# MPG on Ford 7.3



## Stud Bro (Oct 24, 2007)

I got a 1999 F 250 crew cab with a 7.3 Turbo diesel and i have the dioblo programmer in it. How ever the best mileage i have ever gotten is 14.5 MPG and this is very rare normally i get around 12. Is this normal what are you other guys getting any body know any tricks to get better mileage let me know.


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## JT Contracting (Sep 15, 2006)

I have 02 f250 with 4" turbo back exhaust K&N intake system and Hypertech Tuner, with tuner set on three (highest setting) I am getting 14.9 around town and pulling trailers highway about 18-19.


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## Stud Bro (Oct 24, 2007)

I also have a 4 inch turbo back exhaust and just a K&N filter insert i keep my programmer on the 100HP tune and i cant figure it out but i can sure blow out some great black smoke


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## mike psd (Aug 12, 2007)

takes about right for a PSD 14ish in town and maybe 20ish on highway. . i love the skinny pedal so i'm sucking down on that deisel hahahaha


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## stroker79 (Dec 2, 2006)

I also get a consistant 14+ and that towing my 6K# landscape trailer around for 3 days out of the week. I dont get on the highway very often but ill get about 18-20 cruisin at about 2000 RPMs (70mph).


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## NoFearDeere (Nov 7, 2005)

Stud Bro;425587 said:


> I also have a 4 inch turbo back exhaust and just a K&N filter insert i keep my programmer on the 100HP tune and i cant figure it out but i can sure blow out some great black smoke


The black smoke your shooting out is actually wasted fuel. Your basically throwing dollar bills out the exhaust! But even knowing that.....it doesnt stop me when i'm next to the little rice burners and take them off the line leaving them coughing in the smoke!!! My 6.0 gets about 10 pulling, 16 highway, city mileage is somewhere between those two. Good Luck!


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## shanta74 (Sep 10, 2007)

my uncle had a97 7.3 and he was getting about 17 mpg's now that he traded that in for his 06 6.0 automatic he isnt getting any thing beter than 14 mpg's.


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## Stud Bro (Oct 24, 2007)

I don't understand it if i run it in stock mode i get 10 to 12 and when I'm leaving black smoke in the 100 HP tune i get 12 to 14 and that can be towing or just highway. It doesn't make sense to me all i want is better mileage and i don't know where to start.


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## Nascar24 (Feb 11, 2006)

My Previous truck was 01 7.3L PSD with 3:73 gears, got 14 ish around town, towing about 10 ish and 19 ish highway running the sweet spot ( 65 mph @1750 rpm's) If I ran over the sweet spot I'd do 17ish at best.


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## NoFearDeere (Nov 7, 2005)

Nascar24;425938 said:


> My Previous truck was 01 7.3L PSD with 3:73 gears, got 14 ish around town, towing about 10 ish and 19 ish highway running the sweet spot ( 65 mph @1750 rpm's) If I ran over the sweet spot I'd do 17ish at best.


What do ya get now with the 6.7 Cummins?


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## jcesar (Sep 14, 2006)

call me crazy, but it works.

my 7.3 is getting 16 or so in town and 20 to 21 highway at 2k or under.

I have the 4" exhaust, with a superchips tuner, set in the tow haul safe mode, and I use bio performance in it.

Hauling my loader, I get about 12 to 13
13k lbs!!!


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## Pat M (Oct 19, 2005)

Take it off the 100hp setting. I don't which programmer you are using but if you can go down to either 45 or 60 hp try those then also stay off that right pedal. My 03 6.0 F250when it was stock ran around 17.5 - 18 mpg combined between highway and city. Put on a 4" tubo back exhaust and it stayed the same. Even using my Edge Juice with attitude I would leave it on the Level 3 Performance and it stayed around there. Then Ford started with their re-flashes and it went down to about 14.5-16 mpg combined. If you can adjust your fuel delivery I would adjust it to less smoke. Your turbo will have a slight lag time on it but you won't be dumping raw fuel straight out the back side. Does it look cool ya sure to you maybe but then you get those old farts and they just complain about it but your neighborhood fuel station will love you for it. 

