What can you do to a '02 dakota to incresse the gas mileage?

 

Trucks get bad mileage mainly because of the weight and aerodynamics. You can do several things to help improve the mileage.

Cheap Stuff:
reduce the weight of the truck
remove any drag inducing accessories (wind deflectors, brush guards, nerf bars, fender flares, etc..)
drop in K&N filter
Cold air intake
free-er flowing exhaust
try and maintain a steady speed. Accelerating (sp) uses a lot of gas.
Drive 65 instead of 70

Not so cheap stuff:
install a light weight bed cover*
lower the truck (reduces drag under the truck)
reduce rotating mass (aluminum pulleys, lighter wheels, aluminum flywheel, etc...)
have a custom cam made for mileage instead of power
have the computer retuned
install a 5 speed auto or manual transmission

* On my Ram, the bed cover weighed more than the drag induced by not having it and the bed cover actually reduced my mileage.

 

How do you know if your tonnau cover is adding more wieght and causing lower mpg than not having it at all?

 

if you use a soft tonneau cover they work real good i noticed about a 1-2 mpg increase on the highway, they also keep your gear dry. they are realitivly cheap $150-$250 for a decent one, if the cost is to much check the local junkyards i have seen flawless covers on wreck trucks sell for like $50 Also the soft covers and rail assembly weigh less then 30 pounds so there is no way that the weight would lower your mpg

 

Develop consistant driving habbits and then sample your mileage. In my case, I averaged the mileage for 5 tanks with and 5 tanks with out the cover.

95Dak318 nailed it. A soft cover is what you're after.

 

Sry for bringing back a old thread... but I'm in a small hurry for ordering parts for my gf's brothers(97-04) V6 Dakota. He wants to improve the gas mileage and make it sound mean....

I'm thinking full exhaust, but what size would you recommend? What brandis recommend(including headers)

I'll probably set him up with a nice CAI as well....

He's away in the war but gets back in Mid October, he would like to see it done when he gets home. (It's in the paint booth right now) hopefully will be done at the end of this week.

Please help, as you can see my deadline is fastly approaching.

 

not much you can do for the 3.9L engines. Intake and exhaust for starters. Give it a good tune up and replace the lead foot with a lightweight aluminum one. K&N filter.

If you want to go all out (read:$$$$$$$) you can buy a super chip and have it tuned, install lightweight pulleys, lower it and install a larger throttle body. post up some pics when its done!

 

For my 3.9L v6, I added:

1. Cold Air intake: (similar kits to this link...) http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/97-00...spagenameZWDVW
2. Added Dual Exhaust- Flowmaster 50 Series
-(slightly quieter but more muscle sounding than 40 series, also benefits due to being made from steel instead of aluminum)
-(not true duals, 1 cat 2 tips)

The Dual exhaust got me from 11.5-12.5 to 14-16mpg
Then adding a Cold Air intake kit, I increased to roughly 17 mpg in town.

 

Changed the O2 sensor in mine, also did the spark plugs (put in double platinum). Got an extra 4 mpg out of doing that. Helped alot.

 

[align=left]I just picked up my 00 with a 4.7 v8. Off the bat I was getting about 15 in town and 19 hwy. I added a single magnaflow exhaust without a tailpipe(sounds better than flowmaster anyday,) a helix power(best $75 spent,) and a K&N stage II intake. I get about 18 in town and 23 out on hwy and only spent $500. For me that will pay for themselves in a few months.
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