Hi All,
First let me say what a great site. Been reading for several weeks now and am impressed with all the info and really helpful people.

Just got a 2000 F250 4WD crew cab and want to make some mods to improve fuel economy.

I'm considering:
Cold Air Intake
4 inch exhaust
improved impeller
methonal injection system
a tuner or chip of some kind

I know it will take me a while to recover the money spent in fuel savings but I typicaly keep a vehicle for the long haul.

I'm brand new to diesels and looking for your opinions.

Thanks, Paul

 

Welcome to fte. I'd start with air intake like the 6637 modification search it and you'll find it,I did a homemade version dice I couldn't find a napa store or parts place that carried one. Anyways do that performs just as well and cheaper, then get an exhaust system after that before anything else you need to get you some gauges to monitor everything if your trucks an auto get trans temp, pyrometer, and boost at minimum.then go from there.another tip change all your fluids and filters I changed my air filter fuel filter and oil and filter and it help tremendously with my fuel mileage gain and I have 35 inch tires. Like a 4 mpg gain depending on how I drive. If you have a lift and big tires that'll Jill your mpgs to.hope this helps

Adam

 

Adjust the little nut between the seat and the steering wheel and you should be fine

 

Now that is funny but not the whole story. There are many guys on here that drive their trucks like they stole them and still get 18 to 20 MPG on the HWY and 14 to 16 around town. So adjusting the nut may help but is not our chosen way, LOL

To answer your question. If you're wanting long life out of your parts then treat it as such. Care for it and remember that your oil is CRITICAL! Many here run Rotella 15-40 or 5-40 Synth.
For MPG chip your truck, be sure it's breathing and not leaking between the turbo and the intake on the engine. Be sure that it is getting 55 psi or better of fuel and not getting air in the fuel. Be sure all sensors are working as they should by getting a Auto Enginuity scanner from Clay at RiffRaff Diesel.
Many on here run a chip from JP Tuner. He is a supporter of the site but best of all a friend of many on here. Jody will treat you right!
If you want more power and still want to be able to keep your fuel economy then stick around. Other guys will be by shortly to fill you in on what you can do to get more power, keep your fuel economy and still make your truck last a long time and when i say long time I'm talking 500K to 1Mil.
I would also take a look at this thread https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/4...-mods-etc.html for more information in regards to mods and why we do them. We don't always mod our trucks for fun. Many times our mods are to help improve reliability on a already reliable engine.

Welcome to the forum!

 

skinny, stiff tires will improve milage but looks like uh, you know.

 

Welcome to FTE. Let me be the first to say that your driving a TANK down the road with the aerodymanics of a brick... When I firts got my truck I got an empressive.... 15.9mpg at best, in all the mods in my signature the best mileage Ive gotten doing all that to the truck is 16.16mpg. You can do the math but its still going to take you more than a life time to get your money back lol. What Visseroth met to say was DP Tuner, thats what I run and so do a lot of other guys here run too.
What you should do out side of whats stated above is make sure your EBP Tube and sensor is clean, thats the little SS tube running from the front of the pass. side manifold up to the front of the engine. Take it off clean it but becareful not to damage the sensor at all, its over a $100 part at my local auto parts store. Make sure you dont have any boost leaks, you can make up a home made boost leak decter for cheap. Theres wright up on both of these. Just do a search or someone who shouldnt be asleep 2 hours ago can find for ya.
Most guys here deal with riffraff.com most of his prices are hard to beat, his name is Clay, good guy. If you email him about almost anything he'll respond within a few hours. Shipping is fast too. Good luck to you

 

Bunch of great, straight-forward answers. Each does help a little and add up to make some good gains day in and day out, make your truck more reliable, and a heck of lot more fun.
Now before I tell you my suggestion, I can't say why it works for me (cause I don't know), not saying it will work for anyone else, and everyone can call me crazy - won't bother me, cause I'm a'smiling..

I've struggled with declining mpgs for years, even have a post on here...couple years back, asking question somewhat similar to yours (but mine was more like, why do I get 10mpg pulling my 7000lb travel trailer and 11mpg when I'm not).

