Okay, a friend of mine has a 2000 F-350 4x4 Crewcab long bed diesel with auto tranny. She is always complaining about her bad gas mileage, but I just laughed it off. I get like 11-12, maybe 13 if the gas gods smile at me. Then she told me she was getting like 8mpg just driving around, like 12-13 if she was babying it and doing a lot of highway miles.
Now, I am not to familiar with the diesel Super Duty's or Ford products in general, but that strikes me as WAY low. I mean, I know guys with early 80's Chevy/GMC trucks with 6.2 diesels and 35" tires who still get like 15-20 mpg. So I was wondering about that.

What is the normal gas mileage that this truck should get? Oh yeah, it has 285/75R16 all terrains on it to replace the stock donuts.

So today I was looking through the project stuff on the www.Off-Road.com/Ford site, and read about the guy who has a 2000 Super Duty diesel similar to hers. He talked about how when he first got it he was getting bad mpg's and it lacked power. So I guess she just may have the same problem some people are having.

Anybody know anything about this?

Has there been a recall or something?

Thanks for any help you can give guys. She is an 18 year old female with almost no knowledge of trucks (except she likes them), and her dad just owns cars to drive them. So I am kinda doing the foot work here.

 

There are a lot of factors that can affect fuel mileage -- tire size, gear ratio, driving habits, the completeness of the tank fill each time it is filled, etc. A crew cab dually is heavy, has a lot of rolling resistance (more tires), etc. Find out what the axel ratio is -- this information should be listed on the window sticker. Also, have her take it to the dealer complaining about fuel mileage. They'll run a fuel mileage test to see what they get. Is it giving a "check engine light?" Another thing: Get me the engine serial number and I'll see if the information still exists in our computer for that engine (it is on a sticker on the front of the left bank head cover). That will tell me what horse power it had when we tested it at the factory and if there were any repaires made to it before it left our facility (that assumes the information hasn't already been archived in the computer). I work with a guy who has been buying Ford Diesel powered trucks since they've been making them (he pulls a goose neck horse trailer with them) and he had a 2000 model which just didn't preform like the others (low power, bad fuel mileage, etc.) He argued back and forth with the dealer about it for several months and finally the dealer offered him a good deal on a 2001 model and he traded. Sometimes this low fuel mileage issue comes up for no apparent reason and there is no diffinitive answer -- some trucks just get better mileage than others for no apparent reason.

 

Wow.... 18 yrs old with a new PSD, CC. Where were these chicks when I was a young lad!!!?????

Seriously... I would first check into the rear ratio, and then have the dealer run diag's on it.