trying to get better fuel mileage out of my f150

[sledmanhof]

i have a 98 f150 that has only been getting between 13-14 mpg everytime i fill up. To me that seems like its a little lower than it should be. my question for you is what could i do to get a few more mpg out of it. when i bought it it has dual straight pipes with the cadalitic converters being gutted.

ive heard mixed replies about buying cadilitic converters for it and it may ad a few mpg, but ive also heard that it will make worse mileage. ive also heard about a k and a air flow system.

is there anything else i could do to it


thanks for your input

 

[Fosgate]

Chip it.

 

[sledmanhof]

ive thought about it but in most cases they need to run premium afterwords and alot of the places i go and where i live premium is alittle harder to find. all the gas stations in my area sell is regular and super

 

[Fosgate]

I think Hyperchip makes a chip and controller that allows you to adjust your shift patterns and fuel intake, not sure if it recommends to run premium or not.

 

[ARICH]

put a K&N filter on it, and run some fuel injector cleaner through it
should help out quite a bit

 

[Dogmeat]

K&N air filters do not give you better miledge.

I seriously have run that filter on god only knows how many vehicles and I have _NEVER_ seen it give better miledge.

It goes against all logic to assume that by simply putting on an aftermarket air filter you're going to get better miledge. If it were that easy they'd come from the factory with those filters. It would save GM, Ford, Dodge ++++MILLIONS+++++ of dollars in taxes if putting a $20 (estimating what their cost would be) air filter on each $30,000 truck they sold were these filters to actually provide a benefit to fuel economy...

Like I said, I've _NEVER_ seen a K&N give a benefit in fuel economy.

I have however seen them screw up a lot of MAF sensors.

As far as getting better miledge out of your vehicle goes ---

Put new plugs and wires in, new fuel filter, new air filter (it doesn't matter what kind), swap your O2 sensor out for a new one.

I'd be willing to bet replacing your O2 sensor would help you out a bit.

As far as the plugs goes, whatever plugs that came from factory, put that brand back in, I'm guessing it came with AutoLite plugs .... put those back in. Don't go for the stupid *** Bosch +4's and all that crap, just put a regular old spark plug back in and a decent set of wires.

 

[LSB]

K&N air filters do not give you better miledge.

I seriously have run that filter on god only knows how many vehicles and I have _NEVER_ seen it give better miledge.

It goes against all logic to assume that by simply putting on an aftermarket air filter you're going to get better miledge. If it were that easy they'd come from the factory with those filters. It would save GM, Ford, Dodge ++++MILLIONS+++++ of dollars in taxes if putting a $20 (estimating what their cost would be) air filter on each $30,000 truck they sold were these filters to actually provide a benefit to fuel economy...

Like I said, I've _NEVER_ seen a K&N give a benefit in fuel economy.

I have however seen them screw up a lot of MAF sensors.

As far as getting better miledge out of your vehicle goes ---

Put new plugs and wires in, new fuel filter, new air filter (it doesn't matter what kind), swap your O2 sensor out for a new one.

I'd be willing to bet replacing your O2 sensor would help you out a bit.

As far as the plugs goes, whatever plugs that came from factory, put that brand back in, I'm guessing it came with AutoLite plugs .... put those back in. Don't go for the stupid *** Bosch +4's and all that crap, just put a regular old spark plug back in and a decent set of wires.

Id have to agree and disagree to an extent... The K&N can help, maybe not because its a K&N but more just because you are putting in a NEW and CLEAN filter as dogmeat stated. New and Clean parts will get it back in shape. Obviously if its a 98 your due for a fuel filter and air filter DEFINITELY if youve never changed them. This should help...

Ive heard of what Dogmeat is talking about with the MAF sensors being damaged, but Ive never had it happen personally. I try to not overoil my filters too though. I think this may have something to do with that MAF problem occuring.

Ive got a K&N FIPK on my 2005, which I keep clean. Also keep your tires at proper air pressure. Ive just removed the stock exhaust and made my own setup. a 2.5" cherry bomb resonator after the Y pipe which dumps directly out the side in front of the rear tire. Youd think this would be loud but those cats sure do keep the noise level down.

 

[Dogmeat]

Id have to agree and disagree to an extent... The K&N can help, maybe not because its a K&N but more just because you are putting in a NEW and CLEAN filter as dogmeat stated. New and Clean parts will get it back in shape. Obviously if its a 98 your due for a fuel filter and air filter DEFINITELY if youve never changed them. This should help...

Ive heard of what Dogmeat is talking about with the MAF sensors being damaged, but Ive never had it happen personally. I try to not overoil my filters too though. I think this may have something to do with that MAF problem occuring.

