I hope someone can help me.
I bought an 01 F250, SD, CC, LB, 3.73 RE. When I first Bought the truck in August I got about 11.5 mpg on the highway. As I am often not to easy on the accelerator this did not suprise me. When I got home from my trip I did however expect to get similar milage around town. Unfortunately I got around 10. After about 3000 miles I had a Ravin dual exhaust installed. Great sound, a little extra HP, and about 13 mpg on the highway. I thought great! good gas milage, great sound, no diesel smell (I used to own a lifted 97 HD PSD), then the rest of my accessories arrived. I had an add-a-leaf installed to raise the front end 2", because my salesman told me that the snow plow package was not not available on the F250 SD, CC.(By the way an add-a-leaf, a steering damper,and a larger block in the rear is what you get with the snow plow package. It raises the front and rear about 1-3/4" and will allow fitment of 12.5x35 tires for quite a bargain. But if you have the add-a-leaf installed after market, and you plow with your vehicle, you voided your warrenty). I mounted 33x12.5 16.5 BFG Mud Terrains on 9-3/4x16.5 American Eagle wheels. I had an ARE 29" tall aluminum cap with side tool boxes and custom ladder rack installed. An alarm with remote start installed. I installed back-up lights that tie into the standard rear lights.

So, we all know my mileage didn't go up, but I certainly didn't expect this. 7.5 mpg in the city and 9.9 mpg hwy. I know what your thinking. He didn't adjust for the larger tires. Wrong! I used 32.8, the published height of the new BFG Mud Terrains, devided by 31.8 which is the height of a BFG all terrain that was the published stock size of P265 75 R16(I could not find the published height from Firestone). You could go ahead and multiply the diameters by pi and get the circumferences but it still gives you the same multiplier. 1.0314. Or about 3%.

So please, someone help me. It is driveing me nuts to see you guys talking about mileages up in the mid teens on V10s and I'm stuck in the ones with my 5.4. Did something get screwed up in the electronics when the alarm or the lights went in? I'm not seeing a check engine light. Please give me some kind of advice to go to the dealer with.

Thanks for your help in advance.

SDCarpenter

 

You bought the biggest, heaviest truck there is and then got the smallest engine and gears available. Then added taller tires. The 5.4L has to work it's butt off to keep the vehicle moving. That is why the mpg suck. Did you have the speedo recalabrated? Read this link on how to do that. http://forums.ford-diesel.com/ubb/Forum17/HTML/005785.html I would try and find some 4.30 gears to help the engine strain less.

 

Where are the 5.4 guys.
Give me examples of your mpg.
Tell me how you are useing your trucks.
The 5.4 is a strong engine. I don't feel like the engine is working all that hard, and the truck is way faster than my 97 PSD at every speed.

SDCarpenter

 

My 2002 CC sb 5.4l 3.73ls SD lariat is getting 13.3 to 13.4 acording to the overhead console, never checked it for accuracy. This is a combination of city and hiway driving. Truck now has a little over 6000 kilomoters

 

I have a 2001 f-250 reg.cab 4x4 5.4l 3.73 rears and I get around 14 mpg,highway & city combo.

 

2000 SD CC 5.4 3.73 auto

with the truck bed fully loaded with stone and pulling a 4500 lbs trailer I averaged 10 mpg on a 200 mile hilly countryside drive. Stop lights every 15 miles or so.

I get at least 14 mpg unloaded with a mix of highway and city. It's been awhile since I've done a long unloaded highway run so I can't say how the truck would do there.

I always have a soft tonneau cover on. Even when I had the stones in the back.

 

Just to clear something up: the snowplow pkg doesn't give you an extra front spring or larger rear blocks. It gives you a higher-rated (stiffer) front spring and a steering damper (wich also comes with the HD suspension or Camper pkgs). And, you CAN get a crew-cab with the plow pkg- just not with a diesel engine.

Obviously, your accessories are hurting your mileage. Before them, you get teens, afterwards you're getting singles. That topper and your aggressive driving, I do it too , will have the most negative impact on economy. Plus, the higher you get the truck and more stuff you hang off it, the more air you have to push. Even the tires will add some resistance.

Speaking of tires, have you checked the air pressure in yours? Might help to air them up a tad.

 

Hi! I have an '01' F250 SC SB 4x4 w/4:10 gears, I knew the motor was a bit small so I opted for the lower gears without going to extremes. I am very happy with how the truck pulls, I have added a 3" owner made lift and 285/75-16's on the stock rims. I occasionally pull a trailer with a 1200 gallon water tank on it and it really has no trouble, I generally get about 10 1/2-11 1/2 miles to the gallon around town. I was always a little sorry I did'nt get the oil burner for mileage sake till I read an article in the DECEMBER issue of FOUR WHEELER magazine that compared the cost of a diesel over a gas. Taking into account the better mpg of the diesel and the higher cost at the time of reg. gas, not counting oil changes and the like, you would have to use 23,945 gals of diesel to break even, and travel 314,276 mls. (towing) to use that much fuel. I'll stick with my gas burner from now on.

 

my 99 SD 350 with 5.4, 3.73, and 295-75-16's gets sad mileage. But then again I have to floor it everywhere to keep up with traffic. On another note, my brother just bought a 2002 Ram sport with the 360. 20" rims are sweet, but he's averaging 10mpg!

 

The 5.4L is plenty strong enough for the SuperDuty otherwise they wouldnt be putting it in these trucks. The horsepower and torque surpasses it predecessors by a wide margin. It is my humble opinion that anyone who has an F 250 superduty and doesnt think the 5.4 is enough motor for the truck is probably a weekend warrior who drives a truck for a status symbol. I own a 16 foot tandem trailer rated 10000lbs and no matter how large the load is the 5.4 has never faltered nor failed. my gas mileage is 16.5 highway unloaded and 11 city unloaded 11 highway loaded and 9 city loaded. Please excuse my opinions and I hope that this info is usefull

 

I have a 2001 f-250, 5.4, 3.73, sc, lb, 4x4 and I get around 13.5-14 mpg highway & city combo. I also agree with Joneser. The 5.4 is plenty of motor. I don't know the specs but I have to believe that the old 460 did not have anymore power than the 5.4. I trailer a 25 foot boat (around 6000 lb.) and it trailers fine. Sure, the v10 and diesel have more power but if you don't need that big of a motor why purchase one with it? I love my 2001 f-250, 5.4, 3.73, sc, lb, 4x4.

 

I just bought a 2000 F250 SC 4x4 LB W/5.4,5 speed,4.10 ls. I checked mileage on my first tank of gas; I got 14.8 mpg in city and two lane country road driving. I think it would be about 2 mpg better with 3.73 gear. I agree that 5.4 is plenty of motor for this truck-its too bad you cant get a 4.6 in an F250. I cant believe the bad mileage that people put up with. Dont they remember when gas went up 70 cents a gallon in 2000? Its not gonna be 99.9/gal forever. People need to remember that these are trucks, not sports cars; easy with the right foot.

 

A 4.6 in a f250 superduty....a SC, LB to boot. Someone's on crack!

 

Eriepete dumb question but are you in ERIE PA?

 

Nope, on Erie St.