Need help understanding MPG gain and EDGE Juice programmer

[caneintn]

I am trying to gain an understanding for what is going on with the MPG on my truck. I have a 2001 F250 Crew Cab 7.3l. 180,000 miles. I have owned the truck for a year and a half and got the truck with 142,000 miles.

Within a week of buying the truck I had a Edge Juice with Attitude monitor installed on the truck. They guy at the shop explained it as real simple…..use mileage for the best mpg, use tow when you are towing, and the other levels- drive, race, and extreme are there when you want to “get” on it.

So for the last year and a half I have been averaging 12mpg when not towing and around 9.5-10.5 when towing either a car hauler or travel trailer. I would have the Edge set to tow when towing and to Mileage when not towing. I only put it into 3,4, or 5 when needing some extra HP for entry ramps etc…

So a couple of weeks ago I was hauling to St. Louis and back and somewhere on the trip left the Edge on setting 3 by mistake. Well low and behold my onboard trip computer shows me at 14.5 mpg with no change in my driving habits. I realized I was on level 3 when I got back home and unhitched and went to put it into the mileage setting.

So I have been leaving the setting on 3 and have seen consistent 14.5 non towing and 11.5-12 towing over the last two weeks.

Today I was heading out of Atlanta to do some shopping with the wife up on GA 400. The trip was about 35 miles. I set the Edge to level 4 and reset my trip computer. I drove normal speeds 60-70 and the computer got all the way up to 17.4. Coming back I did a lot of in traffic driving and open road driving. When I got back to Stone Mountain the trip computer showed 17.1

One note…..I did add the Tymar intake mod before coming down to ATL last Sunday. So I do not know how much this is affecting the MPG.

I am not a mechanical guy and do not truly understand the inner working of the turbo and the programmer. The simple guy in me is assuming this is a case of not having to operate the engine as hard to achieve the same result by increasing the HP and torque. My RPM are the same as always while driving and the truck feels more responsive (assuming the increase torque). Here are the Edge specs-
Level 0: Stock
Level 1: 25 Horsepower - 50 Foot Pounds of Torque (Mileage)
Level 2: 45 Horsepower - 100 Foot Pounds of Torque (Tow)
Level 3: 55 Horsepower - 125 Foot Pounds of Torque (Drive)
Level 4: 65 Horsepower - 150 Foot Pounds of Torque (Race)
Level 5: 75 Horsepower - 200 Foot Pounds of Torque (Extreme)

Is it OK to run the truck in this higher setting at all times?

If it is OK this is a substantial increase of 37% in my MPG.

I know the computers are not 100% correct but when I have checked it against actual manual calculations they have been within a half mile or less.

Appreciate any feedback and further explanation on how this whole process works with the programmer and the engine.

[SUPER60omni]

I heard that level 3 nets the best MPG on my buddys 6.0 I think I tried it on mine a long time ago and it did no change in the MPG. ????? Mabey I should try it again.

[GreenF350]

Usually if you accellerate at the same rate, the higher tunes give better fuel mileage. Trouble is, it is hard to keep you foot off the floor with the extra "fun" available. As long as the EGT's stay safe then I don't see why you couldn't run it like that all the time. I run mine on my 120hp tune as my driver tune, unless I feel like playing around and then sometimes my 140 is the driver tune for a bit. My mileage is about the same for my 80 econo, 120 race and 140 smoke tune as long as I am not hammering on it, then they are about the same except the smoke tune looses some mileage for obvious reasons. BTW, not to talk smack about what you have (You have it and it works), but my MPG sucked with my Edge Evolution that I had, and so did the power gains. Couldn't believe the difference in power with the "custom" tunes. Just something to consider down the road.
-Aaron

[tubular031]

Dont believe that computer. The best way to figure MPG is to top off the tank, drive then top it off again. Then take miles driven / gal used and that will give you MPG. My meter was with in 3% when I was stock. Then I put on my evo2 and it said i was getting 27+ mpg! WRONG!!!! I was still getting 15 or so. Then I got a ts chip with custom tunes and that seems to be about 10% to 15% high. I have not tested it too much since I hardly buy diesel now.

[caneintn]

Originally Posted by tubular031

Dont believe that computer. The best way to figure MPG is to top off the tank, drive then top it off again. Then take miles driven / gal used and that will give you MPG. My meter was with in 3% when I was stock. Then I put on my evo2 and it said i was getting 27+ mpg! WRONG!!!! I was still getting 15 or so. Then I got a ts chip with custom tunes and that seems to be about 10% to 15% high. I have not tested it too much since I hardly buy diesel now.

Definitely understand the variances the computer can show. I topped off in Atlanta Sunday and headed home to Chattanooga. I filled back up about 100 miles into the trip home and simple math of miles/gal gave me a 12.3 mpg for the trip. My console computer read 12.7 for the same period.

I was towing our 35' travel trailer with a loaded weight of about 9,000lbs. This thing also acts like a wind anchor and has a ton of drag. All in all to get 12.3 is a huge improvement from the 9.5-10 I was getting before.

My exhaust temps are reading in the 700-1100 range most of the time so I think I am good to go on that. I am going to continue to run it in the 4 setting and see how things go.

I feel like I just got a pay raise

[tubular031]

I think the edge juice does nothing with the trans shifting. at least that is what I have read.

12.5 pulling 9k is nice! I wish I got that, but I pull a 12k 5th wheel. talk about wind drag! I get about 10ish

[NCHornet]

The tunes throw off the computer big time and it will change from tune to tune. Meaning your mileage tune could be off .5 per gallon but the race could be off 4 mpg. Always do all calcs by hand, it's the only way!!
I would never tow in a performance tune, your EGT's will go through the roof. I hope you have gauges and are keeping an eye on your EGT's while towing!!

NCH

[caneintn]

Originally Posted by NCHornet

The tunes throw off the computer big time and it will change from tune to tune. Meaning your mileage tune could be off .5 per gallon but the race could be off 4 mpg. Always do all calcs by hand, it's the only way!!
I would never tow in a performance tune, your EGT's will go through the roof. I hope you have gauges and are keeping an eye on your EGT's while towing!!

NCH

What is considered through the roof?

I have my alert set at 1350. I watched pretty close coming back from Atlanta the other day and my temps ranged from 700 to a high of 1150.

The truck drove great and I did do manual calcs on my mileage. It was within .4 mile on the computer. The only calc I have not done manually yet is the non-towing calc. I am going to verify this one in the next day or two.

Thanks for all the info everyone.

[NCHornet]

I would set your alarm at 1250 not 1350, and through the roof means much higher than 1250!! This is even more soon with tunes from TW/DP etc...... where the ponies they produce are much higher. The only time I have needed to back out of the go pedal due to high EGT's I was towing up a steep mountain in my 80 econo tune.

NCH

[caneintn]

Thanks for the info. I will adjust my alert level.

Most of my towing is through even terrain with only a few areas where I encounter substantial climbs.