MPG!

Are there any tuners/chips out there that can work to increase MPG? If so by how much?

I know there's alot of room left in these engins to up HP but that comes at a cost of less MPG. I was thinking of getting a two way/filp chip; normal & really kick @ss. But then I was thinking it would be neat to have a high efficient mode for long trips or just when driving easy. If there isn't any good info on this, please point me in the right direction. BTW, The truck I'm using for example is a '01 Lightning.

 

Hi mocklab,

Funny you should mention that, I just happen to have a 2001 Lightning and have been tracking mileage with mods & different programs very carefully.

However, nobody buys a Lightning for it's gas mileage, and almost none of our many Lightning customers really care much about their gas mileage, they bought them to go fast.

In mine, bone stock, in fairly conservative driving, I got tank after tank at *exactly* 12.27 mpg. Installing the Superchip gave me a solid 2.0 mpg increase *exactly*, as it went to 14.27 mpg precisely. That with only getting on it briefly maybe a couple of times during the course of a full tank of fuel, so it's very conservative driving.

However, we are not trying to get more mpg from the Lightning, nor is any other chipmaker. This is just a by-product of fixing the way-sloppy over-rich condition that they send all of these supercharged Lightnings out with from the factory, and the increased timing. You only see those gains when cruising, and can keep your foot out of the throttle.

I do have a special program, one that we were working on just for gas mileage in the Lightning as a one-off "fun" project, just informally, but it's never been released. It took my 2001 Lightning up from 14.27 with the regular Superchip to 14.94 mpg under conservative driving, so it got about another 7 tenths of an mpg over what the "standard" Superhcip program for the '01 Lightnig gave me. So the total gain in mpg from programming was 2.67 mpg over the stock figure of 12.27, which is a 21.76% increase in mpg. Very considerable in a vehicle that started in the low 12's for mpg.

Having said all of that, we can't *guarantee* any specific mpg result, as fuel quality being burned & how the vehicle is driven are of course beyond our control. I got those results in conservative driving, as I mentioned, and only nailing the throttle perhaps 2 or 3 times over the course of each 20+ gallon tank of gas.

If you'd like to go over this in detail, pease feel free to give us a call, our contact info is just below & we'll be happy to go over all of this and our results with you, as well as what you can realistically expect, etc.

Congratulations on your 2001 Lightning,

 

This subject always cracks me up. People buy a truck, especially a high powered truck and worry about gas mileage. People, wake up, it is a TRUCK!!! If you are that worried about gas mielage, buy a rice burner.

My experience with the superchip is that the mileage did not change, up or down. It remained about the same. I would think that any mileage that you might gain, would be offset by the cost of premium gasoline and that it would cost more per mile anyway, so you would still lose.

Proud Superchipper and Gas Guzzler!!!

 

I get 16.5 MPG consistently from my 5.4L. Considering my T-Bird only got 20-21, I didn't take too much of a hit when I moved over to the truck.

 

Just as a quick follow-up, I agree, the use of a Superchip is almost never going to allow someone to actually spend less money on gasoline overall, nor is that it's purpose, in any way, shape, or form.

That being said, there is the *potential* for a small improvement in mpg from the Superchip, just as a by-product of the increased spark advance primarily, however, it's still not going to be enough to offset the increased cost of premium gas, as the average for those who see mpg gains in V-8 automatic F-150's is 1.5-2.0 mpg. And, it naturally happens primarily when cruising, not in stop & go traffic or "spirited" driving. There have been some people who posted mpg gains when towing, as they were able to have less downshifting out of Overdrive thanks to the added torque from the Superchip, but those gains are still small, typically .7-1.0 mpg.

Here at Performance, we are in a rare situation where we have only a 10 cent per gallon average cost delta between regular and premium in our immediate area. So for us, yes, we've actually been able to spend a few *pennies* less on gasoline, but even that is an extremely rare result, and one that is obviously skewed by our abnormally small cost delta. The average cost delta between regular & premium gas nationally is 20 cents per gallon.

The average result in fuel costs from installing the Superchip in these F-150's is an increase in annual fuel costs of about $150-$200; this is assuming a range of 15,000 - 20,000 miles per year, driven in a 50-50 mix of city & highway driving.

