ok. my "friend" will be going on a trip soon and will obviously want to best milage to impress his friends with. He is stuck with a dilemma. here goes...

stock
going off the overhead(yes i know) he can get 21-23 mpg going 60 on the highway and a little in town driving. thats great, i know, but one would tend to think the smarty would help...right?

smarty beta 4.4
made a 1000 mile trip, only stop and start was at the fuel pump. other than that kept it at an even 65 with the cruise...from texas to oklahoma and back. averaged 17.1

ask yourself...why didnt he get better milage with the smarty?

hmm whats going on here? so he tries another smarty tune and still never comes close to his stock milage when hand calculated.

even if the over head was 2-3 off, thats still better than the constant speed 17.1 with the beta.

are there any tunes out there that WILL allow better mpg on the up and coming 2k mile trip? it hasnt been upgraded in a long time due to fears of all the bugs and what not. its almost to the point of selling it and getting something else. right now its costing money.

btw...when going for milage, there isnt any hotrodding. just driving it easily

brett

edit:

the truck is broke in
rpms at 60 are 1600
65 about 1850

 

Mine is always about the same as stock mpgs but I don't have enough self control to drive around easy and see if it does any better that's just how I drive normal. Maybe he should try out all the softwares before selling it and see? Someone with 4.4 experience on all the sw's maybe knows a good one but even so it always seems like different trucks do differently on different sw's.

 

You can't trust the overhead at all. Last trip mine read 23.5 and hand calc'd was 18.75. The Smarty is the only mod I've done to date that definitely increases mileage.

 

my overhead is consistantly off by 4-5 mpg on the high side. stock truck.

 

Brett, as you know different trucks respond differently to different programs. My truck changed preferences as I modded it too. The biggest was going to twins. The funny thing about that was my overall mileage did not change, but what did change was the trucks perference for tunes. Beta 4.4 gave me a boost when I was stock, but now gives me worse mileage when modded (this is when driving conservatively, which is hard to do). Now Aftermarket Turbo/Stock injector/Mod TM on sw7 gives my best mileage which is still about 2 mpg better than it was stock. So what I am saying is that it is next to impossible to say "this is what you want". You have to experiment a little... a good start point would be (in my mind anyway) Stock turbo/injectors/mild TM sw3 or 5. Try that. Remember this though: downloading the latest version will then prohibit him from going back to the old tunes, this is because of the latest DC flash updates. I still encourage you to update the smarty files to the new one because they are so much more refined. It is a really good file! (and the bugs were worked out)

 

4.4b Gave me 3MPG (hand calc) over stock with mixed driving. I cruise at 70 or so. Got 21.7 to/from Yosemite.

 

i will tell my "friend" to download that program and see if theres a difference?

brett

 

There will be a difference, the first thing he'll notice is the loss of power going form Beta 4.4 to regular tune...

But you were asking for fuel mileage and not power...

 

stock power really isnt that bad. im sure the ability to light em up and make a scene will be sorely missed though

brett

 

Good luck with that. From what I've read it's truly a case by case basis with mileage. I can tell you that the X2 max mileage tune is a true blessing though. If it weren't for that tune I'd be bankrupt.

 

I know this sounds kind of crazy, but I seem to get better mileage running just a hair below 2K rpm's... it puts my truck in the 69-71 mph range, but it seems to love that speed and rpm range...

These trucks have aero dynamics built into the body and at speeds that bed becomes a pocket of air that allows the cab air to stream line over it... I am guessing with my truck this effect is most effecient at the 69-71 mph range I am cruising at... OF course this is all my opinion but I have a hard time figuring out what else is causing it since slower speeds don't give me as much mpg on long trips..

Something else I thought about doing (although maybe not the safest idea ) is fold in both side mirrors and see what difference that makes since those things are huge wind catchers....

 

i would just like to find that setting that will help me get these great mpg numbers im always hearing about.

i told myself(friend) ill buy the smarty, and itll pay for itself in 15k miles...well if anything its cost me more money.(obviously more supporting mods) by that i mean more fuel...not just from hot rodding it.

im almost at wits end with it. im tempted to drive over it and get something from quadzilla or even worse edge(for some reason i dont like them???) or maybe a superchip

brett

 

I fail to see how a programmer will increase mileage as much as some people claim. 3mpg? Marco must giggle (to himself) if/when he reads this stuff.

Andy

 

Yeah, Dodge didn't ask for a detuned motor, Or spec it from Cummins with a max output that their drivetrain could hold up to....

And even if they didn't detune, they certainly didn't tell Cummins to take full advantage of the power and mileage potential, They KNEW their drivetrain wouldn't hold up!
Sorry, but your gas mileage and available power from your "Stock" truck take a back seat to warranty claims from broken drivetrain parts, Etc. in the corporate world.

 

Please explain to me how a programmer is going to give you 25%+ better mileage over stock.

Andy