The quest for gas mileage
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.
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.
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.
I think there's an upcoming ohio/michigan meet too. So I could probably get some help putting it on. Hmm.
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..
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.
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.
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
Rick
Last edited by RHuckster; Jul 6, 2006 at 10:20 AM.
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.
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.
Originally Posted by pastfinder
....keep the tires at 30 PSI front/35 PSI back....
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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