lkennamer

Alright guys so the other day my buddy gave me his old throttle body spacer, a Helix Power Tower Plus, from his old truck because he took it off when he sold his old early 2000's f150 to buy a 6.4 f250. Luckily, the instructions said the throttle body spacer would fit 2009 through 2010 f150's as well. I decided to install it for the hell of it because I wanted to hear that whistle they make for kicks, and because it was free so there was nothing to lose. I knew that throttle body spacers were supposed to be gimmicks, and wouldn't supposedly do anything powerwise and mpg wise. So I put it on it made the cool little whistle when i step on it, and when shifting to a lower gear which was cool. I then finished off the tank of gas I had with the spacer installed. When I got to 10 miles to empty I went to fill up. I only put 30 gallons in because the pump cut out at 100$ so I couldn't fill my entire tank, so I figured I probably had roughly 32 gallons. Then, I got in my truck AND MY DASH SAID 589 MILES TO EMPTY!!!!!!!!! NOT ONCE SINCE I BOUGHT THE TRUCK NEW OFF THE LOT IN LATE 2010 WITH ONLY 20 MILES ON THE DASH HAVE I SEEN ANYTHING MORE THAN 450 MILES TO EMPTY!!!!!! Haha I didn't even see more than 450 miles to E when I was stock! I have a 2010 lariat super crew 5.4 4x4 with 3.73's, a 6" Rough Country lift, 35x12.50R18 Nitto Trail Grapplers with 20,000 miles on them at 55 psi all around, 18x9 fuel octanes with 5" backspacing, banks monster cat back dual exhaust, SCT 3015 programmer custom tuned by MPT currently running the 87 economy tune with the chill shift setting. I have had this same set up for 20,000 miles and this whole time I have never seen more then 400 miles to empty. When I was at stock height and stock tire size, which I was for 15000 miles, I never saw more then 450 miles to empty. What's blowing my mind is that 2 days after installing the Helix Power Tower Plus throttle body spacer my miles to empty jumped to 589?! With not even a full tank of gas?!? I only have about 32 gallons in my 36 gallon tank which puts me at around 17MPG.(+1mpg/-1mpg for not being exactly sure how many gallons are currently in my tank) I believe the throttle body spacer might have ACTUALLY WORKED!! The weird thing is this is the only mod other than my lift and tires of course that I have installed not expecting some form of improvement in MPG and it actually did something!!! I have driven for 8 miles and since the epic mpg bump, and it is still holding true. I'm now at 581 miles to empty after driving to school today! I will hand calculate my miles per gallon after this tank of gas to ensure that I am not just being duped by an inaccurate display.

Well guys maybe these things arent gimmicks! I don't feel an increase in power at all, but maybe barely sharper throttle response. So essentially, this is literally blowing my mind. It's AWESOME.

Stock: around 12.6 mpg for 15,000 miles
Lift/tunes/tires/cat back: 11.8 for 20,000 miles
After Throttlebody spacer: 17?!?! WTF!!! Haha

Also, I haven't reset the little average mpg dash display since installing the throttle body spacer so it still shows around 12.3 average miles per gallon, but I honestly probably won't even bother to because I don't trust it. Many people on here have hand calculated and shown the average miles per gallon display to be inaccurate.

Maybe the spacer didn't do anything, and my throttle body was just scooted off to the side or something, and when installing the spacer it became properly aligned, or something like that. Who knows?!? All I Know is I am loving the new miles per gallon!!

Also, right before the fill up, I used my winch to pull a buddy in his 95 2WD Jeep Cherokee with no clearance out of a ditch. My buddy was bottomed out and stuck in a ditch on the side of a road, and it was not wanting to come out ever. Then, I put it in park, switched to 4x4 in case I needed to get some extra tug by putting it in reverse to back him out if the winch wasn't enough, then I put it into neutral and engaged the e-brake because I always use my winch in neutral with the e-brake engaged to prevent the weight the winch is pulling straining my transmission's park gear. Then, I got out and winched him out and the winch was pulling hard. The was pulling so hard it was scooting and jerking my truck around a good bit because he was really jammed in there. So, MAYBE pulling his jeep straightened out my drivetrain resulting in the improved efficiency?!? Who knows?!?

I haven't changed my driving style since I bought the truck new off the lot, so it's not me causing the gains. I always have had the exact same moderate driving style. I don't accelerate or brake hard, but I'm definitely not slow. I'm actually heavy footed by the standards of most. Also, I live on a mountain that has a city on top, so my miles per gallon has always been bad until just now because I'm always driving up hill, going around curves, at stops signs, and all my driving is generally short distance which melts miles per gallon. Essentially this sudden improvement completely caught me by surprise because I always thought throttle body spacers were complete gimmicks!

Lastly, guys I am in no way a salesman for these things, or trying to get everyone to go get one. I'm just a high school student so no BS here. I just made this post to share my epic experience because I am amazed by this sudden improvement in efficiency.

Here's a picture of the dash miles to empty display for proof.



Attachment 188552

zimmer0

iTrader: (1)

waiting for hand calculations. You even stated that the display is inaccurate, so why all of a sudden believe it?

lkennamer

Dunno just excited ha hoping its true i guess!

zimmer0

iTrader: (1)

just dont be disappointed when its not haha

lkennamer

True, but whats getting me thinking maybe there's a tiny tiny chance its not a glitch is that I have driven 8 miles since the epic fill up and the dash display is right there at 581 which is 8 miles lower right where it outta be

lariat05.4

Any chance you unhooked that battery when installing it? That could have reset everything causing the computer to recalculate everything. Just an idea.

rdkev

The DTE has to do with the grade you are sitting on... LOL! Turn your truck on in a place where the front end is higher or lower than the back it will give you a different DTE because of how the gas is in the tank. This post was fun to read... You are a human with a brain, this spacer cannot and did not change anything haha... Maybe the noise.

M&D

X2. Your gauge display means nothing until you run a full tank and check it manually.

HoustonRider

Hand calc vs my gauge is on par ( within a .10 or so ) when I verify, and also verify against my gas card input.

I think programmers that are added to trucks distort reality. But I could be wrong.

21RRF150

iTrader: (1)

X2 on what everyone elset says. I have a TBS in my truck. It did nothing, except my mpg minder is way off now by 4 whole mpg's vs hand calc. And i unhooked my battery, and did the reset that's listed in the how to section.

Prob going to take it out soon, just so my minder is more accurate.