Installed the Superchip, Airaid intake and Gibson exhaust back in August 2000. I noticed improvements in low and high end performance but nothing to shoot a load about.

Mileage has not improved and I do about 50/50% highway and city driving. The computer on the vehicle is deceiving in that once we reset your computer after putting the chip on, it resets it's MPG calculation so early on, you get significant results. The reality is that it's calcualting based on time therefore you get a higher MPG reading. So far, I am consistant at 13.2MPG after 10 months. Not that impressive in fuel MPG improvements. With the rising cost of gas, I will be removing the chip for now.

 

Sorry to hear that you're not getting the results you'd expected.

I also do 50/50 driving and I'm seeing a constant 15-15.5 MPG. I used to get about 13. I'm getting 450 to 500 miles per tank (30 gallon tank that holds 32)

I run Texaco Power Premium which is about the most expensive I've seen but to me the extra .20 per gallon is well worth it. Of course as it gets up into the mid 90's to low 100's and I can't get it to move out of it's own way when sitting in rush hour traffic, I may think different. Of course I could supercharge to help with that.

------------------
2000 EDDIE BAUER EXPEDITION 4x2

• Estate Green
• 5.4 ltr
• 3:55 LS rear
• Superchip!
• Airaid FIPK
• Gibson S/S Swept Side Cat Back Exhaust
• Hellwig Rear Anti-Sway Bar
• Energy Suspension Polyurethane Front Anti-Sway Bar Bushings
• Edelbrock Performer IAS Shocks
• Mobil 1
• Xenon Super White Head and Driving Lights
• Tow Package
• Rear Load Leveling
• Moonroof
• Century Child Seat!

-->Follow Me...<--

 

I've had mine in for over a year, it rarily gets 1 mpg more city and highway.

------------------
2000 F-150 XL, RC, LB, 5.4L, 4R70W, 4.10LS,
Class III tow, Payload #3, & Convenience pkgs.,
4-wheel disc/ABS, Chestnut/Parchment 40/60,
Ford bedliner w/Paintsaver & gas/wheel/spare locks,
K&N F.I.P.K. w/Outwears pre-filter, Superchip,
Dynomax ultra-flow welded 3" cat-back w/ 3" Y-pipe,
Hellwig front & rear anti-sway bars, Rancho RS 9000s,
Pirelli Scorpion Zero 275/60/16s, Mobil 1, K&N oil filter.

 

The only things that could cause a lack of any mileage gain from those 3 parts (and I have *never* had 1 case of that happening in any of our vehicles in 10 years) are:

1.) Improper mileage calculation procedures used, as were used here, and a lot of people do that. Mileage is correctly calculated by tracking how many gallons it took to fill up the tank, and how many miles the vehicle was driven since the last fill up to determine the precise mpg number for that tank, that is the way to get correct mpg numbers for comparison, not trying to use a trip computer. Miles driven since last fillup divided by gallons required to refill the tank to get a mpg number. You must also use the same technique at the pump when you fill up, let it stop at the first "click" of the pump shutting off, so that aspect is consistent. Trying to track mileage via the trip computer display is no way to calculate mileage results from modifications. That is nothing more than a log in effect, and an incomplete one at that, it is not any kind of direct back-to-back comparison.

2.) Driving the vehicle harder now that the performance parts have been installed. This is *very* common, and is the #1 reason mileage won't go up with these types of mods.

3.) Poor premium fuel quality compared to the quality of the regular gas that was used previously. Sometimes people will try to use cheap premium gasolines because the Superchip requires premium gas, and that will cause mileage to not only fail to go up, but can actually cause mileage *decreases* from low energy content in comparison.

Also, there can be situations where fuel quality changes in a given geographic area, even when you're doing everything "right" and using top quality fuels, etc. and when that happens, energy content drops, and mileage either fails to go up, or can even decline somewhat, energy content of fuel is *critical* to mileage.

These are just some of the problems that skew mileage numbers.

For 10 years now, every single vehicle that we have used the Superchip on, *every* one of them has shown consistent mileage gains, even though it's a *performance* product and there is no such thing as a "gas mileage chip" per se. It's just a by-product of the increased spark advance used on part-throttle in the Superchip tuning. Not a one of them failed to pick up mileage, that's about as strong as it gets.

There will always be exceptions, based on anything from driving conditions & geographic terrain to fuel quality, but I have yet to see any vehicle with those 3 mods not pick up *any* mileage at all, when proper & accurate direct comparisons were made.