O.k. off my stool I go. Basically as long as you stay around 65-70 mph then you should be at your best fuel economy. Anything over that and she will just go through it.


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## Stud Bro (Oct 24, 2007)

Thanks for the advice however i have ran it in every tune including stock have ran cleaner threw it constantly run LSD and ULSD fuel threw it and i have never got close to 18 i have driven it like a grandpa and still no change i dont know i guess there has to be somthing going on internaly and untill i can get the truck freed up to take it in and get the injectors checked then its just going to keep burning liquid gold thenks for all of your help i will keep you posted


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## Mark Witcher (Feb 21, 2004)

I have a bone stock 96 with auto and it has never got better than 14 mpg.


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## KATTRANSPORT (Nov 8, 2007)

My 08 F450 6.4 gets like 9ish around town. Dont ask what it gets towing. I hope this all makes you feel better


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## mike psd (Aug 12, 2007)

if you want mileage get a cummins best in the class for pickup diesels .


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## KATTRANSPORT (Nov 8, 2007)

Cummings is a great motor. However the ram is a great motor wraped in a toilet. Im not a cummings trasher but take a look at the 6.7 boards , its like the 6.0 all over again with a different name tag, blown turbos, sticking egrs snapping crankshafts etc.


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## mike psd (Aug 12, 2007)

KATTRANSPORT;430668 said:


> Cummings is a great motor. However the ram is a great motor wraped in a toilet. .


ditto however if can find an 98 12v with a manual your golden .diesel have taken a real hit when its coming too EPA and emisson BS anymore which is sad b/c the designer are not planning around a truck that is gunna produce everyone for a working man .


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## NICHOLS LANDSCA (Sep 15, 2007)

Didn't see what gears you have but a buddy has two identical trucks an 00' with 3.73s and an 01' with 4.10s. 00' gets 17-18 01' gets 14-15. Also 05' 6.0 gets 15-16 and a sweet 08' F550 with a 6.4 getting 6. OUCH!


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## wls (Aug 17, 2003)

I have a 97 f-250, just did a mpg thing. About 90% town, 10% freeway, got 17.2 mpg, on paper. Open air, no muffler, 3:55 gears


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## toast (Nov 18, 2007)

I have a dp tuner, BTS valvebody, 4" MBRP turbo-back, and the AFE stage 2 intake, and I am averaging about 12-14. It sucks! I get the best mpg on the 80 hp setting, Pulling around 12k it gets around 10. Pulling 7k, 11 mpg. I do believe my torque converter is messed up though, the truck just doesnt launch like it used to, maybe its not locking up?


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## kc2006 (Oct 16, 2005)

I've got the older body style so I know my fuel system is different. But I get 17mpg towing my trailer (4000lbs) around town. Without trailer I see right around 19-21, never really do freeway driving. I did haul an 8000lb trailer and got around 19mpg on the freeway with it, that was in the hills of WV too. The truck is very consistant on fuel, it's always about 16.5-16.8 mpg average when I haul my trailer in town.

I have a home made cold air set up, 3" dp with 4" exhaust with a straight through muffler (I saw no boost and bad mileage when i ran without a muffler), I change fluids on a regular basis, always use fuel additive, and keep my fuel filter changed. I just recently added a 6 position TS chip, got bad bad mileage after installing that, but had alot of fun!

The best thing I noticed was changing all my fluids, when I got the truck it got bad mileage, maybe 14 at best around town, I changed every fluid on the truck (diffs and all) and that got me up there. Oh and one time I put a whole gallon of diesel kleen in my tank, it got 28mpg around town towing! Don't know what that was about but it ran great, I had a fuel problem and was told to do that to clean it out.


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