Did you see the TV show "Mythbusters" today? They set up a good experiment with two F-150's. Same route, same time and same driving parameters. The truck with the tailgate UP drove 30 miles further on approx. 30 gallons of gas. Keep the tailgate up and get 1 MPG MORE.

 

That's common knowledge amongst those that bother to fact check things like this.

:santa:

 

Ummm.... that's only been debated on this site a few million times... Why start this again? You are a senior member too... you should know how to use the "SEARCH" key!!!

 

I was recently to a science museum, where they had a setup with a wind tunnel connected to a pc, where you could change the "items" inside the wind tunnel, crank up the speed, and watch the computer graph in resistance /vs wind speed.

They had 2 truck models, 3 different cars, and some wing shapes, just like you are asking about, w/ and w/o tailgate section. and of course the tailgated truck came out ahead, but neither came as close as the corvette shaped car!!!

Have you ever noticed what happens to the leaves in your truck when the tailgate is down vs, open? and what about when the back window is open?

 

 

[QUOTE=lees99f150]


OUTSTANDING!

 

Would have been nice to throw in a truck with a tonneau in on the test!

I watched the show with a friend of mine. He still doesn't believe the results... he still swears by leaving his tail gate down.

 

Guys seem to be being a little harsh on wmcnally.

It's not a bad little fact to know for people who don't already. Anything helps with gas these days. I figured it out a while back on "How-To-Do's" On FordF150.net

It doesn't really matter to me either way as of right now because I have a soft tonneau. But Hey, Good to know right?

It's all gravy

 

just like labs and real life science its different in the feild a wind tunel is a constant flow of wind.. they dont take into consideration u will be driving behind other vehicles semi's and so forth which will cause wind turbulance and that little bubble they say is in the bed will constantly be increasing and decreasing in volume and sometimes will disapeer. cross winds and fore-winds will throw the whole wind tunnel theory out of the window... its just like aftermarket intakes ... yeh on a engine dyno in a sealed room with a supplied oxygen u will see a gain but in real world with under hood intake temps and high exhaust inhailation from other vehicles... stock air box is way to stay. just change the pipe and remove the sound baffles. and ive never heard of a F150 with a 30 gallon tank... the largest i know of is a 23 gallon unless were talking old school twin tank setups. also if u have a bed liner with channels... it does the same thing as wind channel on the rear and roof of the Evo.. elminates wind turbulance and helps stability... but best method for saving mpg. dont use OD unless your going over 55mph or 2300RPM in the city or on the highway. it does make a difference, it deals with fuel timing and where these modular motors actually start to develope toque. i stoped using OD in the city and gained 1mpg. and got rid of alot of black suit on my exhaust tips... all because when your engine is below 2,000 RPM its generating very little torque and HP. so the fuel curve changes and pumps more fuel into the engine to attempt to develope more power. this makes the engine very rich and causes poor fuel burn and thus waisting fuel. so just some advice. try it for urself and see. and if u see that red line in the MPH gauge... if u go any faster then that u should use OD if not keep it off.. i think thats avice in the owners manual that comes with the vehicle i dont remember.

 

I suppose it's technically the wrong forum. But since it has been dicussed here "a million tiimes" I thought it was acceptable. Although I started the post with a question(Did you see the TV show "Mythbusters" today?) The purpose of my post was a) to impart information to "newbies" who may not have seen the many posts on the subject. b) As further conformation to those fortunate enough to have been informed by this forum.

It seems,however, there are some KoolAid drinking, fleesbitten, faagwenchbending GAYBoys from whoreland who think they know-it-all but they don't know how to read! I hope this isn't what this forum has become.

 

It seems,however, there are some KoolAid drinking, fleesbitten, faagwenchbending GAYBoys from whoreland who think they know-it-all but they don't know how to read! I hope this isn't what this forum has become.[/QUOTE]

Hmmm.... now what has the forum become? Maybe if you had hit the "SEARCH" key on this site or the "Info" button on your T.V. Guide you would have realized that the "Mythbusters" episode you are talking about has been discussed on this site already and that the episode is about a year old. So, maybe before you start calling people names and questioning their literacy you should look into matters a little more indepthly. I wish their was a smiley with a big fat bird!

 

and this folks is why I come back here everyday......

 

I wish their was a smiley with a big fat bird![/QUOTE]


You mean kind of like this guy....

 

It's all good. No reason to bash someone. True, this has been discussed many times and the bottom line is that most people have made up their minds along time ago, and nothings going to change. I have been on this forum and others since the late 90's and the same topics always get brought up again and again. But that is ok. Sometimes it's good to get fresh information. This site is great and I read this stuff regardless of how fresh it is. I guess I should get a life. FasterF150, my 05 crew has a 30 gal tank. My 03 Expy had a 28 gal tank. One big tank. Not like my 72 that has two tanks. I think the bottom line of which we are all in agreement is that Mythbusters (I love that show) should have done a better test with a varity of pickups and configerations. I know that my 82 F-150 long bed got better milage with the tailgate down or off. I drove that thing 300 miles a week for a year and half. So, lets all be friends here and continue to share info and ideas.......and if you ever get the chance

 

The year-old episode you are referencing wasNOT the F-150 one that was on last week. About ayear ago, they tested EXPLORERS on an oval test track to determine what yeilded better mileage: windows-up with air conditioning on or windows down with A/C off.

All this episode proved was that for those two particular trucks, in a completely uncontrolled environment, one truck got 1mpg better than the other. In order for their results to be acceptable, the experiment would have to be repeated many times over on those two particular vehicles to determine whether or not one gas tank held more gas, or whether one drained more gas out of the tank, or whether one engine has a different set of calibrations than the other one, or one has more drivetrain losses through the transmission because of the different fluid used in it.... There are WAY too many fariables to call their results conclusive.

Not to mention that their results could be COMPLETELY different for a standard cab, not to mention a Chevy or Dodge, or a 1-ton.

They can't extrapolate the results of one non-scientific test to an entire vehicle line, let alone an entire type (pickups in general). That would definately be a hasty generalization.

-Joe