Hello all, bought my first 2001 Dodge 2500 Diesel of course !
Would like some info on the first easy mods upgrades to improve my mileage w/o breaking my wallet. My 2001 has no mods yet.
So, air filters, exhaust, chips,
thanks

 

By far the cheapest improvements to mileage you can make are the non-sexy things that everyone overlooks--make sure your tires are properly inflated and that your brakes aren't dragging.

After making sure you don't have any problems that are dragging down mileage, the next cheapest improvement might be to pick up a used Edge EZ or some other box that uses timing advance.

I never saw any significant mileage increase from intake and exhaust mods. I did see mild EGT reduction, but no mileage increase.

More expensive, but better increase in mileage would be from a good set of injectors. I saw an increase of 2 mpg alone from going to Mach 1 injectors from the stock ones.

Hope that helps,
Mike

 

OK, Mike, thanks, so no K&N air filter, I will look at the injectors, 2 mpg is a lot.

 

Tires make a big difference, tall, skinny non-aggressive thread is best.
They say driving habits can make up to a 30% difference.
This relates to semis but is a good read> http://cumminsengines.com/assets/pdf...whitepaper.pdf

 

Best cheap mileage mod you can make is to shave 5lbs off your right foot Keep that thing below 70 and it will get better mileage....if you can

 

Thanks to all of you, I just assumed with all the air filters & turbo mufflers over the years, that I needed to replace those, however now having read the options you regret buying, I am glad I stopped here first.
thanks

 

I drive with a very light foot.....58-60 mph right lane where possible. going faster just cuts mileage. Use cruise as much as possible.

I have a Smarty set on #1 seems to work the best however #3 works too but is a bit smokier.

Muffler delete did nothing for mpg. I documented it very carefully over a couple months.

I have used a stock air cleaner to the point where the gage was half way up the scale with no effect on mpg. (forgot to change it)

Currently with our 5% bio diesel I get 20-20.5 mpg mostly highway and 19.5-19.8 town and country.

The winter fuel starts shortly and it costs about 2-3 mpg no matter what type of driving. again anything over 60 mph is bad.....2000 rpm for my truck.

 

Small programmer , add some HP and keep the truck under 2000 rpm seems to be working very well for mei never drive fast anyway but if i need to i know it can happen if i hammer the loud pedal...

 

Thank you all, glad to hear I do NOT need to buy all those possible fuel saving extras that don't help much, and as far as cruise control, I know the country side has a lot to do with the down shifting etc, so my right foot can better keep the mileage consistant, as per testing it myself over the years, at least with gas trucks.
thanks again. !