Tuner or not

[Labs07]

I have a 01 ford F250 diesel.  It is lifted 4 inches and I am running 315/75/16's on it.  I get about 15MPG on the hwy and really don't need much more power but would like to up the MPG.  Any recommendation's that will not ruin stuff and something that I don't need to add a bunch of stuff to my truck to run.  Any recommendation's?

[Mongo Hunter]

I have heard of tuners/air intakes/turbo upgrades/exhaust upgrades helping but honestly from the sounds of it the lift and tires are whats doing it. trucks are trucks man the have the aerodynamics of a 4x8 sheet of plywood as it is, lifts and bigger tires make it worse, MPG just sucks in trucks man.

[Dhoey07]

When my tuner is off it gets about 2 mpg worse than when i run it on drive mode.  It's a Edge juice with attitude on a lifted 06 gmc.  If it's worth it to you probably depends on how much you drive it and how long you plan on keeping the truck 

[Special T]

Some tuners allow you to change the shift points in the autop tranny to make up the difference for bigger tires, plus the will reset the Odometer and spedo to work right.  no recomendation tho. 

[Mudman]

I have an 01 F350.  I run an edge programmer that has full guages and came with the pyro.  Alot more power.  I can adjust tranny settings and I get 16mpg daily driving and 18-20 on highway.  Money well spent.  If you do this you will kick yourself for not doing it sooner.  My truck runs with 08 cummins.

[thinkingman]

Are you guys getting this mileage with adjustments for tire size?
I hope you are..It's pretty impressive.

[Jingles]

larger intake and 4 inch exhaust will help. F350 4X4 turbo diesel getting 18

[gutsnthegrass]

Here is what I did with my 2001 F-350  7.3L pickup, before installing a programmer you need to really think about getting the engine to breathe better.  With a tune, you will run hotter, and need it to breathe.
First install a minimum 4" turbo back exhaust, this can be done by you if you have any mechanical ability and it is not very difficult.  Then put in a aftermarket intake, I went with the AFE stage 2.  Then you can begin to run a chip, make sure that you are monitoring your EGT's, I had the Edge Evolution chip in my truck and like it was said before, this chip can monitor several important temps, and it comes with an EGT probe that is easy to install in the exhaust manifold.  I went from getting 14-15 mpg around town to 18 mpg, freeway went from 17ish to 22, it really did make a difference.  This was all hand calculated mileage.  Doing this really woke the pickup up!  I was into the parts about $1500 and did all the install myself.

[Mudman]

Here is what I did with my 2001 F-350  7.3L pickup, before installing a programmer you need to really think about getting the engine to breathe better.  With a tune, you will run hotter, and need it to breathe.
First install a minimum 4" turbo back exhaust, this can be done by you if you have any mechanical ability and it is not very difficult.  Then put in a aftermarket intake, I went with the AFE stage 2.  Then you can begin to run a chip, make sure that you are monitoring your EGT's, I had the Edge Evolution chip in my truck and like it was said before, this chip can monitor several important temps, and it comes with an EGT probe that is easy to install in the exhaust manifold.  I went from getting 14-15 mpg around town to 18 mpg, freeway went from 17ish to 22, it really did make a difference.  This was all hand calculated mileage.  Doing this really woke the pickup up!  I was into the parts about $1500 and did all the install myself.

Exactly!!  I bought a Summit 4inch exhaust for300$ and a big honking air filter napa#6637.  A 75$ boost fooler helps as well.  Unplug the red tube and cap it.  The one that goes to wastegate. Hand calc mileage for me too.  14mpg towing 4-7k.  And truck camper about 15mpg to 17hgwy.

[buglebuster]

Here is what I did with my 2001 F-350  7.3L pickup, before installing a programmer you need to really think about getting the engine to breathe better.  With a tune, you will run hotter, and need it to breathe.
First install a minimum 4" turbo back exhaust, this can be done by you if you have any mechanical ability and it is not very difficult.  Then put in a aftermarket intake, I went with the AFE stage 2.  Then you can begin to run a chip, make sure that you are monitoring your EGT's, I had the Edge Evolution chip in my truck and like it was said before, this chip can monitor several important temps, and it comes with an EGT probe that is easy to install in the exhaust manifold.  I went from getting 14-15 mpg around town to 18 mpg, freeway went from 17ish to 22, it really did make a difference.  This was all hand calculated mileage.  Doing this really woke the pickup up!  I was into the parts about $1500 and did all the install myself.

Exactly!!  I bought a Summit 4inch exhaust for300$ and a big honking air filter napa#6637.  A 75$ boost fooler helps as well.  Unplug the red tube and cap it.  The one that goes to wastegate. Hand calc mileage for me too.  14mpg towing 4-7k.  And truck camper about 15mpg to 17hgwy.

I have the 6637 filter, chip, and exhaust. Can you explain the boost fooler?

[Mudman]

Boost fooler thingy is a little plug n play gadget that fools the map sensor.  Our truck regulates max boost around 21 to 24 psi.  Fooler tricks map to allow higher boost.  I have been told it goes to 28 to 30 psi.  I researched safe boost levels and this is within limits of turbo and doesnt cause cavitation but can cause some surge when towing.  Many people run em.  I havent bought one yet but plan too.  Places like bd diesel I think have em.  Google it. I think they are about 70$.  Two kinds, mechanical and electrical which is just a resistor I think?  I have homemade mech. one now that works for peak psi but doesnt allow truck to maintain that level. :chuckle:I think the elect. ones are the way to go.

[MR5x5]

For your 7.3 you need to spend some time here...Great forum.

http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum31/

Mods and Maintenance -

http://guzzle.rbmicro.com/7pt3/Mods.html

What you will here regarding tuners is - Get gauges first.  Then look at a custom tuner before going with an Edge or Bully Dog, particularly if you think you might want to continue adding mods.

For basic tranny protection - look at a valve body.  Easy to do for about $200.
To make it breath, look up 6637 air filter - Easy mod $40.  Beware of K&N - but if you go that way be damn sure of the seal!!! It can be problematic.
Exhaust - 4" is all that is needed - take your pick.  Easy to do...
Turbo Protection - Old style wheel aka Wicked wheel $70 not hard, but not easy to do.
Injector Protection - Look up Hutch mod.  Ford used a terrible fuel line config.  This will get the air out of the fuel and protect you expensive injectors.
Also Look FPX or fuel pressure crossover - effective poor man's regulated return.

So I think I just spent about $1000 of your money    But you will be blown away by the new performance.

[tmtimestwo]

Don't have the 7.3 but the 6.0 here's what I have found, 5" MBRP cat delete, edge evolution tuner and I am getting 16-17 in town no load, 20-21 highway no load, and just last week grossed 21,000 on the scales and averaged around 15 MPG at 55-60 MPH with pulling passes. The tuner I have gets the best fuel mileage in performance mode for some odd reason, I believe it has to do with not allowing for much clutch slip and engagement of the torque converter thus not wasting fuel on spool up and applying all power directly to the wheels. I have found tow mode is most efficient in town just do to stop and go. I am also running a 4" lift with 35's and 18 inch allow wheels, I instantly lost 3 MPG with those mods alone. Good luck and concure with getting a tuner as you will not only improve efficiency but covers all bases for codes, gauges and allows for changing setting for the appropriate application. I would recommend an on-board and not just a flash as stated you will get the luxury of having on-board gauges for everything from intake air temp to boost and egt's. Good luck.