77Ranger460

I tow a 25ft TT of about the same weight as the OP. My antiquated 460 gets 8-9 on the interstate towing. It will get 15 on the interstate running empty.....The numbers of today's trucks are fantastic.

acdii

Heck I can't get 10 towing my 6 x 12 enclosed!!!

farupp

It seems that my gas mileage is as should be expected, unfortunately.

My tailpipe is sooty (black soot) after towing: i.e. engine running a little too rich. Is that what others have noticed?

Thanks.
Frank

icantdrive55

I'm there with you. I made the first "long-ish" tow with my 7x16 TA trailer (2600# empty) to pick up a motorcycle. Mostly flat to rolling terrain on 4-lane hwy at 60-65 MPH, about 450 miles RT.

Overall average was 9.9 MPG for the trip. I was a bit disappointed in that, but it's about the same I was averaging with my last F150 with the 4.6-3V 6-spd when hauling.

Only thing worse for fuel mileage than trying to push a barn door quickly through the air is trying to push TWO BARN DOORS through the air at speed.

TerryD64

First camping trip of the season done. Colorado Springs and back 280 Mile round trip. 10.1 MPG!
Not bad for a big 'ol fifth wheel...

rdxland

I just joined this forum to find out what folks are getting for towing mileage...I wish mine was as good as some of you! I have a 2021 3.5 Ecoboost F-150 with about 17K miles on it, We're towing a 20' (actual hitch to spare is about 24') travel trailer that weighs in around 5000 loaded, and is about 9'6" tall, with a nice curved front panel. Towing at 65MPH, we're getting in the 8MPG range, sometimes lower. Dropping to 60MPG did not help in any significant way. This is a huge disappointment! I expected in the 12MPG, maybe a little higher range. Unloaded this truck is awesome - averages in the 21MPG area. We have gotten up to 25MPG at times. I expected a 30-40% drop when towing....not 60%! Our '06 Tundra with 160K miles was getting about 15-16MPG unloaded and about 10-12 towing the same trailer. The truck is in for a few recalls right now - I discussed this with the service rep, he had not heard of those kinds of towing numbers, they are supposed to at least check it out before I get the truck back....Any thoughts out there?

rdxland

ascurr

So I tow a 33 foot TT weighing about 7400. My truck is a 3.5 max tow SCrew. So I get pretty good gas mileage towing at like 55 - 60, like 12.9 mpg. However, just jumping up to 65-70 drops it to about 10.7. In my experience, your speed has a real big effect of your towing MPG...

mass-hole

Id be really happy with 11.8. Im lucky to get 10.

mass-hole

Ecoboosts gas mileage advantage is only in the unloaded state. Once you put the engine under load, it will get pretty much the same mileage as a Big V8.

The reason for this is that V8’s become extremely inefficient at low load. Gas engines have a throttle plate to control power, so when you use only a small amount of power, the plate closes which causes a vacuum in the intake manifold. The pistons have to pull against this vacuum during the intake stroke which causes the engine to have to work harder. The other pistons that are firing are having to pull the intake stroke piston down against that vacuum.

With a V8, just driving the truck around is using very little power and so its manifold is under significant vacuum. Because it is fighting that vacuum, it has to burn more fuel to make the needed horsepower to move the truck down the road.

The Ecoboost tries to get around this by being so small. Its only 3.5L, so to move the unload truck around it has to open the throttle plate more and run the manifold with little to no vacuum. As a result, the pistons don’t have to fight the vacuum during the intake stroke, and more of the fuel's energy is put into moving the truck vs overcoming the vacuum. The Ecoboost uses less fuel to generate the same Horsepower as the V8 in the unloaded state because it is not fighting itself.

But once you hook a trailer behind both engines, they both need to create more power than in the unloaded state. The V8 open up its throttle plate and the vacuum in the manifold almost disappears and it starts making horsepower at essentially the same efficiency as the ecoboost and the two achieve similar MPG's.

So basically, you can expect the Ecoboost to get similar mileage towing as your tundra assuming you drive the two exactly the same(same speed and everything). The reason the Ecoboost might appear to be worse is because it makes so much more power than the 2006 Tundra, that its easier to go faster, climb hills faster, etc etc. The Ecoboost makes it much easier to get worse economy because it does everything so casually. When you might have had your foot on the floor climbing a hill with your Tundra, the Ecoboost would do it without breaking a sweat, and probably going faster.

I also tow my 24'/5500 lb trailer with a Toyota V8(4.6L 1UR-FE) and the V8 will slow to about 55 mph on 7% grades if I keep my foot on the floor. If not it will drop to 50. My Ecoboost will pull the same hills at 70 mph almost effortlessly. Of course the Ecobooost will get worse mpgs in that scenario, its pulling the hill 20 mph faster. Its producing probably 50% more power to do it and so it consumes fuel 50% faster during that climb. Same on the flat sections of road. I have to really push my Toyota V8 to move my trailer down the freeway at even 65mph so usually I don't even do that. My F150, on the otherhand, can comfortably cruise at 70mph in 6th gear in many cases. So again, i am burning fuel faster because I am asking for more power to move the trailer down the road.

Flamingtaco

The more boost you use, the more inefficient a turbo engine will run as power is lost spinning that turbine to push air. It's not too bad as the smaller 3.5L produces less friction than a larger displacement motor, but you can go far enough into the boost that you'll burn more fuel than the 5.0 to maintain the same speed. Even the 7.3 in the F250 will get better mileage if you're really lugging an eco at low revolutions.

What RPM are you running at speed?