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17:57:04 - 11/14/2024
V8 Dakotas
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Ed Schmmt
Dodge Dakota
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9/21/2004
14:20:45
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 Subject: How do I get better gas milage
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I have 99 dodge dakota 4x4 v8 5.2L. I get about 15.5 mpg and I want to do better. I want Flowmasters but don't want to be loud. Do they improve mpg that much? Does the K&N air intake help? If so how much? Thanks for the help.
Ed
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Mr.Sleepy
Dodge Dakota
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9/21/2004
14:46:27
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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Consider the math when thinking about adding mods to improve mileage.
$400 for flowmaster muffler with pipes.
net gain, .5 to 1 mpg more, thats only 18 to 22 more miles per tank. given the average mileage of your vehicle that is equals to roughly 1.3 gallons of gas. Saving you a whopping $2 per fillup. If you fill up once a week based on normal mileage for a leased vehicle. That only truly saves you $104 worth a gas per YEAR! It would take you 4 Years of driving just to break even with your original $400 investment.
Muffler systems are NOT worth the price if your interested in saving gas. The best thing for mileage, and most noticable would be to accellerate more slowly, let off the gas sooner when approaching a red light, and stay under 70 mph on the freeway. These small steps alone can save you 2 to 3 mpg.
When considering the differences, its worth more to you to just drive a little more cautiously than it is to buy a muffler system. BTW $400 is just for parts, labor is extra!
I don't blame you for wanting more mileage, but there is a practical way to achieve it without spending more on your vehicle. Dodge has spent more time and engineering hours bringing you the perfect mix of power and mileage, nothing aftermarket can bring you to this point, it can only hurt. I lost 30 miles per tank by modding my truck, but I don't care about mileage since my commute is short and I don't take the truck on trips around town, thats what the wife has a econobox for!
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jjj
Dodge Dakota
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9/21/2004
19:21:44
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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On your truck there are two things that will help mileage alot. More timing (if your particular engine will take it without pinging) and remove the fan and go electric fans. Your setup will allow two electric fans, one between condensor and rad and the other behind the rad in place of the crank fan. This is good for 2-3 mpg city and highway.
Jeff
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.boB
Dodge Dakota
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9/21/2004
22:04:18
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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There are a few things you can do to improve mileage. But they all cost you, and they only gain 1-2 mpg. Do the math, and see how long it take to recoup your investment.
Dodge has spent millions in R&D over the last few years to gain improvements of 3-5%. Do the math and see just what the comes out to be. They have a vested interest in lowering mileage, far beyond making you and I happy. If there was a simple and cheap way to add 5mpg, they would have found it and done it.
There are only two cost effective measures that work. 1. Change driving habits. 2. Buy a Ranger.
My 2 ton trucklet with a giant V8 and 4 wheel drive burns fuel like a Haitian road block. I don't care. I knew that when I bought it, so I just pay the bill and drive on.
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Ken
Dodge Dakota
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9/22/2004
09:48:15
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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A Cold-air intake will definitely net you a gain on highway mileage. City-wise, it depends on your driving habits. If you're into the gas most of the time, than you're mileage won't really improve, but you're grin will slightly increase in size ;-) The Cold-Air intake gave me a sound 2mpg gain on the highway, and maybe .5 mpg city (cause I'm always in it). But, as others have stated, it'll cost you, and take awhile to reap the benefits. If you clean it as often as you should, than in under 2 years, you'll need to get another cleaning kit (something like $5, I forget exactly).
When I started out with my 97 CC SLT 5.2L 2wd auto, I was getting 16.5 highway, and 15 city (about 15.5 on my daily work drive). Now, I get up to about 20mpg highway (very very light footed), and 16.5 on my daily drive, but I also have a lot of mods.
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Mr.Sleepy
Dodge Dakota
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9/22/2004
10:02:41
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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A few things that doesnt' cost much money and will save you gas are...
1. weight reduction. Never use the back seat? Pull it out. Don't carry items you don't use every day. Heavy items, and medium items, like fishing gear, weekend warrior equipment, golf bags ect. put that crap in your garage. The less weight your truck has to move to get up to speed the better!
2. Drop that tailgate unless you own a tanneu cover. The tailgate acts like a wind brake at high speeds and can pull enough on the truck at 70mph to reduce your economy by over 3 MPG! If you never use your bed, simply remove the tailgate and replace it with a cargo net, or simply add a bed cover.
