Well, this weekend, I installed an aFe CAI and changed the fuel filters and added some Stanadyne Cetane Boost and installed a Borla filter back stainless steel exhaust on my 2008 F350 6.4.

I've been getting 16 mpg back and forth to work with a mix of semi-city/ rural highway driving. It's about 20 miles one way. I'm hoping the mods will get me an extra mile or two per gallon.

I also have the Banks Ottomind flash programmer but I want to get the dealer to flash my PCM before I use the Banks.

On the 27th, I'm driving to California for work. I'll be pulling my fifth wheel RV.

I'm going to post my mileage here pre and post Banks programmer. This is gonna be real world numbers from trucks similar to yours by a regular guy just like you, so stay tuned.

 

Good luck bro!! What gear ratio do you have?

 

I'm curious to see what you think of the Ottomind. Please keep us posted!

 

Thanks! I have 3.73 gears.

So, the mods completed this far are:

aFe cold air intake and Borla filter back exhaust

Maintenance:

recent oil change to Rotella synthetic, transmission filter change, flush and refill with Mercon SP, fuel filter change and add Stanadyne injector cleaner and cetane booster

The Ottomind will be on hold until I can get time to get to the dealer for a re-flash.

 

don't get the flash that is out there right now. The 11B23. People are having problems with it.

Just put the banks on and go.

I got 18.5 unloaded this weekend with the 6-gun.

 

Six miles of somewhat city driving. Average speed: 30mph. Thirteen miles of rural highway driving. Average speed: 55. Nineteen miles each way to work. Fuel mileage today with upgrades: 15.4. This is lower than I got without the upgrades. My driving style is the same. I normally get 16.

I'll run again without the tuner tomorrow and then I'll install the Ottomind program for economy to see what happens.

At this point, I think it's the aFe cold air intake that's costing me mileage. I installed it Friday and drove to work Saturday and noticed a drop in mileage. If this continues, I'll re-install the factory intake.

 

Are you going by the Lie-O-Meter or hand calculating? Sounds like you're doing the former instead of the later which is inherently inaccurate particularly if you keep resetting it...

Those "mods" aren't going to get you any real increase in gas mileage (a solid .5 MPG or higher), and with all other factors being equal, won't decrease your MPG either.

I'm continually amazed by people who use the terms "only" or "at least" 1 or 2 MPG, like it's no big deal. 1-2 MPG on a truck like this that typically has an average MPG in the low teens unloaded is a significant increase, percentage or otherwise...thinking you're going to get that with the DPF intact, and just an intake and DPF-back exhaust and a fuel treatment is pretty unrealistic...

If you never accurately calculated your mileage prior to "modding" by either hand calculating, using fuelly.com, etc. than doing so now isn't going to help either, and since the LOM typically overestimates MPG to begin with you'll probably look like you're actually getting lower mileage than before.

Sorry, not thinking that your "real world" numbers/experiment is gonna work...

 

So, you think the "lie-o-meter" is lying a bit more to **** me off?

 

lie-o-meter is in bed with the make me feel good person. Neither are correct.

You have to hand measure. Fillup to fillup, Gallons divided by miles. Be sure to fillup to the filler neck each time so you are more accurate.

 

Unfortunately, yes. It seems that the LOM is even more inaccurate when the truck is tuned, hence people claiming they're getting 24 MPG or similar nonsense.

'Zactly! I'm a combination of lazy and nerd so I'm a huge fan of fuelly.com to do the work for me...

 

and you really can't tell hand calculated with less than a full tank of travel.
I added a spartan tuner for mileage, and after 2 tanks am at 10.3.. instead of 8.9. (towing) but still some stop& go in there.. so can't wait for a long hiway run.

11 instead of 9 will be nice

Sam

 

I'd be curious if the Ottomind is better than the 6-gun that I have now. This will be interesting.

 

Yeah, it will do that. Based on 10 years of diesel trucks and FTE time, I would say you've really done nothing to increase your mileage. A pipe behind the DPF has no impact, the obstruction is the DPF. The intake does nothing for you if the exhaust (DPF) can't pass the increased air flow. Only deleting and tuning will help with this truck.

So, let me share with you my three part plan for dealing with fuel mileage in my 2008 DRW with a 4.30 Differential. 1. Added an after market Titan 60 gallon fuel tank to increase time between fillups. 2. Never look at the numbers on the fuel pump, keep head down until fill up is complete. 3. Never read the reciept from the pump. tear it off and either stuff it in your pocket or hand to wifey for filing. And, when asked about mileage by someone just smile smugly and say: "if you're on a budget you should consider a Ford Ranger". Of course none of that improved my mileage but my attitude is better.

 

mpgs calculated over a few miles doesn't show the whole story. Here's my latest mpgs plotted against my odometer and a 6th order polynomial trendline. I never reset my LOM; it says 14.7mpg this morning. If I eyeball a running average of my mpgs, it's just about right Brown line is how much Diesel Kleen is in my tank.

Sharp drops are always due to long regens. The peaks there are 250mile straight freeway shots. There was one 22mpg, but that was a straight 150+ downhill freeway shot. I top out at 18mpg.

The biggest difference I see is the fuel I use. I did a 4K mile experiment using truckstop fuel. That and non-Top Tier gas vendors don't work well. Shell and Chevron seem to consistently give me best mpgs and least regens

[edit] It just occurred to me that since I started DK, my regens don't last nearly as long as the first 2 drops at 5K and 10Kmiles when I wasn't using DK at all...and it's interesting the longest regens are almost evenly spaced 5Kmiles apart.

 

I see all your points. Seems like this experiment is an abortion.

I cannot bring myself to do a DPF delete. I feel an obligation to do something to offset the carbon footprint I'm leaving on the planet. If I must drive a truck like mine (and I must), then I'm going to keep the system. That's my personal choice and is not meant to be a slam or anything else on anyone else.

Is there a higher flow DPF available?

I think I'm going to install the Ottomind program tonight.