Has anyone else noticed a drop in fuel economy with the new swith to ulsd? I've noticed some and my buddies one with a 7.3 and another with a 06 cummings have both noticed a little less fuel economy.

Can the ULSD actually cause this? Or maybe it just be a coincidence or due to the weather?

 

Yes the ULSD can cause loss of mpg. You should experience about a 1% drop in fuel economy. It has fewer BTUs than the LSD which results in the loss.

 

What phish says is true about the BTUs. But 1% is not really a measurable. Ex 1% of 15MPG is .15MPG. Most peoples tank variations are bigger than that. Try getting fuel somewhere else of change your fule filters.

 

I have been using the new ULSD and have had the injector cycling flash and havn't noticed any drop at all. If anything maybe a very slight increase.

 

I did notice a drop when towing, maby, 1 or 2 mpg. I am not shure about the mileage drop when not towing. I decided to try a fuel additive but I cannot say that I have noticed a difference with it.

I work at a local oil terminal from time to time. They offload bulk diesel from barges to an on-shore tank farm. The manager of the facility told me that the new fuel is formulated with a higher cetane rating and is better than the old??????? who knows???

 

Maybe the cetane is higher... I have actually noticed a slight increase in mpg during the past few weeks using the ULSD. My mpg are up about .5-.6 during the recent very cold temps. It will be interesting to see the difference when pulling a big load/boat in a few months.

 

This is kinda strange that people are seeing mixed results. I have noticed around 1-2 mpg decrease, and the same with my buddies trucks. Does anyone know if there is any other difference in the fuel, other then having less sulfur? Or any proof that it is a higher ceatane.

 

I have also noticed a slight increase, especially considering the winter blend.

 

I've noticed nothing as dramatic as 1-2 mpg or anything but i have kept extensive records ever since I bought the truck (March '06). Since my local station switched to USDL 3 months ago I have noticed my average mpg has dropped from 16.7 over the 3 months before USDL to 16.3 during the last 3 months. A net loss of 0.4 mpg. For me that would mean I'm losing $12 a month at 3k miles a month. They can keep that 12 bucks, but i wish i could get back the time i just spent worrying about my mileage loss. No matter how you look at it, it's not a big deal, just use Powerservice and you're good to go. what would save me money is if diesel was fairly priced, but that's another can of worms. c-ya

 

I am more interested in knowing why, if it is really the reason, that ULSD causes fuel economy to drop. If I cared that much about the fuel economy of my vehicle, I would have an import as a daily driver that gets over 30 mpg.

 

See post #2, it has less energy content (BTU or British Thermal Units) so it produces less energy when burned. It takes a certain ammount of energy in a gallon of diesel for your truck to move xxx miles. If you take some of that energy away, it will move less than xxx miles, but still us the same ammount of fuel trying. Kinda like beer or wiskey, the less alchol it contains, the more you have to drink to get drunk.

 

i also have seen a decrease in both my 06 and 97 diesels. the 06 was averaging 14 or so. last tank was 13

i'm really disappointed that this 6.0 can't give me better mileage than that. it's sad when a motor 10 or 11 years old with a lot more weight on the back of it, like my 97, gets better mileage. the new technology should be helping us save fuel and the environment they are making these trucks cleaner but we are burning more fuel. doesn't make sense to me at all.
I bought a diesel so that i knew my mileage would be pretty good, but if i had known it was 13 or 14 in reality, then i am not sure i would have gone the diesel route for this last truck i bought.

not sure if there is a tuner or chip to put in it that just helps with fuel economy.
i really don't want to have to mod this thing out a lot, because it's a work truck mostly. i'm not even a lead foot either. I very carefully watch the tach and try not to let it go over 2k even when accelerating.
a friend of mine has a totally bone stock motorwise, 04, 6.0L with a lot more miles than my new one has, but he gets 17 or better just driving around town like i do. and better on the highway.
maybe i can hope when i get 15k-20k on my new truck it breaks in and gets a little better. ford really screwed everyone on this deal. what a joke.

 

What I have noticed,,driving my 06' F-350 6.0,,It seems to make a difference, on the terrain your driving,and how far ,around here got some pretty good sized hills, one way which is the way I usually go,,the other direction is relatively flat,,,If I travel west the more hilly area,,I only see 13 to 15 mpg in the summer,,Now I travelled east for a month or so,,flater roads,,and about a 33 mile drive oneway,,the best mileage I got going to this job was 17.5, mpg,,I check my mileage every tank just for Ha,Ha's. Now if someone lived near an Interstate and traveled it all the time,,I would think there mileage would be much better then, the truck that traveled hilly, town, city type driving,,,by the way when I had my 04' V-10,,best mpg I got was 11.6!

 

I like this!

 

I haven't noticed any change considering the cold weather. My truck actually seems to be running better on it. I have used PS for a couple of years now.


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