Mike T. I purchased a Super chip to install in my F-150. I am slow to put it in, one because of the cold. But two because in the summer time I was getting 14-15 mpg. It went from that to about 11-12 mpg. I corrolate it to a visit to Ford to fix a rumbly tranny. They, and others, say the tranny is fine. Then when winter set in I went from 11-12 to 8-9. I would like to get this fixed before I install the chip but not sure. What are your suggestions.

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Red '97 F-150 SC 4x4 off-road, 16" rims instead of factory 17"'s(borrowed from old '97 reg cab), BFG 265/75 16 all terrain T/A, K&N filter with modified air box, Flowmaster 40 with duals out back, Expedition center console, 3" rear seat lift, after market stereo seen at HTTP://members.sounddomain.com/red97
Got Superchip and velocity tube for X-mas too cold to put on as of yet.

 

Do you warm up the engine in cold weather for a few minutes to heat up the interior or defrost the windows? This will kill gas mileage, as I am finding out. I normally average 16.6mpg, but I go down to the low 15's during the cold winter months.

 

n99gt, do you mean you will get bad gas mpg if do or dont let your engine warm up?? right now i am getting about 10mpg

 

What I mean is during cold weather, when my truck is sitting still in the driveway with the engine idling for 5-10 minutes to warm up the interior and defrost the windows, it is using gas, and getting ZERO mpg! You multiply that times 5 days a week and you get almost an hour of ZERO gas mileage that week.

 

I believe that the cold weather mileage problem is the oxygenated gas that is sold from Sept. to March. At lest they do that up here in the great white north. I have been told a 20% decrease in mileage is the norm. I was getting 13.4 to 14.4 with a best of 18.2 now if I get 12 I am happy. I also have a 97’ Contour with the same results.

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rock150
1998 F150 4X4 XLT Supercab 5.4L 4x4 3.55LS

 

Hi red97,

Well, I don't know what happened at your dealership when they did the work for your transmission complaints, but the recent additional decline in mileage is most likely due to reformulated fuels being in use. Reformulated fuels are in use in most parts of the country, including Florida, from Fall to Spring. They always have a lower raw energy content, and you'll usually see mileage decreases of at least 8%-10%, and some as high as a 20% drop in mileage, just from the use of reformulated gasolines.

Not knowing anything more than what you've posted, that is my best guess as to the most likly culprit, and you should see that mileage increase again as the use of reformulated fuels is phased out in Spring. However, if you are in an area where the Federal government (regardless of anything your State government says) has determined has poor air quality year-round, then you will be using reformulated gasoline for the forseeable future, until the air quality in your area improves. Don't worry, it's not just you, almost everyone is affected during the Winter since the Feds started their air quality campaign about 3 years ago.

If you like, you can give us a call and we'll be happy to go over all the details of your situaition with you. In the meantime, as long as your engine seems to be running normally, no check engine lights etc., you can go ahead and install the Superchip, just make sure to use premium gasoline, and the best quality premium you can find in your area is my suggestion. Keeping a consistent track of your gas mileage each tank will allow you to determine which brands in your area tend to have the higher energy content, by virtue of getting higher gas mileage. Make sure to use at least 2-3 tanks of each brand when you're checking out the various brands available to you in your area.

Good luck!

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Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer

 

I know I'm not getting bad gas mileage from the cold weather. I am getting worse gas mileage from the cold weather though. My bad gas mileage set in around June or July then got even worse when cold set in. I believe it's my O2 sensors. I had a bad smell of rotten eggs the other day which was what my other truck, my father's truck and this one was doing earlier in the year when they replaced an O2 sensor in all three of the trucks to fix it. Now it's just hit and miss trying to figure out which one of the four is bad.

 

My dealership did a test last week and said there were no codes set. I don't think they did an O2 scan. My truck is out of warranty so I'm going to, as they say, throw parts at it. I can get an O2 sensor from a mechanic friend for $37, which is half of what Ford wants for it. I'm going to start by replacing the up-stream O2 sensor that Ford didn't replace this year and go from there. If I know of three trucks that have had this problem then I'm sure it won't hurt to replace all of them and some point.

 

Hi red97,

Yes, I understood from your post that you saw 2 separate apparent decreases in gas mileage, only one of which could be attributed to winter fuel formulations. With that rotten egg smell, it's either an O2 sensor or a bad catalytic converter, I think you're right that there is something definitely wrong there, from what you've posted.

You might want to see if your dealer can get a real-time reading on the O2 sensors, to check each one for proper operation perhaps.

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Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer

[This message has been edited by Superchips_Distributor (edited 01-04-2001).]

 

Hi Red97,

Yep, you're right, at that price you can't go wrong replacing the O2 sensors, they are wear & tear parts and need replacement every so often anyway, though most don't consider them as such. Some people get lucky and never have an O2 sensor problem, and some of us have to replace them at 30K-50K mileage intervals, etc.

Good luck!

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Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer

 

Well, this is probably an idiotic way to do it but I put in a new O2 sensor, Superchipped, and put on my velocity tube all at the same time. I know I won't see the advantages of each one, but after 8 mpg I need a big jump here to reclaim my pocket book. I figure if it was the O2 sensor that my mpg from that alone would go up to around 12-13, since it's winter. Then hopefully a little more with the chip and tube. We'll see with upcoming tanks. I did notice a difference with the chip in though. The tranny shifts are nicer and it seems as though I don't have to give it as much gas to do what I was doing before. So far so good. I've only had the chance to drive it twice so far and will post more later.

 

Hi red97,

Your description of needing to give it less gas to get the same performance is an excellent description of the effect of the Superchip adding power even on part-throttle, and that's what you should be feeling, very good.

It'll be interesting to see if that O2 sensor was the mileage culprit you've had for some time now, as you said, time will tell.

Good luck!

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Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer

 

just a note, and this may play some part of this, then again, maybe not. before my 99 f150 i had a chevy s10 which i watched the mileage pretty closely on. i know that as soon as winter came around and they started selling the oxygenated gas my numbers dropped dramatically. at first i didnt put the two together, but after checking 3-4 tanks and reading an article in the paper about this very same topic i chocked it up to this type of fuel. i also know that when late spring rolled around my numbers went back up to where they should have been. from what i understand though, i believe that this type of fuel is being phased out (hopefully) sorry that this doesnt pertain exactly to the 'chip', i was just running through here cause i'm thinking about getting one myself. maybe this is one piece of your puzzle??

 

Well from what I'm observing so far it looks like I'm getting my mpg back. I have about 40 miles on my tank so far and I've just gone slightly below a full tank. That's alot better than I would have gotten before the O2 and Superchip. Before I would have been about 3/4 of the way through a 1/4 of a tank. I'll keep this updated. I think this has been the fix though. On my last tank I had a little over a 1/4 of a tank left when I put in the O2 sensor and the Superchip and I got about 12 or 12.5 mpg. Next tank will be the catcher.

 

Mike I have a quick question about the chip. My family goes to Colorado every once in a while and goes 4x4'in etc. Will I need to remove the chip because of the low octane fuel in Colorado? Or can I leave it in?