Greetings and hallucinations to my fellow ford lovers! I have a 98 4.6 w/ tow package and 191k on the odo. I am looking for a simple fix to improve get up and go as well as fuel efficiency (yes, I know this is a v-8) Everything is stock, No mods whatsoever. I'm thinking about a chip or a tuner, but am rather ignorant of such things. I was reading through the chip forum and not a whole lot on the 4.6. I would like to be able to burn rubber off the line (or close to it) and be able to get above 17mpg hwy. Thanks Guys!

 

Burn rubber and get 17 mpg! Yep you need some perspective.
First the motor is only 282 cu/ inches in size.
The truck weighs much more than a small or medium size car.
A program change might improve the feeling of more torque but no where near what you are wanting to achive.
A program change might improve the fuel mileage a small amount.
Question is is it worth the cost for the small gains?
Said another way, there is no large gains from simple outside changes.
People try with airfilter changes, programing, electric fans, after market exhaust and unless it is professionally corrdinated, the results is just a try and hope exercise.
The biggest bounce for the money is lower rear gears but expect lower fuel mileage as well.
Good luck.

 

I was afraid of that... asking too much Being in school full time doesn't allow me get a nice paying job to afford all the mods so I HAD to ask lol. I've heard good things about chipping so I came for expert advice... and got it. I'll just keep it stock and go buy a mustang someday XD Thanks for the advice!

 

Greetings Tex1986,
I've got a 98 4.6 Off Road and had similar designs on cheap performance upgrades and run into the same as you, tain't a such thing as cheap upgrades
The thing I found out about tuners is you've got to go to higher octane/more expense gas to realize any power increase and that just seems counter intuitive to improving fuel efficency IMHO......

I"m @ nearly 125K and just about bone stock but I've avg'ed 17mpg since new and I can spin the rears anytime I wants.
I'm still running the OEM size tires which may have something to do with it tho.
I have done two things in the past yr that has atleast given me the semblence of increased perfromance but don't have any numbers to prove it.
1) Installed a single in - dual out Flow Master muffler and tail pipe kit. I went w/the Delta 40 to keep the noise down. The low rumble is great but I haven't seen any numbers showing any increase
in power or fuel efficency. I will say that it did icrease the pleasure to drive factor tho The ebay kit had everything @ around $250.

2) Getting the tranny flushed and refilled w/the syn blend Motorcraft Mercon V.
I was starting to have some intermittent issues w/shifting,slipping, and a shudder and an unpercieved decrease in all around performance. Since it had been nearly 70K miles since the last service, I decided to get the flush & fill. It's hard to explain the obvious improvement the truck now has. EVRYTHING is better.....

A word of warning, I was told that the flush could lead to problems in higher mileage drivetrains, especially those that hasn't been regularly serviced, but I decided to get it done and I'm glad I did.
You may not be able to find any cheap add-ons to increase performance but improving the flow and drivetrain performance could get your 191K truck back to like "new" performance which tain't bad

 

You want more power and better fuel economy? Aint gonna happen. Ive heard some people CLAIM that chipping it and going with dual exhaust improved their fuel economy, but I dont believe it.