Hello everyone,

My 04 6.0 has been really good. I have removed the air box cover and added 5in turbo back exhaust which is straight through no muffler or cat. My fuel mileage is terrible, mostly get 12-13. My question is did the exhaust make it worse or taking the air box cover off do any good? Any thoughts? I was also wondering if there are any simple things to help with mileage? and are short trips really bad for these motors? I have only and 6 mile drive to work. Should i be letting it idle at both ends? I have heard fuel additives will help, which ones are best? I am just trying to figure out whats best for the life and mileage. The power is pretty good! Enough to do 170 foot posi burnouts!! Love to do it but hate buying tires haha. Well any thoughts and ideas would be great!!

Aaron

 

Are you running aftermarket tuning? A good tune on an sct will help mpg

 

I used to have a 6 mile drive to work myself. I would always start the truck up and then go back in the house and take a shower and then go to work (at least in the winter time anyways), then on the way home I'd take the long way home. I hated pulling in to work and the temp gauge was just starting to register on the dash. Plugging it in will help too. Shorts trips kill things like the exhaust system, get that warmth in there shortly and it creates condensation, then shut the truck off and the thing just rots.

As for the mileage, that's pretty crappy. I've gotten down to 13 a couple of times, but that's with ~420+ rwhp driving like an idiot.

 

6 mile trips aren't for a diesel truck. That's what is hurting your MPGs. I drive 100 miles a day on a 6" lift w/35s to hit 16 MPG on average. Even better running long runs (10+ hours) down the interstate.

 

When I was on 33s going 10 miles one way to work, I was getting 13.0/14.8 in town. But I also had a programmer on it and I live at 4000ft. Those numbers went down when I went to 35s, but got some about 1~1.25 back ditching the air box front. Now I am on SCT and I have seen as high as 14.8 on 35s in town using, I think, Diesel Kleen. Regardless of what I was using, it was in a 200:1 ratio (gallons pumped x 128)/200= amount to pour in. Further, I don't know if you have an MPG liar on board, but I hand calculate mine.

Look up the Zoodad mod if you haven't already, drive like a Gram'ma, and consider an SCT with custom tunes (really like Matt's SRL tune) if your oil cooler isn't clogged.

 

Thanks for the replies guys!!! First off my truckis on a stock tune. I want to get an sct but gotta to sell a few things to please the wife first haha. I usually let it idle for 8 min in the winter before i leave. Also think i will plug it in more this winter with a timer so its not heating all night. I just dont think that mileage is right and thats hand calculated. Maybe i will get beater to drive to work. I got 15-16 when it was all stock. so the exhaust and air box cover removal must have made it worse. Sometimes i mix in some b99 biodiesel which makes it lower but still 12 seems pretty bad. I will look up the Zoodad mod. What is the srl tune? I will also try some of that diesel kleen. Thanks for all the help guys any other input would be aweswome. thanks again

Aaron

 

Plugging it in will certainly help. It can't properly burn all of the fuel until it's warmed up. Idle obviously cuts down on mileage too.

How are you hand calculating? Are you filling it up until you can see fuel resting in the neck? Can't just fill til the pump clicks off, takes like 10-15 minutes at the pump to get it there, PITA, which is why I stopped checking it.

When's the last time the fuel filters were done? B99 is sure to clean the system right out and send all the junk into the filters. Not saying B99 is bad, I live anything bio/WVO related, just make sure the filters are clean.

 

I have done both fill to the neck and the first click routine, both had the same results in the end. Probably should file this under "better lucky than good", but to get a TRUE indication of what's going on, filling it to the same spot (ie in the neck where you can see it) will prove once and for all how accurate your numbers are.

I'd really recommend checking the oil temp vs coolant temp before the SCT. If the ECT/EOT are greater than ~ 15* apart, say cruising the highway at 70, it's time for an oil cooler. While you're in there, may as well ditch the EGR cooler. It's a vicious cycle, but we all go through it. Oh yeah, coolant filter.

Point is, why crank up an engine that needs maintenance done? Especially cooling system/oiling maintenance.

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I fixed it for you Karl....haha -Mdub707-

 

I will check the oil temp and coolant temp. Whats the best way to check? Do i need to hook up to it or should i try to put gauges in? Also where is the coolant filter? How do i change it? ONE THING I FORGOT TO MENTION!! I took my truck to ford garage to have "updates" done to my truck. I have thought back and thats when my mileage went down the tubes. I was getting 15-16 mix of highway and city. I have not seen that for a year now. Could they have changed programming for some reason? Once again any ideas help and advice and info is great too. This is my first diesel so im tryin to learn all i can

Thanks
Aaron