I recently bought a 2001 f250 2wd longbed. After reading some postings I see that I get bad mpg(12 unloaded). I've never even driven a diesel before this. What should I expect from this truck and what mods should I make for towing my 10,000lb trailer? Any help/info would be appreciated. Thanks
Are you calculating your mileage or going off of your trip computer? Trip computers are notoriously inaccurate. Also a lot of places are running winter fuel which seems to drop mileage a bit. Also check to see how accurate your speedo is. As far as mods go, I'd probably step up to a 4" exhaust and an aeroturbine muffler (can't beat the sound in my opinion), a Ford extreme service air filter set up (AIS), boost & pyro gauges (at the very least), then a chip or tuner (I have had good luck and low EGT with a superchips 1705, but am saving my pennies for a DP Tuner flip chip), then maybe a set of air bags in the rear.
Like they said already, how are you calculating your milage. I cant help much in the mods dept as I basically keep everything stock for longevity purposes, but an exhaust surly wont hurt.
An exhaust and intake will help alot in getting better milage, I'd also look into some of Banks Engineering upgrades what they can do is amazing!!
i asked the same questions to a few of my buddies bout what i can do to get better then 13 MPG. they told me not to go by the computer on the truck so i did it manually and found im getting between 16 - 18.5 MPG, i just installed a 4" magnaflow turbo back system hopeing to increase the mileage. i plan to order a intake for my truck also to help out. granted i dont do alot of highway driving, im more of mainly in town but have a heavy foot.
There are numerous possibilities y your truck is getting bad mpg. 1). Is your tires up to the right psi skip the writing on the door pillar they only account for the tires that come from the factory and their replacements read the writing on the tires themselves. 2). Are you a lead foot? If so ease up on it, even though it sounds cool when you floor it there is a price and if you take it easy your drivetrain will last longer 3). Keep your truck serviced old lubes and shot parts (filters) will kill the mpg. These things won't cost you a dime extra. However, if you plan on boosting your mpg past factory (20 on the highway) 1). Buy an exhaust, A.T.S. carries an exhaust for about $650 and it isn't hardly any louder than stock. 2). buy an intake filter. K&N sells a lifetime replacement filter @ autozone for about $50 3.) Buy a Banks Six-Gun or Bullet tuner they have an economy tune that will boost plus Duh when you want to they will turn up the wick on the 7.3 plus being they come from Banks so they are engineered well and they can watch vital parameters 4.) buy a propane kit from super chips they are safe to use on stock trucks and expect a 5 mpg increase they'll set you up and fill in the gaps i missed hope this helps
a quick note on tires. As a former wholesaler, I learned a bit about pressures and loading. If you are at stock tire size, the door pillar sticker pressures are what you should run at. the value on the sidewall is the pressure to run at the max the tire is rated to carry. If you run your tires at this pressure, you will get better fuel mileage, but your tires will wear about twice as fast, wearing out the center of the tread. Also check your owners manual, it will give you pressures for different load conditions. you can run a few psi high to help mileage without affecting tire wear much. A way to figure best pressures for non stock size/load rating tires is to drive through water on cement. check the wet area showing the tread pattern. For fuel mileage, run at the highest pressure where the pattern looks even. If you are over inflated, you won't see the the edges clearly, if you are under inflated, you won't see the center clearly. This trick works ok, especially with lower load rating (less stiff sidewall) tires. hope this helps, Darin
With the new ulsd fuel I am getting 16.5 -17 mpg. I have a 2000 F250 standard cab long box with a six speed stick, 77000 miles on it. I tow a 4 place horse trailer with 12 foot living quarters and am pushing 10-12000 pounds when loaded. I run 70 mph on the freeways when towing and get 11.5 mpg. I would start with tire pressures and then have a look at the fuel system and computer sensors. Also the 7.3 don't like dirty fuel filters, mileaga will be worse if yours is near the end of its life. Try a new fuel filter. I would also run a couple of tanks of fuel with Stanadyne in it to clean the injectors out. Texas Refineries also has a product that does well on this but I don't recall the name of it.