Ive got a K&N FIPK on my 2005, which I keep clean. Also keep your tires at proper air pressure. Ive just removed the stock exhaust and made my own setup. a 2.5" cherry bomb resonator after the Y pipe which dumps directly out the side in front of the rear tire. Youd think this would be loud but those cats sure do keep the noise level down.

They were terrible on what I guess you could consider "first generation" MAF-based fuel injection systems ... most of the new (as in 2000-ish) vehicles, I think basically all ODB-II vehicles, are less sensitive to the oil ... I know that GM vehicles MAF sensors are basically "purged" by an electrical current heating the element in the MAF sensor for a brief period of time when the engine starts up in order to help clean off impurities in the element ...

With that said, yes, over-oiling your K&N will nullify this feature of even the newer FI vehicles.

I went through 2 maf sensors on my old 87' Trans Am before somone finally told me about this, then believe it or not, happened to me on my 2000 Chevy as well, but that could have been from over-oiling. I was really careful to NOT slop the oil on it, but after 140,000 miles with the K&N the truck started to bog and low and behold, the MAF was the problem

I dunno I wouldn't hesistate to run a K&N on a carbuerated vehicle, I run them on my YFZ450 ... if I was running a truck off-road in the sand, or in the dirt all the time I'd want one, becuase they definatley do provide better filtration .... but for a daily driver I just kinda think they're more trouble than they're worth honestly.

 

[Blisteringsnorider]

If your worried about an oil issue on the air filter go with the dry style (AEM)
I have had it on 2 trucks and has worked great. They are easy to service, wash with the cleaning kit let air dry and reinstall.

 

[AkHockey10]

dont romp on it drive the speed limit dont accelerate fast at stoplights

hahaha.


What body style is it?

 

[zach477]

You are all looking in the wrong dirrection as far as aftermarket parts. What you need to get is an aftermarket foot. What happens when you put a loud exhaust on a meaty sounding V-8 is an adverse effect on foot weight. This effect is known as "lead foot" i would look into going the titanium foot or even carbon fiber foot route, however they are both going to set you back a few pennies. If you want to cheat the system wad up hard on your dirt bike and you can have the hospital set u up with some titanium components in your foot. They will run about $60K but after insurance coverage it should only be about $4k out of your pocket I put a K&N on my 1500 for the fact that 2 stock air filters later and its paid for, I did notice at best a 1 mpg avg better than before but my old filter is kinda dirty. One thing I over looked is tires, when i changed my oil last a few of my tires psi dropped 5 lbs and when i filled them back up it made a big difference in milage. For an F150 that 13-14 sounds about right, i avg 16 with my 1500 and thats all in duluth driving (lots o hills) or down the interstate driving (75 mph+)

 

[T-Bone]

13-14 MPG? I'd do backflips if my '98 Dodge 360 got that. That being said, my '01 Ford 5.4 never did much better than 14.

Like said before, new plugs, wires, filters, open the exhaust, and keep your foot out of it.

 

[Pro_Marinero]

Clean your MAF sensor carefully. Use an electronic contact cleaner, or you can also buy MAF-specific cleaner as well. Also try cleaning your throttle body. Couple this with what everyone else said regarding new plugs, wires, filter, increase air pressure in your tires, and lighten up on your foot and see what happens. Feel lucky if you see 1-2 mpg better.

Or get one of these and let us all know how it works:

Snake oil

 

[R J]

Since when did the f-150's start getting good mileage? 14 around town in the winter wouldn't cause me any concern.

On my new F-150 (2008) with 900 miles I'm getting 13.5 around town or whatever driving I do. It's winter, I only use regular grade fuel and I have a auto starter that I like to use so I guess that number isn't all that bad in my book.

I was thinking of the new Edge evolution deal for the truck but I think that will be a while down the road.

 

[Dogmeat]

yeah there is the fact that it's a Ford small block ...

they don't get as good of miledge as the GM small blocks do, but they produce more usable torque than the GM small blocks do ... it's a trade-off I guess

 

[sledmanhof]

i kinda figured that i wouldnt get very much better mpg by doing anything differant, but i thought it was worth a shot.

what about putting the catalytic converters back on it what would that do to it if anything.

 

[Wyoming T/A]

had a 99-f250 light duty with a 5.4 and spent about 400 on stuff for mileage and it was a money pit ---never gained a thing---save your money .. jmo..sold it and bought a 01-3/4 crew cab chev with a 8.1 and got the same mileage and had 2 times the power

 

[Beels]

had a 99-f250 light duty with a 5.4 and spent about 400 on stuff for mileage and it was a money pit ---never gained a thing---save your money .. jmo..sold it and bought a 01-3/4 crew cab chev with a 8.1 and got the same mileage and had 2 times the power

Same here. Except I had a 350 Vortec. My mileage did go down, but it's very negligible over the course of the year.