[GEARJAMMER]

A friend of mine just bought his wife a 7.3 "X" and she is getting around 16 mpg. He has a 7.3 truck with a DP tuner. The wife likes the power in the truck and wants to drive it all of the time. :ack: He says the tranny shifts a little harsh with the tuner in the truck.

He want to improve the mileage on the "X" and a power upgrade. Recomendations?

Shawn :smokin:

 

[SmokeyWren]

First, install aftermarket gauges - minimum of a pre-turbo pyrometer, and if she tows more than a rowboat, then tranny temp gauge too. She won't need a turbo boost gauge unless she participates in some sort of racing.

Next decide the way to add a DP-Tuner tune: flash the PCM, use a programmer, or install a chip. Then decide which tune would be best for her driving conditions: probably 80-economy.

If she tows more than a rowboat, then she may need at least two tunes, one of them a towing tune. In that case the one tune in a flashed PCM won't do the trick, so she'll need either a programmer or a multi-position chip. The programmer is easy to use, but requires a coupla of minutes to change from one tune to another. The chip is a lot more difficult to install, but offers shift-on-the-fly changing of tunes.

DP-Tuner

The red line is 1,250º pre-turbo exhaust gas temp (EGT). If she rarely sees over 1,200º, then no more modifications are necessary. But it she gets up to the red line too easily, then she might also want intake and exhaust mods to tackle more grade, speed, or load weight without too-high EGT.

The tranny temp red line is 225º. If she ever sees over about 210º, then she needs inceased tranny cooling capacity.

 

[1BADF350]

The Excursion in my signiture below belongs to my "Sunshine" (wife) and she loves the way it runs and looks, her intown MPG is about 14 and freeway/interstate milage is 18-19 these are hand calculated milages also.

 

[Tailgate]

The mileage is most likely related to those larger tires you have on there. Don't know how much better you're going to get, but certainly a DP Tuner "Economy" tune might help. Gotta remember that the tire height, width, and tread can significantly reduce your mileage, and the height also changes your transmission ratio as well.

I'm no expert on tires (or anything, for that matter)...but my WAG would be that if you put stock size tires on that X, you'd see a 2-3 MPG increase without any changes.