OK...OK...the subject has been beaten to death about price of gas....

...I want to decrease the gasoline I use for cost savings....

I have 10 cylinders....I was looking into putting 3 to 4 out of commission and only connecting it when I wheel or when I need to tow.

One manufacturer had an engine that shut down 2 cylinders when not needed. I was wondering if it was possible if I disconnected a couple of the injectors to the cylinders.

What kind of obsticles would I face to do it safely??

 

Just pull off 2 plug wires and you will see that it's not possible. Cylinders will be dead weight not counting the fact they will still be making compression firing or not. Computer will also probably put the truck in Limp Mode. IMHO

 

Add to the fact that the valves are still operating, so unless you also disconnect the fuel injectors you will still be feeding fuel to the dead cylinders. I believe that is what the other brands are doing with their variable displacement engines. The computer turns off the fuel to the cylinders and allows them to just be dead weight. StevenG

 

IF it hasn't got "F O R D" on it, it's just dead weight anyway. (HE-HE)

 

Yep. You have to use all 10 cylinders. Nothing good will happen if you try to shut a few down. Matt

 

Seems like the earlier versions of cylinder deactivation had problems. Not sure if the newer versions work better. The magazines claim the transition is better. Only one I know of right now is the Chrysler hemi V8 in the 300C, it is supposed to do something like 8-6-4 I think with the resultant gas mileage of a six. So guessing that while running 4 cyliners, the drag from the 4 "dead" ones is enough to make it eat gas like a 6.

Starting with a V10, you are already at a disadvantage and even if you could make it work, you would have so much drag I bet you would only improve the mileage to maybe V8 range while cutting half the cylinders and running like heck. And then there is just the sheer weight of the truck to deal with and that will prevent any small displacement engine for getting decent economy anyway.

I think most of the latest cylinder schemes kill ignition, fuel and valve lift to that cylinder so that you are not using the fuel and not creating pumping losses. But still you have all that weight and piston drag on the cylinder surface to deal with.

A pleasant thought to simply cut cylinders and magically make your F350(or whatever) V10 get the mileage of the Focus. Ain't gonna happen anytime soon. If this would work, I bet Detroit would be on it like a flash. after all Who wouldn't want something like an Expedition that got 30mpg and could haul a 15,000# trailer?

Only way to significantly improve your mileage is with a different vehicle. I kind of miss my old moped what with it's over 100mpg even hauling my large rear.

Good Luck, if you do figure out a way, let us know.

Jim Henderson

 

Yikes!
I would definately NOT consider shutting down a portion of your motor if I were you.
Consider installing a few aftermarket upgrades like, a cold air intake, a throttle body spacer, and a cat back exhaust, to increase HP and fuel mileage.
These items can significantly improve the efficiency of your trucks engine.

 

Be sure to keep the tires properly inflated. Keep the 4x4 hubs out whenever you can as well. Both of those things eat far more fuel than you might imagine.

A clean, free-flowing air filter never hurts.

 

Your truck is going to run like crap if you do that. If you disconnect the coils and still have fuel going to the cylinder you will wash the rings out and could cause damage the block. I would chock it up and accept that we drive gas guzzlers. One tip you could do is a good tune up, and retard the timing 2-3 degrees. you obviously wont have the same performance and will not be able to haul anything. You should also pretend you have an egg under the gas pedal. Inflate your tires all the way up too, It will ride like crap but roll alot easier.
5.4L owner and hating gas prices!

 

Do you have any actual proof of this? I'd have to disagree with you. If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't have bought a CAI, chip etc. Waste of money in my book. I don't think they improve mileage at all. Quite the opposite in my opinion.

 

The manufacturers claim gains in HP and Fuel economy ranging from 15 to 25%. Of course, I understand how claims are...!
But it is my experience that increasing the airflow, and reducing the backpressure from your exhaust system will allow an engine to recover lost horsepower. Every vehicle I own is equiped with these upgrades. From sports cars to my Harley...my Super Duty (F250 5.4) is so restricted it is ridiculous! Releasing the restricted air flow and exhaust will allow this wasted HP to move the truck from a stop far easier, and will allow the fuel to be burned more efficiently.
I am not sure about which chip you have installed on your truck, but a chip does not necessarily represent the same gains as I have stated about airflow components do.
So I would not bet the farm on manufacturers claims of high percentages of increased HP and economy, but the basic fundementals of engine performance indicates to me that it is still a worthy upgrade.