3. keep your tire pressure up! Lower tire pressure causes your tires to drag/grip more slowing you down.
4. keep your air filter clean, and replace it every time you change your oil. And change your oil every 3000 miles. fancy oil and full synthetics are a waste of money since they never produce the results they claim or save you enough money to cover the increased cost of purchasing them.
5. avoid using your air conditioning as much as possible. air conditioning can rob your truck of horsepower and reduce your economy by as much as 2 or 3 mpg depending on your driving habits.
6. reduce your axle ratio, this isn't a freebie but its proven that a 3.55 axle ratio or lower is best for those that want to conserve fuel at the expense of low end torque. this lowers the amount of turns your axle has to make in order to revolve your tires.
7. do NOT buy bug deflectors or brushguards or any add ons that might interfere with the areodynamics of your vehicle. the more streamlined your dakota is the better it will fair at high speeds.
Hope this helps!
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Oh my god
Dodge Dakota
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9/22/2004
10:29:27
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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I don't know where to start. I do agree with #1 and #6, but as for the rest...
#2- It's well known that in older trucks it may help a bit to not run with the t-gate up, but from personal experience and from what I've seen on this site, it makes no difference. Certainly not 3mpg.
#3- Increasing tire pres. may increase mileage slightly but it is not worth the risk of driving around with reduced traction in all circumstances.
It will also contribute to harsh ride characteristics, 6 of one...
#4- Synthetics do work, if or not you belive in them. The added protection of a more stable oil is worth the higher cost alone. Flowability at cooler temps (moving into fall now) will save fuel on start-up, as well. If he's thinking of spending cash on an exhaust, another 10 bucks to change his oil is not likely to bother him.
#5- A/C, same response as #2. Makes no difference. I get 18mpg with or without, I've also read right here the same thing over and over and over again.
#7- Bug deflectors. Same answer as #2 and #5.
I'm a bit surprised to see these old wives tales pop up here on what I consider to be a pretty informative forum. Feel free to respond, and please don't take my responses personaly, I wouldn't have posted this if I were trying to flame you, so please don't take it that way.
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JM_in_TX
Dodge Dakota
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9/22/2004
11:20:28
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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I pretty much agree with the last reply. These newer trucks are designed to run with the tailgate up, mine gets 2 mpg worse with it down. Also, on the AC issue, it depends on if you run with your windows open. If you do, this will cause drag and you won't get any better mileage than with your AC on. I put AMsoil syn. 75w-90 gear oil in my axle (a 3.55) and took off the clutch fan (my dakota has the factory electric fan) and have gained a 1.5 mpg increase in overall average, up to 18.5 mpg. I had a K&N filter in mine, but didn't notice any appreciable mpg increase. May try it again, though. Keep looking for little things that you can do inexpensively. I did that with my old ranger and got it up by 3 mpg overall by just using synthetic oil and keeping it well in tune.
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Mr.Sleepy
Dodge Dakota
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9/22/2004
13:55:06
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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I can personally vouch for my statement regarding the use of the tailgate. I have tested both ways using my Dakota and have found that my truck gets significantly better mileage running with the tailgate down at highway speeds.
As for the AC, there is a simple mechanical explanation for why this works. Understand that when you run your air conditioning your condensor switches on. This causes your clutch pulley on your condensor to engage dragging on your serpentine belt. This produces similar drag to that of your belt driven engine fan. The rewards of replacing your belt driven fan with an eletric one to ease up on engine drag is the same benefit you get from NOT using your air conditioning. Simply running on vents or running heat does not affect this. Only when you use your defrosters or AC does this condensor click on. The purpose of this is to suck the moisture from the air producing true air conditioning. YES this causes significant differences in mileage, and has a lot too do with local climate and the load that is placed on your system. Hotter more humid areas will affect your truck more than cooler, arid regions will. The moisture in the air determines how long and how hard the condensor has to work to achieve its ideal level of moisture in your AC air. I have done lots of work on GM and Chrysler HVAC systems and any engineer in my department will gladly back up this claim.
