I have a 2007 f150 Lariat with 5.4 gas with 230,000 miles on it. Its my work truck and I'm looking for better gas mileage, horse power and torque. what would be better without causing transmission issues. Chip or Tuner. I'm not familiar with either. looking for recommendations.

 

There are no "chips" for these trucks, it takes a tuner to change the engine parameters. You're not going to see better MPG, though it may improve power and performance.

 

Yeah no tuners are going to improve mpg. I dont think there's many of us, including me with a 5.4 that gets the EPA rated fuel economy. 5.4s are gas guzzlers and you're not going to change that

 

I completely agree that these 5.4s are guzzlers BUT... I do think you can improve your MPG slightly. It all will depend on your tune and your driving style. I've got an Edge Evo and I can squeeze out an extra 1 - 2 MPG by changing my sift points and getting my torque conv to lock a little sooner than stock. Also, I've experimented with bumping my timing down -0.25 but didn't like how the truck felt when loaded up. Trading off power for MPG isn't as awesome as it sounded.
If you tune your truck for more power/torque then you're probably going to sacrifice MPG. If someone has a way to get more power and better MPG with a triton engine than please teach me.

 

While I don't remember the exact numbers and it's been awhile since looking at my real world mpg's. I have power and what I consider decent mpg's. On a trip to Fl from Ga and got 16+ mpg on a 87 tune through Atlanta traffic and then quite a heavy foot down to South Ga where I bought an enclosed trailer. This is with 3 people and luggage.

Now I have a empty trailer, 3 people, and luggage down to Fl. This time I got just around 9 mpg, and not a lot of power to show for it.

The trip back changing to the 93 p&t tune, 3 people, luggage, and a 14' enclosed loaded top to bottom, and front to back with furniture and other house hold goods going uphill into Ga. I got the same just about 9 mpg's with the power to mostly maintain a 70-75 mph cruising speed.

Now I just keep it on the 93 p&t tune and can't get an honest mpg because the route I take is only 16 miles 1 way , lots of hills, I keep the OD off because of the hills, speed, and my higher gearing due to larger tires. Plus I can't help but to have my foot in it from time to time.

I'd like to think if I took a trip and stayed at the speed limit. I could crack into the 19-21 mpg range, or maybe more on some flat ground.

With the 5 Star 93 p&t tune, cai, cat back, 3.55 gear, and 32" tires my truck made 265hp/356ftlb to the tires. Factor in the drivetrain loss and that puts me at about 320hp at the flywheel. Which is 20hp over a factory fresh engine. This had about 160k on the odometer so the gain could be more, but I didn't do a box stock run , so who really knows.

To the OP my suggestion is to by a tuner from a place like 5 Star, or MPT you will be much happier for the same money.

Too many people think a tuner will always lead to a better mpg, but dont factor in their truck is jerked up another 4' in the air, on 35x13s. It don't work like that.

 

I have a tuner. The edge (now gryphon)
I had a custom tune, but didn't like running my old truck that hard, so I returned to stock.
I use it for data monitoring now. It also looks cool on the dash.

 

This is where I'm at. I had a Gryphon with custom tunes on my '07. Loved it!! Ran it primarily on the tow tune. Have it on my '04 with 59,000 miles now, but it's reverted back to a stock Edge and used just for data monitoring. Toying with the idea of getting custom codes written for my '04, but like @SCORGE I'm hesitant because of the trucks age. I did have to rebuild the transmission on my '07 at around 125,000 miles. No idea if the tuner had anything to do with that or not though.