that, I have a 04 5.7 with 37'' tires and I get 16mpg in town! if it came on all the sudden it could be a performance prob, check the air filter, plugs, wires, have you been getting gas at a diff place? I run no ethanol in mine, if that's what you were doing and then started getting gas with it youll see it drop off ass well.

 

[jlb]

Depends a lot on your definition of in town too. Back home in MT/WY in town takes on a totally different meaning from here in NYC.

I avg around 10 in the city thanks to jockeying with taxi cabs, and so much traffic/light to light driving. I would think with the smaller engine, and 33in tires it would be somewhat feasible to get that kind of mileage, but you prolly have better town driving conditions than I do.

I certainly wouldn't expect 16 lol, but 8.1 seems a little low. I would assume they also checked to make sure you didn't have sticky brakes or anything? Other than a general tune up like stated above, bad rolling resistance seems like the only other show stopper. What pressure do you keep your tires at?

 

[jbmb06]

I keep 45psi in my tires and I live in a small town, we don't even have a stop light lol I always get gas at the same place, the mechanic in town thinks it might have something to do with the flex fuel, like it's stuck or something, that's why he told me to take it to a dealer because he don't know much about that stuff, it still runs good, I only have 29k on it so I wouldn't think it would need a tune up already

 

[Noved]

The manual recommends a tune up every 30k. Maybe try removing the spark plugs and replacing them and try it then. You will be amazed at what a new set of plugs would improve on compared to a worn set. I just did a spark plug change in our Avenger and man we gained the 1.5 mpgs we lost. This is based on the wife's calculations but she has not been wrong so far. She drives it 95% of the time and I know her driving habits have not changed. Give that a try and maybe check out your throttle body as well as your air filter and make sure they are clean.

 

[fastNugly]

Probably not a big help, but where I live mileage drops in the fall as soon as they start selling winter gas and there is colder weather. Mine usually jumps back up around April-May

I will add that I get around 13 MPG around town in the winter though. More like 15 in the summer and a good 20-21 mpg on long highway trips.

Ray

What he ^^^ said
Winter gas is known to do this. Wait till the summer gas comes out and you should see it go back to normal, unless you have another underlying problem

But I think its the gas.
Mine has also taken a dive, but I still keep on

 

[Gunz86]

I have a 09 ram 1500 4.7 I've owned it since October 09 it has 29000 miles, I usually only drive it in town, so I usually get 11.5-12.2 mpg, well about 5-6 months ago I notice my mpg's dropped to 9.1 so I thought maybe I drove it hard or something that day (which I never do) so I thought I'd just reset it and keep an eye on it, well it's never got any better and then about a month ago I put some new 20x9 wheels and 33x12.50's on it, so now my mpg's are down to 8.1.. So I took it to a highly reputable shop in my town and he said it sounds like maybe an 02 sensor, well I dropped it off today and he said he can't find anything wrong with it, he said he had it on his computer for an hr looking for something and he can't find anything, he drove it, it doesn't puff any black smoke, it doesn't leak anything, so he said take it to a dodge dealer and see what they say, so I just called one of the biggest dodge dealers in my area and that ******* tried to blame it on my tires but this started way before I put the wheels and tires on, I know the tires didn't help matters but I should still be getting better than 8.1 mpg.. So if anyone has ever had this problem or heard of this problem, I'm open for any suggestions, please help!!

How are you calculating your MPG's? I use a couple of different things an app for the iPhone and the EVIC on the truck. The truck always says I get more than what I am really getting by about a mile when I calculate everything out.

 

[ram-head]

When I lived in Hawaii and did absolutely no highway driving I dropped to around 9 according to my computer. That was an 07 Hemi QC with an aFe, Superchips 91, flowmaster 40, and stock wheels. It was about 3 miles to work with like 9 red lights.

 

[Bluesmoke91]

it should be a good bit better than that, I have a 04 5.7 with 37'' tires and I get 16mpg in town! if it came on all the sudden it could be a performance prob, check the air filter, plugs, wires, have you been getting gas at a diff place? I run no ethanol in mine, if that's what you were doing and then started getting gas with it youll see it drop off ass well.

16 with 37s in town on an early Hemi? Seems high to me man, double check those numbers.


Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[ram-head]

Is the truck out of warranty?

 

[jbmb06]

Yes it's out of warranty, and I've had the truck for almost 4 yrs and this has never happened in the winter, so I don't think it's the gas but who knows.. It's goin to the dealer Tuesday so I guess we'll see! Thanks for the help

 

[ram-head]

If you've got some highway miles mixed in there, I would definitely say that isn't normal. Like I said, when I was hitting low 9s it was with absolutely no highway. I could get on H1 or H2 for a just a little bit and it would start going back up.

 

[Black Cloud]

The manual recommends a tune up every 30k. Maybe try removing the spark plugs and replacing them and try it then. You will be amazed at what a new set of plugs would improve on compared to a worn set. I just did a spark plug change in our Avenger and man we gained the 1.5 mpgs we lost. This is based on the wife's calculations but she has not been wrong so far. She drives it 95% of the time and I know her driving habits have not changed. Give that a try and maybe check out your throttle body as well as your air filter and make sure they are clean.

He has a 4.7 and can go a lot more miles before plug change. 30,000 is for hemis only.