I AM NEW TO THE SITE. I JUST BOUGHT A 2000 F-250, V-10, AUTO NOT SURE OF THE REAREND GEARS. I AM GETTING AROUND 9 MPG ON AVERAGE. I WAS JUST WANDERING IF THAT IS GOOD, BAD OR NORMAL FOR THE MOTOR. I AM ALSO WANDERING IF YOU ALL ARE HAPPY WITH THE WAY YOUR AUTO TRANNY SHIFTS. I FEEL THAT IT BABIES THE MOTOR WAY TO MUCH. IS THERE ANY CHIPS OUT THERE TO CHANGE THE SHIFT POINTS. THANK YOU

 

Seems a little low, IMO... I get around 12 mixed, 13-14 highway unloaded, and 9 pulling the 24' enclosed loaded down. '01 F-250, crew cab, 2wd, 3.73, V-10 auto. My foot is pretty light, though.

 

I have 1600 on my '04 and get 9.8 mixed and just got 12.3 hwy running 70 on cruise empty. On thanksgiving I got 7.8 towing my 7700lbs trailer. This is on winter fuel which usually means about a 5%-10% drop from summer. I would suspect I will get 12 empty and 8-9 towing this summer after it has had a chance to break in.

 

SD250,
Welcome to FTE! Jot down your vin# on a piece of paper then check out the first couple of threads in this forum (ie, "decipher your vin #

on edit: oops, sorry. My typo... Continued on next post... Daryl

 

SD250,
Welcome to FTE! Jot down your vin# on a piece of paper then check out the first couple of threads in this forum (ie, "decipher your vin # and Super Duty FAQ"). That'll tell you what every number and letter means on your vin. Very cool!!!

Re: mpg... I have the 5.4L gasser and get 14 combined, but just got 16.4 on a 600+ mile trip for Xmas cruising afrom 65-76mph. So, with the monster V-10, I would guesstimate you'd get a couple-few mpg less... ie, in the 9-12mpg range. Price you pay for big trucks with big motors! Oh well...

Re: tranny shifting... check out the Diablo tranny valve shifter from MotorHaven, here on FTE. Kenny is very knowledgeable and he'll let you know if they offer one for your application. Prices and shipping are good, but the intangible is Kenny's "hands-on involvement" to make your decision a good one and the installation as easy as possible. They offer a "firm" (for cleaner shifts; everyday driving Joe's like me) or a "race" valve shifter (if you're going to race your truck or go hog-wild off-roading). The "race" is a lot firmer shifting so it's up to you if you want that "jolt" everytime your automatic transmission shifts gears???

Your call.... Kenny can delineate the fine points of each better than I so chat him up on it.... Everyone here that has upgraded to the Diablo shifter has liked it as it helps the soft-shifting of the stock tranny. A definite good investment, especially considering how affordable they are to buy.

 

SD250: Since it is winter you will see the low MPG. As summer rolls in your mileage should get to 10+ city and up to 14 hwy.

I agree with DS59F100, use the valve and get a set of TRICUMMULATOR springs. I'm running the same set up and the truck really hooks up on the shifts. DO NOT use a programmer or a chip to firm up the tranny shifting. I'll find the web page to help you understand why.

 

new to the board and just bought my first diesel truck [ford f-350 sd, quad cab w/ tow and camper package], factory rancho suspention, tqshift auto...........

what is the dif in the winter/summer diesel, and why the difference. when do they change the mix from summer to winter and vise versa?


and i am interested in this diablo shifter thing. will it void any factory warrenties? where can i get it? how much?

and also, i have read something else from diablo, a plug in that get you about 60-90 more hp and up to a 100 more ft lbs of torque. is this for real?

does it just plug into the obd 2 port?

thanx guys.

 

SD250

I also have a 2000 F250 SD V10 4x4. I bought mine used and it came with all the ford suspension upgrades for hauling and towing, which included the 4.30 rear gears. I was also getting around 10 to 11 MPG. I just changed out the stock muffler (bad baffle rattle) with a MagnaFlow 5 x 11 oval, which is a quiet muffler. On a trip this week, it looks like my hiway MPG went up to about 13.

I have also been doing a lot of research on upgrades and mods. I'm considering the Super Chip 1715 Max Micro tuner, which is a hand-held device that has three different programs that you can load into your truck's computer. The 1715 will also download your stock program in case you need to restore it. I think the 1715 will also let you adjust the shift points if you don't like the one in the programs provided. I think Ken, who moderates this forum and has a business called motorhaven.com, sales the 1715. As I recall it's around $360.00.

 

My truck sounds very similair to yours, see signature. The number 1 factor in MPG is tire air pressure. I run my BFG All - Terrain T/A's at 55 psi front and 50 psi in the rear. This makes a big difference in your MPG. I have 52,000 miles on these tires and they are hardly even wearing. Also try expermenting with the type fuel you are using. My truck likes Chevron, does really poor on Exxon.

As far as the tranny shifts I agree with "Heavy Assault" go with the sonnax valve and tricumulator springs. I have been running them for almost 3 years with good results. Do a search on the valve and springs, you can read for days.

I also run the Borla headers and Diablo 3 stage Delta chip. My trucks get around 12.5 mpg in stop and go traffic. It will get almost 16 on the highway crusing around 65-70. Towing 7000 pound TT it will get around 8-9 mpg.

Good Luck.....

Mark

 

On my V-10 CC (see signature) I have only 2 mods - a home-made cat back duel exhaust with twin glass packs, and a K&N FIPK.

After watching my milage closely for 35K miles I believe I am averaging 11 mpg in mixed use and 14 mpg hwy. Towing a 7,000 Lb travel trailor I get between 9 & 10, depending on terrain and wind.

I'm not sure about the dual exhaust because I put it on right away, but I believe the FIPK improved milage about 1/2 mpg. Throttle response improvement was noticable.

With these big trucks the wind is a big factor. Only once have I driven a long distance on a calm, windless day. That day, cruise set at 70, and fairly flat terrain I averaged 15.5 mpg on a full tank. Same trip on a windy day I'll get 13.5.

Cold winter temperatures will also knock my milage down by 2 - 3 mpg. One cold (2 degF) calm day, flat roads I averaged 12.8 on a 240 mile trip. I sometimes wonder if the FIPK hurts cold weather milage, as the intake is getting colder air than it would be pulling out of the radiator.

Initially I was a little disappointed with my milage, but my friend with a late model Dodge 1/2 ton and 318 engine tells me he never does better than 14 mpg.

 

This is a 5 tank running average of my mileage. This is the sum of the miles/ the sum of the gallons for the last 5 fill-ups. That smoothes things out a bit and gets a good mix of driving into the average. Note the winter mpg drops.