:caution:

if you have a V6 get a 4 cyl, if you have a 4cyl get a hybrid. i'm not trying to be a smart ass but there really is no way to increase mileage significantly. like tacomaman said, intake and synthetic oil and all that will help your truck breath better, and in turn you get a little more "umph" with less effort, but thats alot of money to get a possible 1mpg increase. when my filter is old ill replace it with something better but until then i just try to drive like a grandma. right foot control is really the only thing that will give you the best mileage. dont get me wrong, tacomamans suggestions are good ones, but you wont see a significant increase in mpg.

 

I swapped the stock air filter out for an AFE Pro Dry filter and picked up 2-3mpg over the last month or so. I've been averaging between 17 and 18mpg with city, highway and country roads with lots of hills. After the AFE I've been consistently getting 19.8 to 20.3 mpg per tank (as per my scangauge's reading).

If nothing else, it'll save you money from buying replacement filters at $20 or so each time, and it's dry so you don't need to buy cleaning oil either. Just wash, rinse, dry, and put it back in.

Other than that there hasn't been a whole lot proven to increase mpg. So many things claim 1-2 mpg, but lots of things affect that. For example, I normally average 17-18mpg, but got 21mpg for the day (first time it broke 19mpg for more than a couple miles) on a 200 mile round trip. I hadn't changed anything, used different gas or installed my AFE yet. Just different climate conditions, constant speed over distance or something bumped the mpg by 3-4mpg. Sometimes I got 16mpg during the winter so it's really hard to say "I got 1-2mpg from my intake/exhaust/etc". Only reason I can say the AFE increased my mpg is because the truck NEVER (in 2 years, 43,000 miles) got over 18.8mpg for the entire tank, but now has gotten 19-20.3 each tank for the last 4-5 tanks.

 

Does the scangauge show average mpg over a tankful or instantaneous mpg? My understanding is that it's instantaneous and miles until empy (neither of which would really tell how much you burned as miles to empty is an estimate). Have you double-checked it with the odometer?

 

It shows both, but not at the same time. There's a gauge mode which shows 4 user selectable stes of real time data. Then there's a trip mode which will display totals and averages for your current trip, day's trip or total tank information. In any of these three modes it shows total fuel burned and in tank mode the amount of fuel left. Once you have it calibrated it is VERY accurate. Here's a PDF of the manual if you want to see all it's features.

 

Well, that, but it's more likely due to the different gas mixture with antifreeze additives, warm up idles, and thicker lubricants due the cold.

Either way, my point was that the average mpg of a vehicle can fluctuate so much WITHOUT mods that it's hard to prove the 1 or 2 mpg increase came from a specific mod. Unless you put on a lot of varying miles before and after the mod, and see a consistent pattern.

I'm not holding my breath hoping the AFE keeps me at 20+mpg, but my truck never came close to that for a full tank before so I know it helps. Since I've had it on a month and the numbers seem consistent I say it's the AFE making the difference.

 

hey Tiger, i haven't messed with you for a while and this thread hasn't been de-railed yet, so having said that.... i hope you get crabs! BOOYAH!

 

lol I got the worst STD out there: KIDS! Ok maybe not, but sometimes I think that about my darling life-sucking little parasites.