chip411 said:
For us people up here in the north country, the defroster has the same effect that the A/C does. The defroster on most vehicles causes the A/C compressor to turn on. Once on, the compressor will cycle on/off until you turn the truck off. A/C & Defroster, aside from a heavy foot, have been the biggest MPG killers for me.
Yes!! Totally agreed from the old hotrodder!
Let me share some other things you can do:
Keep the stock paper air filter. It's more restrictive. Less air = computer throws in less gas.
Air the tires up. You alone can decide if the ride difference is worth it. Although I went to 10 ply tires (takeoffs from a brand new Ford: $100 ea) and they are stiff as a brick, I didn't find the ride difference any great deal. No, it won't set off the TPS system. TPS only sets an alarm when the pressure falls BELOW a certain point. Bonus: .5 MPG increase.
Accelerate at 2300 RPM. When you pull away from the stop sign, point the tach at that spot and keep it there until you get to speed. Learn what the truck sounds like when accelerating with the tach at that spot and learn to use it. I spent a month and a half testing my truck with different acceleration RPM to get this number. Yes, that was about eight tanks of gas, but each was over almost exactly the same drive: to and from work. This one thing got me almost 1 MPG.
Learn to coast the truck. This truck will roll extremely well, so get off the gas like half a block or more before you need to hit the brakes. Unless you're going uphill, you won't lose that much speed. Try it - you'll be amazed.
As a corollary to that: Learn to get completely off the gas when possible. This truck will use a LOT more fuel any time you even raise it up off idle, especially if you're coasting to a stop. Also, learn to be smooth on the gas. The pedal is really too light on the truck, and it's easy to bounce it around while you're out driving. Guess what: if you are on and off the gas, the drive-by-wire thinks you're accelerating and decelerating for each one of those transitions.
Change to synthetic oils. While I don't really believe Royal Purple's claims of 4-6 MPG, you can gain some fuel mileage from the reduced frictions.
Get the O2 sensor changed. Sometimes they get flaky but don't throw a code. If you look at the output waveform on one of these goofy ones, instead of a reasonably smooth change in voltage as the ECU manages the engine, the thing is all spiky and all over. The ECU doesn't sample it frequently enough to realize it's actually giving voltages that are out of spec.
So what was my experience? I went from 13.4 to 14.7 MPG, same city/highway drive to work, same gas, same driver. Haven't changed the O2 sensor yet, but am considering it as the truck is now passing 60,000 miles. These are average figures; I've actually done as high as 15.6 and as low as 12. That's almost a 10% change, and aside from getting into the ECU, it's probably about as good as I can expect.
Hope this helps. :cheers:
