What tips and tricks have you used (and actually seen significant results) to get more miles for your $?

My truck is a crew cab Dodge 1500 with the small v8 (318) I get 14 city, 18 hwy... Not bad, but I wanna break the 20 mark any ideas?

JIM

with a 318 dodge.....your DOING VERY GOOD.....

I have a 3.9 V6 in my Dakota and I average 12city......15-16 highway....

DODGE is an awsome vehicle, BUT THEY ARE LAST WHEN IT COMES TO FUEL CONSUMPTION:mad:

Well, I have the Ford 5.4Ltr in both our Expedition and F-150

F-150 14 City 18 Hgwy

Exped 13 City 17 Hgwy

If I knew my friend I would be the first to let you know, but you are right there with the rest of us.

I once heard that there is some type of turbine that goes into the air filter flexible hose that is supposed to greatly increase the mileage, but I have no idea.

About six months ago my company released one of our jeep cherokees from the fleet. I bought it for $400 with 154,000 miles. It gets about 21 mpg with the 4.0Ltr straight six on rural roads. Try to find a beater for the long hauls that gets great milage.

I once heard that there is some type of turbine that goes into the air filter flexible hose that is supposed to greatly increase the mileage, but I have no idea.


one of the news stations did a test on them things and a couple of the cars, actually got worse fuel milage:lol:

What tips and tricks have you used (and actually seen significant results) to get more miles for your $?

My truck is a crew cab Dodge 1500 with the small v8 (318) I get 14 city, 18 hwy... Not bad, but I wanna break the 20 mark any ideas?

JIM

I get about the same mpg from my dakota with a 318...i figure it at 15 mpg total...not allowing for city and highway. This gas situation is getting old. :mad:

If your tires are properly inflated and you don't drive like a maniac, thats about all you can do. :Cry:

Get a bike :noidea:

Get a bike :noidea:

Schwin or HUFFY???

DODGE is an awsome vehicle

I've driven a couple Dodge Dakotas and thought they sucked. :noidea:

I've driven a couple Dodge Dakotas and thought they sucked. :noidea:

well then you havent driven mine.......

:noidea:

well then you havent driven mine.......



yeah, I can't wait to.

yeah, I can't wait to.

how bout this weekend......:noidea:

I will bring the umbrella and meet you at your place.....:noidea:

What tips and tricks have you used (and actually seen significant results) to get more miles for your $?

My truck is a crew cab Dodge 1500 with the small v8 (318) I get 14 city, 18 hwy... Not bad, but I wanna break the 20 mark any ideas?

JIM

I wish my 97 Ram with the 318 was getting mileage this good. I am getting about 13 mpg.

depending how old it is and how many miles you can try changing your o2 sensor. i canged mt and it made a big difference. just have someone you know do or do it yourself, if you take it in thell charge you like 300 bucks... you can do it yourself for 50 bucks maybe less.

Roll down hill with a tail wind.

You seem to be getting pretty good milage. My 2000 5.9 gets about 11 around town and maybe 13 on the highway. I'm burning almost $100 a week just going to and from work.:pout:

My 1998 Nissan Fronteir only gets about 20mpg. Thats not great for a 4 banger. The proper tire inflation idea and not driving like a race car driver is about the best ideas.

This is one that comes up a lot over here...especially from V8 drivers. Gas prices are sitting at about $1.40 per liter (About $5.30 per gallon).

As such these are the more conservative tips:

Drive conservatively....accelerating and decelerating gradually
Do not exceed 55 mph. Beyond that the wind resistance begins to really bite into fuel consumption (and it's not linear....it's faster)
Keep your tail gate UP or invest in a hard cover that encloses the bed. With the tailgate up...there is a pillow of air that circulates in the bed and reduces drag
Smaller mirror or more aerodynamic mirrors
Remove anything that acts as an "air dam". You can spot them if you stand in front of your truck and look at it in silhouette. Anything poking out is a suspect. (e.g. KC lights are big drag creators)
Narrow, properly inflated tires. Wider tires weigh more and generate much more heat than narrow tires. The heat is generated using energy transfer that started with the energy stored in your tank
Tune your engine regularly to ensure it's running optimally. Dirty air filters, fuel injectors, etc. etc. reduce the efficiency of your engine. Don't forget about timing and such.
Check out your exhaust system and the local laws. Each after market exhaust should give some idea about the impact on mpg
High performance = high fuel consumption. It's the law of conservation of energy. There's no getting around it. As such, trucks are tuned at a "trade off" point from the factory. Some companies sell after market chips for the computers that allow you to switch the tuning of your engine (sometimes with a switch, sometimes by changing chips). That means you can have your truck running a bit more sluggishly for day to day driving....or as a major gas sucker when you're chucking mud.
Weight: anything you can do to reduce the weight of your truck will help with gas mileage. If you always carry a sand bag around...remove it. Any extra bling that you replace with light weight alternatives will help (e.g. replacing a steel light bar with Aluminum). Even the hard cover mentioned above should be as light as possible. Running boards are heavier than step tubes, too.
Lubricate: Ensuring all joints in the drive train are well lubricated means less energy loss due to friction within the joints...which means more of the energy moves the truck forward.More extreme things (that I don't recommend...but have hear people mention):