As for Expensive oils, you can hardly tell me that you experience differences in your mileage by using $6 a quart oil VS $1 a quart oil. Between a Mobil 1 Filter and 6 Qts of oil, your spending $50 on a oil change that should only cost $10. If your expensive oils arent saving you at least 24 gallons of gas per oil change, then you aren't breaking even, little alone gaining an advantage. I've found that it seems like your truck performs better if you pay for the most expensive car wash too!
Increasing your tire pressure is a proven fact that it increases your mileage. Im not talking about over inflation but rather keeping them at suggested levels indicated by the manufacturers specs on the tire itself. I was referencing this because some people on here run 10 PSI lower than average just to ease up on the ride.
Bug Deflectors - Understand that this is like runningn with a miniature hood up on your car. I ran one on my last Dakota, and when I removed it to sell the vehicle the mounts had been pried slightly forward from the force of the wind beating on the deflector. The difference is there if you test it, you can feel it in the truck itself. I'm using common sense on this one, I haven't had the chance to borrow Boeing's Wind tunnel yet! ;)
Tailgate suggestion is just that, a suggestion, If you want the best choice, go for a bed cover, they do make a HUGE difference.
My advice (not old wives tales thank you) is based on my experiences with Dakotas, I'm going on my third one and have clocked over 150,000 miles with all sorts of stuff on my truck and in all conditions. I would like to believe I have some knowledge of these things. But all in all this was supposed to be a way to cheaply increase your mileage, since simply changing driving habits seems to fall on deaf ears these days. These suggestions may sound silly and dumb, but compared to the hundreds of dollars you might spend on exhaust/TB spacers/Tornado fuel savers ect, my ideas aren't that bad!
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Levey
Dodge Dakota
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9/23/2004
05:34:33
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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Well on my 98 Durango the AC clutch kicks in even when the AC is not on..so it wouldnt help any. I get the same MPG with the AC on or off...except i am more comfortable with it on! I live in hot and humid St. Louis too. The only time the clutch doesnt engage is when the entire ventilation system is off. Even if i have outside vents turned on, its still cooled air, with the compressor running, it gets much colder when the AC is on, but the air is still cooled otherwise. Ive checked this before, and heard of others that this is the case with as well.
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AmsoilSponsor
DakotaEnthusiast
9/23/2004
08:28:00
|  better gas milage = Amsoil Synthetic Motor Oil
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Oh My God stated ...
#4- Synthetics do work, if or not you belive in them. The added protection of a more stable oil is worth the higher cost alone. Flowability at cooler temps (moving into fall now) will save fuel on start-up, as well. If he's thinking of spending cash on an exhaust, another 10 bucks to change his oil is not likely to bother him.
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JM_in_TX stated .....
"I put AMsoil syn. 75w-90 gear oil in my axle (a 3.55) and took off the clutch fan (my dakota has the factory electric fan) and have gained a 1.5 mpg increase in overall average, up to 18.5 mpg."
__________________________________________________
It is a PROVEN FACT that switching to synthetic lubricants vs. conventional crude oil increases your miles per gallon.
I have an onboard indash computer in my Lexus that monitors my Total Miles, My Current MPG, My Average MPG, my average MPH, my MPG since the last fill-up, etc.
I purposefully ran the odometer to 9,000 miles using Castrol GTX from the Quickie-Lube (changing the oil every 3,000 miles) ... before I switched to Amsoil 100% True Synthetic SAE 5w-30 which is the oil recommended for most Dakotas..
I do this with every new vehicle ... to test the oils by performing Used Oil Analysis, to monitor how much quieter it is using Amsoil, to monitor the fact that the engine runs cooler using Amsoil, and to monitor any positive changes in MPG using Amsoil.
I must see positive results with my own eyes to be able to truthfully talk about Amsoil.
The truth ...
After switching from Castrol GTX (at 9,000 miles) to Amsoil ... my average MPG (per tank) driving a combination of city and highway (living in Manhattan, NYC and commuting to my office across the GW Bridge in New Jersey) went from an average of 16.2 MPH over the test run of 9,000 miles using Castrol, to 18.1 MPG for the next 15,000 miles using Amsoil, averaging approximately 26+/- MPH.
18.1 MPG using Amsoil ... vs. 16.2 using Castrol ... a 13% increase
My vehicle currently has 24,000 miles on the odometer, the engine runs cooler, the engine runs quieter, and I am getting better gas mileage.
