First off, I know i have a truck I know nothing I can do is gonna get me to car mileage. I also only have about 700 miles on her so far, so not a lot of history to go on...

I am curious what exactly you guys have done that you think has helped your mileage? Tonneau? Programmer? Intake and exhaust? Leaving wife at home?

I am getting around 15 right now. With the latest jump in prices, I thought it might be a good idea to at least explore options.

 

Ive yet to break 15 with exhaust and intake and of course i floored it at first but even normal driving for a few weeks now best im doin is 14.5 i think the way to go is with a programmer. word about intakes is that they dont exactly improve mileage, they allow ur engine to burn more gas due to increased air ..more power..same mileage or a drop(lead foot). i think the way to go to improve mileage is the power programmer. bed cover might help a tad but programmer will def. be the most effective way [sm=exactly.gif]

 

exhaust will help too, assuming you don't get into it all the time to hear the cool sound.

 

Let me start by saying, you should mod for other reasons. I don't think you'll see enough improvement to ever recoup the cost of the mods you suggested. If you are averaging 15 that's pretty good. Synthetic oil may help a little. I've read Amsoil helps the most, but I personally won't go that route. I don't know what motor you have, but I've also read that 4.11 & 4.56 gears have helped the 4.7 guys in city driving. Probably will hurt if most of your driving is on the highway.

 

I get good mileage if I drive on the highway. I haven't gotten the 17 that they claim but close. I know that when I bought my PT the mileage was awful in the beginning. Somewhere around 15 locally. Now that I have over 10,000 miles on it the mileage is great. So wait until you get some mileage on it and see what happens. I now have 4600 miles on the Hemi and my mileage is improving and also the summer grades of gasoline are coming out soon. That will really help.Check the tire pressure ,the dealers always lower the pressure to make your truck ride better. I keeps mine at around 38 lbs.

 

I get it. I would not expect the mods to pay for themselves in gas savings (unless gas gets to be $5 a gallon)... but I gotta sell it to my wife SOMEHOW BTW, its a Hemi, sorry for the confusion.

When I said "intake," I meant a FIPK from K&N or such... not an actual intake manifold

Is there a programmer out for the 2005 yet? Have prior year programmers worked well? I think I read someplace on here that someone had problems with idle after programming with a Superchips programmer.

Do they make crate motor Hemi's? I got a 69 Dart that could use one

 

Yes, they make all kinds of Hemi crate motors - from the oldschool 426-based ones in small medium and huge displacements (small being 426) to the new 5.7. The 5.7 is offered in either EFI or carburated and puts out what, 365hp/365lb-ft iirc. Seriously not worth it in my book, since they cost like $8k. You could get a magnum 360 stroked out to 408 making more power than that for less than half as much.

 

<----------- 18.2 - 21 mph almost all highway . very little city driving unless i absolutely have to .

 

I heard that the 2006 HEMI's will have the MDS function for better gas mileage. Do you think there is anyway to install this on an older model HEMI such as a 2004? I'm not sure what would be required, if it would just be a different computer flashing or whether this would require a whole new engine or heads or something. Let me know what you think. As for gas mileage, I'm turning at best a 15 mpg for 6 days of driving. I have a 25 mile drive to work each morning, mostly highway. I hope to istall a K&N intake today and flowmaster catback within a few weeks. I also noticed my tired were 10 lbs under optimal pressure, hoping filling thos will eliminate some problems.

 

In that case, I'd sell her on a supercharger.