I own a 2000 dakota cc with a v6, and I was wondering if someone knew of a way to increase the gas milage. Even at best i was only getting about 14 miles to the gallon and now I'm down to about 12.


Thanks for the help

 

Distributor cap and rotor.. new plugs make sure they are gapped and if you wanna go factory the champions do ok for plugs. You might also wanna do plug wires and air filter. Check the transmission fluid to see if its bad and if its bad this will make a difference. The other thing people never check is the alignment and this is one of the most important things. Not sure of what else im missing lol.
Another big thing to do is buy the Mopar Combustion Chamber cleaner and use it like the instructions say, this will help greatly if the previous owner ever drove without a filter on.

 

Syllinx is right on with his suggestions. Keep that baby tuned. I drive a 98' SLT 5.2, V8, 5sp with 91K. My truck gets 15.5 uphill, downhill, highway, or funeral processions. It's so constant it's scarey. For me I use quality gasoline...not Kangaroo, Etna, and Brand X. I use BP white 92 Octane..basically it's the old Amoco white(clear gas) a lot of us grew up with except minus the lead. It burns real clean, doesn't crap up your injectors, and gives me the performance I need when I need it. I I put 6oz of Marvel Mystery Oil in my gas every three or four fill ups just to help the fuel system. It's only $2.95 at Walmart a quart, and a little higher at Auto Zone or Advanced Auto. It can be used in your oil too for upper engine protection. Also be sure to keep you air filter clean. It does make a difference. I also wash my engine once a month to keep any debris from getting where it doesn't belong. I don't pressure wash it, but use a good spray on degreaser and a garden hose to keep things looking good.

Be easy on the throttle if you can too. I get the urge to hear my flows rumble from time to time so I have to take it easy. Actually simple things can get you the mileage you are looking for. I hope to keep my truck humming for a long time....

 

I also forgot to mention using the Stp Complete fuel system cleaner. It its best to put it in on a empty tank then fill the tank to allow proper mixture. If your engine is severely gunked up it might smoke a sec or let out a smoke bomb due to all the carbon that has been burnt and cleaned out of the motor. Another thing to check is on some of the spark plugs they have those small washers on them, you may want to make sure they are all the way up the plug before you put them in so they don't leave the sparkplug halfway in the cylinder and cause a loss of compression.

 

i got a flowmaster 40 delta flow from the salvage yard for $20 and welded it in my self and i got a 4.7 and it isn't that loud but i can tell a difference in my preformance and flowmaster claims to improve MPG but i have only filled my tank up once since i put the flow on and ill let you know if it has made any significant gain in MPG in about a week.

 

If its still stalk, you can look at replacing air intake with something like K&N or Airaid. Can boost hp too.

 

Keep it tuned! I also went to a Flowmaster 40 on just the single exhaust and saw an improvement of 2.1 mpg on the first tankfull. The stock exhaust is very restrictive. I also run a drop in K&N and 10W30 synthetic engine, synthetic Tranny fluid and Synthetic rear end oil. Get around 16 city and I've recorded a high of 21.7 highway. City mileage always sucks though but I think it's just their nature.

 

Listen to this man! A good exhaust, a good CAI, and keeping it well tuned will help immensely. A tonneau cover or a leather cover on the bed will also help.

With a V6, your not going to get massive increases. The truck just weights too much for the engine. That said, you can easily improve it some. I've owned both a V6 and a V8 Dakota, and both were pretty good on gas.

Using cruise when you hit 40 or above really helps alot as well. Where I live, there are alot of straight shot roads at a mile or longer between lights....I used cruise any chance I got, and still do even in my Stratus.

 

Haven't checked it after adding the hard tonneau cover. I was pretty happy with the results after the exhaust and with the way I drive it I thought that was good enough. One added benefit also is it sounds really sweet at 80 to 85 mph. Filling the pipe just right and it just sings to me! At idle it's very hard to distinguish it from a V\8. I like my Dak!

 

Doesn't have to be a tonneau cover either. You could also use an airgate and get the same results or even a bed shell.