More updates on improved mileage from the Dakota forum of people that have replaced their map sensor.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...-solved-6.html

 

Well that is strange. I checked around on the pricing.

Dodge - 132.66
Napa - 129.00
Autozone - 84.99
O'Reilly - 97.99

How are people getting theirs for a fraction of those prices?

 

Worse case is to get a new one off ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/JEEP-...1%7C240%3A1318

It's like $29 + $10 shipping.

I figure the full size truck people would be worried more about loss of power and mileage than the Dakota's or Durango's. There has been a hand full of people that have tried this and everyone has agreed that, it has brought the truck's power, mileage and drivability back. V6, 4.7L, 5.9L, & 5.2L motors.

 

I replaced mine for the heck of it two weeks ago. Before it, I was getting 12.2 to 12.5 MPG regularly, all in town driving, no highway. I filled her up for the second time yesterday since the switch, and I have dropped to 11.7 MPG. Will see if it was just a fluke, or maybe the PCM is still relearning the new sensor.

On the other side, I had a weird issue where some mornings the truck would be pretty zippy, and others it would be more sluggish than usual. Thought at first it was temp related, but no, it seemed to be random. Well, the new MAP sensor fixed that. Now its zippy all the time.

After this new MAP gets settled, I'm going to run through a few more tanks of my 92 10% ethanol gas from Shell, and then move to 91 non-ethanol fuel from BP, and see if that ethanol makes a difference. (Or if BP case is better than Shell, since Shell is supposed to be some really good stuff.)

 

Dude,

your ecm and fuel system is not made for 100% ethanol. That's why your getting terrible gas mileage. It almost takes twice as much ethanol compared to regular gasoline for the same power. ethonal has much less BTU per gallon than gasoline.

On the tuner car scene. The evo's, SRT4's need 1000cc + injectors and additional inline pump to support high hp out of ethanol (E85). You will notice even worse gas mileage and running lean condition because, your injectors aren't big enough to run full ethanol. Your fuel system can not sustain the requirements of the ethanol fuel. On top of that, ethonal is very corrosive. If the seals and fuel pump is not made to withstand pure ethanol, you will be replacing your whole fuel system.

Stay with full gasoline for your truck. You will get better MPG and more power.

 

Ethanol would actually be better if the compression was high enough. Problem is, very few cars run high enough compression to burn ethanol properly. However, I never said I was running 100% ethanol. I am running 10%. Shell stations in SD run 10% in 89 octane and 92 octane fuel.

BP just runs 10% in 89, so I can get 91/92 from them without it.

I'm going to hate visiting the in-laws in Minnesota... they are looking to go 20% ethanol in all their octanes, by state law.

Thats what I always thought, but I figured I'd test it myself so I can back it up with personal experience, one way or another.

BTW, I will never run E85 in any vehicle.

EDIT:
Wow, sorry fastyz400, didn't mean to do a threadjack.

 

Ya, I have several friends running E85 with 1000cc+ injectors. Nice thing about ethonal (E85) is that it's native octane rating of 109. Running this in cars or trucks that are not tuned for E85 will have very negative effects. Number 1 is poor gas mileage. Any gasoline with ethonal in it will burn much faster than pure gasoline, thus giving you the crappy gas mileage and loss of power.

If, your gas mileage is still suffering, I would try the upper O2 sensor and some new plugs, wire & cap.

The map sensor should have improved your throttle response and power. Many have also noted mileage increase.

 

The O2 sensor is new (less than 1000 miles), and the plugs are brand new (less than 1000 miles), and the wires/cap/rotor are fairly new (less than 10,000 miles, probably closer to 5000).

I am also running a Superchips Flashpaq 3815 tuned to 91 performance setting, so I have the proper tune for the octane. Could be that I need to change my plugs to a different type, currently running 3923 Autolites. The colder plugs worked well when I had a busted plenum (reduced ping), but now I supposed I could get them swapped.

 

Dude,

The ethanol is an additive. 10% ethanol is common. It is not the same as e85 which is 85% ethanol. They put it in as a susbistue for other detergents/stableizers. There is nothing wrong with ethanol used in that manner.

For e85 your mileage doesn't decrease because your mortor can not handle it. Your mileage decreases simply because there is not as much stored energy in a gallon of ethanol as there is in a gallon of gasoline.

 

Smoothest, most consistant plug I've ever run is the NGK V-power in the proper heat range.

I'm currently running the NGK iridiums just to see if they'll hold up to the MSD box better, so far they seem to be doing pretty well. Not as smooth as the V-powers, but the tips stay nice and clean, probably wear out the ground strap before the iridium tip wears out.

I need new wires though, I've broken a few of the plug connectors inside the boots and they are a little "bendy" from side to side.