F250 5.4 need help!

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Aug 20, 2002 | 01:21 PM

RedPOL

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Freshman User

Joined: Jul 2002

Posts: 27

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From: Anchorage

F250 5.4 need help!

Ive got a 01 250sd with the 5.4. Im pulling a 20ft camper. Its dry weight is 3510lbs fully loaded it probably weighs 4150lbs. Anyways going up hills it really strugles, and the gas milage is really bad. For instance I took a trip last weekend went about 170 miles round trip and burned 3/4 of a tank. According to the specs on my truck I have a 44 gallon tank and that is 5.5 miles to the gallon! Is this normal? I didnt buy it for the gas mileage but this is rediculous. Sorry for the long post just wanted to give you some background info, plus I had to vent!

Anyways I need some suggestions on some mods I can do to help this situation! Oh yea I have the 3:73 gears.
Thanks in advance!

Aug 20, 2002 | 03:01 PM

hitecdan

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Joined: Feb 2002

Posts: 755

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From: Campbell, California

F250 5.4 need help!

Gas mileage is always gonna drop when towing. Especially when you’re towing a heavy load with lots of frontal area (major wind resistance). It would seen reasonable that your mileage would dip down to 8 or 9 mpg if you were driving straight and level and at 55mph. What were the road conditions like? Lots of mountain driving? How fast were you driving? What was your GVWR? How windy was it? There are a lot of factors that will effect your driving. If you were trying to drive 80mph against a 40mph head wind, then your mileage could drop to 5 or 6 mpg.

Aug 20, 2002 | 08:14 PM

V10man

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Joined: Feb 2000

Posts: 3,955

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From: Mesa

F250 5.4 need help!

Long bed trucks have a 39 gallon tank and the short beds a 29 gallon tank. The problem here is the 3.73 gears and the small V8. The Superduty truck is heavy & add the trailer into the mix and you have a lot of weight for the 5.4L to move around. You can do the usuall mods, intake, exhaust etc but you won't gain a whole lot.

Aug 21, 2002 | 12:54 PM

RedPOL

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Joined: Jul 2002

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From: Anchorage

F250 5.4 need help!

I know gears will help with the power but how much worse is it going to be on my gas milage?
Hey Dan The trip I took wasnt as mountainous and the trips I normally take. It was more gradual inclines but nothing severe. The roads were newly paved, average speed of about 55, gvwr is 5700, not windy at all. I dont know if the truck was having a bad day or what but Ive had better milage driving through the mountains! Maybe it just didnt want to go home

Aug 23, 2002 | 03:14 PM

Expy D

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Joined: Mar 2002

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F250 5.4 need help!

Just for reference. I pull around 7000+ pounds with a '98 Expedition with the 5.4 . On a recent trip from PA to MI, through a lot of mountains I averaged 6.6 MPG. :7

Aug 28, 2002 | 07:52 AM

harryball

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From: McDonough US

F250 5.4 need help!

Aug 28, 2002 | 08:41 AM

super_duty_dan

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Joined: Jan 2002

Posts: 77

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From: Troy USA

F250 5.4 need help!

I have a 250 long bed w/ the 5.4 and tow a 27ft camping trailer, total weight loaded is around 6500lb, and i do fairly well (except for steep inclines). I have never calculated my mileage (partially because i dont want to know! But i dint buy the truck for mileage) but i know that I am not getting 5-6MPG. I usually travel with a group of campers and motor homes and get the same or better mileage as them (judgeing from fuel stops).