However, that does not change the fact that in every computer-controlled vehicle we have owned here at Performance Products, and that included Corvettes, Mustangs, F-150's in various configurations from XLT to Lariat to Lightning, Thunderbirds, Lincolns, Explorers, E-150 custom vans, and everything else we've had, each and every one of them has seen an improvement in mpg from installing the Superchip. Not one has failed to see it's mpg raised from the Superchip, including even the Lightning, which picked up a solid 2.0 mpg. Why is that? Pretty simple, we calculate mpg consistently and accurately, we drive our vehicles the same day in and day out (most of that driving is actually pretty conservative), and, most importantly, we have good fuel quality and use *only* the best quality premium gas available to us. We have good air quality where we are, so we only get oxygenated fuels in the winter (aside from Exxon, which is reformulated everywhere in our 50 states year-round).

There are people who see the same mpg with the Superchip, just as ws6bird mentioned in his post, and a few who even see decreases in mpg, either from having fun enjoying the additional power, or getting a lower-energy fuel in their premium gas, etc.

There are people who have to buy these trucks for one reason or another, for whom it is not a real "choice", and those tend to be most concerned with fuel mileage, quite naturally. With 750,000 of these F-150's being sold every year, there are all kinds of truck owners. There are actually very few who don't care about gas mileage at all. I'm closest to being one of those, even though we stay on top of the mpg of every vehicle, and higher is always better, we're far more into performance of course, so if the Lightning gets only 12 mpg, oh well, so be it, it's a performance truck. (Hmmmm...)

The bottom line is, it's a *performance* part, and one that just happens to have some potential for mpg improvement under the right conditions, which are basically when cruising & burning premium gas of at least the same energy content. We're certainly seeing mpg gains, but even so, that should still be considered as "icing on the cake", so to speak, with this performance part.

 

Thanks Mike and ws6bird.

I completly agree, these trucks are not ment to save gas but to kick ***. I would be using the L as a daily driver and mostly city stop and go driving. And I usually try to be the lead dog, just enough to stay ahead and low enough not to get stoped. But my driving also lends me to long trips everynow and then. I commonly drive to S. Ga which is approx 300 mi one way. Mostly set on cruise at 70 - 80 mph. Very consistant, interstate driving. Its nice to say when people ask, 'How much HP?... 380!' What MPG? ... 12. No wait, 17 maybe 20".

The gas prices here too only vary about .10 between grades. Today 87 is $1.18, 93 ~$1.38 (didn't look close enough). Ga is known for good, cheap (low price, not quality) gas. So we're only talking a few cents/bucks. But it takes a little worry off the mind while at WOT that when drove concertivily(sp) it is efficient.

Just thinking of ways to make it more of an all purpose vehical. Would something like (dare I say) disconnect the boost (open the boost dump constantly except at something like WOT), reduce the fuel consumption? (no flames please, the idea is that it would be only temporary.) Once at the destination, flip the chip back to its kick *** mode.

By the way. I haven't gotten the L yet. I've gone so far as to get quotes, got my X-Plan PIN numbers, etc. I just bought a house in May, got married in July, bought her an '01 Jetta in August, and getting a fence put in at the house this week. No room to get the L just yet. Saving for a blue '02 . I'm just compling my list of mods for next year.

Thanks for your help.

 

Hi mocklab,

Well, it's a good idea to start your mods planning early, especially with Lightnings, that sounds like a smart plan, as it never hurts to do your homework!

I would *love* to see a 20 mpg Lightning, but I don't think it's going to happen with 3.55 or 3.73 gears and those 295/45/18's, it''s turning too many rpms at cruising speeds for 20 mpg. Even non-Lightning F-150's almost never see 20 mpg! Not without a serious diet, and optimizing everything under the sun. Like I mentioned above, we did the conversion to electric cooling fans, as well as the Cobra water pump (among numerous other things), in my efforts to free up power, and those types of things also just happen to ease fuel consumption as well. A lot more would have to be done to get a full 20 mpg, but 17 mpg should be attainable, with work.

Good luck!