Sensible mods for sky high gas.

After switching out my fluids over to synthetics, I went from 18.5 mpg (highway) to 24.3 (Ultragauge readings). I was so surprised that I took a photo of it, but I can't get it off my cellular phone because Verizon disabled that Bluetooth feature on my phone. Grrrr..

Anyway, I was really, really, REALLY surprised that today I got 24.3 miles per gallon.
Here's how I did it:
Backed off my RPMs to 2000
Kept my Throttle percentage under 20%
Cruise control set based on RPMs. It turned out it was S-L-O-W (53.4 mph).
Had patience and smiled and waved a lot as people passed me.

 

how many miles were on your fluids before you changed them?

 

As far as I know, the fluids had never been changed. So they had 158K on them.
...that can't be right. My cousin maintained the truck really, really well. I don't know how many miles the differential/crankcase fluids had on them, I really don't know. But they weren't synthetic when I drained them.

 

Electric fans don't do shit, the stock one has a clutch so that it isnt constantly turning. Also there is no single mod or variety of mods that will outweigh their worth in one year, maybe ten. Just because one mod will yield 5% better gas mileage does not mean that you can compound each mod even if that mod alone will get you 5%. if you get an intake and it gets you 5% better mileage and then you get a cat back that would get you 5% better mileage alone it will probably not affect mileage at all.

 

If gas is $10 a gallon, inflation is going to be so out of control it's not going to matter. Be better off heating your house by burning paper money then spending it.

 

Idk if anyone has said it yet, but you might wanna consider selling the truck and getting something more fuel efficient like a Civic, 3, Sentra, and etc

 

Gas will not hit 10 a gallon. Once it hits 4.25 I'm riding a bike everywhere.

 

Nah, they'll just take gasoline out of the calculation and you'll be back to zero in no time

 

Agreed. Driving style makes the biggest difference. I need a truck for my weekend activity but commute 60 miles a day during the week. I drive slow and get 19+ and sometimes 20 in LA traffic with my double cab 4x with a shell, 3" lift and 32" AT's. I'm satisfied with that.

I have cheap mods. A welded in Dynomax $55, o shaped throttle body gasket. I run my tires a 38-40 PSI and have a good alignment. Drive slow, I can't stress that enough.

When the truck is paid off I would consider a second small car. I ride motorcycles too, but job requires a suit and that's a pita on a bike.

 

I love my truck. I dont want a damn civic.

 

Wait till planting season gets underway and the farmers start to use more diesel fuel the price for that will be $6 a gal now whos wants diesel in there taco?

 

It's already happening. Prices are going up for all items transported by truck or where fuel is a significant part of the cost.

 

Farm diesel wont get that high. Highway diesel might though. I work with a few mexican guys and they say that diesel is crazy cheap down there. Im sure its terrible fuel but come on. There are too many subsides for ethanol and other garbage combined with taxes and what not that make gas so high. I think everyone shoud not drive for 1 day a month just to fuck up big oils profit margin. If you take a look at ford.uk.co you will see cars that get 70 and 80 mpg on there. Its crazy.

 

It wouldn't make a blip on their radar. The only one you screw doing that is the local gas station owner. It'd probably take truckers parking their trucks (all of 'em) to get the political pressure on big oil. Trucks don't move, nothing gets moved.

 

Gas stations order their fuel by the week. One day of not filling up would not make a differance. One month of not fueling up would.
The "one-day-fuel-up" email is trolling at it's best.

 

I was just ranting. It sucks to know that your getting screwed by a combination of speculators and governments and big businesses. I guarantee exxon and the like will post record profits this year.

 

WOW...I don't know what just happened but I was almost finished with my post and I hit my Tab key by mistake and whoosh, no post! Oh well, lets try this again. If the other one shows up then so be it.
As I was saying, almost everything you buy is on a truck at one point or another. Stopping trucks for a week would hurt...for a month would cause riots because there would not be any food on the grocery store shelves...any longer and it would get dangerous just to be walking around. Notice I said walking...there wouldn't be any gas to drive for a long time! That would never happen because all truck drivers have to make a living to feed their families just like anyone else. How many of you could not show up at your job for a month or two and then have a job to go back to when you decided to? Not very many I would venture to say.
Another way not to get big oil's attention is the "let's not fuel on May 5th all over America". Either everyone will fill up on the 4th because they can't afford to run out of gas and not be able to drive to work, or they will fill up on the 7th for the same reason. The way to get big oil's attention...I mean really get their attention...is to STOP RUNNING AROUND ALL THE TIME! Drive to work, stop at the store on the way home from work, and spend your time at home! You get out on the weekend anymore and it is like rush hour traffic all the time! Nobody stays home anymore. They must get out and go somewhere. They can't stand it if they don't take a road trip every weekend! Stay home...work on the yard...paint the house...clean out the garage...spend some time with the kids in the backyard...grill out...watch a little tv and snuggle with your better half...do anything but get out and needlessly run around. We start doing that for a month or so and you will start seeing the prices come down. Tell big oil if they start going up again...we will do the same thing again only for a longer period of time. That my friends will truly get their attention and it is something we can do!
Now, are we ready to get big oil's attention or are we just going to sit around and bellyache about high fuel prices? I'm ready, how about all you other drivers tired of making others extremely rich at our expense? Let's do it!

 

The best mileage improving mod for these trucks is to park them and buy a piece of shit 4-banger to drive to work and the grocery store.

Everything else is going to have you spending more money on mods than you will ever save on improved mileage.

The 4.0 in these trucks is just not fuel efficient. It's large displacement (for a six), it's high compression, it breathes well, and it likes to drink. And it makes a very good truck engine with torque when you want it because of that. And frankly, I'd rather they didn't change that...unless they're going to give me the option to buy the D4-D or the 4.6L V8.

Me. 25mpg at $6/gal beats 17 mpg at $5/gal. The cost is basically a wash when you do the math, but the tangible benefits of the diesel would be very noticeable - especially to towers and wheelers.