Poor mileage

[fordtrucknut]

Hi guys,
I just purchased my 2004 around July 4th of this year. The 1st 2 tanks of fuel averaged around 14/ 15 mpg. The third tank went to 9 mpg. I figured the famous injectors finally went. The 1st dealership I went to said that all systems checked out fine and to try this injector cleaner w/ cetane boost and i should see a major improvement. Well I told the service advisor he was nuts and i didn't believe any "majic potion" was going to produce 5 to7 more mpg. (they didn't charge me anything). So I took my truck to another dealership, they hooked it up to a computer and drove it around and said they got 11.9mpg ... "which is ok for these 6.0's".(they didn't charge me anything). And this dealership told me to "chip it" and put a K&N filter in her and I should notice a huge mileage difference. So I put the injector cleaner in the tank and I've used 3/4 of a tank and have driven 250 miles. So I'm still at maybe 12 mpg. I'm beginning to thimk I'm nuts for trading in my 7.3! It seems to me alot of guys on this site are getting way better mileage on their stock 6.0's. I love this truck and its fun to drive but this mileage is a real dissappointment. Anyone have any suggestions or old threads I can look at?? Could the larger tires and bug deflector affect the mileage this much?

 

[oi8228oi]

whats the mileage on that 6.0? are you getting fuel from the same place everytime? no bigger tires shouldnt get better gas mileage, bug flector wouldnt do a damn thing. racing stripes add 15 hp thou . i would look into an air intake and exhaust cause they would help more then they can hurt....
good luck... im sure some 6.0 ers can help you better then me...

 

[rsjohnsn]

How are you getting your totals?? Are you going by the digital display or are you figuring it with pen and paper? If you are going by the display they are notorious for being off especially if you have added taller tires without reprogramming the computer to compensate. This is also true if you are figuring it by hand. I was averageing 13mpg in the city before my Banks 6 gun and AFE intake and now I am getting around 17. You will definately get better mileage if you chip it, add an intake, and install a larger exhaust.

Scott

 

[no-red 6 0]

uumm yes bigger tires do affect the mileage. a bigger tire has a larger circumference and therefore covers more ground quicker per mile than the computer thinks the stockers are doing thus affecting mpg. during my trials/tribulations the dealer who fixed everything (once he was done) reprogrammed my truck for the larger tires i smiled and said 'thankyou'.

and as for the snake oil, i do see a difference of 1-2 maybe 3 mpg (our MN fuel is s__t. i was in the 8-12 (if lucky) and after the make-over am 13-16 mpg now. my dealer (who did the fixin also told me to gauge and exhaust it BUT no chip and no filter. take it for what it's worth.

 

[hammerdown]

13-15 is all I get with my 05 and 29K. I did manage 16.7 on a 325 mile trip of all interstate driving of just under 70mph.

 

[oi8228oi]

my MPG's drop like a rock when im going over 65 mph

 

[albran]

i get at least 18.2 mpg just by keeping the display set on MPG

ooppss just droped to 17.8

back up to 18.0

17.6

etc
etc

 

[BamaSixGun]

i drove to b'ham last saturday which was 72 miles there, so RTM was 144. going there i had it in position 3 on the 6gun and set cruise to 73 mph. console read 19.9mpg going to b'ham. on the way back, i put in position 6 all the way home, sometimes punchin it get around traffic, going 90mph sometimes. when i got home the console was reading 19.3 for the whole trip. i know it wasn't far, but i was very surprised.

went to athens, al today with my 36ft. 2 car trailer to p/u a mustang. so total trip was 154 miles round trip, console read 13.4 for the whole trip. i believe thats purtty good. so a good chip, tuner, programmer, good exhaust, a good air filter that sucks alot of air, will definately make a diff.

 

[BamaSixGun]

i get at least 18.2 mpg just by keeping the display set on MPG

ooppss just droped to 17.8

back up to 18.0

17.6

etc
etc

thats funny right there now. i get 99.99 going down hill in N.

 

[powerboatr]

thats funny right there now. i get 99.99 going down hill in N.

me to 99.99 at 70 mph coasting down brindlee mountain, by the time i get to work it back down to 30 something
it lies like a cheap walmart rug