2000 Ford 7.3L Powerstroke: Bad fuel mileage

[27badkaw]

I have a 2000 Ford Powerstroke diesel. Its the 7.3L. Its getting horrible fuel mileage for some reason. Only 10mpg. I dont exactly drive like a 100 year old man but I dont just mash the pedal to the floor all of the time either. I always try and keep it under 3000 rpm. (It redlines at 3200...Ive never done that) The truck has 116000 miles. Its bone stock motor wise(except for exhaust). I plan on chipping it however. It has a four inch straight pipe from the downpipe back. I have three guages: Trans temp, pyrometer, and boost. Is there anything I can do to help my mileage without spending a ton of money? I am probably going to buy a Tony Wildman chip. Itll be $475 total. Im also looking into the TS six position chip. I am leaning towards the tony wildman chip though because I would like the smoke setting. What kind of mileage can I expect to improve by with the chip and what other halfway cheap modifications can I make to improve my mileage? Thanks for any help.

[polarbear]

First off, welcome to FTF! :wavey:

re: rpm's. It's a diesel- to drive for mileage, you upshift somewhere between 1500 and 2000 rpm (if it's a manual). automatics will upshift sooner than that if you don't have your foot buried in it. If you want to see any semblance of mileage out of the truck, you should never see the upside of 2500 rpm. Just sayin...

That straight pipe ain't doing you any gas mileage favor's either.

Big question- what size tires are you running? That's another thing that can have a huge impact on fuel mileage. I had a '06 F350 and averaged about 13 around town with it. (35's with a leveling kit)

[6L PWR]

Hey Jesse!! Welcome to the group! Be nice to Jesse ya'll. Met him last night at a car wash where he made my baby look REALLY nice again! Thanks for that Jesse!

Be patient and some others will post up too.

[27badkaw]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I know my tires probably arent helping me at all. It has 315-75-16's on it. It also has a 6" rough country lift. Its a pretty tall truck.

[6L PWR]

Hey bear, can you maybe move this to the 7.3 section for him?? Maybe more will see it there.

[blacksnapon]

It amounts to looking over the basics. Are you leaking fuel? The tires definately dont help.Keeping your foot into it will eat fuel. With a 6" lift, its as aerodynamic as an upturned brick. Are the brakes dragging? Emergency brake cable hanging up? If you're not blowing black smoke out of the tailpipe, its unlikely that its engine related.

[jasonz82]

running bio diesel will also lower fuel mileage as it contains less energy to release as the same amount of regular diesel, you also might look into using a cetane boost like the motorcraft cetane boost.

[sglaine]

Has the injectors been flushed out at all..I know that alone helps my truck