I am new to the site & need help.

I just picked up a 2000 F250 4X4 V10 long bed a couple of weeks ago and I am avg 8.4 miles per gal.

The truck has 265/16 tires; K&N air induction, after market exhaust (Jardine exhaust), Diamond series gauge face plate.

She has 110530miles on it now. I know she needs a tune up so I will be taken care of that soon. My speedometer is 10 mile an hour off (If it reads70 I am really doing 60) and the guy I purchased it from told me he never programmed the truck, chip it, or had it adjusted. The truck has an aftermarket gauge faceplate so maybe he threw it off when he install the faceplate?????? Anyway I am only getting 8.4 mpg. How ever it is mostly in town, but I thought it would do better than that.

Here is what I have done:

1. Had the Tranny flushed

2. Had the radiator flushed

3. Oil changed

4. Cleaned the K&N filter-I am very filmier with K&N. I run them all on my quads

5. Cleaned my MAF with electric contact cleaner

6. Reset my computer- Turn on my light & disconnected my battery for 3hrs. Then turn light off reconnected my battery.

7. Replaced fuel filter

8. Ran Fuel Injector Cleaner

9. Inspected the brakes- Do not see any problems there

Thing I am going to do:

1. Change my transfer case oil

2. Change my differential oil in the front & back

3. Change spark plug, PVC valve, ect

4. Flush brake system

I do all my own work just to let you know

Please give me some tip, or suggestions. Am I missing anything? Should I have my computer flashed??? Please help!

 

If the speedo is off would the odometer read correctly? Maybe the number you're getting from your odometer isn't correct and is throwing your figures off? Just an idea. That mileage does sound pretty low though. I get that kind of mpg in my truck but I'm running 37's with 3.73 gears (w/ k&n intake and 3.5" exhaust). Oh yeah, I have a heavy foot too so that doesn't help. But still, that seems low for your truck. I don't know man, sorry I can't be more help, I'm just thinkin' out loud here...

matt

 

I have not really checked my speedo yet. I am going to today. I have my wifes F150 truck to see what the milage is from work to home. According to the F250 I am 4.3 miles from work to home. I am also going to Pismo these weekend with the quad & I know how many miles it takes to get there from my house to the beach. I have a heavy foot to, but for the last 3 fill up I have been taken it real easy.
Thanks for your help.
CJ

 

your speedo error will actually show more mpg than actual. Here is my guess; V-10=new truck=bad gas mileage. If after you've had it awhile and are driving it unlike a new truck and the mpg is still bad then you may want to start looking into why your mpg is so bad, although it is in the normal range albeit low-normal. It does cut mpg to push heavy, bigger tires through the air, and your engine doesn't work to it's most efficient range with taller tires. But I think your "I have a heavy right foot" is probably most of it. Welcome to the site, Ken

 

I`m curious , what do you have in it for gears?

 

I have 373's

 

I have a heavy foot when I drive the F150, however with the F250 i put on a lighter boot. I have been careful with it since I have purchase the truck to see what gas milage I would achieve with a soft foot. 8.4mpg is my resault. I tell you what I got good milage out of my 1986 F250 diesel. Know I have to explain to the WIFE why I am getting 8.4. I live in California & 87 octain is 2.19a gal.& that is cheap for 87.

I really appriciate your guy's input. I am a tech by trade. What I mainly do is trouble shoot problems. In order to find the problem you have to go thru a process of elimination. So feel free to ask me anything to help eliminate & find out why I am only getting 8.4mpg.

By the way in the morning I let my truck worm up for about 3-5 minutes. I know that will affect my MPG, but I do not think it will give me an avg of 8.4. Well that is not everymorning sometime I am running late.
Besides my Gauge has been off by 10mph. I have been going slower than the speed limit. I just figured out why VW's where passing me.

 

My truck hates in-town driving. It got almost 14 on the highway, but around town I had been stuck at about 9-10 depending on how much the trailer was hooked to it. The last couple of tanks it has taken a down turn, back into the 8's. This tank will be lucky to be 8 I am really getting a little frustrated with it. Not the consistent bad mileage, the moments of greatness. Like 10.5mpg out of a couple tanks two weeks back, and the increase into the mid-9's over the last couple of months. Now, it's back in the toilet. That's what has me frustrated. I know the truck can do better, it does it sometimes. My driving doesn't change that much...not to make that big of a swing.

 

I notice my mileage in the winter gets worse. I wonder if it's because of the additives, any ideas? I get about 270 miles or so in the winter and then I'm back up to about 310 in the summer (38 gal tank, see sig for other specs that would affect this). Honestly I don't care, I bought a v-10 for the power not the mileage.

 

j4rdemotox

The 265/16 tires are a standard tire for the F350 SRW so all you have to do is get your computer reprogramed for that size of tire. Warming your truck up for 3 or 4 min in the morning will killl your milage when you are short hoping.

Denny

 

I'd say your MPG is unusually low for that truck. Heck, my '97 w/460 & 4.10 gears does better than that and it has almost 190,000 miles on it!

When you inspected the brakes, did you also inspect the parking brake shoes? Maybe they're dragging? Also, try buying fuel at a different station for a few tanks. Might just be a bad supply of gas.

 

If the speedometer shows 70 when you are going 60, the odometer is turning more miles than actual which will also show a better MPG than actual unless corrected for error. I suspect the previous owner had a lift and larger tires, had the speedo recalculated for the larger tires and possibly regeared it as well. Now that the lift is off and tires are back to normal, speed is over stated and gearing is wrong. I have V10 with 35s and 373s and get better than 11 MPG in town and my speedometer shows slower than actual and the odometer is 9% understated. For you to be off 10 MPH at 60, that is about 15% which is consistant with about 37 inch tires had it been corrected by previous owner. Does it seem you have gobs of power low, but run high rpms at 70-80? I am around 1900-2000 rpms at 70mph (actual speed is 76) with 35s and 3.73 gears.

 

If your speedo is off, so is your odometer and your MPG calculations, and even the overhead thingy.... On the other hand I get my 05 V10 to eat fuel just as fast when I am in BSEG mode.

Just for reference I have now 10 total V10s, 2 PSD, and 1 V8 all 4 door long bed 4x4s

The dog of the V10s averages 11.4mpg in town/mixed. The hot one everybody wants to drive gets 13.2mpg.

The only stinking difference between these two trucks is a couple of numbers at the end of the VIN.

My 2005 KR with lee than 4K on the clock is still under 11.4mpg average and I am beginning to think I got just an average one.

My 01 F250 was very hot compared to many I drove.
The 2002 Hot V10 business truck I mentioned above is very very strong (boss get to drave any damn truck he wants to)

If you go to

http://www.motorcraftservice.com/vdirs/retail/default.asp?menuIndex=2

and check out OBDII therory and operation

you will see that is a wide variance of exceptable values. I assume this has a lot to do with some reporting very good MPG and some reporting horrible numbers.

BSEG = Big Sheite Eating Grin

 

Something that I thought I would add to this since 2000silverbullet kinda brought up the gas formulation thing. I am not sure how much gasoline formula changes here in central Florida throughout the year, but this is something that I have noticed. Beginning back in late August I ran Hess 87 octane and noticed a good spike in mileage with daily useage of the truck being the same. I could skip a tank and go back to it and it would repeat. I became so convinced that it was the fuel that I said "the heck with it, I'll drive the extra miles to buy it." After a few back-to-back tanks, Hess no longer produced the large increase in mileage. It fell back into "normal."

After that, it seemed to like Mobil. A few tanks produced better mileage, almost up where Hess had been. It too has now fallen back into the "normal" range. The only thing it does better on right now is Amoco. And I can't buy repeated tanks from them as we don't have one locally. I have no doubt that a few back-to-back tanks of Amoco and it too would fall back into the 8.5 mpg range.

Another thing that has always concerned me is the fact that this is a California Emissions truck. It did really well on the way back from New York, down to I-95, then the mileage slipped. Maybe there is more to the calibration than I originally thought. I really wonder now, if trucks that do fairly bad on fuel could benefit from a custom tune, like from SCT or someone

 

Most, if not all area of the country have to sell oxygenated fuel in the winter. It has more alcohol in it, and it has been oxygenated, or in layman's term, it has had oxygen added (like when you whip up cream to make whipped cream ?) to cut emissions. There are alot more temperature inversions in the winter, so the air is not cleaned out over the cities as much, therefore the EPA has mandated winter fuel. Alcohol has less btu's, and adding air, well, you can guess that one, yep, air don't burn. Ken