Hello guys. I have a 2001 Dodge Ram, extended cab. 5.9L. Right now I'm averaging about 12-13 mpg (highway and city). Here are some things I plan on getting to increase my mpg and horsepower.

Superchips - model 3715, Flowmaster exhaust, and Cold air intake. Also, I might get a low temp thermostat (but not really sure how much they help?). How many more mpg would you guess I should get out of these combined?

Anyways, I was wondering if you guys think all of this will work well together. Just give me any positive/negative opinions about my list, and you may suggest other options/ways to get better MPG. I'm going to have to save some $ for a while to afford some of this stuff, and I want to do a little bit of research first (only 19... don't have too much cash!).

Thanks in advance guys,
Casey

P.s.I don't know how long my truck has had a tune up (bought it 4-5 months ago). I'm going to give it a tune up tomorrow (spark plugs, oil change, air filter change), so that should help it a bit.

 

you really can't get more horsepower and better gas mileage at the same time. i'm getting about 13 city and 16 hwy in my 5.2. i also drive very gentle. gas is too expensive.

for mpg... do a search on air filters. silverdodge and others have changed to some old fashioned round air filters and report better mileage. also fastman's throttle body has been said to increase mileage. headers might help, but they are a pita. complete tune up, check cat, o2 sensors, check/repair plenum, etc.

for hp and get up and go w/o sacrificing mpg... superchips, hypertech, performance pcm.

 

Not entirely disagreeing, it is a royal trick to get more horses AND better mileage at the same time, if for no other reason than drivers having a tendency to drive it even harder when they have more power.

Really, start by ensuring all your tires have the correct pressure, and that every maintenance aspect is up to date.
Because up to 20% of your mpg lies in the way you drive, and most people drive with a 'hurry up and wait' attitude.
By far, the absolute best thing to increase the time a tank of fuel lasts is to not even start the truck lol.

Some helpful tricks are to start letting go of your gas early when you know it is likely you will have to stop or slow down, vs. using the brakes, that is. Using the brakes shaves off speed it took fuel to build, so if, for example, you can let off the gas early enough, you use less brakes = better mpg, as one example.

Someone once told me, many years ago, the best mpg is gotten when you can drive your vehicle using the accelerator as your only means of controlling your speed. While I thought the guy was crazy, what he really meant was you have to let off the gas way early when you anticipate having to slow down, or stop. It takes time and practice, but I've gotten to where it is a rare event that I have to step on the brakes before I've slowed down to 20-25mph on coast.
Especially on roads traveled daily, it gets to where sometimes I don't even use the brakes anymore, anticipating the stop early enough (especially with lights, slow down way early, it might turn green in that time, allowing you to ease through).
By the way, increasing your following distance to 6-8 seconds from the car in front of you helps you stay off the brakes as well.

The other trick is Dodge's contain low-compression engines (they all do), so the easier you take it on acceleration, the better your mpg again. While this is true of all vehicles, a higher compression engine needs a certain amount of fuel before it can accelerate, but a low-compression engine 'coasts' easier, so it takes less fuel to keep it going AND to get it going past the 'coast' point... Conversely, giving a low compression engine MORE gas doesn't do much for the mpg, to be sure, while acceleration improves some, the trick to dodge's excellent mpg reputation is a feather light touch on the throttle.

As for the thermostat, afaik, the hotter the engine, the better your mpg (up to a point). I mean, unless your engine is running so hot that the fuel ignites spontaneously (which would result in rather severe pinging), lowering the temperature is not going to help.

As for increasing horses, some of the easier things would be:
Change oil and filter helps most any time (use synthetic oil or at least synth.blend helps further).
Autolite APP5224 Double platinum spark plugs (gap to .035).
Accel 8mm spark plug wires
High performance cap and rotor
High performance ignition coil.
02 sensor (just replace it, especially if your odo has more than 100k miles on it)
But all of this costs, you're looking at $200-$400 in parts.

Dual exhaust would be a rather expensive option (500-1000, parts and labor).

You might also wish to take your intake manifold apart, and clean it out real good with some solvent and a soft bristle brush.

And again, the real trick is to stay OFF the gas, now and if or when you have more power.

 

Raising the compression ratio
and lowering the exhaust backpressure
are the two modifications
that an auto engineer would agree would both
increase horsepower
and decrease fuel consumption.

"Balancing" your fuel injectors to match airflow
on each of the 8 cylinders
can have a modest improvement.

The cold air intake and Superchips
will have little effect on day-to-day driving
and only slight effect at full throttle.

I would personally doubt that the Flowmaster muffler has significantly lower restriction.

A very long article on improving both MPG and horsepower:

https://dodgeforum.com/m_447500/tm.htm

 

Ripped from the article...

This is especially true if the tires have been changed out from the typical 30
inches of factory installed rubber to the 34-38 inch diameter that some
"My self esteem is low but my truck is the tallest"
Ram owners install on ridiculously lifted & unsafe pickups that seldom
if ever leave the blacktop.

Truer words were never spoken... 'Nuff said!

 

i have the exact setup your asking about (superchip, intake, dual flowmater exhaust) and i have seen an increase in power, but havent seen too much in an increase in MPG maybe 1 or 2 depending on how im driving. As for flowmaster exhaust costing 500-1000 bucks, i paid 450 for mine at a custom exhaust shop, catback dual 40 series mufflers, 3 inch pipeing, 3 inch stainless tips.

 

But, if you are looking to keep a low budget your looking at around 1000 for exhaust superchip and intake