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Regular
Posts: 70
Location: PA | It was mentioned in a recent post about adding to the intake system and having a muffler shop open up the exhaust system. We have a 99 Ford F350 7.3 Powerstroke Diesel w/55,000 miles on it & only use it to tow. We just got a 3 horse 10' s/w this Spring & get about 10mpg inn PA (lots of hills). What does this do for the truck -power/gas mileage? Is it expensive? Also what is a programmer? Someone had suggested we put a super chip in for towing? I have gotten a lot of good advice just reading the posts and the experts on this site know about pulling heavy trailers. We are within a 1-2 years of retirement & hope to travel more out of state. Since we intend to keep the truck, should we consider doing it? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 406
Location: Minneapolis, MN | 10 mpg....that's what they get. You can spend a heap of money, and get better drive-ability, but when towing...you may see 11 mpg. I run a 2001 PSD with a DP Tuner 60 hp tow program, have upgraded the intake and have a 4" exhaust...turbo back. More power, yep....still 11 mpg when towing.
Edited by wyndancer 2010-11-04 11:48 AM
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Expert
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Location: Rocky Mount N.C. | The thing that the aftermarket intake and exhaust will add to the most will be..... The NOISE!!! |
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Expert
Posts: 1351
Location: Decatur, Texas | Yoou should get a little better than 10 or 11mpg with the 7.3L Powerstroke. You will see more performance with aftermarket items and alittle better fuel mileage loaded and alot better unloaded. So far the best bang for the buck on intake kits is the S&B complete kit, but these 99 to 03 trucks work pretty well with just aftermarket replacment filter also, like K&N. But must keep them clean! The 4" exhaust system will make a big difference aswell but if you do not like a little noise you need to get a large straight thru muffler. I have done many 7.3L's all without mufflers and my opinion they are not bad at all, nowhere near what the Dodge trucks are. I have never use the Superchip programmer before, but have had really good luck with Quadzilla Xzillaraider for mild performance gains. This is a simple plug in chip that has 2 small cables run under the hood to the map sensor and I think the itp sensor. About a 15 min job for 60hp which is a great set up for all around driving and towing. These chip work fine without any intake or exhaust upgrades but does much better with them. Edge also works fine n these trucks but is alittle higher priced. |
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Location: Kentucky | I'm in Ky, hilly here too, my 7.3 stock gets between 13-15 pulling. My trailer probably is a little lighter than yours being only a 4 ft short wall but it is steel. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 330
Location: northeast Texas | I have always thought the bottom line is, when pulling a load, specially a heavy one, you are going to burn gas or diesel. Example: I had an 05 Dodge 3/4 ton 2 WD 5.9 cummins 3.73 rear end 6 speed manual. Got 20 to 25 Hwy and 14 to 17 pulling a Cimarron 3 horse 4 ft SW dressing room. Bought the Cherokee 3 horse 10 ft SW LQ and dropped to 10 or 11 pulling. Wrecked the truck. Replaced with an 07 Dodge 1 ton DRW 4 WD 5.9 cummins 3.73 rear end and 4 speed automatic. It gets around 17 Hwy but gets the same 10 to 11 pulling same trailer. So if you read this carefully I am comparing apples to oranges on the trucks with same engine, same trailer, and getting the same mpg towing. The older truck was set up to get better HWY milage. The newer truck takes a hit being 1 ton dually and 4 WD on HWY driving, but they both tow about the same on the same weight. |
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Expert
Posts: 1351
Location: Decatur, Texas | Originally written by Zoe on 2010-11-04 6:45 AM It was mentioned in a recent post about adding to the intake system and having a muffler shop open up the exhaust system. We have a 99 Ford F350 7.3 Powerstroke Diesel w/55,000 miles on it & only use it to tow. We just got a 3 horse 10' s/w this Spring & get about 10mpg inn PA (lots of hills). What does this do for the truck -power/gas mileage? Is it expensive? Also what is a programmer? Someone had suggested we put a super chip in for towing? I have gotten a lot of good advice just reading the posts and the experts on this site know about pulling heavy trailers. We are within a 1-2 years of retirement & hope to travel more out of state. Since we intend to keep the truck, should we consider doing it? I was going through my books of chips I have used before and had good luck with towing and forgot about one that is adjustable and is cheaper than the Quadzilla and Superchips. TS Performance 4 bank 6 pos. chip. It offeres stock setting, 50hp, 75hp, 100hp, 120hp, high idle, valet option and anti theif. You pick 6 levels you want to use and the manufacture programes that chip for your truck. The high idle works great for colder weather as a warm up and I used the 75hp setting for towing. This comes with a knob that you mount on or under the dash and can adjust while driving. The last one I bought was around $200. to $250. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2453
