on my dakota, the flange between the Y-pipe and the headers has been rusted off and broken, thus resulting in a madcore exhaust leak. it sounds like a tuner car (muffled in a crappy way) under the hood.. haha.

BUT as for the question!

if im not mistaken, that major leak is before the O2 sensor, correct?
And i just read that it takes certain back pressure to regulate how the air/fuel mixture is.

So, with that leak fixed, should that lead to better fuel economy?
(possibly fixing anything going past O2 sensor and changing how much backpressure??)

could it be that the reason i am getting such bad mileage (i know its a dodge) be from this problem?

i hope someone understands what im talking about. any help would be appreciated.

 

Probably, but if you are getting over 13mpg you are about average XD

 

my truck is fully tuned, all fluids, belts, water pump, plugs and wires, exhaust, air intake, diffs etc etc etc and im still lucky to get 180 miles on a tank city driving, around 225 since i now do about 95% highway 5% city; although i do have a 5.2 4x4 auto ext cab

fixing your exhaust leak will probably help

 

hoooooly crapper. okay, so apparently im right in the ball park! haha. before it was (LITERALLY, TRUE STORY) about a 15 min drive ate 1/8th tank. and the truck was empty, just crazy. but now its improved quite a bit it seems, but still not what i expected. but now i have something to compare to. lol, so thanks !