Yes, fuel prices are high.....The truth about fuel economy.

[cleatus12r]

This is going to be a "sticky", not that most people really read them anyway. I've just returned back home after a four-day trip from New Mexico and I had nearly 50 new emails (not orders or invoices) just about tuning questions since Tuesday evening. 20 of these emails were about fuel economy and each one was nearly identical in the way it was worded. I'm going to hope that people read this before emailing.

Yes, the recent fuel prices suck. I'm not going to dispute that at all. However, if you ask anyone that I know, you'll find out that I never complain about them. Why? It's not because I don't drive. I drive a lot. I currently have two Powerstroke trucks that I drive all the time. I tow with them, I daily drive with them, and I use them for "Sunday drives". I love my trucks. However, THEY ARE TRUCKS. Their intent is not to drive kids to the soccer field and get groceries every day. They are meant to move loads. I hate it when "fuel price hike season" hits because EVERYONE wants miracles.

I also own a gutless early-90's car. Yes, it sucks to drive. However, it gets good mileage, it's paid for, and it's quiet. I HATE driving the car because it's not a truck. I realize that if I need to get good mileage, then I don't drive either one of the trucks. It's that easy. Sorry, but you can't have both. Either enjoy driving your truck and realize that it's going to drink a lot of fuel or don't drive a truck.

There is NO magic pill that will help you get better fuel economy. If we could write tuning that would guarantee an increase of a couple miles per gallon, we would be gazillionaires. If we had the capability of making sure your truck was able to achieve 20+ MPG, don't you think we'd be touting it all over town (and the internet) so that we'd be able to corner the market and get rich? Buying performance tuning will make your truck run better, faster, stronger. Just don't expect that extra power to not come at a price. The only way to get more power is to be able to burn more fuel. More fuel for a given distance equals what? Even folks that rely on calculators to add simple whole numbers can figure that out!


Is it impossible to get better mileage with aftermarket tuning? No. It it reasonable to expect an increase? No. You just have to realize that if you want better fuel economy, even with aftermarket tuning, that you're STILL going to have to drive like you actually want good fuel economy. There are things that all aftermarket tuning companies do to help increase the efficiency of the engine. The automakers are responsible for selling a product that makes a specific amount of horsepower and remaining suited to taking on all kinds of driving/usage demands. They also are REQUIRED by a rip-off governmental agency called the EPA to meet certain guidelines for specific emissions. These emissions guidelines have a profound effect on what automakers can get away with in thier stock tuning. Basically, we in the aftermarket trade hydrocarbons for oxides of nitrogen. We can increase the combustion temperature and pressure to help with efficiency. This increases the amount of "Nox" emissions, but helps a little with hydrocarbons (which boils down to efficient fuel usage).

The only ways that are known to help (not drastically improve, mind you) with mileage are to make the truck easier to accelerate and easier to keep at a given speed (from the engine's point of view). The less power it takes to get your vehicle up to speed and keep it there, the less fuel you will burn. Lifts, larger tires, more weight, etc. are not going to help at all. Sure, a stock truck doesn't look cool, but complaining about a loss in mileage and power after turning your truck into a heavy tank with the aerodynamics of a brick wall doesn't make sense.


In closing, I'm not saying we can't help with fuel economy. Just don't be too upset with us when you're still getting the same mileage that you were with another brand of tuning or even stock tuning. Expecting a fuel economy increase from nothing more than aftermarket tuning can be disappointing. If you are in search of better fuel economy, I invite you to check out a section of PowerstrokeNation MPG - Fuel Economy Discussion - PowerStrokeNation : Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum. There is a guy named Dave Whitmer that has done EVERYTHING one can do to a SuperDuty 7.3L truck to try to get sky-high mileage (and this also involves driving like grandma which is no fun). I think he's up to a whopping repeatable 26 MPG and nobody out there is going to go to the extremes that this guy has just to get those numbers.

I hate coming off as a stick-in-the-mud, but accept your truck for what it is; NOT an economy car.

Cody.

[cajunboy2208]

[dietoremain]

Well said cody, my truck is capable of over 20mpg but as said you need to drive it like you want it, heck i've got 19 mpg on my last two trips and that was climbing mountain grades up and down..

Obviously my truck is lighter than others(about 7k) so I can get better fuel mileage easier..

I'll throw in my simple tips if thats okay.. common sense: keep it below 2K RPM's.. if possible... this is about 70mph for those of you with 3.73's.

Accelerate easily.. I know that can be hard..

And lastly braking wastes energy..brake earlier and not so hard maybe you wont have to come to a complete stop(say a red light turns green before you get to it).

And oh yeah inflate your tires!!!! :P thats bout it.

[garyfink]

great article, but I sm still in the hunt for 20mpg. I think it's there do I expect it when I'm pulling my trailer no but I would like to see 16-17.
I think fuel price issues have been around now long enough that poeple get the idea of driving for mpg's. No one is asking for miracles just a helping hand from the guys that can control the part of the truck we can't the pcm.

[cleatus12r]

Originally Posted by garyfink

No one is asking for miracles just a helping hand from the guys that can control the part of the truck we can't the pcm.

Unless we make the truck lighter, more aerodynamic, and limit the speed to 55 MPH (and also make the truck REALLY gutless), I still call it a miracle.