99 Expy and increased power
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99 Expy and increased power
I have two Expeditions. A 97 Eddie Bauer with the 5.4L and a 99 with the 4.6L. My question is this. I have a 30' travel trailer that I pull frequently. Until recently its been pulled with the 97. But now that vehicle has over 215,000 miles on it and its starting to show its age. I pulled the camper today with the 99 but its lacking the pulling power of the 5.4L. What can I do to improve the pulling power of this vehicle. My orginal thought was to change the exhaust system to one with headers and some type of different catalytic's and muffler system. Would this help at all or just a waste of money and time? When pulling the camper today, to maintain a speed around 65 the engine RPM was revving up past 4000 which I know cannot be good for long term. Any help anyone can offer would be great. Thanks, Tommy
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From: So.California
I hope someone has your answer, Because I have the same Q: I have a 98 Eddie Bower
5.4 and I get between 3 & 5 mpg towing a 5800 lb camper,I've put the K&N cold air intake, and a cold air sencer chip on it and Have had no luck, My friend followed us this year on vacation W/his Avalanch towing a bigger trailer and got 11 mpg with power to boot..
I know my ford can beat that, But finding out how it the Q:
5.4 and I get between 3 & 5 mpg towing a 5800 lb camper,I've put the K&N cold air intake, and a cold air sencer chip on it and Have had no luck, My friend followed us this year on vacation W/his Avalanch towing a bigger trailer and got 11 mpg with power to boot..
I know my ford can beat that, But finding out how it the Q:
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I just towed my camper this weekend with the expy with the 4.6L and got a little better mileage than with the 5.4L. It averaged about 7 MPG versus the 5.5 with the 5.4L. However, the power of the smaller engine was definate strain on the vehicle..It held its own on the open road and I was able to hold the speed around 60-65 but not without the engine rpm going way up.
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tlcohen, Did you have your overdrive off? I've found I have better mpg with the overdrive off going around 65 to 70. Tried it both ways taking the same trip and got the better mpg with the overdrive off. Plus, I can maintain a consistent speed instead of constantly having it downshift with the overdrive on. With the 4.6L you'll need 3.73 gears in the rear end or better. Not sure what your year/model came standard with. What is the total weight you're pulling? The max for the 4.6 is around 6000lbs. Your mileage seems awfully low.
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I will need to check the weight of the camper again. I was thinking it was close to 7000 but I do remember reading somethign the other day that said it was 5500#. I tried this trip switching between the OD on and off. Never really say a difference in the way the vehicle handled the strain so I just left it for the most part. How do I check what gears I have in the rear end? Is this something easily replaced by the backyard mechanics such as myself? What are the costs for such if I need to replace them?
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From: So.California
I think I've found the solution to my low fuel mileage while towing. I've been reading a lot of these post and have came to the conclution that a 7.3 powerstroke is the answer to my prayers. No one seems to have mutch luck towing with the Expidition 5.4
I have two F150's an 89 w/5.0 and a 98 w/5.4 and they will pull a house down, but the expo won't pull a breeze... time for a 03 F250 crew cab w/7.3 powerstroker I guess.. This is a great place to learn, Love this site.....
I have two F150's an 89 w/5.0 and a 98 w/5.4 and they will pull a house down, but the expo won't pull a breeze... time for a 03 F250 crew cab w/7.3 powerstroker I guess.. This is a great place to learn, Love this site.....
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You can crawl under your expy and look on the rear differential for a tag that should identify what you have.
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Originally Posted by LoneWolfTransfer
I think I've found the solution to my low fuel mileage while towing. I've been reading a lot of these post and have came to the conclution that a 7.3 powerstroke is the answer to my prayers. No one seems to have mutch luck towing with the Expidition 5.4
I have two F150's an 89 w/5.0 and a 98 w/5.4 and they will pull a house down, but the expo won't pull a breeze... time for a 03 F250 crew cab w/7.3 powerstroker I guess.. This is a great place to learn, Love this site.....
I have two F150's an 89 w/5.0 and a 98 w/5.4 and they will pull a house down, but the expo won't pull a breeze... time for a 03 F250 crew cab w/7.3 powerstroker I guess.. This is a great place to learn, Love this site.....
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From: So.California
yEA YOUR RIGHT, i'VE LEARNED THE HARD WAY, iT'S A GREAT TRUCK FOR TAKING KIDS TO CHURCH AND RUNNING AROUND. But We can't afford to leave the camper sitting while we're on vacation, So were going to have to "GO BIG". ha..Save the Expy for fun trips..
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From: Glendora, CA
I'm new here...I'm new to trailering. We have a 2004 Expy w/ 5.4 and HD tow package. I'm glad I found this thread, because sub 10mpg towing doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun. We are planning on going from Colorado to So Cal and back in August...I don't want that bill!
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Yeah we were going to take a camping trip across country too until we got to figuring up the gas bill. 2,222 miles one way from Raleigh,NC. to Phoenix. With 9mpg if we are lucky, the bill one way was going to be $750. Add in the extras we wanted to do and the round trip was going to well over $2000.00. So we decided to take a cruise instead and it was not much more than what we were going to spend on gas alone.
