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Dodge Dakota Real World MPG Numbers

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Comments

  • dustykdustyk Member Posts: 2,926
    Bpeebles,

    I believe your refering to group IV base stocks. Mobil 1 uses group III, which I believe is partially synthetic. Or is my memory bad? Too lazy to look it up :)

    What's new up there in the north country?

    Bests,
    Dusty
  • bpeeblesbpeebles Member Posts: 4,085
    Good to hear from you Dusty - yes, the polyol ester basestock is also known as "Group IV".

    The "North country" has seen rain almost every day for about 2 months. I guess the folks that have been cryin "global warming" will have to come up with a new story. So far they have cried "global IceAge" in the 70s and "hole in ozone" in the 80s.
    I cant wait to see what they claim is coming up next... LOL
  • remavremav Member Posts: 1
    My commute is a very good mix of driving of about 22 miles.
    9 miles of city/paved hilly country roads 25mph to 45mph, no stops
    7 miles of state routes 45mph to 55mph with stoplights av 1/mi.
    and 6 miles of flat freeway, 55mph to 65 mph.

    2003 2WD Sport Ext. Cab V6 3 spd Auto could NOT get 20mpg on this. 19+ multiple times really trying, but usually 17.5 to 18.5. Highway driving it would pull 22.

    2005 2WD Club Cab SLT V8 5spd Auto would get 20mpg on this commute. Jersey to Pittsburgh holding steady 65 I got 24 going out empty, and 22 coming back with 1000 lbs of computer hardware in the bed. K&N Air filter is only add-on.

    2005 4WD Quad Cab V8 5spd Auto Laramie has held 19mpg on the commute, but any side trips in town & it quickly falls to 16.5 to 17.5. Long drives yield 20-22 highway.

    I was impressed that the V8s did as well as or better than the '03s V6.
  • dustykdustyk Member Posts: 2,926
    Remav, your results are quite typical.

    I remember some years ago when the 4.7 PolyTech motor was introduced there were a couple of magazines and the notoriously inaccurate Consumers Reports that proclaimed the 4.7 a "thirsty" engine. As most long term 4.7 owners will testify, this engine takes a while to break in, and once it does it delivers superior gas mileage when driven sanely.

    Now I've found that if you have an aggressive right foot, gas mileage will drop precipitously. But, like many others a sedate driving style returns numbers equal to if not better than the 3.7 V6. In the case of V6 equiped Dakotas, be mindful of the rear axle ratio. Many of them are sporting the 3.91 ratio. I've driven a couple of these versions and they have surprising power. But that's in part because of the 3.91 gears in the rear.

    I've found that I do better than a couple of Nissan Frontiers and every Canyon/Colorado owner I've ever talked to. Of course, some is pure denial, especially since these are Dodges. :)

    My best so far has been 23.92 on a 700+ mile trip, empty except for passengers, average speed 63 MPH and hilly territory.(2003 Club Cab Sport, 4.7, 545RFE, 3.55 LSD, P255 70R 16 Michelin LTX M/S tires.)

    Bests,
    Dusty
  • bda54bda54 Member Posts: 8
    I'm considering doing a 3" lift on my 03 Dakota Quadcab 4x4,4.7liter with 5 speed AT. I don't want to go taller because of the expense. I just want a little better clearance for when I go hunting. Anyone have any info on stepping up the tire size from 265/75R16's to 285/75R16's. Clearance issues, or effect on gas mileage from the tire size increase?
  • dustykdustyk Member Posts: 2,926
    I went from a P235 70R16 to a 255 70R16. The Dakota offers a generous amount of room for larger tires and most people I know have opted to go to a larger diameter tire on their Dakotas when they re-tire. You have to be cognizant of the width requirement as you go larger. My Dakota Sport came with 8 inch wide wheels, so I could go even larger. But many Dakotas have seven-inch wide wheels and the maximum tire size would be limited. Now you have 75R16s, which are already a higher profile. I would check with the tire manufacturer to see how much taller they are.

    By the way. When I went to the P255s I noticed that I lost 2.91 miles on the odometer to every one hundred miles driven. Check your odometer after you get the new tires on. You might be surprized how much difference the gas mileage is.

