I just returned from my track weekend in Houston. Based on 3 days of my daily commute followed by my loaded trip to Houston and back, I can honestly report I have seen 0.0% increase in fuel economy with the 5.9L air filter. In fact, it initially looked like I had lost a bit of fuel mileage but that may have been due to the rain/winds I was experiencing wednesday, thursday, and friday mornings. My trailer pulling mileage stayed right about the same and I felt zero difference in the way the truck pulled. I am going to run one more tank of fuel through the truck with this air filter and then I am taking it off and putting my 6.7L filter back on if there is no gain. At least then, if God forbid I have a problem with this truck and have to take it to the dealer, I don't have to worry about swapping it back out before I drop it off for fear they will use it as an excuse to void the warranty. Its a shame, I had such high hopes for this little trick.....

 

Alright, I guess I'm jumping on the band wagon with this. Last fuel purchase was @ $3.65/gal. for 130 gals = $474.00 YIKES!!
I'm game for anything that can legally net me another 1 or 2 m.p.g. and help keep my expenses down!!
Got the filter today from NAPA. Heading out tomorrow night for a 1,300 mile run. I'll let ya all know how it goes.

 

Guys, I'm not buyin this story at all. The most you can hope for from a 5.9 filter is slightly less restriction and slightly improved air flow. If that little change was going to result in a 1 to 2 mpg improvement, all of those people putting on AFE stage 2 intakes would be seeing even better results. They're not. Every person that has reported here to date after installing the upgraded air intake says they see zero percent improvement in mpg and performance, maybe slightly improved throttle response. But, they like the improved turbo and EB sound.

Try putting a magnet on your fuel line, that will probably help your mpg as much as changing to a 5.9 filter.

 

Well my filter needed changing anyway. The 5.9L filter was about $10.00 cheaper. It would be great to know why Cummins changed to such a huge filter for the 6.7L. It's got to be twice as heavy and twice as deep as the 5.9L. The 5.9L filter definitely looks a lot less restrictive. Not looking for any increase in turbo or EB noise!!

 

It looks to me like the 6.7 has at least twice the surface area as the 5.9. Seems to me this would lower the air restriction? It doesn't matter how heavy it is, i would think bigger is better. Am i wrong?


DJ

 

Like I said earlier, my experience has been that any time you put a new filter on (or clean your replacable one) you're going to see a slight bump in MPGs. After a few tanks, it goes away. Same goes for the fuel filter. I guess those that tow for a living could do a cost benefit assessment and maybe justify replacing filters more often than the rest of us.

 

Het MtnTrucker - buy an extra magnet -if it increases your MPG think what it will do for your IQ!

 

OK. Well after two 1,300 mile trips, mixed towing and empty what do ya think?? First let me say that I change the oil, oil, air & fuel filters @ 10k mile intervals and have 117k miles on the clock. I never see any difference with m.p.g.'s after changing filters. BUT, this time I did get a consistent increase after changing to the 5.9L air filter. The first trip's increase was negligible as I was fighting a pretty strong headwind most of the time, however I still managed to squeak out a minimal m.p.g. increase. The 2nd trip was the most impressive with a solid 1.5 m.p.g. increase while empty and a 1 m.p.g. increase while towing a 12k unit. I tried to eliminate any fuel differences by only using 1 tank per trip (see sig.) and buying my fuel at the same place for both trips. On the 2nd trip I tried to see if I could maintain a m.p.g. increase while going a little faster, most of the semis seemed to think the I80 sign was the speed limit sign that night. The m.p.g.'s were still a little higher but the increase wasn't as great with the higher speed, although there was less downshifting over the I80 hills. I use the cruise control as much as possible and my usual cruising speed is 75 m.p.h.
So for me, I'll take any legal mod which can give me an increase in m.p.g.'s, no matter how small. As I have posted before, I have burned over 1,000 gals. more fuel getting to 100k miles on this truck than I did on my 04.5. I used paper OEM filters, mostly NAPA, for 330k miles on the 04.5 with no air filter related problems and the 5.9L filter is a bit cheaper too. We'll have to see how the filter goes the distance.

Now, I'm gonna have to give that magnet on the fuel line a try

 

Personal Review: p/n 75-31342 Stage 2 Cold Air Intake System Type Cx with Pro-GUARD 7 (2007.5) Dodge Ram Cummins & Sterling Bullet L6-6.7L (td)

Overall great product quality and decent installation instructions. I've used AFE products on previous Cummins Turbo Diesels and have been impressed with the results and the quality of the product.



I just recently installed my AFE. My previous hand*calculated mpg on winter blend from Shell was 14.476. The next tank, from the same supplier, still winter blend, was 15.149 mpg.....an increase of .673 mpg. My truck had 11,136 miles on it with the OEM air filter; not really dirty for 11k miles in my opinion.

Greg

 

way to many variables involved in affect on fuel economy to even count .673mpg as an increase. loads, winds, roads, terrain etc. would have to be identical. i need to see a steady 2 or 3 mpg over time to be impressed. since i have installed the 5.9 filter, i have seen no improvement.

 

I was thinking about one of the AFE Super Stock replacement filters for the 5.9 to put in my truck. I'll probably be contacting Lary in the next couple of days and get one ordered. Any kind of mileage gain is worth it these days.......

 

Always the optimist, ehhhhh ?

Truck always empty, very slight, if any, wind change, and the truck was never farther than 57 miles away from home on the same route at any time.

 

i was optimistic enough to buy and try the 5.9 air filter and try it. i was just saying that you'd really have to check with the new filter for thousands of miles using the truck the same way to get a good comparison. on one tank of fuel, you can burn or not .673g just by accellerating slightly more at few stop lights. or braking differently. that is such a minute # that you could have filled the tank with different amounts each time. if you fill in when it's cooler outside you get more fuel for your money because the fuel is more dense, warmer less. also diesel foams tremendously if pumped fast. you have to wait to let that go down. really the only way to know your getting the same amount of fuel is fill it all the way up the filler neck to the same spot each time. any as i say that is just too small of a number and too little time to do a good mpg analysis. not trying to optimistic nor pesimistic. just realistic.

 

But if that .673 increase is consistant over several tanks then it is definitely worth it.

 

The Blue Bus is filled consistently each and every fill-up; that part of the equation is eliminated (this is my 4th CTD since 1997). I also used the block heater for a period of time each time I knew I were to be driving the truck the next day, eliminating excessive warm-up time. If anything, I'd suspected the fuel economy should be a tad less as the 6.7L sounds sweet sucking air thru the new intake; the exhaust brake sounds better, too.

Future comparisons won't be exceptionally informational as 1) Winter fuel will be gone shortly and 2) The truck is still breaking in. I have everything in spreadsheet form on my PC and I'm certain of my findings to date; 11,244 miles driven, 790.265 gals consumed, 14.228 cumulative avg mpg, $2,430.66 dollars spent, and $0.2162 cents per mile in fuel cost only, best two tanks mpg 15.882 & 15.715; worst two tanks mpg {towing} 11.759 & 12.431.

Greg