Again, for the past half-dozen years, I'd been getting about 11-12mpg every tank, most of it city driving, but some of it full tank driving on the freeway (all 250 miles of it, cause that's all the further I could go before needing to refuel).
Well, I've taken several long trips this year, Oregon was 1800 R/T. I pulled a flatbed car trailer with a car on it, and got over 18mpg going up, and 19.5 coming back empty (and faster coming home!)
Plus, i've been getting 15-16mpg avg and more in town this whole year. Huge improvements over the flat 10-11 of years past no matter what type of driving I was doing.
Here's how my truck has been able to regain the mileage I was getting the first 2 years I owned it, before it gradually degraded every year.
In a full tank of fuel, I put one entire bottle of RedLine Diesel Fuel Catalyst. I bought it at my local O'Reilly Auto Parts cause it was on sale. (I don't work there or for RedLine, or know anyone that does). Basically I figured if a little helps, a whole lot has to be better. I went forever before needing to fill up, didn't even dawn on me at first so I didn't check the mileage. But I did the next tank. It was around 17mpg's - in town!
I now run half a bottle every tank, but whenever the truck seems to be losing mpg's again or not quite running right, the next tank will get a full bottle. At $6 a bottle, I think of it as adding about the price of one extra gallon of fuel per tank ($4)..but saves me $40-60 every tank.
I may have bad injectors, or something else worn-out or faulty, I've yet to figure it out, but in the meantime this is working for me. So if you're getting ok mileage now, and you want better, this product may not help you, I don't know. Maybe it only works on the unknown issue that I'm having. I am just so F'in happy that I found a solution to MY mpg issue, that I tell everyone I know to at least give it a try, what do they have to lose but $6. Sorry for the long post, but I really get excited when i tell my story!!
Also, I'm pretty easy on my go-pedal, but I've found that now that I'm using this stuff in the tank, I have to make sure I do a few (2 or 3 or so) full-throttle runs (from 10mph to about 70mph usually works) every couple weeks (or every tank is how I remember to do it) - seems to load-up otherwise.
Just my 2cents.

 

Interesting. I may have to try this because my last trip from ND back to home I got about 17 MPG with the cruse set at 2K RPM and I should be getting 19 to 22.
Granted this is only a band aid because I'm sure it's related to worn parts and maybe air in my fuel but hey every little bit helps, specially now.

 

I got a bone stock 2002 f250 7.3 4x4 and am getting 18mpg @70mph. Only thing I've done was just add Diesel Kleen it helped a little bit. I use a scanguage II to track the mileage in realtime. The average is what I go by, the best its done was 21.6mpg average.

 

well all i have on my truck is 4in exaust 5in stacks and a AIS conversion air box/filter, i took a 900 mile trip 2nd day of owning it i got it i got 18 mpg and 16-17 on hwy city mix and that was with 4in magnaflow exaust with muffler but as of right now im getting 14-15 hwy city mix and 18 hwy i was told its my exaust back preasure tube (EBPT) cloges or sensor bad so im gonna check soon so il find out

i tried the diesel kleen stuff and it lowerd my fuel milege i also add a quart of ATF to every tank and i see more inprovements with it then diesel kleen iv mixed then iv ran the by them selves and ATF is my best way, my old boss uses ceatane i think and it helpes him i think he also gets it at the stealer ship

 

The best I have seen was 23.5 about a year or so ago but I wasn't running normal diesel either. As a matter of fact I can't say what I was running on legally but it was diesel of a sort that I received for free.

 

damn 23 that would be nice, how about a hint? lol just kidding gotta do wat u gotta do right?

 

What we should all do is burn waste veggie oil. Mileage I don't believe will go up but the bulge in our wallets should if we could all find restaurants that will give it away

 

ihought about it a long time ago but couldnt get the money together to get started and vegei oil out the pump is a dollar higher then diesel and your fuel milege is worse

 

Thanks for the replies. As usual the link led to more links and more reading. Have lots to learn.

I've seen a Wicked Wheel mentioned several times while reading. Is it an efficiency mod or power mod or is there a difference. I was originally looking a Banks.

Looks like DP is the tuner many are running. Do you have to have it customized or is there a generic?

Is anyone running Methonal / water injection?

Going to work on some fuel mods today and work on building a boost leak detector.

Man do I have a lot of work to do.

Paul