who gets the best mileage?

Not your math. I got almost the exact same truck as you, with no mods and my trip comp reads about 2 mpg optimistic. Got mine the end of April, but found out it was built before August of last year! Haven't had the mpg reflash done yet. 12K miles with an overall average of 15.2 mpg. Highest all highway 70 mph empty was 18.65 (comp said 20+) lowest was 12.13 while towing the burb. Around town 15 to 16 is typical. Gonna give the reflash a try, but its parked for a while until the price of diesel comes back down some!

 

just made a trip to north georgia from central florida---18.5 mpg at 70 with empty truck, 16 mpg on the way back doing 75-95 mph and driving a little more aggressively.

 

ya no kidding... its pretty expensive just to drive your truck . what is the "reflash" thing you were talking about? does it like re-calibrate the thing or something?

 

18.5 at 68mph. 70 and up it goes down quick. 75mph is right at 16mpg.

Best hwy is at 64mph 19.5-20. Better slower.

Towing at 55 Combined 21000lbs 13.5. 65mph 11 more than 65 downhill quick like 70 is 9-10mpg.

Dave

 

at 60mph i get 20mpg-I cant stand to drive that slow , At 70mpg I get 17-18mpg

 

Sorry didn't see your reply until today. The reflash is where they erase the engine ECM and put in a revised program back in. It is service bulletin 18-037-04 and is for fuel economy improvement, white smoke on start up and accuracy of fuel mileage in overhead console display. It is only for engines with serial numbers 57130285 through 57246361. The service bulletin lists approximately a 1 mpg improvement. Some guys who have had it done have claimed up to 2 mpg while others claim no improvement and some wish they never got the reflash done. Apparently once you get it done you cannot go back to the old program. Still haven’t got mine done, but prol will soon.

 

On vacation last summer went form McAlaster Mt. to Cody Wy. Got 21 going and 20 on return trip. 2000 f250 3.73 gears 4X4 auto. long box suppercab. Went thorugh Yellowstone Park.

 

You've got to be below 1800 RPM or so to get that kinda mileage. I've got the same truck with the short bed and I'm not even close to that running around 2000-2100 RPM. What tire are you running? Chip? etc.

 

Ok, don't cringe...

13MPG on the suburban, unloaded, with a 5.3L & 4.10 ratio.
Towing a trailer...anywhere from 4-9MPG @ 2500-4500RPM

17MPG on the Tahoe, unloaded, with 5.3L and 3.73 ratio.
Towing a trailer...hmmm about 1 tank per hundred miles @ 3000-5000RPM.rotfl

But all this is hauling a 8000lb load.

 

Stock tires ais air filter stock exhaust BD edge programer. Speed limit in Mt. is 75mph that is what I did in Yellowstone it's 45mph and 60mph in Wy.

 

21.0 mpg on a 400 mile round trip last weekend at about 67-70 mph most of the way.

I get about 17 mpg in the city, and about 14 mpg when towing my open air trailer with the Vette on it at about 75 mph.

 

Man, I'm nowhere NEAR that towing or in the city. I get about 17 on a 400 mile round trip and the last one I stuck to 71 mph the whole way just to see what kinda mileage I get. 13.5 around town seems to be my average.

I don't tow a 'sleek' vette, but I do tow a 4500 Wrangler on an open deck trailer. I get about 11 mpg with that. I live at 4400 ft. With the 'artificial' turbo environment, I figured I'd get similar to sea level guys, but maybe not?

All mileages are verified with GPS/odometer and filling up the tank.

 

Once we put the chip on, the overhead display was way off. The chip did seem to add a mpg or so, depending on how I drive. Was at about 19 at 75 mph, now with the ATS it's gone up a little more in town. I wonder if big turbos add any fuel mileage. :stir:

 

Yours is missing a couple cylinders, though.

 

I bet the altitude is hurting despite the turbo. When I towed across country last month I noted a drop of about 1-2 mpg while coming over the continental divide on I40.

I also believe wind resistance does play a large part in mileage. I've noticed that I get about 1 mpg better when I don't have tires on my tire rack.

But, I did confirm my 14 mpg towing with my vette, full load in the bed and cab, and a full load on the tire rack on a 760 mile round trip from Norfolk to Camden SC and back this weekend for a race, most of it on the freeway with the cruise on 75 mph.

 

That's kinda interesting. If I hit an 8000 ft. pass, it seems like I've got at least similar if not the same power as I do at 4400 ft. If you're in a naturally aspirated gasser, you KNOW what altitude you're at. I haven't had a chance to tow my junk over the mountain with my PSD yet, but I'm anxious to do so.

Another sidenote: My dad has pretty much the same truck, (mines a '99 and his is a 2000) shortbed, crew, 285 tires, etc. and around town he gets 2 mpg better. I've never towed anything with his, but just driving around, they seem like they have equal power, but slightly disimilar powerbands. (same 3.73 gears) My truck's power is later on the tach than his........(not by much, but a little)

 

Seems to run just fine on 6, don't see the need for 8.

 

.......I was looking for the 'right' Dodge and ran across my F*rd. It's a good truck, but I wanted the manual, 555 Dodge ('03-04.5).

 

Cool man, I would love to own one of those later, or maybe an old 12 valve. imp:

 

I get about 20ish mpg at 70mph on my truck on the highway. Depends on winter or summer gas though. Summer gas I got 21 winter gas I got 19. My truck is an all stock 1998.5 24v Cummins 4x4 5spd.

Harley