im 17 and i recently got my hands on my dads dodge ram 1500. im in the process of buying it now, and i was wondering if there is anyway i could increase fuel economy. im getting maybe more or less 10 miles a gallon, and its draining any cash i get from my job making 7.35 an hour. im not an agressive driver either, so im not really sure what to do. 6 months ago, we had the motor pretty much rebuilt, and we just replaced the exhaust a couple weeks ago.

 

Did you replace the O2 sensors? How's the cat??

 

not yet, funds are pretty tight right now. probably going to get them sometime this weekend. any other ideas to better it?

 

Aside from O2 and CAT, keep it simple and stick to basics. Tune it up.

Coil, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, fluid and filter change, transmission fluid / filter, transfer case oil, and rear end oil. They're all lubricated for a reason, and friction, contaminants, and breakdown cause them to be less efficient.

It's a long list of cheap projects so get started and keep track of the differences that they all make to your fuel economy.

Might also suggest a leak down test and a compression test just to see how efficient the engine is even capable of being. Once you lose compression and your valve train starts leaking your power goes down. The problem is that those are NOT cheap to fix.

 

rock auto has the NTK o2 sensors for $32 and $37 plus shipping if buying them locally is too expensive.

i think you have to be getting more than 10mpg. that is about what my 318's get when i am doing all city driving.

 

im probably going to do a full tune up soon anyway. this forum is great. tons of help in no time. thanks guys appreciate it.

 

1996 Dodge Ram 3.9l - I have two low cylinders, (115, 128) with rest at 155, and I'm still getting a solid 15 and 16 Hwy. Runs beautiful on road, but semi-rough idle, I'm working on that. I still count my blessings at 300k miles.