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MPG mods???

3K views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  Soop08 
#1 ·
Sorry for creating a thread that is so similar to hundreds that are already on here but I was wanting to ask specific questions.

I purchased a 2008 F350 with 38K miles on it a few months ago (I know 38K :woot:). On average I get about 14 MPG and it is my daily driver my commute is back roads, city, and interstate. I am not looking to do crazy mods I really just want better fuel mileage. I pull a race car trailer on the weekends but trailer, car, tools and everything is only about 5K lbs.

With all that said from my research I need DPF delete, EGR delete, tuner and intake to take car of the basics. ONe questions I have is what brands and makes do I go with if I am on a limited budget? And by limited budget I mean about $400-$500.

It looks like I can get DPF delete for $125, EGR delete $50, the tuner is the one that I am confused on? There are so many different options, I was looking at a SCT Tuner 3015, but from my understanding this only has preloaded tunes and you cannot put in custom tunes. Can this turn off DPF and EGR? And would these preloaded tunes get me increased fuel mileage?

Sorry for the lengthy post, thanks in advance for the assistance.
 
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#2 ·
First question...are you using the lie-meter on the dash for mpg? It's 1.5-2 mpg optimistic. You have to hand calculate your mpg. I run 12-12.5 city, 9-9.2 towing, and 14.5-15 hwy with my '08 with 106k miles.

I bought a locked XRT Pro for $400. Gonna cost me $350 to unlock it unless I hold out for another outfit til they figure out how to unlock them for a Ford. They charge $125 to do GM/Dodge and will be the same for Ford.

My dp back exhaust is gonna be $185.

Still gotta get egr stuff. Not sure if I'm gonna block off or remove them. We have visual inspection on the mvi here. They never look under the truck, though. Just raise the hood.

Not sure which intake I'm going with either.
 
#3 · (Edited)
If you're on a budget, you can take the Cat/DPF pipes off, and hollow them out. The stuff in the Cat comes out pretty easy, but the DPF innards are tough. I used an air hammer with a 18" blade that I welded up. Took about 1/2 hour to do both, including welding the tool. I just did about a 4" hole through the DPF. Free, and still looks stock. I didn't see much for mileage improvement when I did the EGR, but it needs to go if you want to protect your engine. Pain in the a$$, but worth it for piece of mind. If driven carefully, I could get real MPG numbers over 20. F350 4x4 long bed crew with 4.10 gears. It got as high as 22 on a few occasions, but I drove it about 60mph. I used an SCT9625OR set on tow. My current '08 F450, 47,000 miles, is doing about 15.5 stock, waiting for the same tuner to be unlocked so I can do the same to this truck. I'm using the hollowed out pipe on this one. The F350 had a delete pipe. As been said here a lot, the key to mileage is to keep RPM under 2000. I drive a little under 60mph with the F450 since it has 4.30 gears. The 19.5 tires make up for some of the gearing difference. I really like the 9625OR tuner, but they are pricey on the used market. My son found his a few weeks ago, along with a new stainless delete pipe, for $700, but most are around $900. Innovative sells them unlocked and with their tunes for $900. Custom tunes may help a little on mileage, but I'm not so sure it's worth the expense. That's all I know on the tuners. I am using a drop-in AFE filter. It won't set the filter minder like the stock one would. I'm sure the fancy air boxes flow better on a highly modified truck, but for my use, I don't think there would be much difference. The drop ins sure have a lot more filter area than the the filters in the replacement boxes. So my opinion is, save money on the pipes by hollowing out yours, used a less expensive drop-in filter, and spend your money on a tuner. Your results may vary.
 
#5 ·
If you are doing cheap and you have the ability just gut the cat and dpf... And take it from me (I come from So-Cal...) if you have a visual inspection keep the egr's in place, just block them off. That being said, SCT is your best bet as afar as tuning. It is cheap to start with and will allow you to utilize custom tuning when the funds are available.
 