I have no doubt that you're showing a 13.2 mpg result after all this time, what I'm saying is that this is not any kind of direct or accurate back-to-back comparison. This is nothing more than a mileage log, in effect, and not a good one at that, as all we see is an end result mileage number, no before, no log of tank after tank mileage numbers, brands of gas used, etc.

The bottom line is that even that doesn't matter, as we're talking about *performance* modifications here, which have done their job and added the power they're supposed to, which is all you can reasonably ask. Any potential mileage gains from performance modifications are icing on the cake.

I do hope you continue to enjoy your modifications, of course!

Our bests to all,

------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer

[This message has been edited by Superchips_Distributor (edited 06-11-2001).]

 

I guess there are many reasons why mileage dosn't improve. Mine did. Right away. I figure I was getting 14-15 mpg on average. With the Superchip installed I would get no less than 16 mpg. The more I drive with the chip the better the mileage seems to get. I've mellowed a bit, being that the Superchip has been in for a few months. I think if I were to drive this truck exactly the way the owners manual says to I could be getting well over 20 mpg.
With a 25 gallon tank I will get between 400 and 450 miles. My driving consists of about 70% city/suburban/rural and 30% highway.
Tom

------------------



'98 F150 XLT,short bed, STX appearance group, 4.6, 5-speed.
Current mods: K&N air filter, cat back exhaust (Flowmaster 40 w/dual rear side exit), Superchip.
Future mods: short throw shifter, K&N FIPK, lowered suspension, other things seen here!

 

Hi wittom,

You're absolutely right, there can be any number of factors affecting the mileage results you get from the Superchip itself, however, the 2 primary factors are always going to be how the vehicle is operated (including driving conditions & terrain) and the energy content of the premium fuel being burned compared to the energy content of the regular gas that was being used prior to installing the Superchip.

This assumes that mileage is being calculated correctly, of course, and not using trip computers or miles per tank, etc.

------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer

 

Mike,
I totally agree w/ your methods of calculating MPG and that is how I do it. I have just gone through my first ( calculated ) tank w/ the chip installed and WOW 10.5 MPG. That flat out blows! However as you mentioned and I'm not scared to admit it , I have had a VERY HEAVY foot since the install. I am just trying to see what the shift points are and the effects of using / not using OD in city driving which is where most of my driving is.This current tank I am intentionally driving "Normal" to see if that helps. But I gotta be honest. I love the way my truck drives and it's sounds great when I get on it here and there. I spent $33,000 on it and if I have to spend a couple hundred extra bucks a year to have a little manly fun, No problem.

------------------
2001 5.4 S Cab Lariat
ORP / 3.55 L/S
Class 3 Tow Package
Gibson SweptSide
K&N Gen 2 FIPK
Superchip FLIP CHIP
LoJack
Stock HU w/ Profile CL440 Amp
Infinity Kappas Front/Infinity Reference Rears. Sub is under construction!

 

hey fellas,
I have had the chip installed for over 6 months now and I love it! It works great and makes the Truck hella fun to drive!!

However, with all things mentioned here (heavy driving habits, poor tracking, poor energy content) I have taken every method you can think of to try and properly track and drive "granny style" to see an improvement and have instead seen a "loss" in mpg.

I see it like this, the chip works diffrently for each truck, some show an increase, some don't.. there are alot of variables to getting good mpg with the chip, and I am have not found one of them..

still a good product imho



------------------
97 F150 XLT: Two-Tone Green and Tan, V6 4.2L Auto Trans 4X4, 3.55 gears, 265/75/16 Dueler AT's, Edelbrock Performer IAS Shocks
MODS:Airaid FIPK, Superchip, Ravin Z55 Exhaust SI/SO
GOODIES:Kameleon Head Unit w/12 disk cd changer, JVC 4ch 560watt poweramp, Bazooka Tube, Boston Acoustic 5x9's, Tinted Back, Westin Nerf Bars..

 

MPG is a touchy subject right now. I would guess there are some that have not bought a chip because of gas prices. It's not suprising that Mike responded as he did.

------------------
2001 F-150 SuperCrew Lariat 4x4 5.4L
2000 Suburban LT 4x4 5.3L
2000 Honda RC51
1999 Mustang GT Convertible

 

Hi patrickjp,

As always, thanks for your post!

I have no doubt that you've wrung it out every which way, and I have no doubt of your results. I just thought I'd comment a bit on some of your points & those of others...............

