Aftermarket Gas saving Add ons

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Andy Cabrera

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My 2002 ST was getting 15mpg city 19mpg hwy. Adding a factory folding tonneau cover I increased my numbers to 16/20. I will be adding a K&N Cold air intake as well.

Deferring to those who have far more experience with ST's here, what other aftermarket equipment should I consider to increase the MPG's



Andy



 
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Andy, on my '08, 4.6l, I added a magnaflow cat back system, a K&N series 57? cold air intake and a Zabteck throttle body. Only after the TB did I see any gains. I consistantly see around 18mpg around town and about 21 on the highway. (before 15.5/17) However the big thing is that as good as the truck may sound and run, mpg depends on how hard you hit the loud pedal! I'll soon be getting a tuner from SCT, will keep you posted. Bob;)
 
Thanx Bob

As far as driving habits I drive this truck like "Sammy Safedriver" I crawl from a stop, I use the cruise control constantly and avoid hard braking. That's probably how I am keeping the mpg where they are.

I have a built 86 E30 BMW for my insanity <lol>
 
Just about any mod that will increase the efficiency and therefore the performance of your engine will slightly contribute to better MPG...A lot depends on your driving habits as well.



I've seen a progressive increase in gas mileage after adding the exhaust, intake, TB, Xcal, syn oils, etc...I got these mods for performance though, gas mileage was a nice side effect ;)



I doubt you'll ever recoup the money you spent on these mods as far as the savings you'll see at the pump...



 
I have my doughts about the tonneau cover MPG. MIT and scam busters wrote articles 2 yrs ago. It is false. Also droping the tail gate in a drag race change nonthing.
 
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A ScanGauge II is probably the best mod for improving MPG. It provides you with real time MPG info, allowing you to adjust your driving habits to obtain the best MPG.



All the performance mods that everyone mentioned have the potential to improve MPG, but the usually have the opposite effect. It has been "scientifically proven" (at least by many on this site) that performance mods also often cause the driver's foot to become heavier, thus reducing MPG.;)
 
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As Bob mentioned, adding a decent exhaust will make a difference no matter any other change. When I put on my Magnaflow system, both the MPG and performance was noticeable.



Also, as others mentioned, driving habits. I had a guy tell me to drive as though you have a hot cup of coffee sitting on your dash and you don't want to spill it.



When I do so, and I do not consistently exceed 70 MPH, I gain 3/10th of a mile per gallon. That is a substantial amount over a month of driving...
 
Also remember the cost of those items.....



How long will it take $1,000 dollars in mods to pay off ???



Probably 6 years...



Todd Z
 
Fast Eddie, i believe what was proven false was that driving on the highway with the tailgate down does not improve at all, and matter of fact it probably works better with the tailgate up. But for sure a tonneau cover does improve the airflow over the back.



 
But for sure a tonneau cover does improve the airflow over the back.



Depends on the height of the truck and the length of the bed. As Todd said, even if using a hard bed cover improved gas milage, it takes years to break even.
 
A ScanGauge II is probably the best mod for improving MPG. It provides you with real time MPG info, allowing you to adjust your driving habits to obtain the best MPG.



I've been reading about the Scangauge II. It looks like a great mod. My BMW has something similar.

The bonus is that it reads OBD2 codes as well. What about LCD location. WHo has photos of their install?
 
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Richie 18, I will see if I can find the article from MIT. You can look for it also. They give all the specs of wind tunnel and real world driving. With and without the cover. They go into detail to explain it and why. I think they used a 4 door colorado for the test. Using exact measurements of gas and all. They prooved no improovement.

Sorry to bust your bubble.

Drag racers I know that are savy remove the tailgate for wieght loss. Except the ones that need the weightfor traction.
 
I've found that cruise control actually tends to hurt mileage in my ST. By keeping CC off, you can ease off the pedal more when going down small hills and allow yourself to drop a few MPH up the hill at a lighter throttle setting. The CC might ease off going down, but when it senses the drop off going up, it will apply more and more throttle, sometimes even causing a downshift, in an effort to maintain speed.



If you can keep a light foot and maintain the speed you want when cruising (speed tends to creep up on many people, especially depending on other traffic), I almost guarantee you'll do 1-2 MPG better on the highway without CC.



I also find that my truck's sweet spot is 62-65 MPH. I can maintain an average (using my ScanGauge) of 22-24 MPG at this speed, 68-75 MPH I drop off to about 18 MPG, over 75 drops to 15-16 MPG.
 
Richie18, MIT did do this study. It was a full page study in the Houston chronicle, Auto section. About 2yrs ago. At varius speeds with the cover. No gain in mpg. Some of thier result were different. As I said I think they used a 4 dr chevy colorado.

I have a cover. The one thing I found for my Trac isit helped stability in cross winds.
 
Guys,

I can attest that the cover does help MPG. I bought my ST w/o a cover. I drove it for a month as is an I was getting 15/19. I carefully kept tabs on miles vs gallons of fuel. I bought a used OEM cover for the purpose of having a lockable storage area and mileage did increase by 1 mpg. MIT study or not on my ST it helped, not a lot, but it helped. It has been a month with the cover and the numbers have been consistant.



Andy
 
As previously stated, most of the items mentioned are for gaining HP, which is typically counter productive for fuel economy, although if you drive like a little old lady, you might see a small gain in MPG. The cost of most of that equipment will require many years to payback and you may never fully recover their costs.



As a comparison, I used to get just over 22 MPG on the highway with the only modification being a drop-in K&N filter. That was acheived by driving between 70-75 MPH and about 500 lbs of luggage and gear in the bed and under the tonneau cover.



The best and cheapest thing you can do to get better mileage is to insure the truck is properly tuned: You are not carrying excessive, unnecessary weight; and that your driving habits are designed to save gas. Any acceleration eats gas, so you need to accelerate more slowly, and don't change speeds even on the highway. If you are driving faster than the majority of the vehicles on the highway, you will constantly have to slow down and speed up.



I found that if you go 1-2 MPH slower than the rest of the traffic, you wil lsee a very noticable improvement in your gas mileage. Not solely because you are driving slowere, but because you will not have to slow down for slower traffic and then accelerate back up to speed again.



I have gotten my best mileage on the highway by driving late at night after midnight, when there is little or no traffic on the road. I have driven nearly an entire tank of gas on cruise control without hardly ever having to even touch the brake pedal. That really gives you great mileage.



If the highways in your area are very congested, you will not see a big improvment in your mileage simply because of the traffic and the constant speed changes necessary.



A 4300+ lbs truck cannot be expected to get mileage like a Honda Fit, etc, and your mileage sound very reasonable for the conditions you are probably driving in.



...Richard



 
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