donwon9999

I noticed that there are a lot of TSBs for the 2004.5 fuel mileage, etc.

I own a 2003 2500 which is not getting the best mileage.

Does anyone know is there a flash for the 2003 models to improve this? Mine is one of the first 2003 made and has never had a flash

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Don

joel

Did your mileage just recently go down? Could be winter blend fuel.

I have an early 03, too, and I get OK mileage. ~18 at 75MPH. I've seen over 20. Around here with my short commute, running winter blend, I'm down to 16 or so.

J BODY

No flash for the 03 in the mpg department. 03 still has the "old school" electronics.

supercharger

I have an early 03 and it has never been reflashed for anything because my fuel mileage has been above average by far since day one. 21.5 at 73mph anyday anywhere. You did not state what your setup is, if it is auto 4.10 4x4 dually expect lower numbers. I learned about fuel mileage from my previous ctd and adjusted for this one to get better numbers.

donwon9999

My truck is an auto tranny with CA reg. Still running #2 fuel so no winter blend. It has always been pretty poor 14 around town and 17 freeway. I try to drive vary conservative to see if that helps and no luck. Just frustrating since two of my frineds get about 3-6 mpg better than I do!! Thinking about buying the banks system to increase the fuel economy ... oh yeah the power too

localnet

If you are in Reno NV at this time of year, you are running winter blend. Trust me on that. Unless you have your own fuel supply.

Mike

Dodgezilla

Mine also dropped about 1.5 mpg with the winter blend..

DON'T be fooled by claims of better mileage from these performance mfrs!!! Some people get better mileage but most get worse! Probably most of those who get better are just going by their overhead which usually gets out of whack from the computer fooling properties of the boxes. Mine tells me I'm getting 18.5 mpg right now! I sure wish that was true. It's more like 14.5-15 mpg..

If you buy performance products just be happy with the performance gains and feel lucky if your mileage stays the same or gets better...

RHalley

I have an early 04 (same engine as 03) and dealer has just performed TSB 18-037-04 update. When I queried that my engine number was not in the range of the TSB they just said they just input your engine number and " the computer" tells them what to apply. My complaint is a "rough souning engine" through most of the RPM range, although it seems to idle OK. The TSB has not changed the roughness, but did increase the overhead milage indicator.

Mike67RS

Same boat here, same mileage. Don't believe that you will get better economy with mods though.

irocin350

i have an 03 i had 1 done about 3 months ago my mlage went up a tad bit ill look for the tsb # and get to ya

dogger

I received a notice for my truck 03 HO CTD, purchased November 02, to have the ECM reprogrammed (flashed) but it was due to cruies control problems. I noticed no difference after the dealer performed the work, which bring up and interesting question, did the dealer do anything? Well, I hope so.

Beware of fueling boxes because unless you hand calculate your mileage, they really throw the overhead computer display off. If I were to beleive my display I'm getting over 23 MPG with a heavily loaded 4X4. Actually my mileage is a tad under 18 MPG with about 75% highway driving.

Hoss

I would expect your truck to do better than that. Hand calculated, my truck gets just a tad over 18 mpg with my every day driving (which is about 80% city and 20% highway). On long trips where it's all highway I get between 21 and 22 mpg running at 70 mph. Those numbers are unloaded (which is how my truck is 99% of the time).

I'm not sure about the reflash. I haven't heard of one for the '03 that would improve mileage.

I CAN tell you that BOMBing your truck isn't going to help your mileage. You'll definitely get more power....but once you have that power you'll want to take advantage of it and you'll be getting the same or worse mileage. I have the Edge EZ and it claims it will give you a 10% increase in fuel mileage IF you continue driving in the same manner you did before you installed it. I think it's safe to say that very few people do that. I'm pretty much getting the exact same fuel mileage now that I was before I installed the EZ.

bigblock2stroke

2wd gets better FE.

How you calculate FE also plays a big role. Just the difference between two extra pulls on the gas pump handle when it automatically shuts off and 3 extra pulls can be 1mpg. Plus the difference between winter and summer fuel is 1.5 to 2 mpg. Not including the other 100 or so things that can affect FE calculations.

TDIwyse

Dragging this back to the top.

Yesterday I took my truck (an 04 555 engine) into dealer certain my lift pump was weakening. I get a hesitation/stumble at WOT when cold outside. This is with a fairly new filter (< 3000 mls on new filter). My fuel pressure gauage shows something like 6-7 psi at idl and 3-4 psi at WOT when it's cold outside (this is pressure pre-filter).

They said the lift pump was fine and that it met the volume specs, but they did the TSB 18-037-04 reflash. Like RHalley above, my trucks engine does not fall into the build date or serial number range specified in the TSB bulletin located here: http://dodgeram.info/tsb/2004/18-037-04.htm

My question is, are they just pulling my leg about doing the reflash and trying to milk Chrysler for some $ for the shop time? Is the above link to the TSB accurate for the build date and serial number?

cheff

I am getting about 15, but I know it’s off since I am running 33" tires. My speed is off by about 3.5 miles at 65. I will use my GPS this weekend and get a more accurate mileage reading. Then I will have a bit more accurate numbers.