Hey guys I am looking for some help/advice on what to and look for to improve my 2000 4x4 SLT.

I am not sure what engine I have as I have looked it up by the vin (4.7) and have been told by a few gear heads that have looked at that I have the rare (5.2 or 5.9) engine in it.

The engine has almost 172k on it and I am looking to get more MPG and HP out of the old girl. I would like more MPG than HP, but looking to add to both.

I have looked into chips and all that is needed to make the chips work right(cold air intakes, Thermostats, Exhaust systems, ect..),but I am not sure what would be the best and what to I should stay away from.

I know I will be looking at a lot of money to be spent on these parts, so I want to make sure that I spend that money right.

Any tips or advice on how or what to do will help out a lot. If there is anymore info that I can give to better help you guys help me please ask.

Thanks in advance.

 

the chips make very nice, expensive paperweights.

this is because the computers in these trucks are smart enough to learn their way around the chips, some of the chips will even cause damage to the computers, tuners are the way to go since they can actually change the programing to give you some gains.

that said, take a picture of your engine bay and post it, my guess is that you have the 4.7 since that is what the VIN says and they arent wrong, however in the 4x4 for 2000 you had the option of the 4.7 or the 5.9, which engine it has is very important when talking performance upgrades

 

Very interested into this. Would like to get more mpg for my 4.7. Any tuneups recomended?

 

Tune gets power better than chips. Hemifever is a member who sells canned tunes.

After that, throttle body spacers and CAI systems are almost worthless. A less restrictive air filter is simply as good as what the Cold Air Intake people claim. Sure cold air generates more power because the computer alters the mixture to favor more fuel. A tune can do the same thing. Cold air...worthless...better air flow...key.

I have seen guys work the top of the TB to allow more air to enter faster. I have seen guys polish the runners inside the intake keg. This is all well and good IF the exhaust system is upgraded. These trucks already have a pretty fast flowing CAT, but the muffler is a restriction and can be upgraded. Shorty headers can replace stock manifolds with good results as well.

If that's not enough power...I recommend an aggressive rebuild. Compression and cam.

 

What happends with this mods and MPG`s?

 

Anytime you build up an engine to get much more power, you will trade off on mpg's. From my experience on my 5.9. I have lost a little mpg. Avg 11 after all my upgrades on my sig vs little over 12 mpg before these upgrades in city. Hwy driving is about same or possilbly a little better since the engine don't have to work as hard to maintain speed.

 

Agreed. Performance is usually at the cost of economy. There is a low threshold for a balance, where optimizing the engine will actually increase MPG, but that threshold is very low. Once you get past a certain point the more performance you build into it the worse the MPG gets.

It's a Durango. It's big, heavy, powerful, and generally very fun to drive. If I cared about MPG I would have bought a light FWD four cylinder. I wanted even more power and more fun so I did a tune, installed a better filter, headers, larger Y pipe, better muffler with a CAT back dual system, and when I rebuild the 360 I plan on slightly higher compression and a more aggressive cam. I'll be lucky to get 10 MPG when I'm done. LOL.

 

I want to add more mpg's the most any added HP I will take as a bonus. I am working on getting some pics of my engine put on here, but I work nights and have a family so finding time to do things can be almost a job in its self. This is also the first car that I have ever had the want to mod.

 

For performance upgrade, I would start from the top down. Meaning, I would start with the top of the engine and work your way down. Get a performance throttle body, and custom ram air setup, K&N or equilivent OEM filter and lastly a PCM tuner or programmer.

Then you can start later by replacing intake manifold with M1 or F1 airgap intake. Then exhaust upgrade. I am waiting for hopefully end of this year to upgrade my exhaust with a bigger Y Pipe replacement and single in dual out mangaflow muffler.

Heads and cam will usually end up modifying the engine all together and that would be my last step in my upgrades.

 

Are there any upgrades that can improve mpg`s and maybe hp? im looking better mpg`s. Im doing nearly 10 in city, traffic is very stuck here