My name is Mike lisa.I love my ford,but hate the performance im getting out of it.If anybody could help me ,starting with basic/cheaper ways to get me to my firehouse using less gas,while making it sound like a diesel.I know Im asking alot but Im ready to go to that next level with my ford f150.
thanks again.
hope to get some ideas and if your a seller via e-store or have a store,please feel free to contact me.
I love helping people as a volunteer fighter for 16 years.hope somebody can help me!! many many thanks to all that could help.
be safe everybody.Have fun trucking

 

First off, you're in the wrong forum. This is the 2009 F150 forum.

Next your gas engine will never sound like a diesel.

The upgrade path is usually exhaust, chip, intake, e-fans. Maybe a gearing change if you're willing to do that.

Want to use less gas? Slow down. That works on every vehicle and it's free.

If you are using your truck to make emergency responses to the firehouse, it has more than enough power with the V6. Don't go nuts making responses, I'm tired of reading LODD reports.

Mike

 

V6??????


Anyway, if a 5.4 ever sounded like a diesel there's something seriously wrong with the motor.

 

As in even the 4.2 V6 has enough power to make emergency responses to the firehouse.

Mike

 

I guess I'm reading it wrong.......it read to me like you were saying HIS truck had the V6. No biggy.

 

Moved from '09 F150 forum.

Welcome to FTE! Enjoy the forums and be sure to fill in the 'location' field of your profile.

 

Ziggy,
Go with an Edge programmer. My '06 Screw now does 0 to 60 in 7.3 seconds.

 

Welcome aboard, Mike.

I feel compelled to point out that you are looking for something that does not really exist. Performance & fuel economy are diametrically opposed constructs. To build it into an analogy, adding performance mods for fuel economy purposes is like super sizing your value meal, and getting the diet coke to counterbalance all those calories.

The Edge programmer tends to be the favorite around here. While it will definitely help you out in the performance catagory, it will probably only hurt you on the fuel economy side. In way of explanation, Ford has programmed the computers to tune the motor for passing emmissions & maximizing life longevity. Alternatively, many companies are gaining horsepower with their programming by tweaking the programming so that the engine will inject more fuel into the combustion chamber. In some cases, they have found some additional efficiency which Ford did not build into the programming because of either motor life or emissions.

If you could drive like an 80-year old woman all of the time, you might see something approaching 2 MPG of increase with an aftermarket tuner. Unfortunately, that just does not pan out for most folks. They want the tuner for the performance, and the more that they tap into that newfound performance, the more their fuel economy drops off. Hell, you could drive like granny most of the time and erase any fuel economy gains you had gotten by doing a single wide-opened throttle journey down an on-ramp.


So, having said all of that, I would suggest you look into an Edge programmer & some exhaust upgrades.

How far you go with exhaust is entirely up to you. The hands-down most popular exhaust modification is a cat-back system. On the plus side, you will probably gain a bit in the mid- to high-RPM ranges and get a bit of exhaust rumble with a cat-back system. On the down side, you will probably lose a bit of performance off of the line (low RPMs), and if you make long drives, that new exhaust sound may get old. Beyond that, you can also start looking into headers, Y-pipe, and either a catalytic convertor upgrade or removal.


As for making it sound like a diesel, that will never happen. That distinctive chatter that identifies a diesel is a result of the injectors spraying fuel into the combustion chamber at pressures of 2,000 PSI and more. Your typical gasoline engine's injectors are usually down in the 20-40 PSI range.

 

Hope you're not like some of the local volunteers; driving well over the speed limit and driving like fools to get to the firehouse! Be realistic, how much power do you need to drive within the speed limit to get to the firehouse???

 

If it's my house that's burning they can drive as fast as they like!

I grew up in a community that had a volunteer fire dept. Sometimes the the live in fire house family would recruit local teenagers to watch the firehouse while they went out for the evening. They had a whole bunch of procedures for answering the "red" phone, activating the auto call system to call the volunteers and opening the house garage doors so the trucks could get out. I did it once when I was 13...most nerve racking 6 hours of my life. The fireman who trained me said "don't worry if you make a mistake, just hope it's not your house that's on fire!". Every time a phone rang in that place I almost passed out.

Ziggy, check out my signature and gallery. Do what I've done and you're truck will feel like a totally different truck. Also, I've had no appreciable loss in MPG. Although, my numbers sucked to begin with at around 12-13 with mixed driving.

 

If you want to go faster, you're going to use more fuel. If you want better mileage, slow down. If you want the diesel sound, drain out 5 of the 7 quarts of oil out and drive it around town until you get the noise you want, then stop and add the other 5 quarts of oil back in. Might not last very long, but you'll get sound you desire.

Sorry about my sarcasm, but you're asking for something you're not going to get.

 

Sounds like it's time for you to trade in your truck and get a diesel. That's the only way you'll get that sound...

Or... Record a diesel motor and play the recording back thru your sound system...

As for a cheaper way to get to the fire house...

1. Walk
2. Ride a bike
3. Move next door to the fire house

 

Those 2008 F250's are sweet. ZERO room under the hood though. You can't fit a kleenex under the hood.

 

I like the F-350's myself... Looks like one of those will be my next truck. I'll start looking in November and hopefully make a purchase between Xmas and New Years. My daughter will be driving by then.. And she's been hinting that my current 06 f-150 XLT SCAB is just what she wants for her first vehicle.

 

Mike:
I would agree with Bridge. I've got the 06 5.4 and I added the Volant CAI, then Magnaflow dual exhause and this weekend bought an Edge programmer. Without the edge my MPG has gone from 14.2 to a range from 14.6-15.2 - not much improvement but now it sounds like a truck. Like others, I'm looking to the Edge for performance, not so much for MPG.