My Journey with an F250 4x4 truck
 

Hello ! Long time lurker, first time poster. I thought I'd share my work with my 1998 F250LD. Its 1998 4x4, automatic, 5.4l V8 and has a very healthy 243,000 miles on it, in the new body style.

Is was a bit of a basket case when I first got it in, in trade for a bottle of Jamesons 18yr whiskey ! Initial MPG showed an abysmal 7.04mpg (advertised combined is 13mpg). It had mid-matched tires, a misfire on #3 cylinder, exhaust leaks and was pretty well neglected.

Round 1 mods:
- Replace air cleaner
- Remove stock intake snorkel, install 3" intake pipe instead
- Fix misfire on #3
- Clean throttle
- Clean airflow meter
- Run full tank mixed with injector cleaner, fuel stabalizer and octane booster

12.17MPG mixed was the end result from some simple maintenance !


Round 2 mods:
- Dump transmission fluid (4 gallons worth !)
- Add Mobile 1 Mecron V synthetic trans fluid
- Dump power steering fluid
- Add Mobile 1 Mercon synthetic steering fluid
- Dump transfer case fluid, add synthetic transfer case fluid

13.4mpg mixed was the result, so slightly over EPA advertised


Round 3 mods:
- Replace tires with OEM spec
- Dump axel lubricants
- Filled rear with Redline high performance 75W140 & Delco LSD additive
- Filled front with BOSS 75W90 synthetic

12.36mpg, but all of the driving was in the city so still a bit above advertised.


Round 4 mods:
- Replace front & rear shock absorbers
- Correct swaybar linkage issues
- Adjust front ride height

13.44mpg city cycle ! 16.89mpg highway only.


Round 5 mods:

This time around I was doing highway travel to pickup a hard tounneau for the truck, so I logged the trip both ways :D this was with strong head winds and a lot of rain.. and a 200lb pump in the back (delivery run)

- Without tonneau: 14.67mpg
- With tonneau: 15.84mpg


Next step I want to replace the mechanical fan with an electric one and start some aero work around the grill/bumper/skid pan areas.

TL;DR - Went from 7mpg average to 14.55mpg average with simple modifications and maintenance on an old pickup truck, 1.55mpg over EPA

Welcome to ecomodder.

Good work on resurrecting the truck.

On my suburban when I converted to electric fans I picked up over 1mpg city, 2mpg in combinded and 2mpg all highway driving.
But I was already getting well over 20mpg highway at that point.

I think they do it by not turning when the engine is cold, letting it warm faster. And on my truck as long as I can keep moving faster than 30mph I never need the fan.
The fan requires 0 engine power most of the time.

With the belt driven fan gone I also noticed:
The engine turned over faster.
Started sooner when cold.
Less noise from under the hood, no sound from the fan beating air all the time.
Seemed to have more get up and go off idle.

If you have a big flat grill like me my idea for a grill block for use in cooler months may work for you.
The prototype version will be to install a big thin layer of lexan over the grill with zip ties. I plan on leaving one side slightly open so the transmission cooler can get some air over it and cut away sections till I get just the right air flow.
I may try a summer version that blocks about half or more of the grill off. It will be removed for towing.
I am also going to be running water injection when I put the turbo on, that helps cool these engines down a lot.

I am running file fitted rings on an engine I built to run N/A with 24:1 compression, so over heating on forced induction is not an option.

Thanks for the feedback ! I'm running a bit low on funds so I havent been able to do the electric fan swap yet. I think in Canadian winters the fan would never run, and on days like today (15 out) it wouldnt run too much on trips across town.. so there's some definite scope for savings.
You're right about fan noise, on a hot day the fan on the truck positively roars at all times, especially off the line.

They sell winter grill kits to block the top completely, an partially on the bottom, so thats a definite on the list.. and a no-cut no-fab option to boot :) I look forward to more gains and more updates for you guys.

Nice work!! It also appears that the conditions imposed by age and miles have not hurt the truck much (thinking about all the u-joints, etc, causing steering binds and other "rolling resistance" issues as corrosion, etc, take tolls) and you've my hopes that repairs don't spike over the next year or so. (IMO, all vehicles go through an approximate physical "clock re-set" as a new wear pattern is imposed in the first 10k-miles).

Knock on wood.

Wow, great job on the mods so far. I really need to start doing some mods on my '05 F-350 Powerstroke that's currently getting 12.5mpg in the city and 15 highway.

Gut the emmissions systems like a fish.
That is the best thing you can do for the 6.0 as a whole.
The #2 thing you can do is replace that oil cooler with an after market one.
Some years had bad tuning programs on the computer, by 2005 it might have been fixed.

Nice job! You might want to add an air dam and/or belly pan. I'm not sure if your truck has twin i beams like my F100 but those things catch air like no other.

Also, an aero topper would give you some serious gains. It's almost campaign season time... snag some coroplast signs afterward!

Install Vacuum gauge.

I get 15 mpg in city with high traffic out 01 F250 2wd with bad transmission slipping.


What kind tires you got? I prefer skinner tires.

If you going add electric fan. Find Ford Taurus or Grand Marquis or mark VII or Thunderbird.

They had lo and HI fan speed. They flow enough CFM.

But If I were you I would install real temp gauge to monitor. 5.4L don't like overheat.