I have a 2001 F-150 XLT Supercrew. I really love the truck but the prices at the gas pump make me weep like a catholic schoolgirl that just lost her boyfriend.

Are there any chips available that can help me improve my gas mileage? If so, where can I find them?

Personal experiences with these chips would be great.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

Hi oaf357,

Everyone always wants the exact same thing when gas prices go up (myself included, and I'm a die-hard performance nut) - the miracle of a sudden mpg improvement in vehicles that are not conceived, intended or designed to ever get "good" fuel mileage.

If there was some tuning miracle that could get say, 2 more mpg in these big tanks via tuning alone for low-grade 87 octane fuel, the automakers themselves would have done that long ago due to the C.A.F.E. mpg mandates the automakers have to meet each model year.

The reality is, as a by-product of our *performance* tuning, and specifically the increased spark advance used on part-throttle when we tune these engines for the use of premium gas, most people do see an increase in fuel mileage - but it's a performance tune, so premium gas use is required to get significant power gains and significant potential for mpg improvement under light-throttle conditions. Bottom line, that isn't going to allow you to actually spend less money for gas.

In *some* of these trucks, depending on their exact PCM software from the factory, we can do some things to help mpg a bit with a custom tune for 87 octane fuel. If you'd like to give us a call, we can go over your individual truck's computer code and let you know if we feel we can get you a little bit better mpg and still allow the use of 87 octane fuel - there are up to hundreds of different PCM revisions each model year alone in these F-series trucks, and so in some trucks, we can get a more mpg even on 87 octane, and do some other things that tend to help fuel mileage a bit. That would give you your best chance of actually spending less money for fuel. It's only fair to tell you that even then, we're not going to make any iron-clad "guarantee" of better fuel mileage as there are far too many variables, such as the quality of fuel you use, the condition of the vehicle and how it's maintained and driven, etc.

To locate your truck's computer code, open the front passenger-side door, look in the front part of the door frame, in the general area of the door hinges - there you should find a small sticker that has 3 letters followed by 1 number on it. Then give us a call with that info & we can go over just what can be done for that particular vehicle. That's as close as you'll get to a "gas mileage chip," so to speak.

Now there are *other* mods you can do that will help mpg better - such as our electric fan kit & underdrive pulleys - there you can get upwards of another 30 HP and see mpg gains ranging from about 1.2 mpg to as much as 3.5 mpg. If you'd like to explore some of those possibilities, give us a call at our number listed below & we'll be happy to go over the details with you.

Good luck with your truck,

 

That was an exquisite answer. I will probably be giving you a call sometime next week.

However, I really don't care about performance at this point. If the truck moves I'm happy. If it moves fast... well I'm equally happy.

Now I'd prefer not to cut performance to improve efficiency but I'm sure there is a lot I can do to my truck being that everything in it is stock.

 

Hi oaf357,

Understood - you're after the best possible mpg, and performance (as long as it is not reduced) is strictly secondary.

Not a problem, we can help with that.

Enjoy your weekend, & we look forward to speaking with you!