I was looking for suggestions with which programmer/tuner I should look into for better gas mileage? I get about 13.8-14.6 in the city and was wondering if there was anyway to get that above 16 consistently? I already take it easy and try not to go 2,000 rpms on every take off.....

 

I have a 2009 ram 1500 4x4 SLT 4.7 and was wondering what would be the best programmer or tuner to help with gas mileage? I get about 13.8-14.6 in the city and I always try to not go over 2,000 rpms on take offs....can anyone help me and share some of their experiences with these tuners? thanks

 

On the 4th gens you are not going to squeeze out much more MPG with a tuner. At best maybe 1-2 MPG with higher octane tunes but now your paying more for fuel so it's a wash. Tuners are primarily a performance upgrade, not an MPG upgrade. And most people end up seeing worse MPG with a tuner because they get a heavy foot playing with the extra power. It would take years to pay off the tuner in fuel savings.

The easiest (and cheapest) way to see MPG improvements is to keep your tires inflated a bit higher then normal, easy on the gas pedal and lighten the load in the truck as best you can. Every little bit helps weight wise. A lot of pickup drivers can't understand why their fuel economy is so lousy. Meanwhile they have hundreds of pounds of tools and other nonsense in their bed mounted toolboxes or under the backseat.

 

You asked this exact question in another thread and people responded. Not sure why you made a new thread asking the same question?

Arguably the biggest selling point for most vehicles today is fuel economy. The only people who ignore those numbers are people who care more about power and performance. Which is fine. But that being said, auto manufacturers spend millions trying to squeeze out every last MPG to make that vehicle a bigger seller. If the people who engineer these tuners had figured out a way to magically increase MPG's through nothing more then a program, they would sell this information to the truck manufacturers and make far more money then selling programmers to truck owners.

On the 4th gens you are not going to squeeze out much more MPG with a tuner. At best maybe 1-2 MPG with higher octane tunes but now your paying more for fuel so it's a wash. Who cares if you get 1.5 MPG better if you are now paying 10c more per gallon for fuel? Tuners are primarily a performance upgrade, not an MPG upgrade. And most people end up seeing worse MPG with a tuner because they get a heavy foot playing with the extra power. It would take years to pay off the tuner in fuel savings.

The easiest (and cheapest) way to see MPG improvements is to keep your tires inflated a bit higher then normal, easy on the gas pedal and lighten the load in the truck as best you can. Every little bit helps weight wise. A lot of pickup drivers can't understand why their fuel economy is so lousy. Meanwhile they have hundreds of pounds of tools and other nonsense in their bed mounted toolboxes or under the backseat. Don't underestimate the weight you carry. Every little bit helps. Ask any racer.

 

X2

Can't really say anymore, that about sums it up perfectly.

My best advice for someone trying to increase mpg in a Ram that engineers spent millions of hours and dollars trying maximize?

Put a "For Sale" sign in the window.

 

Good Cold Air Intake and better flowing exhaust have always boosted mileage, if you drive respectively.

 

An exhaust can help. And a true cold air induction could (could is the key word) help. However, the systems touted as "Cold Air Inductions" despite the fact they have a large filter drawing in hot air from the engine compartment will have zero effect on MPG. A true cold air induction will have thick plastic tubing (not metal unless it's insulated) and will draw air ONLY from outside the engine compartment which means through the fenderwell or from the lower bumper area.

But not to get into a whole different topic but the 4th gen stock intake systems easily outflow the engines demand so you will see no increase in power or MPG with larger filters on an otherwise stock truck. The Throttle body and stock intake/heads are your restriction. If they are stock then don't waste money on any induction mods pre-throttle body.

 

Anything that pulls from the engine bay is pretty useless, unless the stock intake is restrictive. AKA Short ram intakes.

Cold air intakes always draw from outside the engine bay.

If the throttle body and intake are restrictive as stated then that would be a good place to start.

Basically figure out where the restrictions are and get them flowing well. As NV290 stated the throttle body, intake, and heads. Making these flow well would be able to net good mpg gains.

 

The way I see it is that any improvement in flow will improve ultimate horse power and not mileage. Cold air will increase charge density which will require more fuel to achieve the correct fuel-air ratio. This is good for ultimate horsepower. The 5.7 has as much horsepower as any sane person needs for the road.

To get better mileage we have to make the engine work less.
be careful with the throttle,
pump up the tires,
get the lowest gear ratio possible(3.21),
get the right tires(skinny ones),
get a tonneau cover,
empty the truck,
make sure the brakes are not dragging,
don't carry around gas that you will use in 2 days.

Check out hyper-miling websites for tips, check out the ecomodder website.

If the cost of fuel is really hurting you another thing to consider would be to buy a small car if the numbers permit and keep the truck if you really need it for towing the boat on the weekend or sell the truck if you don't really need it. The environment will thank you.

 

More horsepower and torque mean less work for the engine to pull the same amount of weight. Less work for the engine=better mpgs.

Anytime things can flow easier it equals less work.

I put cold-airs on everything I own and always see 1-2mpgs when driven respectively. When abused they use more fuel, driven nicely they help.

Toppers and Tonneaus have been researched and hurt mpgs, due to changing the aerodynamics of the truck. Trucks were designed for best aero as they leave the factory, empty box, tailgate closed.