Diesel truck add on's for fuel

iwanttofish · 06-05-2008, 02:55 PM

I am thinking about adding a cold air intake.

What do you have on your truck and how much better are you doing for fuel economy. I have the Dodge 5.9 and am getting average of 19 if I take it easy around town, but of course I want more.

What do you have and how is your truck doing?

No Fences · 06-05-2008, 03:21 PM

I have an '06 2500 mega cab 4x4 with the same motor. 23+/- hwy and 21+/- in town.

AFE cold air intake
open type exhaust
Superchips flashpack tuner.

baltz526 · 06-05-2008, 05:28 PM

2007 5.9. my trip computer is reading 16.1mpg after 3 tanks of general use driving. all stock

Azeal · 06-05-2008, 08:50 PM

In my experience, the biggest single factor on MPG in a diesel pick up is the gearing of your rear axle. Those 4.11's are great for towing, but there is absolutely nothing you can do to them (short of a gear swap) get the 20-24 mpg the 3.54 and 3.73 axle Cummins 5.9 liters can get. If your's a 4.11, consider the current mileage great.

With the intakes, it kind of depends where it takes air from. If it is one of the expensive models that takes air from the wheel well, it could help a little. If is just the cone style that sucks air from under the hood, could be worse than stock (after the engine reaches operating temperature, the air under the hood is much hotter than what the stock box was pulling in from the grill.)

A quality chip (like Edge or something) can help a bit (but only if you leave it in fuel economy mode and don't go nuts with the extra horsepower.

Other good ideas are to inflate your tires to within 10% of max pressure (hurts handling and ride a bit, decreases rolling resistance). If you don't offroad, stick to highway tread patterns (like Schwab's Toyo HT instead of the Open Country or some mudders.

Also, running a quality fuel with high cetane can help a lot. Diesel fuel quality actually varies a great deal, and I've found my vehicles really like the diesel from certain Shell stations (and the Jubitz B20 biodiesel), but hate some of the truck stop stuff on I-5. You can boost the cetane a bit with some grey bottle PowerService (worthwhile maybe in a big truck that burns as much fuel as yours).

EvilD · 06-05-2008, 09:50 PM

Driving style was the biggest help for fuel that I recorded.
I don't have a dodge, I have a GMC Duramax Crew Cab. I bought gauges and monitor them. I have found the sweet spot where driving is not too slow and boost and EGTs are low, use the low end torque and stay out of the higher RPMS. Once the 5" exhaust was installed, I blocked the EGR, and added a tuner. The best in town mileage with this set up is about 17.8mpg, never over 50MPH. With stock configuration the truck couldn't do more that 16.5mpg.
I haven't messed with intakes because the stock intake is good up to 500 HP. Some modifications are so expensive that they will take hundreds of thousands of miles to pay back. Any way POWER TO THE OIL BURNERS!

D

Dinikin · 06-05-2008, 10:02 PM

gear vendors or such.

iwanttofish · 06-06-2008, 08:33 AM

One thing I was told and started to do is to use the tow mode all the time in the city and it raised it about 2-3 mpg on my 2006 dodge.

chrome obsession · 06-06-2008, 09:14 AM

Get a cold air intake with small scoop on the hood...
Chip performance kit...
Exhaust....

Those things will make a huge differnece in performance and milage...I am going to put the chip and exhaust on mine soon...

TheRogue · 06-06-2008, 09:28 AM

Most of the things out there never pencilled out in the long run, too much money for a piece of stuff that gave you very little benefit.

However, with diesel near or at $5, this has certainly changed! At 15,000 miles per year........a 1 mpg difference means $300 plus!! Most basic programmers run under $400, and if you keep them in economy mode, and keep your foot out of them, you should see a 1-2mpg increase; paying for it in a year plus.

I was debating between tuner & exhaust on my diesel (voiding the remainder of the 100,000), or just going with a new gas truck.

I went with gas.