 

All the aftermarket upgrades aside....

In order to make this idea work....

all I'd have to do is keep the exhaust valve open in the shut down cylinders so there is no compression drag....

sounds like fun.....

 

the shut down system would randomly drop cylinders, as not running any one cylinder for extended periods would have negative repercusions for above states reasons and more. It isnt really possible, and the gain from any sort of rigged up system wouldnt be worth it most likely.

Any air flow imrpovements should increase economy, as it reducing pumping losses of sucking air in the intake and pushing it out the exhaust. again, only good up to a certain point, there is such a thing as overkill.

A chip, many of which for the fords are now avaialble with a regular/87 octane tune, should be capable of increasing your power/milage as well. this is due to the aftermarket vendors have to make improvements to fords programing. thats their job.

Again, many people do these things and claim no gains, others claim fairly decent gains. I am sure a large part of this is keepign your foot out of the hot pedal now that it has even more punch behind it. My experiance/research with the programers/chips has been a gain of about/at least 1mpg.

Your best bet would be to buy some little escort or something of the sort to drive to work if you dont need the truck every day, and use it for your fun time, going out at night, weekends, etc. maybe drive it once a weekr or something to work. Either that, or just realize that having such an awesome truck as a super duty does have a repricusion.... but most/all of us think its worth it/need it. thats why we have and love them.

 

I think it is interesting how many people propose to spend $800-$2500 to get perhaps an extra 1 or 2 extra mpg and then only if you drive it like grandpa.

Fact
K&N or ALL other aftermarket air filters do NOT flow ANY more air at 1600-2500rpm than does the factory paper air filter. Their increased air flow is above 3700rpm exactly where you do NOT want your motor for good MPG efficiency.

Fact
Unless you are willing to properly match the flow dynamics of the ENTIRE intake and ENTIRE exhaust system, then you are just spending money and HOPING for the best, with hit and miss individual modifications.

To flow more air into the motor requires ALL the restricted parts be changed...Price out a new MAF, Throttle body, and associated plumbing and tell me what that part of it costs....... Yep around a grand done right.

What do you think needs to be done to the injectors and fuel pump...OH hell leave that alone, the PCM will sort it all out...and yes I suppose it will if you go small.

Now lets talk exhaust. Headers, properly sized cat, and properly sized muffler...NO Bigger is NOT better... and all new associated plumbing... yes it is required....Most of the bolt on crap is hype pie in the sky hopeful wishing. But any way budget another grand

Now we need to reprogram the PCM to efficiently account for the now modified flow dynamics of the motor...yep you guessed it at least $450 and some times much more for a good programmer/"chip"

So to yield an extra 25-45HP and HOPE we get it low down in the power band where we spend 85% of the time at cruise RPM you all are willing to experiment with $2500 dollars in the HOPE of saving a few MPG?

I really wounder about some of you guys some times

Just how many gallons of $2.187 regular gasoline do you have to save to pay for the mods?

Are you aware that if you get 12mpg and increase your efficiency to yield 15% better MPG then you only get an extra 1.8mpg for a grand total of 13.8mpg

Hell you have to increase efficiency over 40% to yield any tangible savings that might some day pay of all the cost of modifications...


People with a lot of discretionay money can and do highly modify their motors...but I dare say someone who is feeling the pinch of $2.00+ regular gasoline is probably not in a position to "experiment"

 

I often asked myself when the mods will pay for them self. I have just came to the realization that they wont. EVER. I just chock it up as a hobby. I enjoy tuning my truck to make it run better. I am also from the school of thought that an engine with more power will not have to work as hard to produce normal driving results, thus yielding a little gain in gas mileage. The only mod that I have done for my truck that has paid for itself is a bed mounted bike rack and a bicycle to ride to and from work. Im saving $200+ a month by getting on the bike and hoofing it to and from work. Plus Im getting in shape.
I am a military member and our yearly pay raise for seniority and inflation is not covering the extreme gas prices. Of course my Superduty was not issued to me so its not required right?