40mpg with a programmer?

Do programmers save fuel?

Posted May 20 2008 03:05 PM by Jason Sands
Filed under: Editorials, Direct Injection

Back when I first started at Diesel Power Magazine, many people were talking about how they could get a new truck and put a programmer and an intake and some other stuff on it and get 700 horsepower. Um, no you can't.

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Now that fuel prices have soared to almost $5.00 a gallon, the new story is of people getting 35-40mpg out of their "supertuned" diesel. Um, no you aren't. First of all, doing mileage by the overhead computer doesn't always work, you have to hand calculate the mileage for accurate results, and you have to be darned careful even doing it that way. I believe that 30mpg is possible, heck we did it with my dually, but it required aero changes, driving differently, and airing up the tires. Sorry, but there is no way you're going to take your lifted truck on 37 inch tires which gets 14mpg and suddenly boost that up to 30mpg while still driving 80mph on the freeway. For the new trucks, 15-20mpg seems a realistic figure, while for the older models 18-25mpg is possible, although if you're actually hitting 20mpg hand calculated, without coasting or doing anything else crazy, consider yourself lucky. Bottom line is you can save fuel with programmers and other mods, but there is no "magic solution" to double your mileage.......yet.

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Reader Comments:

1. you're right!!!!! i work at a ford dealer and am tired of these idiots,and that's what they are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. who "enhance"there vehicle with this BS and then beat the snot out of it and cry about it when it fails.my comment is "CHA CHING" it's cash my friend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

alfreed - Posted May 21 2008 06:50 PM

2. I agree anyone thinking they can get 40mpg is nuts...but do programs to improve mileage actually work, or are they just BS? Even an improvement of 2-3mpg will pay for itself in today's market in less than a year.

What I really want to know is what are the drawbacks to doing this?

ONUG - Posted May 22 2008 07:44 AM

3. Yes they do. But to gain 2-3 mpg you have to do a little more. I have a 04 cummins with triple dog, aero exhaust and an S&B intake. After three tanks of fuel I now average 18.5 mpg. On city driving only i get around 16, highway is 21. But i think with prices the way they are any small anount counts. Also keeping off the long skiny pedel on the right helps a lot.

goose0276 - Posted May 22 2008 05:03 PM

4. Besides fuel economy increases another great benefit of a smarty downloader is greatly reduced EGT's in the range of 200-300 less than stock while providing horsepower gains of over 100 hp.

The stock timing curves are written for emission requirements.

Wagner - Posted May 23 2008 09:09 AM

5. I may have put my foot in my mouth a little....we just did a fuel economy test where a modded 2wd Duramax got 29.6mpg over an 181 mile test. We were all driving like grannies (had multiple vehicles) Kept the speed to 60-65mph.

I'd say programmers should be with a good 2-3mpg, but we might start seeing more as companies work harder on them.

Jason Sands - Posted May 25 2008 07:57 PM

6. I have an 06 duramax LBZ. I added a banks 4" cat back exhaust, S&B intake and Superchips flashpaq tuner. Driving 55-60 mph, i have logged 29 mpgs. 60-65 I usually get 27 mpg. It may sound a bit crazy but I've done it consistantly. Just gotta keep off the throttle to easy the pinch at the pump.

Chivo - Posted May 26 2008 06:56 PM

7. Forgot to metion that my duramax is 4wd on stock tires.

Chivo - Posted May 26 2008 06:56 PM

8. Yeah, speed and tires are the #1 killer of mileage, our 7.3L Ford on 40-inch tires gets 9mpg at 80mph.

Jason Sands - Posted May 28 2008 08:56 AM

9. what about the difference in the rims people are putting on... and the tires themselves... i know they make truck tires that are a 4 or 6 ply and are much lighter then the heavy 10 ply load range E tires most guys run... and switching from the stock rims to a 20" 45 lb. wheel, that can't be helping economy... wouldn't it seem to be more efficient to go with a second set of tires/rims for when you're towing something, and keep the light weight assemblies on when you're just cruising down the hiway... you might test that in the mag one of these days...

gotmike - Posted May 28 2008 04:27 PM

10. I currently get 20.1 mpg (hard checked) with an 05 6.0 ford 4wd. F-350 6-speed,Synthetic oil, s&b filter and 4" silverline turbo back no muff no cat. I can't decide which programmer to use!!

moriea1 - Posted May 28 2008 11:42 PM

11. i have a 96 dodge 2500 what can i do to improve milage auto trans 265 16 tires stock exhaust bought truck 1 year ago 90000 miles

deathspeaker - Posted June 5 2008 06:36 PM

12. I recently traded a 2001 2wd long bed quad cab 5.9 HO 6spd manual stock tires 265 75R16. I drove the truck 250,000 miles and the worst tank I ever got was 18.6 mpg. I installed a Banks 4" Monster exhaust and felt an improvement in power especially rolling on in high gear. I could count on 20 mpg combined and 23+ on a road trip down the interstate at 65 through the hills in Tenn. I ran one leg of a trip across Wy running 85 and still never dropped below 20 mpg all hand calculated. Wish I had kept the 01. My 6.7 is a far cry from that.

GLogan - Posted June 22 2008 02:23 PM

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