Diesel truck guys

[GMbusa]

I'm looking at an 04'Ford F350 diesel. It's a crewcab longbed Harley edition with an 8" suspension lift and 38" tires. Other than that it's all stock.

Question is about fuel economy. The owner of the truck says he's getting 11-12mpg. I've heard that diesel engines actually get better fuel mileage as you improve performance. Is this true? Could i possibly get this truck into the 18-20mpg range? If so, what do i do?

I'm thinking of a power package of some kind from a diesel performance shop. Exhaust, tuner, coldair intake. Maybe a different intake manifold.

Any info or sites you could direct me to would be appreciated.

 

[Professor]

Paul that should be one of the first 6.0s and there were quite a few problems. 8 inches up catches more wind and 38's are not going to help. You are not going to get 18 out of it like it is. I'm suprised he can get 12. You might with a stock truck and tires if you put the right tuner on it. (edge) I have had guys report back with 1-3mpg in the lower performance ranges. Cold air and exhaust won't help milage much if any.

I have seen a Duramax 2wd get 20mpg 245 tire lost .5-.7 with 265s on it.

 

[ToyKraz]

I have a Dodge 5.9L Cummins DRW 3500. I have the Banks Six Gun tuner with speed loader, RAM Air and Scotty V intake. Was getting around 18 to 20 with stock tires. I put 35" Nitto Mud Grapplers and only a 2" leveling kit up front. I keep the Banks set at level 3 and get about 12mpg around town and 16 to 18mpg highway. The taller you make it the less the MPG will be do to air drag.

 

[GMbusa]

Thanks for the info.  I guess i'm gonna have to pass on the truck. I do 50 mile round trip daily and the fuel cost would probly eat me alive.

Figures, i find a killer truck and can't get it because of these damn high fuel costs.  Freakin oil companies!!  

 

[ToyKraz]

Don't give up. Get yourself a nice Dodge 2500 or 3500 with the manual tranny. I hear numbers like 20 to 23 all day long in those trucks with the manual. Plus they look good lifted, but not 8".

 

[GSXRFANN]

My 04 Dodge dually gets around 14-16 in town and about 21 on the highway. Beleive it or not, on the highway, the mpg doesn't go down even when pulling my trailer. Mine has the 6.0 HO in it and it is a 2wheel drive.
My brother has an 04 Ford dually 4wheel drive and hets about 13-15 in town and about the same on the highway. It pulls really well though (so does my dodge).
If you like the truck man, go ahead and get it. Hopefully since it is an election year, the prices of fuel will go down...especially since the "oil man" will be out of office.

 

[Mr Bogus]

we ran ford and chevy diesel duallies for at least 500K pulling a 28' Hallmark beaver tail and a 45 Chaparell with side pods

We also manufactured and installed Turbo kits for both.. I never saw mileage go up with performance and none of our clients ever stated such.. Kits were $2200 installed with New Air research T04

Biggest sales points of the kits by the men... power, better hill climbing (6-8 psi, accomplished by adjusting pump up or down)
Biggest sales points of the kits by the women... no more black soot on the campers

 

[goodluck]

the fords dont get very good mileage and they seem to have alot of injector problems

 

[Mr Bogus]

the fords dont get very good mileage and they seem to have alot of injector problems

hmm we never had injector issues, however in the mid 80's the fords suffered from "porous" castings on the cylinder walls. Coolant would seep "through" the wall on to the piston.. made for some hard starts for sure..

There was a class action suit on this and Ford finally owned up to the issue and finally started fixing the affected vehicles..

 

[Professor]

we ran ford and chevy diesel duallies for at least 500K pulling a 28' Hallmark beaver tail and a 45 Chaparell with side pods

We also manufactured and installed Turbo kits for both..  I never saw mileage go up with performance and none of our clients ever stated such..  Kits were $2200 installed with New Air research T04

Biggest sales points of the kits by the men...  power, better hill climbing (6-8 psi, accomplished by adjusting pump up or down)
Biggest sales points of the kits by the women... no more black soot on the campers

Randy,

What year trucks are you talking about?

If you are talking about trucks that didn't come from the factory OEM with a turbo, that has been quite a few years back. It is a whole new ball game with the newer common rail high fuel pressure trucks built in the last 5 years.

 

[Professor]

the fords dont get very good mileage and they seem to have alot of injector problems

hmm we never had injector issues,

See my last post. The Ford 6.0 and the Duramax had many problems with injectors. GM even doubled the warrantee on some models to 200k because of it.

 

[PandaNin]

I have a 2003 Dodge 2500 4x4 extended cab with the cummins turbo diesel HO (6.0L) manual 6-speed with yokohama knobbies - dang that's a mouthful

On mixed highway/city driving I average around 20mpg. For straight highway driving with cruise on at 70 I get around 23.

Yea Dodge.

 

[zukracer]

well if you get one, setup your own biodisel and make gas for like .55 a gallon

 

[BlkDrgnZ28]

my best friend is a complete deisel nut hes get a 2007 dodge 2500 diesel on 20's with 35's with a chip and a intake getting 15-16 pulling his lawn trailer around town and when we went to tennesse we were averaging 22.5 at around 90 mph with his stuff done i think he's in the 6 hundred horsepower range and 9 hundred pounds of torque its pretty ballsy for a big truck i'de say go for it but he ended up getting the dodge because of the reliability compared to the fords but you could always run the bio diesel my friends to afraid to run it in his 50k truck but heres a linky for it to buy the kit all you have to do is mix it properly, and add the proper amount of lye and racing gas and its pretty cheap after you buy the kit i'de say for it and do the biodiesel and whatever you get your grease from your truck will smell like it say french fries or chicken nuggets the only problem is fat guys will follow your truck like fat kid to a ice cream truck ... i'de probably be the first following the fries

 

[greyrocket]

yeah those dodge trucks are bad drove friends with 400hp and 800tq and his 52 gallon tank he got about 16 in town.

 

[black954]

I just borrowed my friends 2004 F250 4x4 crew cab diesel auto to pull my 5,000 lb trailer to Florida. I set the cruise at 70mph and got 9-12 mpg. I was not satisfied at all seeing as my Escalade gets 12mpg pulling the same trailer 70mph. The owner installed an Edge chip and lost economy even when it was set to the economy mode. He only kept it on for a month and then sold it. The truck gets 12-15 mpg when not pulling also. I talked to a guy at the track with the brand new twin turbo Ford and he got 8mpg and wasn't happy at all. Everything I hear is that the Dodge is by far the best diesel to have and gets way better mileage. After this experience, i'll just put 4.10 gears in my Escalade and keep it. Cost me $600 round trip from Chicago to northern Florida in diesel, which is about $.40 a gallon more expensive.

 

[BlkDrgnZ28]

yeah i'de like to get one just for the power its i don't really care if its 4x4 though i just want a decent street truck with decent power cause i want something taht i can put my bike in the back of if i needed to

 

[DREW]

If you go Ford, dont buy newer than 2002. 03 was the first year of the 6.0 which has had many problems. The tried and true 7.3 is the way to go. Mine has 4" turbo back exhaust,intake kit, and tuner. Should be making around 475 hp and 750 + torque. Mine gets 15-17 around town. 285/75/16 bridgestone tires.