Hi everyone! I am new to this forum and have a 2004 F-150 with the 5.4 motor. I have a few questions maybe some of you can help me with:
1) How many miles should I wait before going to synthetic oil? Does this help gas mileage at all?
2) If I install a K&N cold air intake and a dual exhaust kit will it help wake the performance up? Has anyone ever done any dyno testing to verify the results? Would this help or hinder gas mileage?
3) If I install larger diameter wheels how would I compensate for the speedometer and odometer.

These questions have all probably been asked a lot before so bear with me. I appreciate any guidance I can get.

Sinker

 

Hi Sinker
Cold air intake=good thing and true dual exhaust unless your running 360+ RWHP you will lose power best thing is SI/SO just do the muffler you dont need to replace from cat back.
The very best bang for your buck a tunner i have DiabloSport Predator and love it lota power and you can update software via the net. best price for the best tunners on the market for the F150 .Motorheaven they also support this great site 2004Screw

 

I would wait till over 5,000 miles on truck motor.

Airaid cold intake is better than all cuz they proved that they shows some gain HP/torq.

Magnaflow also done dyno and proof that theres some good HP and torq gain without lose power. i think 3K RPM under only but its good enuff.

About the tire and speedo, just buy either Diablo or Superchip tuner cuz they do have ajdustment speedo and tire which is great!

My suggest- get Tuner either Diablo or Superchip ( or Xcal) first.

HTH!
YOMAN!

 

If you dont have an extra $400 laying around for a tuner, the dealer MAY be able to help reflash your pcm when you get bigger tires...

 

I noticed that your concerns are for gas mileage, not performance. To get gas mileage, the game is making just enough HP to get the weight moving and maintaining speed and to reduce drag as much as possible. The K&N is useless in fuel mileage tests as the stock air box is more than large enough to move the air required. Putting a dual exhaust system will increase HP at the top end but will slightly reduce HP/torque at the low end where gas mileage is best. Chips will enhance performance but gas mileage usually suffers as the whole idea behind a chip is more HP. HP gains means you have to burn more fuel- just simple physics. Synthetic oils in the engine will not result in increased mileage. Most of the lubes used in mileage sensitive areas are already there so that Ford can get better CAFE ratings. If you want better fuel mileage, change your driving habits. Keep the tires inflated to the max pressure on the side of the tire. It will ride rougher and will be more apt to slide in wet conditions but allow for it. These trucks will coast, don't drive all of the way to a stop sign or a red light, let it coast. Use enough gas pedal that the tranny shifts at around 1800 RPM. You won't win a race but you won't be using as much gas as the next guy.

I'm also quite sure that there are going to be others that will disagree with me. Not a problem. My 04 Supercrew, 4.6 gets 20 MPGs town driving and 22.5 hiway. Nuff said.

 

Exactly...................

 

Hear Ye Hear Ye - FLASH is right on the money!!!!!

I have put 5-6k into my truck and have not even begin working the engine yet. All I have done was swap Air Filters to the K&N.

I plan to swap the Gears to 4.56 or 4.88 then get 37" Tires followed by the Superchips 1714 Max Tuner (Thx Motorhaven) and then finally some sort of Cold Air Intake. I have not convinced myself on which one yet. I love the CHROME look obviously by looking at my truck so the AEM Brute Force and K&N Chrome 77 are my choices thus far.

I understand that at $2.20+ a gallon of gas I should be more concerned but I did this to my truck and must live with it LOL!

I new going into this that it would be costly but when I pull in somewhere and ALL yes ALL eyes are upon my truck it's worth it. I will admit at first it was kewl but sometimes I spend 15-30 minutes braggin about it LMAO and sometimes get delayed and YES even one dude from Oklahoma City was driving thru and stopped and wanted to take a side PIC of it so he could show his wife what his future new F150 would be modeled after.

 

Flash, What is the max speed you drive on the highway? 'Round here, you get run over if you're not doing 80 in a 55. I try to keep it at the speed limit and stay to the right I just installed the Airaid Jr. and got 15.25 mpg last week (went down 1 mpg) but this week I am just over 18 mpg.

 

You will not see any gains between a full sysnthetic vs.the factory MotorCraft synthetic blend oil. If there are it will be pretty small, not even worth talking about.