5.9L, 2002 Ram 1500

From : john selph

Q: has anyone experimented with reprogramming the ecm to improve gas mileage my truck gets 9 - 10 mpg city with air and about 15 on the highway which i feel is a bit low especially with gas prices today. ive purchased the obd software and interface for my laptop and i believe that the included software allows limited reprogramming. ive already installed k&n filter made sure its in tune and checked tire pressures. any other hints thanks john btw im located around new orleans where its hot and humid. js .

Replies:

From : nunya

has anyone experimented with reprogramming the ecm to improve gas mileage my truck gets 9 - 10 mpg city with air and about 15 on the highway which i feel is a bit low especially with gas prices today. ive purchased the obd software and interface for my laptop and i believe that the included software allows limited reprogramming. ive already installed k&n filter made sure its in tune and checked tire pressures. any other hints thanks john i have a 4x4 ram with a 360 and when i want to increase my fuel economy i park it and drive my dakota with a v-6. i have five trucks of varying size. we match each task to the correct size truck for the job. i commute in my 360 its about 6 miles from home to work and if i have to do any trip over 20 miles that doesnt require hauling a big load i drive one of the dakotas. if the load is really big i use the cummins powered 2500. my wife is going to an out of state wedding this weekend and instead of driving the diesel she is taking the 5 speed dakota. if i have to do a trip of any substantial mileage that is not work related and it is not actively raining i drive my motorcycle. even my hot rodded harley gets 43 mpg. buy yourself a dodge neon or some other vehicle that is miserly on fuel and only use the truck when it is actually needed. you will never convince a goat with a 360 into acting like a honda civic at the fuel pump. save your mod money and buy a scooter with it instead. michael .

From : steve w

christopher d. thompson wrote on wed 18 jun 2008 104207 -0500 john selph wrote has anyone experimented with reprogramming the ecm to improve gas mileage my truck gets 9 - 10 mpg city with air and about 15 on the highway which i feel is a bit low especially with gas prices today. ive purchased the obd software and interface for my laptop and i believe that the included software allows limited reprogramming. ive already installed k&n filter made sure its in tune and checked tire pressures. any other hints thanks john btw im located around new orleans where its hot and humid. js drive like youve got an egg on the accelerator thats about all you can do for a truck. aside from keeping the tires inflated. same items apply to any vehicle. keep the tires properly inflated. make sure the brakes are working properly to avoid brake drag. have the alignment checked and make sure you dont have any bad bearings. synthetic oils in the gearboxes can help some they stay at about the same viscosity regardless of temperature no waiting for them to warm up in the winter. make sure your engine is in proper tune. plan your trips so you can avoid backtracking. drive intelligently no rapid starts coast to a stop when possible. track your vehicles mileage. slow down. one thing that is pounded into anyone who runs emergency vehicles is that for most trips the extra speed works against you a lot. -- steve w. .

From : christopher d thompson

on wed 18 jun 2008 104207 -0500 john selph wrote has anyone experimented with reprogramming the ecm to improve gas mileage my truck gets 9 - 10 mpg city with air and about 15 on the highway which i feel is a bit low especially with gas prices today. ive purchased the obd software and interface for my laptop and i believe that the included software allows limited reprogramming. ive already installed k&n filter made sure its in tune and checked tire pressures. any other hints thanks john btw im located around new orleans where its hot and humid. js drive like youve got an egg on the accelerator thats about all you can do for a truck. aside from keeping the tires inflated. -- chris .

From : the reverend natural light

on jun 18 1142 am john selph jse...@cox.net wrote has anyone experimented with reprogramming the ecm to improve gas mileage my truck gets 9 - 10 mpg city with air and about 15 on the highway which if you lean out the mixture itll burn up. like tbone said keep the tires inflated. i put a flowmaster truck and suv series muffler on my dakota 5.9 and it seemed to make a little improvement. i still wondered if there was a hole in the tank and fuel was just leaking out. luckily i sold that thing when gas was $2.50/gal. i miss that truck but it was just too thirsty. .

