New 7.3 owner: Which Chip for Economy (not power) ???

[Flinch]

Got my first Ford diesel this week. 1999 Lariat short bed 4x4 4door. Love it! Has 116k miles, but was owned by the Ford dealer himself - so babied.

I actually USE the durn thing in my daily work (geology) - drive 120 miles on dirt roads each day @ 4000-5000 feet altitude.

What I want is a tuning chip solely for economy. Better MPG - I don't need extra power, and I don't race. This poor stiff gets his truck dirty every day the honest way.

Are there any chips that REALLY give significant extra MPG, and not just sales pitches? Of course if there are ones that give more power, but really do increase the MPG, then I'd want to hear about them too.

The first three fillups gave me: 15.1 mpg half and half highway (snowstorms, up to 70 mph over two passes) and dirt road driving with hubs locked, 17.8 mpg driving a bit in town and mostly in the boonies @ 50-60 mph hubs out, today 19 mpg same dirt road driving hubs out.

Any other this-side-of-easy mods that increase MPG? (Yeh, I have a feather right foot and tires are inflated, etc.)

Thanks !

Flinch

PS My 'other' diesel is a VW Passat TDI: 42 mpg on highway. Being sold, by the way, as I've fallen in love with another....

 

[keanoknick]

Welcome to SDD.com Flinch!

I highly recommend Tony Wildman for all 7.3 chips. He can give you custom tunes that will match your needs and desires, all the way from econo to race tunes, everything in between, and also a high idle setting, and I believe he can do a no start/security setting. You pick the chip, usually 4-6 different settings, and he custom burns them for you, and they are all shift on the fly.

You can contact Tony through Total Diesel Performance, he's a great guy!

 

[DIESEL97]

Call Tony Wildman.He can set you up just right.

 

[JLDickmon]

The first three fillups gave me: 15.1 mpg half and half highway (snowstorms, up to 70 mph over two passes) and dirt road driving with hubs locked, 17.8 mpg driving a bit in town and mostly in the boonies @ 50-60 mph hubs out, today 19 mpg same dirt road driving hubs out.

Any other this-side-of-easy mods that increase MPG? (Yeh, I have a feather right foot and tires are inflated, etc.)

that's about all you're gonna get out of a 7.3L..
two things you have going against you are dirt roads (more drag)
thinner air at altitude (less boost)

but since you asked...

change all your driveline fluids to synthetics
do what's called a Zoodad modification (bore some holes in your core support in front of the airbox intake) or change the air filter setup to a Napa 6637 (you'll need a couple bigass hose clamps and a short piece of 4" exhaust tubing)

put a rotten egg under the go pedal

 

[farmboy99]

I got my tunes from Tony... they are awsome, they completly woke my truck up...