Losing gas mileage; HELP!

[Juday]

I thought I read somewhere in the manual that it said the Titan will never need any type of fuel system cleaner ever? I don't remember the logic behind it, but I do remember something like that catching my eye when I was reading through the manual when I bought the truck.

[amati5]

Happened to my 04 once. I thought it was the gas station I switched to. A week later, I got CEL on with a code P0456 (not sure the #). Dealer said my Evap system leaked and they fixed it. After that the mileage went back to normal.

[Reid Roeske]

Interesting thought on the hanging up parking brake. I had the pads ont eh parking brake on the drivers side go out about 2 mths ago. My local station that I trust just pulled off teh pads, said that would be good enough for teh parking brake, and save about 200 bucks for pads. I wonder if something goofy is going on on teh passenger side.

As for teh dealer, I think all they did was plug it into teh computer, computer says OK, must not be a problem!? Thats kinda why I posted here, looking for things the computer might not show. Biggest problem is dealer is 2 hrs away, tough to keep running there to "test" stuff.

Heres something else I forgot to mention. I had it into teh local shop to fix radator leak, and had them plug it into their magic box. They said that it was reading that it was running lean. They said that didn't make sense, that with bad gas mileage it should be running rich. They said that even when they spiked the acceclerator it still showed lean, and should read rich for a brief moment. That raise any flags w/ anyone?

[cneary812]

Originally Posted by Juday

I thought I read somewhere in the manual that it said the Titan will never need any type of fuel system cleaner ever? I don't remember the logic behind it, but I do remember something like that catching my eye when I was reading through the manual when I bought the truck.

yeah when I bought my truck the salesman tried to tell me 3 things.

1. the spare tire was a doughnut

2. NEVER USE PREMIUM FUEL!!!

3. NEVER PUT FUEL INJECTOR CLEANER IN THE TANK!

with that said... if your performance is getting bad a little can of STP won't hurt anything every 5k miles or so.

[BULLTITAN]

This might off topic but this might help to some extent.



TIPS FOR PUMPING GAS

I don't know what you guys are paying
for gasoline, but here in California , we are also paying higher, up to
$3.50 per gallon. But my line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years
now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money's worth for every
gallon.

Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where
I work in San Jose , CA we deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour
period through the pipeline. One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel,
and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here
with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in
the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember
that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground.
The colder the ground t he more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer
gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening . . .
Your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the
specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet
fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role. A
1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the
service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you're filling up, do not squeeze
the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look, you will see that
the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode,
you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that
are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor
return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that
goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and
back into the underground storage tank so you're getting l ess worth for
your money.

One of the most important tips is to
fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for
this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its
empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline
storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero
clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the
evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck
that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually
the exact amount.

Another reminder, if there is a gasoline
truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT
fill up! Most likely, the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is
being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally
settles on the bottom.

Hope this will help you get the most
value for your money.

[anmut]

Interesting tips - I've heard of the cold theory before - but never the slow pumping one. Right now it's 12f here so no worries about getting condensed gas at any time of the day!

[Yahooligan]

Just thought I would mention something about the K&N...

If you're replacing the paper filter with a K&N panel filter don't expect to see any gains. The OEM filter will flow more CFM than your engine needs, by switching to a K&N that "flows more" you really aren't getting anything since the paper filter wasn't the restriction for getting air into the engine. If the engine pulls 600cfm max at WOT and the paper filter can flow 950cfm, how does a K&N that flows 1150cfm going to make any difference?

That said, moving to a CAI that gets rid of the restrictive, turbulent intake pipes will allow the engine to breathe easier due to the smooth, relatively straight shot from the filter to the throttle body. The filter wasn't causing the restriction, the intake tubing and design of the OEM system was.

[TitanRider]

I notice better throttle response and the truck ran smoother with the K/N filter.

[Yahooligan]

Originally Posted by TitanRider

I notice better throttle response and the truck ran smoother with the K/N filter.

If it was replacing a very dirty paper filter with a K&N panel filter then you might feel a slight difference, but to "feel" more power when going from a clean paper filter to a K&N panel filter is called the placebo effect. Unconscious justification that because something changed then something CHANGED.

This has already been proven on the dyno, BTW.

http://www.jackphelps.com/frontier/dynoknfilter.htm