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tractor hauler fuel milage

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dieselpaul

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might be a little ot,neighbor has '06 ford 250 king-ranch diesel that he pulls tractor,horse trailer etc. with. says his milage has dropped bad according to dash read-out. [6.7] this is for mixed driving, but as i see him on the move lately, he's usually pulling. first thing i thought of was air cleaner [he let that happen on last truck] but indicator says ok. runs great. question-is dash readout that reliable? or working this truck heavy is this milage realistic? anybody with same truck tell me your experience? thanks-paul
 
No way should milage be that low. I would think it should be around 12-13 mpg at the lowest. He should try some hand calculations to see if he really is getting 6.7 mpg. If he is getting that bad of milage, he could get a new air filter and fuel filter. He could also try getting bigger exhaust and a performance towing towing chip. Not only should these two combined give him 3-4 more mpg, but it would also give him more HP. If none of these work and he is still getting the same bad milage, I would get a new pickup or perhaps get the truck checked by the dealer he bought the truck from.
 
I have an 05 F350. The dash computer has been accurate on my truck. If I am driving straight highway 70-75mph with a light load in the truck I typically get 18.5 mpg.

Pulling an 18' boat under the same conditions I get between 13 and 14.

With a 25' gooseneck hauling 2 5,000lb tractors, I'll get around 11 mpg
 
Funny how 6.7 came up. I"ve got 9 gas trucks in my company that get 6.7 - 7mpg pulling a trailer everyday. You should see when we plow snow! It"s about 3 on a good day.
 
Hi paul,

Even with a chip that is low. Chips cause the display to read wrong, a known fact for several years.

He needs to change his driving style. A DBW diesel can get excellant fuel mileage with the correct driving style.

T_Bone
 

thank you guys for input. yeah, i thought surely mileage should be better, even on short runs/light hauls. was curious about others experience with dashboard readout. he said hiway mileage ran 18 when he bought it & drove 200 mi. home. paul
 

Hi T-Bone; as far as I know, truck is factory stock, no chip. driving habits? you bet he could use some improvement there--Likes heavy throttle on take-off.- John M: I reset read-out, don't think its been much of anywhere since. been thinking hard about that air cleaner. his barn is behind dusty horse arena that he short-cuts across--that means tell-tale on cleaner housing would have to malfunction-it says ok-possible. btw, that air cleaner is around $70.00 i'm told.may pull it & look it over-paul
 
cannot go by the gauge on the air cleaner will cause bad fuel millage and also will cause the oil to be blown out around hose bands around tubo even though air filters cost a lot i change mine every 25 30 k hope he changes the oil regulary if not this could shut down engine completly my 99 350 gets 17 around town or at 75 towing 40' trailer loaded 10 12
 
Thats part of the problem right there. My 01 always read low when I first reset it. I owuld have to get 25 - 50 miles to get some real world numbers out of it. I traded it back in June for a 2500 Chevy and I wont ever look back. Only around 2500 miles on it and mileage is, both by the display and hand fiqured Im getting 19. And the power of this DMAX, shoot, I know why people called the Fords Powerjokes! Seriously though, Id look at the oil next to make sure its not getting filled with diesel.
 
Respectfully, I have not had a Trip computer yet that was accurate. Dodge, Ford, Toyota, GM have all read "Happy". I use the trip odometer, gallons to refill the tank, and a calculator to figure milage average over the entire tank full. I feel this is more of a Real World reading. Has anyone seen a mileage drop with ethanol fuel?
 
Hi Paul,

On my fuel mileage test road I found that adding fuel just a tad to fast will cost me 15% in fuel mileage. I'm not talking about jackrabbit starts either that would be more than a 15% loss.

Another 15% is lost from driving at 70mph instead of 60mph.

Another is your adding fuel or not adding fuel. There's no feathering the throttle like on a carb'd gasser. On a DBW fuel system, fuel is shutt off when no fuel pedal is applied down too 100rpm above idle rpm. That saves a ton of fuel.

T_Bone
 
My 92 S-10 4cyl 5 speed gets the same mileage on ethanol as it does regular. I keep track of every gallon and I calculate the mileage every time the tank is filled. I will run five tanks or about 1500 miles on one, then I'll switch to the other to try to give each one a fair shake.

The factor that affects the mileage the most is my right foot! If the right foot stays away from the floorboard the mileage is 22 in the summer and 19 1/2 in the winter. This is putting around, going to town type driving.

Other engine/vehicle combinations might not be the same as my results. My old 79 Dodge 360 3/4 ton will get a slight bit more power if it runs on ethanol with the timing advanced a bit. Keeping track of mileage on this one is too depressing so I don't do it.Jim
 
This is WAAAAy low...I've not found the dash computer to be that far off, this sounds like a problem brewing. i'd start by swapping out the air and fuel filters. I know the fuel filter sounds like a stretch, but in my experience I have found that a dirty fuel filter and the resulting fuel problems cause all kinds of issues on these things- swapping fuel filters cleared up a trans shift issue in my DuraMax!
 
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