Hey there,
I purchased a 2004 f150 supercrew fx4 and would like suggestions for attaining better fuel economy at 7000feet elevation. Apart from the obvious e.g I don't have a heavy foot.I seem to onlly get around average 11-13 mpg with alot of highway miles Please help cos Gas here is $2.60 and rising

 

The gas mileage we see sucks and I have been wondering the same thing.

Lately I noticed when I drive around in an area that's hilly (500 - 1,000 ft elevation changes) I get about 11 - 12 MPG but when visiting friends and most of my driving is on flat roads, I get about 14 MPG. I average 60% city and 40% highway driving.

It's the hills that kills our MPG more than anything else. This truck weighs 2 1/2 tons and it's takes a lot to get it up a hill.

I'm not calculating this by full tanks of gas. I use the on board computer, it seems to be fairly accurate.

Either way, we bought a beast and we need to feed it.

 

Dont know what to say besides maybe that truck isnt right for you. You can do some modding to the truck like many here do, but you wont gain very much in mileage. Sorry I cant be more help to you. Enjoy the ride.

 

Im curious as to what driving yall do. Do you drive like 20 minutes at a time, or like me where you go 3 blocks to school, then 3 more blocks to work, then 15 minutes out somewhere, etc.

 

The least expensive first thing to try is go under the hood, disconnect the battery (yes, the big one that starts the truck when you turn the key), and turn on the headlight switch for 15 minutes. This will drain any residual electric power out of the systems, and cause the PCM (the main brain) to reset. Shut off the headlight switch and reconnect the battery. The PCM will have to relearn your driving habits and fuel quality information. It might help, but it also might not. It's still worth a shot.

 

Interesting information, I had a Boxster a few years ago that "reprogrammed" itself depending on your average driving style. I hadn't thought about that possibility with the PCM in the F150. Assuming the F150 has this ability as you say, does the 1714 programming override the PCM's ability to tailor engine performance?

 

No, I don't think so, but don't quote me on that. You'd have to ask Troyer Performance or SuperChips for a definite answer.

 

Kiwi, I sympathize with you. I'm 200 miles south of you, at 3000+ feet. Our town's altitude varies about 600+ feet and boy do hills kill the mileage on my STX. It's worse after the PCM is reset, gets better about 200 miles after resetting. That's with the Superchips. I believe it would be the same anyway you reset it. Some people report better mileage by not using Overdrive around town. No difference here when I tried it.

Exhaust changes will probably make it worse around town, though a lot better on the freeway. Same with the Superchips.

It won’t help much, but if you keep the weight down, and possibly increase your tire pressure slightly you might see an improvement.
If you find anything that helps please post
Thanks
Chris.

 

dang $2.60 for 87? or is that 91? Im in so. cal and its $2.35 for 87.

 

I drive my truck (04 Lariat Screw/5.4/3.55) both on the road and in town for work (I am a pharmasutical sales rep and I have put 1700 miles on the truck in the 3 1/2 weeks I have had it) and I have been averaging 16+MPG. And thats not with a really lite foot and on the raod I run 72 MPH. Granted there are no hills here, but I do run the AC on Max.

I checked my MPG on a open two lane running 65MPH for about 150 miles and I got 21.2 MPG.

I had a quad cab Ram before this and this truck gets about 2MPG better than it did at least.

NOW when I get my 24s on here I suspect the MPG will suffer a little!

 

Hey Kiwi,
What is your rearend gear ratio? I specked mine out with the 3.55 and the 300Hp Triton. It's a RegCab, short box, XLT 4x4. I'm up north of you in Tahoe and commute to Carson City over Spooner Summit several times per week. The Work commute and around town average mpg is 16+, on a trip to San Diego down HWY 395 we got 20+ at 65-70 mph, with a full load of funiture in the bed. I'm not even going to guess at the winter time 4x4 mileage though. I don't think too many dealers speck their pickups with the 3.55, at least not up here, they go for the 3.73. That's why I specked it out my way a year ago and took delivery at Christmas time. Regards, BB

PS: Yeah we are paying the same for fuel as you $2.60 for 87 octane, so I fill up in Carson City, for $2.14 or so.

 

if you want better gas mileage, trade your truck in for a focus....you shouldnt have bought a 5.4L V8 truck that weighs nearly 2.5 tons if you're worried about gas mileage........not sure what else to say....i think if gas goes to 3-4 dollars a gallon...we will all be doing that........

 

I'm getting about 17.5 MPG's on the highway since I put in the superchips tuner. That is slightly higher than when the truck was bone stock and it now has 35" tires so you might want to try it out.

 

Do the new F-150s have regular A/C and Max A/C settings? I have the automatic climate control and was wondering if there is a way to effect whether or not I am running in Max A/C which I have always thought would put slightly more drag on the engine.

 

I do have some complaints about my S-Crew, but fuel mileage is not one of them. I weighed the truck last weekend- 6020# with only minor mods and nothing else in the truck! That being said, the mileage initially started at 10.5 city and 13 highway. As the miles racked up so did the MPG.

This summer on a family vacation we traveled 1300 miles with about 750 of it being hilly interstate driving at a avg speed of about 82 mph. The truck had 10k miles on it and the mileage averaged 16.3. Not bad for a 3 ton truck + 4 people +gear IMO.

Not sure how many miles are on the trucks that have poor MPG's. If the miles are low, the MPG will most likely increase.

I live at about 3200' elevation and the truck has been to the mountains at 10900' many times. Round trip is not uncommon to average 16,17 even 18 MPG.

Good luck, hope things get better for you.