Mpg
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Senior User
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 349
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From: San Diego, CA
Originally Posted by drisschoufa
thank you mattebury I am going to do that to get to the bottom of this I have to leave to europe next week for 10 days but as soon as I come back it will be done I have to figure out what is going on and if it meant changing the gears then that is what i will do.
Once you weigh your rig, look at Ford's towing guide for the 2008 and see what it'll pull given gearing. You might find out that you need a 450.
Junior User
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 80
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From: Louisiana
Well fellas, my 08 lie-o-meter (using struts description) was telling me I was getting 18.5 to 19 going over the Atchafalaya Spillway today. It's about 50 miles one way, but once i got into Lafayette and city driving, it fell all the way down to 14.5, but headed up to Alexandria tonight and it rose back up to 15.5. Last fill-up i calculated 13.5 with mostly city driving. Each calculation was only .5 mpg higher than the lie-o-meter showed at fill-up. Keep in mind I haven't even broken the century mark (1000 miles). I was excited to see the 19 mpg doing 65 over spillway bridge then 70 rest of the way.
I'm still babying it a bit, and have not reached the 80 mph barrier yet. Fastest I've gone is 75.
At 70 mph the tach reads just under 2000 and at 65mph the tach reads 1750.
I'm still babying it a bit, and have not reached the 80 mph barrier yet. Fastest I've gone is 75.
At 70 mph the tach reads just under 2000 and at 65mph the tach reads 1750.
Last edited by Geaux-Fish; Apr 13, 2007 at 11:49 PM.
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Senior User
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 349
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From: San Diego, CA
Here are my latest numbers (sorry about the formatting, but it was the best I could do 
)
GALLLONS MILES MPG TOWING
27.1 281 10.4
26.6 292 11.0
30.7 294 9.6
28.4 253 8.9
23.4 215 9.2 YES
17.8 141 7.9 YES
32.2 274 8.5
12.5 116 9.3
17.5 160 9.1 YES
22.1 215 9.8 YES
22.9 236 10.3 YES
16.7 156 9.3 YES
18.4 171 9.3 YES
16.6 169 10.2 YES
32.3 363 11.2
GALLLONS MILES MPG
345.1 3,336 9.7 TOTAL
189.7 1,873 9.9 EMPTY
155.4 1,463 9.4 TOWING
)GALLLONS MILES MPG TOWING
27.1 281 10.4
26.6 292 11.0
30.7 294 9.6
28.4 253 8.9
23.4 215 9.2 YES
17.8 141 7.9 YES
32.2 274 8.5
12.5 116 9.3
17.5 160 9.1 YES
22.1 215 9.8 YES
22.9 236 10.3 YES
16.7 156 9.3 YES
18.4 171 9.3 YES
16.6 169 10.2 YES
32.3 363 11.2
GALLLONS MILES MPG
345.1 3,336 9.7 TOTAL
189.7 1,873 9.9 EMPTY
155.4 1,463 9.4 TOWING
Senior User
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 321
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From: Columbia County. Pa
Mattebury.....cut and paste from excel works ok but sucks down your maximum post amount.
Wow, Not beating ya up bud, but that's not exactly the best I've seen.
You must have allot of city stop and go, or runnin flat out
Wow, Not beating ya up bud, but that's not exactly the best I've seen.
You must have allot of city stop and go, or runnin flat out
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Senior User
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 349
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From: San Diego, CA
Originally Posted by Strut61
Wow, Not beating ya up bud, but that's not exactly the best I've seen.
You must have allot of city stop and go, or runnin flat out
You must have allot of city stop and go, or runnin flat out
4.10 rear-end doesn't help either, but I sure am glad to have it when I go through the mountains pulling my fiver.
Got 13 MPG on the dash computer on a 180-mile round-trip to Disneyland, cruise control set on 70.
Senior User
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 321
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From: Columbia County. Pa
With ya on the gears for towing.....makes me really think that GV unit is something my F450 should have. Wish I knew the mileage increase I'd see with the install......gotta justify the expense with the savings ya know!
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Senior User
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 349
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From: San Diego, CA
Originally Posted by Strut61
With ya on the gears for towing.....makes me really think that GV unit is something my F450 should have. Wish I knew the mileage increase I'd see with the install......gotta justify the expense with the savings ya know!
