Ford diesel mileage

[Diamondpilot]

I have a 2006 F-350 4X4 SRW with 3.73's. It has 4" exhaust, Quadzilla 120 hp chip, and cold air intake system. Truck has 26,xxx miles. My average week involves driving to work, about 70 miles per week then towing the tractor about 5 miles once a week to do some mowing then on the weekend towing the boat from April to November to the lake 57 miles each way. I average 17 mpg. The boat is heavy 15,600# and the tractor is only about 6,000# on the trailer. I broke the factory hitch with the boat, but that is another story. I tow the boat 2,000 additional miles each summer going to the great lakes, Ohio river, and to the big lakes in KY and TN, I live in Northern Indiana. I have seen as good as 17 mpg pulling the boat at 75 mph. I have also seen as good as 24 mpg on the highway not pulling anything. I pull with my chip set at 80 hp gain and daily driving I run it all out.

This is my third diesel and the thing I have learned is idling kills the economy. The other thing I have learned is the Ford 6.0 is a great engine, I don't care what the others say. I have had 2 for about 100,000 miles combined and not a single problem. The third thing is the Duramax is great also but it gets much worse millage towing. I only got 11 mpg towing my boat versus 17 with the 6.0 PS. It always seemed to be in too low of a gear.

Chris

 

[Dargo]

The other thing I have learned is the Ford 6.0 is a great engine, I don't care what the others say.

Eww, even Ford Motor Co. doesn't agree with you on that matter.

 

[patrick_g]

I wanted a quick update from others who might have a Ford truck with the new 6.4L diesel to compare fuel numbers.

I have a 2008 F-250 diesel 4x4 automatic super crew cab short bed with less than 1000 miles on the clock (about 600+)

It has a readout for various things including miles to empty and MPG. My experience has in general shown the computer generated MPG to be pretty close to what I get with a calculator and pump readings for gallons.

So far the best mileage I got was 16MPG even (running cumulative average.) With less than 1000 miles I can't be sure how the mileage will end up when things level off. The 16MPG was driving the speed limit in town and 70 MPH interstate and country roads and so forth but with no load except for a 150 mile round trip with a 700 plus pound crate in the bed. I tried to follow the break in instructions like not exceeding 70 and avoiding driving at a constant speed or accelerating really hard or towing for the first 500 miles. Now I'm ready to just use it as a truck. Lets talk about it again in 6 mo to a year.


Let us know how you do.

Pat

 

[Bluecheck546]

My 2005 2500 CTD gets 19.5 empty mix h-wy/city mileage. Towing trailer 16mpg. All hand calculated. Stock "beast" no mods.

 

[machmeter62]

I have a 2006 F-350 4X4 SRW with 3.73's. It has 4" exhaust, Quadzilla 120 hp chip, and cold air intake system. Truck has 26,xxx miles. My average week involves driving to work, about 70 miles per week then towing the tractor about 5 miles once a week to do some mowing then on the weekend towing the boat from April to November to the lake 57 miles each way. I average 17 mpg. The boat is heavy 15,600# and the tractor is only about 6,000# on the trailer. I broke the factory hitch with the boat, but that is another story. I tow the boat 2,000 additional miles each summer going to the great lakes, Ohio river, and to the big lakes in KY and TN, I live in Northern Indiana. I have seen as good as 17 mpg pulling the boat at 75 mph. I have also seen as good as 24 mpg on the highway not pulling anything. I pull with my chip set at 80 hp gain and daily driving I run it all out.

This is my third diesel and the thing I have learned is idling kills the economy. The other thing I have learned is the Ford 6.0 is a great engine, I don't care what the others say. I have had 2 for about 100,000 miles combined and not a single problem. The third thing is the Duramax is great also but it gets much worse millage towing. I only got 11 mpg towing my boat versus 17 with the 6.0 PS. It always seemed to be in too low of a gear.

Chris

I have several diesel trucks/vehicles, and was told that one of the strong points of diesels, besides torque/power was the (idling factor) to help it's economy; where the fuel/air ratio may go to 100/1, which validates the reason many "big rigs" sit and idle/versus shutting down? I maybe wrong?

 

[Diamondpilot]

I thought they left they left the big rigs running is to keep lower the number of cycles on the engine. What I mean by a cycle is a start-run-shut down. The start is the primary wear time.

Chris

 

[dgl24087]

I thought they left they left the big rigs running is to keep lower the number of cycles on the engine. What I mean by a cycle is a start-run-shut down. The start is the primary wear time.

Chris

Newer "big rigs' have a timer that shuts the engine down after a few minutes at idle. They do, however, have a feature that cycles the engine on and off in order to heat or cool the cab and sleeper compartment as necessary.

 

[john_bud]

I have several diesel trucks/vehicles, and was told that one of the strong points of diesels, besides torque/power was the (idling factor) to help it's economy; where the fuel/air ratio may go to 100/1, which validates the reason many "big rigs" sit and idle/versus shutting down? I maybe wrong?

The milage of a vehicle that is running but not moving is negative. If you fill up, drive 20 miles using 1 gal you got 20 miles per gallon. If you keep the engine running at idle for an hour and use 1 gal, you used 2 gal to go 20 miles or 10 mpg.

Diesels may use less fuel at idle than equally sized gas engines, but not that much less. In the winter, starting and idling the engine uses as much fuel per minute as driving on the highway at 65 mph. At least it did with mine when I checked it.


I have no idea why big rigs sit and idle other than to power the heat, AC, refridgerator or radio/TV/computer. You would think that they would run separate banks of batteries for starting and accessories with automatic combiners to charge as needed - like a large boat does. But I'm just guessing here and don't really know.

jb

 

[LarryRB]

I have no idea why big rigs sit and idle other than to power the heat, AC, refridgerator or radio/TV/computer. You would think that they would run separate banks of batteries for starting and accessories with automatic combiners to charge as needed - like a large boat does. But I'm just guessing here and don't really know.
jb

I owned tractor trailers for 18 years,. Gensets were few and far between and those available at the time were beyond cost efffective. SO,,I "high" idled my tractor most winter nights. For one, heat, for two to maintain the return fuel line with warm fuel to help against freezing up.. High idle was with a vernier cable was set at 1200 rpms. Large diesels in reality,, this is a big no-no as they are running cold.. The engine never gets near proper operating temps even at high idle. Today, for around 3500, one can get an Onan and other brands of diesel powered gensets, that will keep truck warm, engine warm or ac in the summer, and batteries charged up...

 

[UPRAISER]

John M

I have a 2008 model F250 with the 6.4. I have about 4000 miles and have averaged 14.6 mpg with mostly suburban/city type use. That is based on the trucks report. I have not checked it on a per tankful basis.

I did take my 25' RV on a short trip to the lake. The lake is about 3000' above my elevation. About 2500' was a steep grade for 9 miles, so it was a pretty good test of the trucks pulling power. I was very pleased. The other test was the transmission on the way down. It preformed way above my expectation. I have traveled it many times with the same trailer and my 99 F150 which was rated for this trailer load, but near or at its max. , it was work all the way down.

The fuel use dropped a small amount while towing on the low slope part of the trip, and was registering about 14 mpg while on the steep part.

The fuel use went up to the 14.5 range on the 40 miles back home.

I am very pleased with the dual tubo's, lots of low end power, in fact I can break traction if I am not easy on the peddle, and that is with a non slip rear end.

BTW that is with the 5 speed automatic and the towing package, 3.73 rear end, crew cab, short box.

Curt