Gas Burner Question

[trapper]

ok i know this isn't the right place to post it but i have a 2004 F-150 Ext cab 2wd with a auto tranny and the 4.6 L. I am doing a lot of traveling lately from north to south ga around 260 miles one way. my question is is there any additives that increase the mpg's i am getting 20 atm but would like to get more

 

[Andylad13]

First, I would like to say that 20 is not bad for your truck. But if your after mpg's in a gasser I would get new spark plugs, and probably an air filter at the minimum. I don't think any additives will give you any savings due to the "cost of the item to possible increase in mileage" ratio.

 

[EvilM0nkey]

Reduce weight in the truck and the right foot.

 

[timothyr1014]

on the weight reduction note also look at aerodynamics...your bed is a parachute, either cover it or ditch the tailgate. When I had my chev 1500 with a 350 I used to have a 140mile one way commute - picked up 2 mpg this way )both covered or open with the tailgate removed)

 

[trapper]

the truck went from 17 to 18 to a solid 20 after i installed a cold air intake and put in dual exhaust. I will try the tailgate thing and see what i come up with, and i know the truck needs new plugs the truck just rolled over to 100K and got around to changin the oil today lol

 

[Optikalillushun]

dont ditch the tailgate, just cover up the bed. id try a piece of plywood for home made tonneau before buying one.

also u can try running syn gear oil in the diff, seemed to help on my diesel. maybe a tuner set up for economy tune? not sure if its cost prohibitive though. try running the tires at max pressure and knock down ur speed by 5 mph.

thats pretty good milage for a big truck.

 

[flareside_thun]

Mythbusters disproved the theory of tailgate down/removal.....it actually made things worse. Just be careful when you change the plugs and don't overtighten...the 4.6's and 5.4 have that nasty habit of stripping threads and blowing plugs out in the number 4 and 8 cylinders. You've already got the intake and exhaust down so that can be checked off.....I'd put mild mannered street tires on it if they aren't already...a narrower tires is less rotational mass= less drag.

 

[pmelah]

when you change the plugs get the new E 3 diamond plugs they do help emissions horsepower and fuel economy they helped my 96 explorer went from 21 to 24.5 mpg

 

[timothyr1014]

In as much as I am a die hard fan of adam and jamie, not everything on mythbusters is totally accurate (for example the road they conducted the test on is known for a decent amount of wind)...However, if you go back and watch the second round of tests, you will find that using a net resulted in a 5% mpg increase.

As far as straight gate down, I would agree that at 40~50 mph (depending on bed length, cab height and length) you may not see positive results, but as you cross into the 70mph + the difference will start to appear.

Keep in mind when you are dealing with aerodynamics everything is speed and size contingent; in their test they were using a lower and shorter truck.

In as much as I like them its still entertainment

 

[Fishin76]

Just be careful when you change the plugs and don't overtighten...the 4.6's and 5.4 have that nasty habit of stripping threads and blowing plugs out in the number 4 and 8 cylinders.

That was the OLD 2v 5.4L's, and the 4.6L never really had the spark plug problem.

2004 4.6L is a 2V engine, and takes regular sparkplugs, and won't spit them out. Those are 100K plugs, but i would change them if you have over 75K just to save wear and tear on the cops. (Coil Over Plug system).

2004+ new design 3V 5.4L's have the opposite problem, the plugs did not want to come out!

My last truck was a 2004 CC F150 3v 5.4L 4x4 super short bed XLT. I never did change the plugs, and traded it with 108K on it.

 

[Diesel_brad]

Make sure to have a COLD engine if you decide to change the spark plugs. And i would soak them a couple of days ahead of time. Antiseize is a good idea for the new plugs.

Make sure your tires are inflated to their max
Go as slow as safely possible.
A tonno cover will help but it will take a long time to recover the cost

 

[trapper]

thanks guys for all the info im just ready to be with my girl and if everything goes right imma be married next oct.

 

[timothyr1014]

good luck and congrats on october

 

[I-HFreak]

ok i know this isn't the right place to post it but i have a 2004 F-150 Ext cab 2wd with a auto tranny and the 4.6 L. I am doing a lot of traveling lately from north to south ga around 260 miles one way. my question is is there any additives that increase the mpg's i am getting 20 atm but would like to get more

putt a k@n air filter on it, e3 spark plugs, or bosch. i know a guy that made a hoodscoop for his corvette and it ran 15 degrees cooler, but i dont know if that would help, i would say the more cold air the better
-=

 

[argve]

On our 4.3 Blazer I increased the mileage from 17 to 21 with the addition of an MSD system. It fires the plugs three times verses just once at lower rpms then at higher rpms (typical high rpms) it burns the plugs for 20 degrees of crankshaft rotation. I used the 6AL system coupled with a Blaster Coil and a timing advance/retard system, you don't need the timing advance/retard system I only had it because I was towing heavy with it 5k lbs boat. Now I know that a 5k lbs boat isn't heavy but for a 4.3l Vortec V6 it was heavy - she struggled a little before the addition of the MSD system. You can pick up used MSD systems on Ebay all day long for half or less the cost of a new system and since they don't have moving parts they typically don't wear out. With the 6AL you get a RPM limiter system as well where you can plug in different crystals to set the max rpm limit, which your truck should already have a max rpm limiter built in and seeing as how your after MPG your not even going to be getting close to that range.

Now for the multiple electrode spark plugs, I have a hard time buying into them because if they were the be all end alls then why don't I see more racers using them, because if they could shave a hundreth of a second off a pass or lap then they would do it. All of them I have talked to use standard every day single electrode spark plugs they just keep them gapped correctly and index them. They will tell you that indexing does help - ever so slightly and you probably wouldn't see a gain for a Daily Driver. So I'm not sure I would worry about indexing. But I know the MSD works. But one has to weight the cost of the system vs the fuel savings and look at the pay back time.... Basically you have to a cost analysis on anything you do if you are looking to save money. Sort of like people that trade off their current car or truck to get a newer one that gets better fuel mileage - they never did figure in the actual cost of the vehicle it's self which is the highest cost.... A buddy did that about 3 or 4 times and never did see that he was actually loosing money - but he did always have a different vehicle every time you turned around.... to each his own I guess....