Yeah man, thanks Im gunna try to do whatever I can. Its tough right now cause of all the ads and stuff making it seem like school is the only way to go, and if you dont do it, your gunna fail at life, which is complete bull. And right now, school isnt for me, well for right now at least.

 

One thing to look into is your fuel filter. Change it out if you haven't in the last 20-30k miles, it can really mess up a fuel system and make it work harder. Fuel filters are like a 5 dollar part, so even if there's no difference it's not like you lost much money on the deal

 

You know what, I never though of that ...Im pretty sure my brother in law never changed it when he had owned the truck. Im gunna do that tomorrow then, since Ive owned the truck I've put almost 12k on it...Idk why i didnt think to do that. thank you for reminding me of this!

 

Ha ha! No they weren't. With all due respect, I gotta call you out on that one.

Trucks were designed to carry stuff, back in the late & 1920's they weren't thinking about aerodynamics and I don't think they had anything to test that with. Trucks were invented out of necessity, farmers were modifying their Model T's to have a bed so they could take their stuff to market, and Henry Ford saw there was a market for a truck and started to mass produce them. He called it a "Pickup Body Model T"

No disrespect meant.

 

I don't know if this was already mentioned but their are chips out their that give you more power and 1-3 better mpg.

 

lol um no. tailgate down might not make a noticeable difference, but put a roll tarp on and decide then. They do help, very small but they do.

good example of wind drag on a tailgate. lets just say this is hypothetical for legal reasons . On my fams 95 ranger 4 cyl 5 speed without the tarp it was 98-100 max wide open 4th gear. With the tarp its 106-108. I'd say there is wind drag cause by a tailgate. btw, i never beat on engines like that anymore (screaming 4th gear), that was back when i was young(er) and dumb(er) at 13-14 yrs old.

 

Here's the "REVISIT" video from Mythbusters:


Tailgate UP has better mileage than down. Check the video and go to the 1 minute mark and listen. Then go to the 2m 55s mark and watch for a minute again, even more proof. But apparently the absolute best is the mesh tailgate.

ha ha, even at the end, they say "If you don't believe us, go ahead and drive the way you want."

 

I was getting 18-20 highway if I keep it under 80, and combined local of 17. City has been 14-15. I have a '98 4.6 2wd auto with 3.55's and 98K on the clock. I've had it for three weeks. Yesterday I replaced all of the fluids with Amsoil and M1 synthetic and put a Performance distributor firepower kit on so I could bump the plug gap to .65. I put 200 miles on today and saw a 1.5 mpg improvement, all highway.

This weekend I'm putting on a CAI, pulleys and an electric fan. By the time I'm done (I'm also going to add a tune and exhaust) I'm hoping to see about a 3mpg bump across the board. I figure If I could get 3 mpg on my old '89 4.9 4sp 2wd doing roughly the same mods I should be able to get that much with these much freer breathing mod mills at the very least.

 

I am getting an avg. of 16 in my 03 Screw FX4 5.4L. Most of my driving is between 45 and 65 MPH with moderate slowing and going. I have CAI, the rest of the vehicle is stock. Make sure you are keeping up on oil changes, transmission servicing and fuel filters. I watch my MPG go up after servicing and watch it fall slowly before the next scheduled change.

 

I also hear that cleaning your injectors, like pour half a can of seafoam in the gas tank gives you better mpg. I have done it, but never noticed. But why not, seafoam is only like 5 bucks