Assumptions:
Cost of a GV unit ~$4k (includes labor guess and drive shaft mod)
Cost of a gallon of diesel, $3.10 (San Diego, CA on April 14)
Current average MPG 12.5 (for arguments sake, your results may vary)
15,000 miles per year
2.5 MPG improvement with GV to 15 MPG (another WAG - wild a guess)
Results:
1,200 gallons per year current setup
1,000 gallons per year with GV unit
200 gallons per year savings = $620 savings per year = 6.5 year payback
Given that set of assumptions, a GV unit does not make much sense, so there must be some other performance benefit, or you just want one. If I were to do a more sophisticated analysis that took into account Present Value and the expected cost of fuel over time (Increase in the cost of diesel), I don't think that I'd come up with much of a different decision.
FYI, this is my daily job to do these types of cash flow anaysis. Drives my wife nuts.
Elder User
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 684
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From: Tucson, AZ
I have 4,000 miles on mine now. Sorry I have not taken the time lately to a real MPG analysis. Almost all of those miles are towing anywhere from 10k to 20k. Probably 60/40 hwy/cty. On highway I usually go 75 or a little above (75 speed limit) which really kills the MPG. I tried going 65 to get better MPG but I just couldn't do it. It is so easy to go faster that every time I looked down I was back up to 75 or so and using the cruise did not help because I couldn't stand to see all those people passing me. Anyways with that kind of driving my lie-o-meter is showing +/-8 MPG, probably not too far from accurate.
Junior User
Joined: Jan 2007
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2008 F450 w/4:88
1) 75% city 25%highway. 312 miles, 32.5 gallons. 9.6mpg. (all unloaded)
2) 90% City 255 miles, 29.8 gallons for 8.56 mpg. all unloaded again, was in regen for quite some time cause of the short trips I guess. I'm sure that was part of the decline this time.
3) 90% City again, 350.9 miles, 34.3 gallons for 10.23mpg. (DIC said 11.0) Drove as easy as I could to get as high of mileage as I could. lol
1) 75% city 25%highway. 312 miles, 32.5 gallons. 9.6mpg. (all unloaded)
2) 90% City 255 miles, 29.8 gallons for 8.56 mpg. all unloaded again, was in regen for quite some time cause of the short trips I guess. I'm sure that was part of the decline this time.
3) 90% City again, 350.9 miles, 34.3 gallons for 10.23mpg. (DIC said 11.0) Drove as easy as I could to get as high of mileage as I could. lol
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Joined: Sep 2006
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Originally Posted by rob_nc
I have a customer with a '05 Dodge 3500 4X4 with the Cummins and 3.73s. He has an Edge programmer and gets 24 mpg commuting to work and said he once got 30 mpg when pulling his car trailer from Salt Lake City to Reno. He says the secret is to keep the rev's below 2000 rpm. He also said the engine didn't come alive until 15k miles. My former boss just got a Duramax last winter and says he's getting 18 mpg to start. Reading this post depresses me as I was thinking of buying a diesel to pull my camper with.
The biggest reason all these trucks, identically prepared, vary so much in fuel mileage is injector build quality. They vary as much as 20%. If you have a truck with a set of the lower 20% injectors you will have less power and less fuel mileage. Vise versa for a set of the higher quality injectors. This is true in EVERY make. The Duramax seems to be the most consistent in their mileage, the Dodge 2nd best and Ford the worst. This was true of last year’s vehicles. I have no idea how the new models stack up.
When you go to buy a new truck drive the ones you like on a pre planned route. Before you leave the dealer reset the mpg display. The one that gives the best mpg numbers will likely yeild better mileage over it's lifetime. Just my .02.
By the way I am not brand loyal at all. I sell stuff for all of the diesels and hope Ford got the 6.4 right. It is the best looking truck both inside and out.
one4
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Elder User
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 684
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From: Tucson, AZ
I had to take a short trip this morning to the dealer for the first LOF and the reflash. So I decided to do an mpg test. It is all hwy pretty close to 50% 65 mph and 50% 75 mph, those are the posted speed limits. I set the cruise on the speed limit both ways. When I got to the dealer the service advisor asked me if I had any turbo lag, there is not very much, it is pretty responsive which is what I told him. He then told me that the reflash should also help with the turbo lag. I was surprised but said OK. The other thing I was interested in is that someone else on this forum mentioned that they had the reflash done and seemed to get better mpg afterward. So to make a short story long this is what I got, unloaded.
F450 4.88's.
Going 66.6 miles / 6.9 gallons = 9.65 mpg
Coming 67.5 miles / 6.04 gallons = 11.18 mpg
BTW there are some hills between here and there but overall the elevation is about the same. Also the lie-o-meter was accurate going but I did not reset it for the trip back.
F450 4.88's.
Going 66.6 miles / 6.9 gallons = 9.65 mpg
Coming 67.5 miles / 6.04 gallons = 11.18 mpg
BTW there are some hills between here and there but overall the elevation is about the same. Also the lie-o-meter was accurate going but I did not reset it for the trip back.