Been Lurking a few months............
 

Hello,

Been lurking for about 6 months after I decided it was time to put a stop to so many trips to the local gas station. Started looking for websites that would guide me to better mileage and ended up here.

While a 1999 F150 with 4.6 engine and automatic trans is certainly not the poster child of elegant fuel economy, one has to start somewhere. Before I came here I had already removed the antenna and was amazed how well the radio worked if I stayed in town. Following is a list of what I have done to transform the truck from stock to a best test drive of 25.5 miles per gallon recently.

Radial tires inflated to max pressure
Royal Purple 5-20W HPS high zinc phosphate oil in crankcase
Royal Purple high performance wheel bearing grease
Royal Purple synthetic gear lube in rear end housing
soft bed cover
Amsoil Nano air filter
Remove jack
Remove spare tire
Remove spare tire lift mechanism
Remove trailer hitch
Remove worn out floor mats
Empty glove compartment and behind seat storage
Partial lower grill block with Duct tape
Coroplast air dam
Aerodynamic wiper blades

I found it amazing how removing the excess weight helped to raise mileage with zero investment.

The more expensive modifications now loom before me. I have considered several options including the items listed below and wonder which ones might result in the best fuel savings per dollar investment?

Electric radiator fan conversion
New low rolling resistant radial tires
Belly pan
Tire spats in front of rear tires
Lithium ion battery
Royal Purple Max ATF in the transmission

With many directions still to go in, I may yet make it to 26 miles per gallon or even better.

Goldenstate

Welcome to the site. 25 mpg is nothing to sneeze at in a full size pickup, nice job!

What are you using for instrumentation?

Greetings Doax,

Instrumentation is the odometer and what the gas pump tells me was put in the tank along with some simple math. I suffer from a mixture of in town driving and some road trips.

The nice thing is the gas gauge does not fall nearly as fast anymore. My only regret is that I did not stumble onto this website sooner. It is a great resource.

Have been seriously considering an unde-drive set of pulleys for the water pump and alternator. That will give results in all driving conditions.

Goldenstate

Gas log FTW.

.

Get a UltraGauge or Scangauge.

UltraGauge OBDII Scan tool & Information Center

https://www.scangauge.com/

>

A belly pan doesn't need to be expensive. Get some corrugated plastic from the local politicians after an election. My girlfriend is in politics and got me a ton. It's a time investment and doesn't have to be expensive. It'll cost you some sheet metal screws and washers. The materials are easy to work with, just don't melt them.

An electric fan is awesome and the Ford Mark VIII fan mod is fairly easy and you can find lotsa stuff online on it. Use it with a Volvo 2 speed fan controller and a BMW temp sensor and you're off to saving even more!

I've successfully got my 1990 1/2 ton Chevy Silverado running an old TBI setup to get 31 mpg (see Silverado30mpg)!

If you don't wanna spend much money on gauges, get an old Android phone and run Torque Lite after getting a bluetooth ELM327 obd2 unit off DealExtreme for $12.

Notice how the "30 mpg" tanks are always bracketed by below average tanks. Looks like fill errors to me.

They're not fill errors. The conditions were different - especially wind conditions. The best runs are on warmer days back from Calgary going to Edmonton. If you read the details of my fuel logs, you'll see lots of comments. Calgary is at 3300'. Edmonton is at 2200'. On a warm day in Calgary, wind is usually out of the south. Edmonton is north of Calgary.

If you don't believe me, lookup the historical weather conditions @ weather.gc.ca

:-)

Just installed some new LRR Bridgestone Dueler H/T silica rubber blend tires. With 44 PSI of air, I have seen higher readings on my Scangauge that I ever did with the former high dollar Michlien LTX tires inflated to 37.5 PSI which is over the 35 PSI max they were rated for.

At the same time I have been experiencing some engine service light problems which have been difficult to resolve. Just last week the MAF sensor was found to be bad and was replaced. The Throttle Position Sensor was then found to be in failure mode and was replaced this evening. Tomorrow will see if the engine is working correctly for the first time in several years. No telling what sort of mileage will be seen on the Scanguage during the next mileage testing.

You should see some awesome results with a proper working MAF. I had the same after 150K on my '05 Malibu. I gained about .5L/100km back. Tracking your gas mileage like a hawk can help track down problems starting. I don't run any of my tires past 36 psi cold. Roads are too nasty up here. Gas prices have been climbing up here again and staying high at around $1.20/L regular - probably for the long weekend coming up...