Hey guys, I recently bought a '99 dakota and have noticed i'm getting pretty crappy gas mileage. It's a 2wd with the 3.9l and auto. I've checked the AF and no problems there, just ran it through emissions and everything passed great. The PO has a spacer on the intake, would this affect it much? Also could it be a problem with the tranny or torque converter?

Thanks for any info!

 

welcome. well, define 'crappy' gas mileage. from what i've seen posted here before (and btw, please search next time as this is a fairly common topic) the 3.9's get pretty bad mileage. the plus is that will run forever if well maintained. the intake space you might as well take off and sell as scrap metal, they dont do anything in terms of performance or mileage, or basically, anything at all. i get under 10 MPG but that's a 5.9, so maybe that will put things into perspective for ya

 

...and all RT owners drive like a nun late for church



welcome to the forum.....

first off you drive a truck that is now 10 years old....you bound to get bad milege, and you have a 3.9L...they get just as good of milege a the 5.2L or 4.7L

try replaceing the air filter or fuel pump...just take it to a mechanic(that you trust) to have it looked over

good luck!

 

I get 15 MPG average with 2001 3.9

 

FAIL....i have a 4.7L and i get 15 WOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

btw, i'm sure a good tune up wouldn't hurt. cap, rotor, plugs, wires, fluids, all the normal stuff. how many miles are on it?

 

i got 25 on the highway once, in like perfect conditions. most of the time i get like 18 mixed. Its just a piggish motor that has to work pretty hard to move the truck, period. Now if you're getting like below 12 mpg on a regular basis then there's probably something not right.

 

Thanks for the quick replies. I'm probably getting around 15 so not far off from what some were saying. I'll go ahead and throw some plugs and a filter in to keep it fresh. Guess I should be glad I'm not driving an r/t, although the power would make up for it!

Oh yea it's got 78k on it so lucked out there

 

heh yea 15 is horrible? I've been running at a good average....11.

 

It's a truck, deal. lol