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I just bought a 2001 Ex. with the 7.3 It is a limited 4x4..all the goodies. I purchased it in september and was getting about 18ish on the highway. In november WI switched to winterblend diesel and knocked my milage on the highway down to about 16. Thats not towing anything. I just came back from a snowmobile weekend, and got about 12. That seems pretty low for a diesel. I was pulling 2 sleds inside a enclosed trailer witch is all aluminum..2500lbs. at the very most. Is this what everyone gets?? Is the 6.o better? Should I purchase a programmer? or is it just the winterfuel? thanks guys....
my opinon, be it worth anything?, is that the 7.3l is the better one, you can get more from a programmer for it, safer than the 6.0, dislike the variable turbo, when i ran bigtruck in the mountains in the wintertime we would put hawes oil treatment into the tanks and really liked how they would get cleaned out and run better with that, it also has an antigel formula built into it which is all the winterblends do, basicly fuel line antifreeze. You can pick it up at most good truck stops and some autoparts stores have it as well, then you can run the normal fuel and just add the required amount when you are goin into the colder temp'd areas.
I found my 7.3 gets 22 mpg at 68 mph and 19.5 at 70 ,mph. Might just slow down a tad. I also found winter fuel drops it to about 20 at 68 and 18 at 70mph. I bought my first tank of the new 07 fuel and went to 23.5 mpg at 68. Just some numbers to consider. I use 60psi in the tires also. Jim
I find that if I keep the 6.0 PSD under 2,000 RPM the fuel mileage is much better than running over 2K. However that means running 65-67 mph. Little too slow for Interstate travel.
I'm not so sure it's the winter blend of fuel that equates to the lower mpg's as much as it is just the average lower ambient temps. When it's colder outside the viscosity of all fluids is higher which makes the engine work harder, thus poorer fuel mileage. At the very least, it is a combination of the two factors. As stated by a few of you already, if I keep my highway speed between 65-70 the mpg will be around 20+ (2000, 7.3 psd); when I go above 70 mph it decreases quite a bit.
^^What he said....my wife drives the truck the most, and ive read that the diablosport has to be re-loaded everytime you get in the truck, so ease of use, or keeping the same program after the truck is shut off would be easier for her. I dont care one way or another, and since these trucks run high EGT's, drilling the manifold is a good insurance policy.
hey a couple of thoughts winter fuel #1 diesel is basicly kerosene which has lower cetane rating than #2 diesel ( think octane ) less power, but colder weather means denser air ( more oxygen ) more power its kind of a trade off if possible a anti gel with #2 diesel is the way to go for short shots of cold weather but for longer stints its not worth the increased costs
Ok,, here is the scoop. My son might have to store his 04 F250 6.0 PSD for 4 years. None of the additives are good for more than a year. Any suggestions. Jim