Does anyone know how to get better fuel mileage than 12mpg out of a 1996 ford f250 crew cab swb I've heard of people gettin 20-25 city but has never seen it oh yeah it also has a 5 speed

 

You will never see anything close to 20-25 city mileage. If you want good gas mileage, buy an economy car and use your truck when you need it.

 

20-25? Somebody is is pulling your leg, no way that could ever happen. I get 12MPG highway running 65 MPH with my '92 F-350 4x4 w/5.8L engine and E4OD transmission. Do a little research to see what the original EPA rating was for your year truck/model/engine was rated at. I do not think your truck was rated anywhere near 20-25 MPG.

To answer your question: give it a tune up with fresh plugs, wires, cap rotor, etc. Change the filters, fluids. Consider synthetics for the differential. Keep the tires inflated. Don't haul around extra weight when it is not necessary. Accelerate like there is an egg under the throttle. Observe the local speed limits.

 

had a guy in another thread swear up and down he got 18-20 with a 460 on the highway. I was pretty convinced that this guy was nuts.

check out FOUR WHEELER Magazine's Project M.P.G. and see what these guys did. But even then they didn't get better than 13.5 mpg from the 460.

 

12 mpg is good for a 460!.............leave it alone, if this is your actual mpg.

 

i'm lucky to get 11 mpg on highway unloaded mith my 1996 460. it's usually 8 mpg driving. and 6 mpg pulling a toyhauler.

 

This is my second 460 my first got about 15mpg city and maybe 18 highway but it had a higher speed rear end with a AoD this one is a 5 speed with granny low. My uncle hotshots and he said you can buy programers for these trucks. Oh yeah its a HD

 

If your '96 is OBD-I (EEC-IV) there is no handheld type tuner available. You can get a Tweecer or Moates Quarterhorse and tune with a laptop.

I was not aware the 7.5L engine was ever mated to an AOD? I thought they went from the C6 3-speed to the E4OD 4-speed transmission. Either way if you got the mileage you state, it is extremely rare.

 

That's highly unlikely, it's far more likely you were simply not calculating milage correctly. I think the highway milage would actually be possible if it was a lighter reg cab truck with 3.55 gears and the roads are mostly flat everywhere you go, but there's no way a 460 is getting 15mpg city.. period.


Not unless it's one of the extremely rare outside of calfornia OBD-2 460 trucks.

The AOD was never mated to anything bigger than a 5.0l either, if your previous truck had an auto trans with overdrive it was the E4OD.

 

I agree that the notion of 20-25 mpg is pretty much unattainable. I have that engine in my '87 F250 mated to a 3spd Auto Trans and I get giddy if I average 10 HWY without a load.

 

I don't think you are calculating you mpgs correctly...........Miles traveled divided by gallons used......no guesstimates or going by the guage.....Possibly you odometer is way off........The only way a 460 is getting 18mpg on the hwy, is down a 200 mile long 6% grade at 55 mph!

 

I use to own a 96 f 350 4x4 with a 460 it was so bad on gas i had to sell it.the thing got 7 miles to the gallon at best.you will never get good gas miles with that thing.i could see my gas gauge drop as i was driving.but on the good side its a beast with a lot of power thats a power house for work.but on gas it sucks it down.

 

Well I scrap for a living atm so its perfect for me

 

I was thinking the same thing.

My 96 crewcab long bed 460 5spd w 3:55 gears and at the time 33" tires on an all highway trip of 456 miles one way unloaded from jersey to southern VA w the cruse set a 65 got 13 MPG and i was thrilled it got that. I am now down in to the single didgets

 

my 95 7.5 gets around 200miles on 13 gallons highway with my heavy steel racks. figure it to be rounf 18mpg