TR

Silver Eagle · 06-06-2008, 11:29 AM

Never leave the yard without either a 38 or 39 Foot 5th Wheel or a 24 Enclosed full of quads or a 31 Foot boat, all in all if I get 12 I guess I'm happy most of the rigs I see can't even pull most of the stuff I do, if they did they would just grin and pay the price because there is very little else you can do. I tried all the high tech stuff on the last truck, It never paid for all the cost of putting them on.......Maybe someone but for Me Keep it stock coast when you can and don't try and be the first to the top of the hill................Ray

No Fences · 06-06-2008, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iwanttofish

One thing I was told and started to do is to use the tow mode all the time in the city and it raised it about 2-3 mpg on my 2006 dodge.

I totally agree with this statement.

iwanttofish · 06-06-2008, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheRogue

Most of the things out there never pencilled out in the long run, too much money for a piece of stuff that gave you very little benefit.

However, with diesel near or at $5, this has certainly changed! At 15,000 miles per year........a 1 mpg difference means $300 plus!! Most basic programmers run under $400, and if you keep them in economy mode, and keep your foot out of them, you should see a 1-2mpg increase; paying for it in a year plus.

I was debating between tuner & exhaust on my diesel (voiding the remainder of the 100,000), or just going with a new gas truck.

I went with gas.

TR

So Kyle what kind of mileage are you getting on the gas truck?

RogueFishr · 06-06-2008, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iwanttofish

One thing I was told and started to do is to use the tow mode all the time in the city and it raised it about 2-3 mpg on my 2006 dodge.

can anyone explain why this would increase fuel mileage?

RF

TheRogue · 06-06-2008, 05:16 PM

Well, I went from a very frustrating 13-13.5mpg with my diesel (yes, it was not good, but that's what I had to deal with..05 6.0liter Ford) to 11.5-12mpg on the same trips.

My diesel was as broken in as it was going to get (50K), and the new rig may eak out another .5mpg or so after 5K-7K.

And, I'm paying $4.10 per gallon instead of $4.80. Considering some of what I've read says diesel may end up at $1.50 more than gas (because of new diesel cars coming in next 2-5 years), I think I'm doing OK.

Granted, I did see a huge difference in towing my TT with 2 quads in the back of my truck. Made the trip before in my diesel, average around 10-10.5mpg. Same trip, 8.0mpg in the gas. Again, being broke in will help, but towing 7K and hauling another 1K in toys and people is more suited for diesel mileage than gas.

Oh, sorry.......08 F350 V10 4x4, 4.10 gears, auto.

RWTIII · 06-06-2008, 08:44 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by iwanttofish

One thing I was told and started to do is to use the tow mode all the time in the city and it raised it about 2-3 mpg on my 2006 dodge.

can anyone explain why this would increase fuel mileage?

RF

Please explain!!! How can using lower gears and higher RPM's increase your MPG.

baltz526 · 06-07-2008, 08:14 AM

tow haul mode puts your engine in the correct power band for city driving. same idea for when you are in 4 wheel drive.

fishwhenican · 06-07-2008, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RogueFishr

can anyone explain why this would increase fuel mileage?

RF

In the Dodge it allows the torque convertor to lock up in drive. OD doesn't lock up the torque convertor until you are at a much higher speed, than town driving. Thus you are driving the rear wheels (like a manual transmission) rather than the rear wheels and spinning the torque convertor.

Try a moderate acceleration from about 35-40 mph. Notice if the tach and the speedo go up at about the same rate. If the tach jumps and climbs faster than the speedo, the torque convertor isn't locked up.

The transmission will last longer too..........

duckboy · 06-07-2008, 04:01 PM

I have this:

I cut the sheik of Dubai's income by 90% from my acct.

He'll have to scrape up money from some other guy for his next solid silver AUDI sportstcar..(seriously ... look it up)

That SOB .

I'll walk if I have to to keep his pockets empty

It is a kick in the tail to ride,

cost me all of 1300 bucks (back about 2 weeks ago, so I guess that would be about 1388 bucks today)

She gets @ 60 mpg if i really hammer it.