Running engine on 4 or 6 cylinders. Apparently there is a kit available that rotates the cylinders used to maintain even wear while only operating a portion of the total cylinders. Sounds like an accident waiting to happen to me...but ya never know.
Boosting the octane of your fuel. Although additives generally cost more than the fuel they save.
Sealing the under carriage. While this is mostly on cars, I've seen kits to close out the under side of the car with the intent of reducing drag. I'm not convinced they have an impact that exceeds the weight they add to the car.
Aerodynamic "nose cones" for trucks. I've seen clear plastic aerodynamic "bug shields" that cover most of the front of your truck...but I think they'd just get you heckled and beat up by people without the sissy cone. :biggrin1:
Fuel preheater: I've also seen arrangements that route the exhause gasses to transfer head back to the fuel mixture and combustion chamber. Might add a couple of % efficiency to the thermal cycle...but unlikely to cover the high cost of adding the equipment.
Slicker is better: I know that at high speeds a very smooth and slick surface can reduce drag substantially, but at normal driving speeds I'm not confident it makes much of a difference. That said...this is just one more reason you can give people for spending so much time waxing your truck.Finally, avoiding short trips helps a lot, too, since that's where most fuel gets burned without necessity. If you can walk it in 15 minutes or so....leave the car at home.

Hopefully this has provided some help. Good luck.

k&n air filter up to 10% more mpg

Well I guess I am not doing to bad... I have about everything mentioned covered... Fresh tune up, nitronized properly inflated tires, fiberglas toneau, and i drive like an old man. I was happy with the 18 on my last road trip, but It got me thinking mabey the 20mpg is possible... I had a dodge 2500 cargo van that suprisingly hit 24mpg on road trips, but it was just a 6 cyl.

Jennis Carvan only gets us 24 on the hwy.

JIM

Well I guess I am not doing to bad... I have about everything mentioned covered... Fresh tune up, nitronized properly inflated tires, fiberglas toneau, and i drive like an old man. I was happy with the 18 on my last road trip, but It got me thinking mabey the 20mpg is possible... I had a dodge 2500 cargo van that suprisingly hit 24mpg on road trips, but it was just a 6 cyl.

Jennis Carvan only gets us 24 on the hwy.

JIM

dude, its Dodge, either your cool and drive a dodge, or you drive something else and get better MPG's:noidea:

skinny tires 78's and tall.
The electtirc turbines do not work. They drag the alt. down so the motor works harder and burns more gas. If you use it for highway driving, higher geared rear. But it would be a dog in the city.

Rear gears... Now theres an idea.

JIM

If it's MPG or $$/mile that's a target...an LPG conversion is easy without sacrificing too much (all of the taxi cabs run it here).

If money is no object on this target, I suppose a very long legged constant velocity trannie could help (because it always has the correct gear to maintain optimal engine rpms at any speed). But can you say "cha ching".

I work with a guy here that did his own hybrid conversion to a small commuter car where he installed a surplus electric torpedo motor and some lead acid batteries. He doesn't use much gas, but he has it plugged into a socket every time I see him.

dude, its Dodge, either your cool and drive a dodge, or you drive something else and get better MPG's:noidea:

I dont feel cool anymore when i have the dakota pulled up to the gas pump :dizzy: :laugh:

[LIST]
Running engine on 4 or 6 cylinders. Apparently there is a kit available that rotates the cylinders used to maintain even wear while only operating a portion of the total cylinders. Sounds like an accident waiting to happen to me...but ya never know.


Thats easy, just pull some spark plug wires...:peace: :lol:

I dont feel cool anymore when i have the dakota pulled up to the gas pump :dizzy: :laugh:

60 freakin dollars........its enough to make you sick:mad:

I put $30 in my grocery getter on Monday. And I'll be fillin up again Friday morning.:doh: But I get 30MPG.

An LPG conversion would be great... But it is expensive. It would pay off after 3 years in gas savings... But its a big investment.

JIMIf it's MPG or $$/mile that's a target...an LPG conversion is easy without sacrificing too much (all of the taxi cabs run it here).

If money is no object on this target, I suppose a very long legged constant velocity trannie could help (because it always has the correct gear to maintain optimal engine rpms at any speed). But can you say "cha ching".

I work with a guy here that did his own hybrid conversion to a small commuter car where he installed a surplus electric torpedo motor and some lead acid batteries. He doesn't use much gas, but he has it plugged into a socket every time I see him.

An LPG conversion would be great... But it is expensive. It would pay off after 3 years in gas savings... But its a big investment. JIM

That's what I thought when I got my car here. Gas prices have almost doubled here in the past 3 years, so I'm wishing I'd gone for something that's cheaper than $70 to fill up (and I only have a baby sized wanna be 4x4).

Since gas is only likely to go up...I'll bet that payoff period will get shorter and shorter...especially if a few longer trips are thrown in there.

i got 5.7 v8 in my gmc and it gets a bit better than you are getting with yours. i had a 318 in a dakota extended cab i used to have. got rid of it because no matter what, dual exhaust tune ups tire swaps it just sucked gas wise. that and it went through a tranny about once every six months.i get 16-18 unless im pulling my camper then its like gallons to the mile it seems. Actually its like anywheres from 7-9 mpg.