Location: Northern Utah | If you add a chip/programer. Make sure you add a Pyro and know what EGT temperature are dangerous for your engine. |
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Regular
Posts: 70
Location: PA | I did forget to mention that our truck is also a 4 w/d dually which probably also takes away from gas mileage. Since we have had the truck since 02 (purchased it with 22K coming off of a lease), I can pretty much agree with Wyndancer & CT Rider on towing MPG. In 02 we had a 10' truck camper & 3 horse bumper pull and were getting 10-11 MPG. Friends had a Dodge & saying they were getting 14-15 & this was our first diesel, we took it to dealer & they put it on the computer and said with that load, truck running OK and that is what we will get & engine not even broken in yet. In 06 went to a Sundowner gooseneck 3 horse w/6' s/w & got about the same MPG. Our only 1st long trip was to go to Alabama this Spring to get our KB 3 horse w/10' s/w & we hauled the Sundowner down to trade - mileage round trip was 13 MPG but both trailers were completely empty and all good highway driving, but we were pleasantly surprised at the improved MPG - best ever. We trail ride & once retired, we hope to travel out of state to KY, TN, IL, MI & vist all those wonderful parks & camps we read about, meet new people and can then take our time w/o having to rush back to work. I appreciate all your advice and we will definitely look into the intake & exhaust systems with our garage guy. We had previously stayed away from chips because we don't know anything about them except we were told they give you more power but we didn't want to wind up, in turn, hurting the transmission because it couldn't handle it. Our diesel definitely has a lot of power & ignorance can sometimes be very costly, especially if you don't have good, reliable advice. At this juncture, we also decided to keep our truck, given our low mileage & truck is paid for) after reading about all the regen/pollution stuff on the new ones and it seems that this is the best diesel engine Ford made. That is what is so great about this site, people share their advice and experiences (bad and good) to help others. We intend to acid etch & coat our aluminum floor based on Gard's blow-by-blow instructions so we don't have to pull the mats all the time. Thank you all for sharing this information, it will make for a good winter project. And also to Gard, our prayers are with you for a speedy recovery.
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Expert
Posts: 1351
Location: Decatur, Texas | When you start traveling don't forget to hit North Texas for a couple of nice places to ride too. As for your truck, are you 100% sure about the 3.73 gears? Anyhow, even being a dually and 4x4 does not hurt the mileage near as bad as everyone puts off, on Ford I know for sure. The front wheels "free wheel" when not using the 4x4 therefor it is running the same as a 2 wheel drive truck. |
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Regular
Posts: 70
Location: PA | I didn't say which transmission we have only that we didn't want to cause any damage to it. It is automatic. Where can I find this information on the truck? |
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Expert
Posts: 3802
Location: Rocky Mount N.C. | Originally written by Zoe on 2010-11-06 1:35 PM
I didn't say which transmission we have only that we didn't want to cause any damage to it. It is automatic. Where can I find this information on the truck? http://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/ |
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Expert
Posts: 3802
Location: Rocky Mount N.C. | Originally written by retento on 2010-11-06 6:09 PM Originally written by Zoe on 2010-11-06 1:35 PM
I didn't say which transmission we have only that we didn't want to cause any damage to it. It is automatic. Where can I find this information on the truck? http://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/ UH! OH!... Posted the wrong site.. Try this one.... http://www.thedieselstop.com/forums/ |
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Expert
Posts: 1351
Location: Decatur, Texas | Originally written by Zoe on 2010-11-06 12:35 PM
I didn't say which transmission we have only that we didn't want to cause any damage to it. It is automatic. Where can I find this information on the truck? The best site I have found is www.powerstroke.org. This site is a FORD only site. The automatic transmissions in these trucks are just fine when kept under 100hp. Anything more you would need to upgrade with a trans go shift kit which is around a $100 to $130. item and roughly $150 labor unless you do it yourself. Anything will have wear points on these trucks and will all depend on "your" driving habbits. Same with my truck.... Everyone tell me that I need gauges too, well I really do but with the bad economyand feeding 103 critters other things come first. But I know how to drive my truck loaded and know what my limits are. I drive it right while loaded and when on long up hill pulls I don't push it. But after a little programming help I have found that there is no need to step on it as much. |
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Intake and Exhaust systems
