Try it for yourself is what I say. I tried no tailgate for awhile, and saw no difference over the course of 3 tanks of gas. Running with the tonneau on, I saw a solid 1mpg increase on my highway mileage. That is contrary to what mythbusters said as I recall. I think it is funny how everyone wants to just be told what works, and then they do it without ever questioning it. Sometimes, you have to test stuff for yourself, and see if it works for you or not.

 

Hey 20dodgeNeon00 you should really check your plenum. Your truck shouldn't ping on the lowest grade gas. I run the lowest grade gas. When I got my programer wich advances the timing it would ping when I set it to 87. Just a little. Then I changed the plenum and no more ping. I have my programer set to 93 and run midgrade gas now. No ping. The "premium" gas is called premium to make you think it's better even though it's just a higher octane. It's not any cleaner then low grade. The only time that I could see running preium is with a turbo, high compresion, blower, or advanced timing (the programer advances timing). Some cars can adapt for running preium. They change the timing on their own by using a knock sensor. They advance the timing just before the engine starts to ping. If you all of a sudden switch gas to low grade the vehicle will ping until it can figure it out again. Our don't have a knock sensor.

http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/car...4/car1105.html

Here's an article to help explain it a little clearer. The last paragraph is the important part. Notice how it says in colder weather gas mileage goes down.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7924659/

 

another trick (sorry if it was mentioned already, I didnt read all of the posts)... is wrapping your fuel rails with insulating tape. this will prevent them from getting heat soaked. I did this along with a fuel cooler and gained 6.5% better hiway mileage.

 

So, how many hours do you spend trying to catch the fridge light on with the door closed?

they proved it, and I also have proved it with my own gas guzzler.Do you have to be a scientist (or a sceintist as you call them)to figure out MPG loss?I lose .5mpg with the tonneau, I check my MPG all the time (basically because I have nothing else to do but see how much I like to give $$to OPEC).Iremoved my TGand drovea month with it off and got 2mpg worse on my 1995 F-150 (80% highway), so I put it back on and I was back up to my normal mpg. you will never see a "Joe Dirt" Air Net on my truck, not even if I gained 5mpg with it. Now, if I gained 10mpg, then call me Mr. Dirt.

Have you seen most of the Joe Dirt stuff in this forum?
I can hear the banjos playing in the background of half the you tube videos! LOL (Edited: I had a typo, thats right, I am SPECHUL)
To each their own... some are Air Netters and others watch mythbusters.

All kidding aside, these trucks suck up the gas. and people will do just about anything to get 2mpg more... I look at what it will take me to get that 2mpg more and is it worth it in a time frame thatI think I will keep the truck. I figure this truck might last another 3yrs tops, or that I might get another job and have to commute again. so, is it worth spending $290 for a Cold Air Intake, $100 or what ever it costs flowmasters, andall the other things that might help just to get ridof it or have the tranny die and spend another$2000+ to get it back on the road.

Anyhow... I need to get back to work.

 

Relying on that show for anything other than pure entertainment is sketchy at best. I do watch it for the explosions though...

 

Tested and found that I lose .5mpg with the tonneau on.
Thats all the proof I need.

 

Well I tested and found the **** in my bed gets wet without the tonneau on

So that's all the proof I need

 

A deviation of only .5 mpg is not going to be noticable in a street driven vehicle. Sorry, but there are too many variables that could attribute to something as miniscule as +/- .5 mpg. I can lose .5 mpg by doing just a little more city driving then usual. Or for the ambient air temps to be 20 degrees colder. Or to get on the throttle hard a few more times then usual. I just don't think it is possible to say a single mod resulted in .5 mpg loss without testing it under very controlled conditions to eliminate all other variable. That is the only way you would ever be able to get to that level of accuracy.

 

HAH! You have GOT to be kidding. You my friend, are a fool. Oh, BTW, those trip computers in the trucks arent all the way accurate. Are you running bigger tires? Your Odometer wont be correct if you are, and thus making you think your going more or less miles on more or less a tank. Sorry, but if you think mythbusters is correct you are very very nieve.

 

My mistrake earlier..I did mean the PCV valve[&:]...
I use this web site and it is pretty cool what it will do...
http://www.northcarolinagasprices.com/
From 3-3-07 to 12-31-07...my results..
Gallons purchased=538.939,
Total cost=$1,494.67,
Average price per gal.=$2.785,
Average MPG=12.42,
# of fill ups=37,
bought the truck in feb started using this site then(3-3-07)....What i like too is you can put notes in with every fuel log so I keep track of things like oil changes, towing, repairs and other stuff if I want...