devereas

I recently sold my 2009 Flex and purchased a 2010 F-150 Platinum. It has 51,000 miles and has the 5.4L FlexFuel V8.

We also purchased a 24' Ultra-Lite trailer hence the switch to the truck.

I realize I won't get the same fuel economy I had with the Flex but I know there are things that can be done to help. However I will freely admit I am not super mechanical and have never really done much after market to my vehicles.

The most obvious option is getting one of the computer programmer things so I can set it for max fuel economy when just being used a s a daily driver. SuperChips seems to be the first one I always find but I know there are other options that may be better. I don't want to purchase the first thing I find and would love to get some input. That being said I am looking mainly for something easy to use as I doubt I will ever be making a bunch of fine-tuned adjustments.

I also know you can do things with the air filter and exhaust system but I am not sure about the best options. Also when it comes to the exhaust, personally speaking, I don't like a super loud truck. I want it to have a nice purr.

Again any recommendations would be fantastic. Thank you.

Ricktwuhk

All crap. Do some reading, the key to best gas mileage is to drive with a light foot.

When you tow, be prepared for single digits.

jdunk54nl

What gas mileage are you getting? Start with that. It looks like 14-15 is the average according to the fuelly data.

http://www.fuelly.com/car/ford/f-150...=&submodel_id=

This is a truck, a tune won't help with gas mileage other than forcing you to drive with a light foot, which is no fun. I don't know who tunes 2010 but maybe 5* and MPT. They are the more popular for the 2011+ anyway. A tune generally just helps with power delivery.

Also try replacing your air filter with a wix or napa gold (same exact filter). Try cleaning your MAF/MAP sensors and throttle body. Exhaust/intake do not do anything but make it sound different. Don't waste your money. Ford over designed these things and unless you are going for crazy horsepower you won't realize the gains until your wallet is a lot lighter from other upgrades, and then your gas mileage will be worse than where it started.

Other than that, not much you can do other than going to the lighest tire and start removing weight from the truck. Since you plan to tow the tire option is out and you should have a good towing tire. I am also sure you don't want to remove everything from inside the truck so that option is out too.

devereas

As of this morning my average is at 15.1. On my first long freeway drive I think it topped at 17.2 . Relatively small sample so far as I have only put about 1,200 miles on it. The truck was in beautiful shape and maintenance records indicate it was well maintained. I am guessing the previous (only) owner was an older person as the interior looks brand new. I don't need or want crazy horsepower and it is likely never to go any further off-road then occasional gravel.

I figure I will likely be towing the trailer once a month and a little more often in the summer. It has the full factory tow package so it looks like the trailer is about half of our max tow weight. If making the add-ons won't create a significant improvement then I will save the money for camping.

The truck has a pretty good amount of 'snort' already when I have needed but I tend to be pretty gentle in my daily driving. I see a lot of trucks that go much faster and are much louder then mine.

Enginner5

#2 post is right on. Your going to throw a lot of money at a problem that can't be solved or, at best, show negligible improvements.

devereas

Thanks for the link. As the truck is the Platinum Trim SuperCrew when you filter for that it actually looks like I am above average at the moment.

Eric M

As these guys said, don't waste your money. Nothing you add will improve MPG. The only thing that will really help MPG is proper use of your right foot. Avoid idling, keep your tires properly inflated.

marshallr

You're already doing better than most, 17mpg hwy is about as good as it gets, 13-14 mpg is common for most every day driving. Most people that add stuff to the trucks reduce fuel mileage. Larger tires with more aggressive tread will hurt. Keep up the good work.

devereas

Well that saved me some money then. I was planning to order the ECM Tuner tonight. But I think I will pass. I have no plans to do anything funky to the truck to hurt the mileage. It's my daily driver other then that it will tow the trailer occasionally and make runs to Home Depot.

ji603