#7 ·
Either way, it still makes sense to make the truck look factory, even though I didn't do that on my last truck. When it's time to trade it off, those EGR coolers are a pain to re-install, and your delete pipe will be all rusted in place. I'm dong the deletes now on my new-to-me truck, and this time, I'm going to keep the appearance of stock.
 
#9 ·
I obviously don't know much about the tuners, but make sure the DPF-R allows for EGR delete. You can buy an EGR delete kit on eBay for under $50. I have one that just arrived. I can't see any difference between it and the expensive kits, other than an engraved logo.
 
#10 ·
The reason to do a straight pipe over gutting the dpf and cat is you can always return it to stock. If you ever sell the truck you want to make sure you can put everything back on incase the buyer needs the truck to pass DOT inspection.
 
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#11 ·
So I decided to go with the DPF-R 4.0 Plus programmer with the eco tune, dpf & cat delete, egr blocking plates, and green performance drop in air filter. Ordered everything yesterday hopefully I can get it installed next week. Will update with results.
 
#12 ·
Any update on the install? I ask because I did the same install on my '08 (Dpf-r 4.0 plus, dpf and cat delete pipes). I did not do anything with the egr because I didn't think the dpf-r 4.0 supported anything in regards to egr deletes. My lie-ometer says I'm getting 16 mpg's but it's more like 11.5. I'm still searching for better mpg options, keep me/us posted if you find anything.
 
#13 ·
Higher hp tunes and a GOOD tuner/custom tunes will net better mpg numbers. 6.4's are horrible for fuel economy... I am running a 210hp tune from RCD right now and getting between 17 and 18mpg depending on my right foot ofc... But, with gearhead tuning I was netting less because of trans tuning and lower hp.

The dpf-r as far as I am aware is pretty much stock tuning with dpf turned off. There are some different tunes, but they don't do much at all. If you want better economy you need to get a good tuner like SCT, Spartan, or H&S and go with custom tunes (in the case of Spartan it doesn't support custom tunes, but has some of the best canned tunes around...).
 
#14 ·
Sorry I haven't updated thread I have meant to several times just haven't found the time.

Everything has been installed for about 4 weeks now and I am seeing about 3 MPG gain on average, this is after 4-5 tanks hand calculating. (more on highway). Prior to the install I would get 13-14 MPG on all my daily to and from work driving but now I am seeing 16-17. I went on a trip and on the highway running 70 I was getting 18.7 MPG. I can not go by my lie-o-meter at all it is usually saying 21-24 MPG.

Regardless of the MPG's I really like having the extra 70 HP it is really noticeable. I also really like not having the exhaust cleaning cycle all the time. The turbo spooling up is way more noticeable and the exhaust sounds a million times better (if you like louder exhaust where you here the turbo).

The only thing that is concerning is there is a slight miss when the truck is cold and idling. I haven't called gear boyz about it yet and it isn't throw any codes but it does bother me a little bit.

The install was very easy to do, the removal of the DPF and CAT was a pain in the butt, the lower egr plate was kind of a pain to put in as well. I took the splash guard out from the driver fender to get easier access to it.

All in all I am very pleased and feel like it was money well spent. My only regret was not doing it sooner. Once I get the money I may do a complete aftermarket intake and full egr delete.

Just my two cents.
 
#15 ·
Im quite interested in this as well, as far as increased fuel economy goes. I have an 08 with 107k miles. I have been fully deleted since I bought the truck. AFE cold air intake came with the truck. Also running SCT LiveWire Extreme with custom tunes (came with truck from previous owner, so unsure of tune origins) Also have 4" turbo back exhaust, Mishi radiator, and studded(none to do with MPG, i know) I was running the 210hp tune and was seeing ok MPG back in the late summer/fall 17-19 hand calculated. Recently I took the truck back to stock settings on the tuner, and im definitely going back to the custom tunes because Im only seeing 13.5-14.5mpg at stock settings.
As williep13 pointed out though, Ive noticed a slight miss at idle when on tunes...i was told by my former mechanic that it was attempting regen...
I guess I was just hoping for higher mpg at stock, but that wont happen haha. A guy can only hope/wish to achieve 23+ mpg out of a modded 6.4
 
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