Is 13mpg highway the best I'm ever going to get like the dealership keeps telling me? Is there anything I can do to help it out a bit?

 

My new 2008 PSD with crew cab and shorter bed was getting 17.2 to/from the airport (almost all highway) this past week. I was driving in the mid-high 60s, ambient temperature around 60 f. Truck has about 400 miles on it (I told you it was new!).
Hope this helps.

 

should get better than that unless you have a heavy foot. How old is the truck? When was it built? Lastest flash might help you unless you've already gotten it.

 

When I first got mine in Dec. I was getting 10-11 in town and 16 hiway. Later it went to a solid 12.8 in town and 18 hiway @ 70mph. A couple months ago it dropped to 8.8 in town and 12 hiway. Same driver and no change in habits. Ford said it was normal and they didn't "recognize" that milage as abnormal. The Service Manager did, to his credit, authorize a "reflash" to insure the factory setting were correct. Not too surprisingly, my milage is now back to the high 12s and got 18.6 on my last 600 mile hiway trip. Apparently, although Ford will not admit it I'm sure, the computer may loose the settings somehow. Don't know if this causes more regens or what. I can't imagine that a reflash would cost all that much but it seemed that Ford was not willing to pay for it so the dealership ate it.

 

it is just a simple plug the laptop to the plug under the steering wheel and run the program, no difficult at all so really doesn't cost anyone but a little time. they can do it on the coffee break.,

 

Mine has the latest flash and 13-13.5 empty is the best she will do with mixed driving. Truck is 1yr old with about 38K. Gets about the the same milage as my old 06 F150 5.4

 

Monica, 6 months ago (when diesel was $5/gal) on FTE site mileage question accounted for 10% of all posts. If you go back, there's a loads of inputs and recommendations on the 6.4 PSD.

I have a Job-3 SRW 3.73 with 18" wheels with only 3k miles. I get 15 town, and 18 hwy no load. I think the 20" wheels would have been a better option for me since I don't intend on 10K plus towing. The catch for me; is on a NJ to Norfolk road trip i travels open road (non hwy) I got 21.7 hand figured. Never faster than 65mph some stop lights. WOW

One artical i read before I bought my truck stated that the 6.4 is not broken in until 40k. I would expect a slow up-tick in mileage until then. Driving habits have the most impact on mileage, provided nothing is wrong with the truck. Good luck

 

I purchased it in February, is that 20 000 miles on it currently. I had it at the dealersihp yesterday and they indicated that it had all the current programming. It has never been checked since I bought it so I'm hoping they know what they are talking about.

The leaking rad was replaced yesterday That was an expected issue as I've read it's commong.

Oh well, I have compared with others I work with and the other model's are not doing a whole lot better so I guess we just live with it, she's still a pleasure to drive even if she costs me an arm and a leg!

 

A good friend of mine is a fleet manager for an electric utility co. At any one time, there are about 125 active trucks in his fleet. They currently have a mix of 05, 06, 07 PSD 6.0, and about 25 of the 08s with the 6.4. As you can imagine having this many trucks, he has a pretty good body of data, as to what the real deal is, with regard to mileage.

Keep in mind: These trucks are all converted with utility bodies of one form or another, many are DRW, as well. And of course, these trucks are all driven by employees, who are in most cases driving them HARD and have no concern whatsoever for the MPG they are getting.

In the same body configurations, The 08s, which are fully broken in at this point, are returning 10 MPG and the 05-07 6.0 are typically returning 15.

There is no question that the need to meet the new emissions standards has forced Ford's hand not only with the obvious particulate filter/regen cycles, but with the overall calibrations as well.

For fleet operators, a 30 percent reduction in fuel economy is a very real operating cost problem, and it's a VERY sore subject. Ford is scrambling to figure out revised calibrations to improve the MPG, and if they don't make headway quickly, they are going to have real problems with repeat fleet sales.

 

well, a friend of mine work for th NV DOT & the remote station he works at has two pickups an 04 & an 08 both a re 4x2 F-450s with auto trannies & dump bodies on them. the only difference (besides engines) is that the 04 is a crew cab, while the 08 is a single cab. I'm not real sure how many miles either truck has on them, but hes gets around 9 mpg in the 04 6.0 and about 8 in the 08 6.4, but he says the extra power is worth sacrificing some mileage.

 

two data points, vs. 125 data points....sorry

 

Be polite. That would be two more data points not versus 125.

 

Sorry, was not trying to be rude, it's just that the one much larger data population (125 truck fleet) is much more valuable data, as opposed to a gentleman who has a fleet of.....two.

 

The gentleman was right, I was not trying to be argumentive, I was just adding my two cents. I know it's only two vehicles, but with the same guy driving both of them, It should (at least in my opinion) be pretty comparable data. I'm sure he is like %80 of employuess that I've been around & he drives them as hard as they'll go. I also didn't say the 125 vehicle data was more or less valuable than mine. Oh well, that's what I get for trying to help.

 

Last hunting trip ~470 miles solid 17mpg @ 69 mph. Hand Calc but the lie meter was spot on.

Jim