FYI ... The last long distance all highway miles trip I drove was to Lake George, New York and back, 200 miles each way, and I actually averaged 24 miles to the gallon on that trip ... using Amsoil SAE 5w-30 100% True Synthetic Oil ... and I believe I beat the window sticker ... and that was driving 75 mph +/-.
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I have experienced the same (or similar) results in my last 3 "new" vehicles (all three had in-dash on-board computers), except for a "used" Jeep Wrangler that was purchased with 21,000 miles on the odometer, testing between 21k and 30k using dino, and then testing from 30k forward using Amsoil. The Jeep tests were less scientific and factual. The Jeep did not have the computer system.
__________________________________________________
Industry tests have shown improved fuel economy of 2 - 5% in vehicles using synthetic lubricants vs conventional "dino" lubricants.
However, it has been my experience that most people that switch see between 4% - 10% increase in mpg.
My results were excellent ... a 13% Increase!
Your results may be different. It may depend on the vehicle.
__________________________________________________
You can Request a FREE Amsoil Catalog by clicking below.
Steven Roark , Amsoil Dealer , Proud Sponsor of www.DodgeDakotas.com
AMSOIL Synthetic Motor Oils, Lubricants, Filtration, and Truck Care Products
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Oh my God
Dodge Dakota
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9/23/2004
10:55:00
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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Thank you, Amsoil Guy.
Thank you, Levey.
Bug deflector, have one, tried without: no diff.
Bed cover, have one: no difference.
A/C: have it, no diff on or off.
Tire pres., if you've 10psi below sticker then mpg is not likely a concern, flying off the road on the on ramp would be.
$10 oil change?! Is that all the respect your truck deserves? Driving habits will make the biggest difference, period, and at no cost to the owner.
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Oh
Dodge Dakota
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9/23/2004
10:55:50
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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And thank you JM in TX.
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Mr.Sleepy
Dodge Dakota
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9/23/2004
13:01:45
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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Wrong on all accounts Oh My God,
AMSoil, expensive snake oil as far as I care, since he's a sponsor im sure he'll tell you otherwise.
My truck using my suggestions has achieved over 22 MPG highway. And If your pockets are lined with gold and you wish to throw common sense out the window, have fun with your 14 mpg turd! As for respect of vehicles, using regular non-AMSOIL oil, I've never had a engine die, and I've run 2 engines well beyond 200,000 miles without a problem.
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spanky
Dodge Dakota
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9/23/2004
13:35:47
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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I use Amsoil and pay $4.55 qt. for the 5w-30.
I vouch for it.
Cooler temps, smoother, quieter, better mpg.
Not to forget ............ better protection.
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Dak Bob
Dodge Dakota
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9/23/2004
17:03:54
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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You can't be serious... You own a Dak. If you really cared about gas milage, trade it in for a 4 cylinder Toy or Honda. I love my 99 318 13MPG Dak.
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lee
Dodge Dakota
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9/23/2004
18:55:59
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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5.9 r/t 10.5 mpg average try that one on! I still love every bit of it though
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gen1dak
Dodge Dakota
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9/23/2004
22:16:44
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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In my best bullhorn voice...ahem....
"STEP AWAY FROM THE GAS PEDAL!!!!!"
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tony
Dodge Dakota
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9/29/2004
06:09:18
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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msd ignition an easy 2-3 mpg
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99 R/T
Dodge Dakota
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9/29/2004
23:43:52
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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I done lots of stuff to my R/T that should give me better mileage: flomaster exaust, hi-flow cat, underive pulleys, K&N intake, shift kit, mopar pcm...they all claim better mileage, and what happened....nothing. before 14.5mpg after 14.5mpg I always watched the mileage closly after each mod to see if anything changed...nope. Good old dodge, even if i carrying a buch of crap still the same... the only thing that I have noticed that helps is KEEPING YOU FOOT OUT OF IT!!! I try to, but its hard :)
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Just Looking
Dodge Dakota
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9/30/2004
23:58:07
| RE: How do I get better gas milage
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I have to toss something in about the gears
I recently was running 3.55s but had a shop put in 4.10s on a quad cab with 31" tires
My highways mileage jumped from 14.2 to 15.6
With 4.10s i gained mpg over the 3.55s.
In town is a little higher but not by much
U need to remember this... lower gearing helps to a certain extent but the moment u cross the line of working the engine to hard to turn the gears and move the vehicle is when mpg is going to drop
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