From : bob

john selph wrote has anyone experimented with reprogramming the ecm to improve gas mileage my truck gets 9 - 10 mpg city with air and about 15 on the highway which i feel is a bit low especially with gas prices today. ive purchased the obd software and interface for my laptop and i believe that the included software allows limited reprogramming. ive already installed k&n filter made sure its in tune and checked tire pressures. any other hints thanks john btw im located around new orleans where its hot and humid. js -- i have not done it with the ram or my dakota. but i have done it with other vehicles. the potential is there to make some significant improvements. the factory tune is fairly conservative and not always that accurate. if you can go in an individually tune your specific engie for your specific conditions you can make improvements in mileage and performance. but you definatly need a way to evaluate your tuning. you shouldnt just go in and change a fuel or timing map. what if its already lean and you make it worse at the very least you need a wide band o2 sensor. i use the lm-1 with pretty good results. optimally you want the truck on a chassis dyno and a tuner that knows what hes doing. thats a little expensive but youll get the best results. -------- ..bob 2006 fxdi hot rod 2008 mustang coupe 2001 dodge dakota qc 5.9/4x4/3.92 1965 ffr cobra - 427w efi damn fast. .

From : steve lusardi

i have a 96 with an 01 5.9 with 3.55 gears and i get 16-17 on rural roads 45 mph 14-15 around town and 15 highway 60-65 but i have a 5 speed not an automatic. steve has anyone experimented with reprogramming the ecm to improve gas mileage my truck gets 9 - 10 mpg city with air and about 15 on the highway which i feel is a bit low especially with gas prices today. ive purchased the obd software and interface for my laptop and i believe that the included software allows limited reprogramming. ive already installed k&n filter made sure its in tune and checked tire pressures. any other hints thanks john btw im located around new orleans where its hot and humid. js .

From : mac davis

on wed 18 jun 2008 104207 -0500 john selph jselph@cox.net wrote has anyone experimented with reprogramming the ecm to improve gas mileage my truck gets 9 - 10 mpg city with air and about 15 on the highway which i feel is a bit low especially with gas prices today. ive purchased the obd software and interface for my laptop and i believe that the included software allows limited reprogramming. ive already installed k&n filter made sure its in tune and checked tire pressures. any other hints thanks john btw im located around new orleans where its hot and humid. js thats pretty much what our stock 99 ram gets with 5.9 auto 3.5 gears and qq.. we have slightly oversized tires and know that we lose a bit of low end but it still only gets 14 - 15 mpg on freeway trips.. our 01 dakota with 4.7l gets 19 - 20 on trips but cant tow or hold what the ram does... life is full of choices i guess.. mac please remove splinters before emailing .

From : roy

has anyone experimented with reprogramming the ecm to improve gas mileage my truck gets 9 - 10 mpg city with air and about 15 on the highway which i feel is a bit low especially with gas prices today. ive purchased the obd software and interface for my laptop and i believe that the included software allows limited reprogramming. ive already installed k&n filter made sure its in tune and checked tire pressures. any other hints thanks john btw im located around new orleans where its hot and humid. js you pretty much have what your gonna get. it is a truck with the aero of a brick. .

From : tbone

has anyone experimented with reprogramming the ecm to improve gas mileage my truck gets 9 - 10 mpg city with air and about 15 on the highway which i feel is a bit low especially with gas prices today. ive purchased the obd software and interface for my laptop and i believe that the included software allows limited reprogramming. ive already installed k&n filter made sure its in tune and checked tire pressures. any other hints thanks john btw im located around new orleans where its hot and humid. js look at the size and weight of the vehicle. what do you really expect it to do the best way to save fuel with it is to keep the tire pressure up and take it easy on the gas. it was not designed to be an economy car and there is not much that you can do to change that. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving .