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The quest for gas mileage

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Old 07-05-2006
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The quest for gas mileage

Well I think I'm going to begin on my quest to obtain better mileage than 17 fomr my 3.0 Edge. What I'm planning on starting with is 3.55 or 3.73 gears and a tuner from Bamachips. Then down the road a month or two an efan. Further down the road stock sized tires but yet an aggressive pattern. Probably BFG All-Terrains. Other possibilities are headers, cat-back exhaust, and a cold air intake. But my real question is if I get a new set of gears will I have to get a master install kit? Or is that only required when replacing the differential? I know I'd have to make sure the shims got back into the correct place in the diff. housing. Please advise me on what to do because I got a new job with relatively good pay. Also I'm starting college this fall and that means more driving. All help will be greatly appreciated.
 
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Old 07-05-2006
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efans should be FIRST and a pulley soon after. gears wont make that much of a difference esp if you have 4.10, the loss in power may not be acceptable, and dont get a tuner for the sole purpose of fuel mileage. get a tonnau cover, put your tires at 35 psi, use synthetic fluids and keep your filters clean.
 
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Old 07-05-2006
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So are you saying that I should get in on the E-Fan group buy? And will any tonneau cover work as far as what it's made from? I would actually like to get a soft one. Even with 3.73 gears I wouldn't like the power loss? It goes just fine for me. The tuner isn't necessarily for gas mileage but to fix the speedo if I keep my tires and change gears. The added power wouldn't be too bad either.
I think there's an upcoming ohio/michigan meet too. So I could probably get some help putting it on. Hmm.
 
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Old 07-05-2006
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What does a E-fan do? I havnt been keeping up on it.
 
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Old 07-05-2006
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I have an Extang tonneau and I have to say it made a pretty good difference in highway mileage when I put it on..Also like SoundPer4mance said, keep those tires properly inflated, I let mine go down for a couple months (my right front ended up being at 10PSI!) and boy could I tell the difference in performance AND mileage! A cold air intake would help somewhat as well, I got in on the E-Fan group buy so I cant wait to see what kinda mileage increase i'll get with it..
 
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Old 07-05-2006
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Originally Posted by pomona51
What does a E-fan do? I havnt been keeping up on it.
if i'm not mistaken, i think it uses the battery instead of the motor to run it so the motor isn't using as mutch gas.
 
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Old 07-05-2006
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^correct, it gets rid of the parasitic clutch fan system and replaces it with an electronic driven fan..
 
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Old 07-06-2006
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wanna help ur mileage, keep it under 2,000 rpms, im averaging 20mpg on a 4.0 auto
 
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Old 07-06-2006
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I also have an 02 Edge, 3.0 Auto. I average around 19 MPG City/22.5 MPG Highway. I have a CAI, dual exhaust, cap on the back, keep the tires at 30 PSI front/35 PSI back. I'm currently awaiting my efan. I plan on changing out the plugs and wires at some point as well. Consistency in driving is a big plus for your fuel economy, as well as the upkeep on the engine (filters, oil, seafoam occassionally, ect.). I installed an EATC and find with it on at a set temperature that I do not see much effect on the fuel economy that I had with my old three **** climate control system.
 
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Old 07-06-2006
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You are going to spend more money and effort than you will EVER recoop on saved fuel if you start doing all that. Changing your driving habits and the E-Fan will probably be the two most effective things you can do... in that order. Keep it under 2500RPM unless you need to get around somebody.
 
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Old 07-06-2006
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When I bought my FX4 in April I was getting 17mpg mostly highway driving, I drive 100 miles round trip to work. I installed a K&N Intake, Gibson Exhaust & a Bama Programmer & am running on the 87 Octane Mileage program which in all netted me right near 20mpg. I couldn't get better than 250 miles to a tank before but after all that I was getting in the range of 325 miles to a tank. I'm sure that some of the mileage increase was just learning how to drive the truck efficiently. Now that I've put new Wheels wearing 265/75/16's my mileage has taken a dive back to between 17-18mpg. My RPM's before the wheels/tires was 2600RPM's @ 75mph & now is 2400RPM's @ 75. I'm hoping with the pulley & an electric fan I'll recover some of that loss.

Rick
 

Last edited by RHuckster; 07-06-2006 at 10:20 AM.
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Old 07-06-2006
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My mods are the following.

1 Gibson Exhaust
2 airbox mod
3 Hard Fold a cover bed cover.

I do mostly highway driving with some in town and typically average 20.65 to 21mpg.

I monitor my gas mileage at every fill up and one thing I noticed was when my air filter was dirty it cost me 1.5 mpg. I am thinking about a E-fan, it appears my payback is around 36 weeks. An extra 10 - 15hp would not hurt.
 
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Old 07-06-2006
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if you had a 4.0 i would say get a EE supercharger. alot of people have seen awesome results in MPG with one of those.

but still it would take forever to recoop the cost in savings.
 
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Old 07-06-2006
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Originally Posted by pastfinder
....keep the tires at 30 PSI front/35 PSI back....
Frank, why do you run the front lower than the rear? Weight distribution is the opposite. Just remembered you have a cap. Does that make any difference? I’m running aprox 5 psi higher in the front than the rear.
 
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Old 07-06-2006
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Originally Posted by Cape Fear
Frank, why do you run the front lower than the rear? Weight distribution is the opposite. Just remembered you have a cap. Does that make any difference? I’m running aprox 5 psi higher in the front than the rear.

that is exactly what i thought when i read that.
 
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