I just recently purchased my first ford diesel. I am looking for some input on so modifications. I amthinking of purchasing either a stc flasher or a quadzilla adrenalin or an edge evolution. Iwanting to get more fuel milage out of my truck. I have purchased a k & n cold air intake system. i am planning on putting on either 4" or 5" turbo back exhaust.

please share input:

 

Moved to the 6.0L Powerstroke Diesel forum.

 

Ditch the K&N and keep the OEM air filter and intake system. The OEM is capable of supporting a 500+ horsepower engine. The K&N won't filter as well and can leading to the turbo getting "dusted"...along with other issues. A 4" turbo back exhaust will lower your EGT and might improve your fuel mileage...but I wouldn't buy the exhaust system expecting it. I'd talk to Jody at DP-Tuner to see what he recommends as far as an economy tune. You might be able to pick up a couple of miles per gallon...but let's face it, your talking about a 3-4 ton brick on for wheels. There is only so much you can do. High teens, really low 20's are about the best your going to get with these trucks if it's a 2WD truck. The 4WD guys are doing good to average 18mpg. I'm currently averaging 19mpg when I'm not pulling the 5th wheel....and that's keeping the speed below 70mph.

Pavement Princess (Ford F-250 Super Duty) | Fuelly

 

18-19 would be great. Right now I'm getting 13

 

I have an 06 F250 4x4CC KR and well 17MPG on a good day but in reality with the all the lights and traffic and school zones and such, I mostly see 14MPG. I went to the 4" turbo back exhaust, no cat and the change in economy was really not noticable, it really helped with lowering the exhaust temp when im pulling the boat. Like Zhilton said, you are moving 8K of weight as the truck sits, so we cant expect to do great in the MPG area. But I doubt anyone reallys buys a F250 diesel looking to pass the stations left and right, we buy them for the "image" or when needed for their ability to pull anything you can hook to them.

 

I hate it that the tuner companies have done this.

Everything that you have listed are performance based modifications. Not fuel economy. They really aren't. Way too many variables go into fuel economy then just vehicle programming. Now, you might see MPG improvements, you might not, you might even seen MPG loss. I certainly wouldn't expect to go from 13 to 18 or 19 unless you do a lot of different things. Some of which would negate the joy of having a performance part. I would also use a tuner that allows for custom tuning. Off the shelf tuning is sub par at that and some of the tuners out there (especially the shift on the fly ones) have been known to really do bad things to these trucks.

No intake, I'm running more HP/TQ then what you would be able to get with tuning alone and I still have the stock intake (along with a lot of stock parts that people right off the bat say to ditch even with a stock truck).

As to your exhaust question. Stick with 4", not much benefit, except ego stroking, to go above that with just running a tuner.

 

The only mod I have seen help ANY on fuel economy is the FICM tuning and I am seeing about 0.5 mpg.

For fuel economy:

I would get a scangaugeII and make sure all the sensors are working properly, pull the EGR valve to see if the intake soot is dry and powdery (as it should be). Also - use stock highway tires and keep them fully aired up. After that, it is a matter of drivng style (unless you have an issue w/ fuel delivery, injectors, etc).

IMO adding a fuel pressure gauge is another very wise idea, but you have to add a sensor along with the gauge system. Way too many people have found low fuel pressure in their stock trucks - let alone a tuned truck.

 

Is your truck a dually? From my experience, dually 6.0s tend to get almost 2mpgs less than SRW trucks.

Fyi, my 6.0 went from 16.5 mpgs highway to 18-20 after exhaust, tuner, and egr cooler delete. I still get around 16mpgs mixed driving and can get as low as 12mpgs in the winter just driving back and forth to work.

 

Since it's a 250, I'm inclined to doubt it's a DRW. His biggest thing would be if it's a 4x4 or not.



How was that calculated?

 

Miles traveled divided by gallons used to fill up...

 

Well that's certainly better then using the lie o meter. You aren't taking into account terrain, wind, temp, baro pressure, traffic (even if you hyper miled it or not), when you did an oil change (filter as well), clean the air filter, clean the fuel filter etc. I would imagine that the terrain that you are it is pretty conducive to good mileage, while both places that I travel are not, but for different reasons.

All those go into MPG calculations. Any one of those (more then likely combination of those) could have helped with your MPG improvements. Of course, you say you still see those older MPG readings as well. That would lend me to believe that it really wasn't so much the mods as more of the other variables and at best the mods helped out in that instance. Otherwise, you really shouldn't have gone back down unless you started having too much fun with those mods, which you didn't mention.

Yes, even doing those mods could have helped, but could you definitively assign a true value as to how much was of that extra bump that you got (how often do you see that range?) was to those mods versus at least the other variables that I mentioned?

At best, your evidence is: I did "A", I observed "B", so therefore, "A" caused "B". I could think of a couple of far fetched scenarios that would follow that same logic.

 

Thats why I explained it after that a little. I saw an average of 18 mpgs this spring traveling from Iowa to Gatlinburg, TN and back. I actually averaged 19 on the way down and driving through the mountains for the week we were there lowered it to 18 for the whole trip. I can pretty much bet any highway trip in the summer-fall setting the cruise to 72mph if it's not windy I will get between 19 and 20. If it's windy I will get 18, if it's really windy I might get 17, but that is windy enough that I'm holding an almost consistent 10 psi boost on flat ground.


If you really want to get picky, When I first got the truck I drove from Pella, IA to Racine Wi. for work and got 16.5 mpg stock. After the exhaust, tune, and egr cooler delete I averaged 18.5 mpg same exact trip.

 

Reading that, I wouldn't be surprised for those readings on a stock 250. I really wouldn't. Your style of driving with all that your truck has to deal with might just actually mean that you getting lower MPG then the average.

I know I sure do, stock v. stock with people that deal with the same variables that I do. I still average lower then most people in the area that I know and I know their calculation methods.

Sometimes that happens. It sucks, but it does happen. Main reason why I have no sympathy for people that whine about their 18mpg when the best that I have ever seen and it was only once was 16.2 and those people claim 18 on a regular basis.

I just give this tidbit of caution: It isn't worth the price of "admission" of trying to do performance products for MPG gains. Due it for what they were really designed for, not some pipe dream yarn that the PR department spins and then adds caveats to it in the fine print.

 

Ya, I know what you mean. I also drive an early 04 4x4 F-350 dually 6.0 diesel at work with a 8x9 ft flatbed on it. Best that thing has ever seen is 16.5mpgs, it's usually in the 12-14 range. (that's why I asked if it was a dually)