    Best regards,
    Dusty
  • trapezecdntrapezecdn Member Posts: 13
    Good evening folks. Longtime since I have posted or read. I have a Canadian 2000 club cab , V6 auto, 3.55 diff sport package with tire and handling pkg. I am in the USA and I strive to keep the mpg up on this vehicle. Currently at 292,000 kms (181,000 miles). AS the odometer is in km's the numbers are km/g. I would normally average 28-30 km/g mostly freeway with some city driving in the San Francisco area lots of hills, traffic etc... Best achieved was 35 km/g driving cross country to Toronto. Now iam averageing 25 -26 km/g even while keeping tire pressure up, using synthetic oil and doing regular maintenance re spark plugs and airfilters. I have tried bosch +4, platinums but generally go back to regular plugs as I have been advised about plugs possibly being too hot.

    I know there are many factors, but any suggestions as to what may be causing this 20% drop in mpg. Worth doing the O2 sensors? I do have a bit of a problem with the #6 cylinder as the plug is usually more fouled than the others, but could still get good mpg when it was like this.

    Any and all suggestions welcome.
  • tsimptsimp Member Posts: 3
    Unsure about the V6, but if you look in the Durango forum, this is quite common to O2 sensor connector issue. I would check there first. They speak of bypassing the ground wire on the sensor with a new one.
  • mrsincere7mrsincere7 Member Posts: 40
    I have an '02 4WD 6cyl Quad Cab. I bought it at an auction in Oct,08. I had the plugs,fuel filter replaced, K&N air filter, trans and diff fluid changed, synthetic motor oil change. I thought these things would give me decent MPG.

    Unfortunately I still couldnt get much more than 11 MPG even after all of that. It also seemed like my MPG was getting progressively worse. In this forum, somebody suggested changing the O2 sensors. I took that advice. I bought 2 Bosch universal O2 sensors from Strauss Stores in NJ, USA. I clipped the connectors from the old sensors and joined them with the new sensors ( the new ones came with a connector kit in the package ).

    After I installed them, I went for a ride. I drove 42 miles and went right back to the gas station to fuel back up. I got 16.9 MPG. That was a dramatic change from my old numbers. Also , I was somewhat aggressive with the accelerator during my roadtest, but I believe if I would have took it easy, I could have got maybe 18-20 MPG or better. I also noticed an increase in power and acceleration. Anyone reading......if your O2 sensors have never been replaced ( and you have over 90k on the odometer) or you suspect they may be the cause of your poor fuel economy.......CHANGE THEM!!! I'm glad I did.

    BTW.......my truck uses only 2 O2 sensors. One upstream and one downstream ( from the catalytic converter ).
    Combined they cost me $153.00 at the auto parts store. Be careful trying to save money ordering sensors from the internet . You could make a mistake and order the wrong sensors for your vehicle.
  • carvermancarverman Member Posts: 101
    I have a 98 CDN Dakota ext cab with the 318 V8. My average fuel economy on regular gas is between 8.5 and 9.0km per litre..that translates to somewhere
    around 22 to 23 miles per US gal which is 3.8 litres. It's a thirsty engine
    and I've just changed out both 02 sensors to see if that will improve the
    gas mileage slightly as gas is really starting to go up in Canada.
  • carvermancarverman Member Posts: 101
    I ordered 2 from the internet and they were reasonable (Denso) but when it
    came to put them on my 98 Dakota V8, the mechanic told me that one
    matched up with the index on the front (upstream) O2 sensor, but the second
    (both the same) would not fit the connector index for the downstream connector, even though the pinout./wires are exactly the same for both
    according to my Haynes manual. Another Dodge "throw em off and charge em
    more" situation. The mechanic was not willing to cut the connector wiring and
    splice up the new connector because he mentioned it could fail the emission test
    and they don't do it that way. They ordered the downstream O2 from a local
    parts jobber which fit the connector on my truck..so now I have a spare
    upstream O2 sensor for the next time the same 02 code comes up.
  • chineseguychineseguy Member Posts: 8
    Hi there, new to here; hope some one can get me an idea, I have 2005 dakota 4.7 V8 SLT.
    When I brought the truck 3 years ago, 1 full tank 82L can run 400KM in city, but some time last year, the milage drop, only last around 300Km only, is any reason why and where I should look into it. Thanks.
  • dakotakid88dakotakid88 Member Posts: 1
    I bought my 02 dakota slt with hopes of high mph. it has the 4.7, but it only averages 16 on the highway on a good day! in town i only get 10-12.. When i have a quad in th bed, and a towing a trailer it only gets around 8, which is horrible.. my toyota with the 4.3 in it still gets 12 pulling twice as much! NOT a happy customer! ONCE i got 18 in the mtns... but i had a vacuum leak and it was running lean..... fail on my part for buying a dodge!
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