Though I see you mention this in your post, one thing that you/we can't know is the energy content of any gasoline you use: it's not on the pump, virtually no oil company will tell you their BTU content per gallon or pound of gas if you ask, and to a lesser extent, it's a bit of a moving target. (You may know all of this already, and if so, forgive me for being redundant)

Energy content is not always going to be the exact same, it will vary from one refinery run to the next, even from the same base crude stock and processed at the same refinery under the same specs. However, among the better gasolines, this is usually fairly consistent within a relatively narrow range, so it's not like you'll see a change from 22 mpg to 17 mpg just from that kind of variance with the same brand of good fuel, maybe a half a mpg perhaps at most, and that won't happen often in most cases.

One thing we see happening that causes mileage to drop is when fuels are reformulated in a given area, that will virtually always cause energy content to drop as a result, and thus the same brand that may have been giving *excellent* results in performance & mileage for years & years can drop in mpg results, for no apparent reason; it's energy content. The way you'll know that is by tracking mpg, of course, there isn't any other way we layman can, in practical terms short of doing lab analysis, actually determine energy content. I dare say that not one person on this web site will know what the energy content of any fuel they ever use is. Exceptions would be racers and/or engine builders who might talk directly to an oil company about a specific racing application, etc., pretty rare. By and large, John Q. Citizen will never know the energy content of any gasoline they burn, so it's not something that can be "taken into consideration", other than to just use the best available gasolines in your area.

The only pratical method we have as layman to try to determine that energy content is to do some informal mileage "testing" among the available brand/stations in our respective geographic areas. What we do when we're evaluating fuels in an area is to use 3-5 tanks of each brand/station (in practical terms we limit this to known quality brands primarily, we don't always use *every* fuel in an area, or fuels that are known to consistently have lower energy contents like Exxon or most of the "off-brands", etc.) and carefully track mileage each tank. The fuel with the highest mileage results (assuming obvious things such as driving it the same, etc.) is generally going to be the fuel with the highest energy content, all else being equal. Each time we change brands, we'll do a re-set (clearing) of the ECU to clear out all the adaptive strategy adjustments & let it go thru it's re-learn cycle again, to makes things as directly comparable & accurate as possible.

Tuning-wise in the Superchip, though there are literally thousands of different Superchip programs for these F-150's alone (because there are thousands of different factory software revisions and we make a different program to match each one of them), what gets done to engine tuning is basically the same, in terms of amount of timing added to 5.4's for example, or the adjustments to fuel curves to compensate for the different burn rate of premium gas, etc., so there are no real "variables" with regards to exactly what's going on in the engine tuning in the Superchip that would cause mileage variance between the same applications, so that can be eliminated as a variable.

Again, we've talked about some of this in the past, so some of this you already know, but it bears comment for those reading these posts, just for GP's & info purposes.

It sounds to me that in your case, given how thorough you've been with this, it's most likely a just a matter of energy content.

If you get a chance sometime, or would care to, I'd like to talk with you about this in a bit more detail, as we love to get as much data as we can in different areas of the country regarding results with different brands, etc. That way, we can give more info on certain areas regarding overall fuel quality, mileage results, etc. when people call or make inquiries to us. For example, there are a couple of places in Oregon where we know energy content is low, and there are a few other areas where we see that from time to time. At any rate, if you'd care to give us a call, I'd love to speak with you in more detail about this.

Best of luck with your truck,

------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer

 

SuperCrewMark,

Just so you & I (and anyone else reading your post) are clear, my responses here don't vary based on any sales, they never have. That type of conduct only comes from, well, I'll put it politely and just say "undesirable characters" in my humble opinion, as does conduct saying we would ever do such a thing.

My responses here are based on *fact*. We (meaning *me*) have never changed a response or anything we've said just to try and get someone to buy something from us. Anyone who would deliberately misrepresent themselves or their wares to accomplish that shouldn't be allowed to breed, though unfortunately, there are some people who do just that.

In fact, our profits (that is, what doesn't go to support F-150 Online to make it available free of charge to you & everyone else) are donated to 501(c)(3) IRS-certified non-profit charities. That means that we do not profit from these sales. Clear?

We donate our profits to charity as my wife & I are committed to helping those less fortunate, not because we're better than anyone else, it's simply our way of trying to *contribute* something to this world. We make many sacrifices to do this, more than anyone will ever know.

My point is simply that for anyone reading your post, whether it was intended or not, it could very easily be construed as telling people that sales are down because gas prices are up & that we'll say anything to get a sale. Not only is that dead wrong, but anyone who knows me knows that is not even remotely close to the truth.

