fuel tank size? 96 F250 supercbab shortbed 2wd 7.3 powerstroke

compressionignitionrules

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I was doing the safety on my new to me truck and the front tank looks really short. I was expecting to see a big long front tank like all the other F250s . I guess I'll have to run it close to empty and refill to get an idea, i was just really surprised by how small it looked.
 

u2slow

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Car-part.com lists 17 gal and 19 gal fwd tanks for the F250. I assume the 17gal is the shortbed variety.
 

compressionignitionrules

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that sounds like the right one, I thought it looked a lot smaller but the end of it is pretty shallow so its possible just 2 gallons smaller.
 

greenskeeper

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our 97 f250 crew shortie has 16 and 18 gallon tanks respectively. You might want to wire in a resistor to the fuel gauge to make it read empty when you are actually empty. When I first got the truck it would read "empty" with about 4 gallons left in each tank.
 

compressionignitionrules

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well now that I have all my fuel leak issues fixed :Thumbs Up I filled my tank on Monday and got 175miles on the first half of front tank. sounds good to me, now i'll have to run it down and fill it up again to get my fuel economy numbers and size of the tank. I might just push it until it stumbles and switch to rear tank. as most of my driving is 2 lane highway between 55 and 60 mph. I'm driving pretty easy and not passing much . anything over 20mpg US would be acceptable for me.
 

DaveBen

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I got just over 21 mpg in my 2004 with a 6.0. Just about killed me going 55 mph...
 

compressionignitionrules

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I got just over 21 mpg in my 2004 with a 6.0. Just about killed me going 55 mph...

300 miles on the front tank, switched to rear when the needle touched the red. same fuel stop same pump possibly more fuel in it this time so could be slightly better than my calculations.
22.2 mpg. mostly highway, but 2 lane so lots of slow downs and some passing. probably 20% at 70mph, 20% at 65mph, 30% at 60mph and the rest at stop/go city 30-45 mph.

I'm very pleased with that. now I'm going to try some 235/85/16s off my old van and see how it does. I'll verify my mileage with a GPS before I switch tires. I'm going to go for accuracy

I don't like the way the wider 265/75/16s seem to follow the truck ruts in the asphalt , we will see how the narrow ones work.
 

greenskeeper

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My 97 has always gotten 20 mpg on the highway @ 70 mph 2000 rpms. If you go above 2000 rpms the fuel economy takes a dump on these motors.

The only way to get an accurate fuel economy calculation is to fill to the top of the filler neck and replicate for no less than 3 tanks.
 

compressionignitionrules

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I'll be doing my 3rd fillup on sunday. 2nd wasn't quite as good but I did some trailer hauling and short trips so it was expected . this fill is mostly highway, keeping it at 65mph and under unless passing and I've had my tailgate down every chance I get.

my trans has issues but will still lockup in OD at just under 45mph and hold it. I'm going to nurse it until I get my winter truck 97 f350 4x4 7.3/E4OD ready then I'll worry about it. anybody know if a 2003 4R100 will work in its place? my old van hasn't had trans issues in the 7 years I've owned it, and I drove it hard empty and loaded. .
 

compressionignitionrules

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best tank so far 23.2 taking it easy , latest was 22.6 and included some short trips . let my 12 yr old daughter drive the truck down 1 concession on the way home today, it was gravel and only about 1.5 lanes wide so she was pretty nervous but she kept it just under 30mph. she didn't want me to tell mom about it:peelout:Q


so the narrower 235/85/16s on the front and tailgate down only gained me .4 to 1mpg my TC sure is rattling, a different trans with a solid TC might make more improvement> when the trans breaks there will only be 1 tow call........

pretty sure its the 16 gallon front tank now that I've filled it several times.
 
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