5.9L, 2002 Ram 1500

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.

You pretty much have what your gonna get. It is a truck, with the aero of a brick.

If you lean out the mixture, it'll 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.

drive like you've 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 don't 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.

That's 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 can't tow or hold what the ram does... Life is full of choices, I guess..

mac

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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

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 doesn't 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