I'm sure you didn't actually mean to imply anything of the kind, so I'll close by wishing you well.

------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer

[This message has been edited by Superchips_Distributor (edited 06-14-2001).]

 

mike,

i was considering the chip for quite awhile and decided not to, although i still eagerly read your posts.

your a great source of info and stand by what you say. am i correct in reading above that you dont turn a profit from the chips?
brother, if thats the case they should make the name column wider on this page just so they could put a 'St.' in front of it.

my father is my hero, and i dont see many people like him. he wont change the world, but no one will regret coming in touch with him either. i hope you have kids cause it sounds like you have alot to offer and role models these days aren't easy to come by.



------------------
mr k
_ _ _ ____________ _ _ _
1999 f150 xlt ex-cab 4x4
4.6 triton v8
5 speed manual
3:55 rear
towing package
k&n f.i.p.k.
gibson ss swept side with custom ss y-pipe
AR OutlawII's/Michelin LTX M/S 265/70/16

 

AMEN!

P.S. - How do you aquire these chips? Could you explain how you go about this?

------------------
2000 Black Excursion
4WD XLT V10 -Fully Loaded
-Volant Cold Air Intake
-Airaid T.B. Spacer

 

Hi Mike,
First, let me say that your charity work is commendable, along with probably hundreds of other forum members that like you and your wife, help those that are less fortunate. I encourage others to do whatever they can to help out whether it be money, time or talents either publicly or anonymously.

As for my post, I have no knowledge of past, or present sales or how they are doing against projected growth. I posted as a “guess”, that some folks that had considered purchasing a chip had not yet because of the cost of gas. Then said I wasn’t surprised by your response. I saw it as quick, detailed, somewhat defensive in nature but expected in the climate of higher gas prices. I did not say, nor do I believe that your answers change based on anything other than what you believe to be the facts.

There is one thing that bother me in your reply though and that is the part about a portion of your profits supporting F-150 Online to make it “available free of charge to me & everyone else”. I appreciate your support of and on the forum however, I reject the notion that I or other members somehow owe you something or shouldn’t express a given opinion. After all, it is the forum that has provided you a place to market to its members which in turn helps you to do your charity work. Be grateful you can.

And again, thanks for you and your wife's work for charity.

PEACE!

------------------
2001 F-150 SuperCrew Lariat 4x4 5.4L
2000 Suburban LT 4x4 5.3L
2000 Honda RC51
1999 Mustang GT Convertible

[This message has been edited by SuperCrewMark (edited 06-15-2001).]

 

SuperCrewMark, I don't think that Mark implied that we "owe" him something for supporting this site. I carefully re-read each post and didn't see that.

But I will mention one thing that does bother me. It seems that everytime the chip does not live up to the mpg expectation Mike is quick to point the finger to something else, vehicle, gas, weather, etc.

The fact is that I (and any other long time reader of this forum) know that the Superchip *DOES* for the most part live up to it's hype, with the exception of mpg. What I'm convinced that it *DOES NOT* always do is improve mpg.

There was a time when Mike used to say that an increase in mpg was mere a "side effect" of running the chip. Now he's telling people that it will improve mpg and if it doesn't then you're buying low energy content gas or your truck has problems.

I would say from a consumer standpoint that it would be better to drop the mpg increase claim altogether because it clearly does not in a significant number of cases. In fact in every vehicle I've owned I've witnessed a mpg increase simply by running higher octane so I'm not convinced that the chip would be responsible for the increase in the first place.

The chip isn't guaranteed to increase mpg, and there are obviously several factors that can cause this not to be true, so why advertise it? Why not go back to calling it a side-effect??

Mike, this is not intended as a flame against you or the chip. I had a Superchip in my Y2K and didn't notice an mpg increase, but the other benefits were just as advertised. Because of that I will be contacting you for new one for my 2001 in the coming weeks.

------------------
My New Baby: 2001 F-150 XLT Sport 4x4. 5.4L, S/C, S/S, Bright Red, Dark Graphite Int., 3.55, Class III Tow/Heavy Duty Cooling, 4 wheel disc ABS, Overhead Console, Factory In-Dash CD, Remote Keyless Entry.

Mods: Ziebart Rust Protection, Ford Bug Deflector, Ventvisors, Cabin Air Filtration

Future Mods: Running Boards/nerf bars, Superchip, Air Force 1, Spray-in Bedliner, and Retrax.

2000 Polaris Sportsman 500, Camo Green, 4x4, 499cc 4-stroke, independent suspension, shaft drive, 4 wheel disc brakes, etc.