Joe Borg wrote:
>
> My 98 Dakota with 22 gallon option has a low fuel indicator. The
> manual says it goes off with 2-3 gallons in the tank. After mine goes
> off and I fill up, it only takes about 17 gallons. I get about 14.5
> mpg. Can I still drive 70 miles?? Shouldnt I be able to go 300 miles
> safely? Last off is 14.5 mpg normal for a 318 3.55? Whats going to
> happen when I put in my 3.90 SG?? Thanks in advance, Joe
DRD892@AOL.COM wrote:
>
> Joe,
>
> 14.5 MPG seems a little low to me. My '97 CC 5.2 with 3.92 gears
> averages between 15.3 and 16.7 MPG.
>
Seems to me that last time I ran my truck till the warning light came
on, it also took somewhere between 17-18 gallons. In my experience, the
low fuel warning lights in CC vehicles are on the conservative side, if
you can assume that the fuel capacity of the plastic tanks are always
correct ;}. However, you'll never know for certain on a given vehicle
until you run it dry - something which I don't particularly want to do.
I have a 98 with the V8 5spd 3.55LSD combo. Best all-city mileage I've
seen so far is about 13.5mpg (according to the console computer). I
definitely find it hard to keep my foot out of it, and when shifting
normally tend to wind it up to 2500-3000 between shifts - that 5spd is
fun to drive with some real ponies behind it. My truck still only has
about 1200 miles on it, so the engine is just starting to get broken in.
The 13.5mpg is a full 2mpg better than I got on my first tank of gas, so
its getting steadily better.
In the trucks I test drove (all V8 5spd), the 3.90 runs about 250rpm
higher at highway speeds in 5th. I think that on the average you will
lose at least 1 maybe 2mpg going from the 3.55 to a 3.90 - one of my
data points for a decision to go with 3.55. However, Dodge puts the same
mpg numbers on the sticker, regardless of whether the truck is equipped
with 3.55 or 3.90.
The thing that contributes most to mpg is how you drive. If you're going
to have your foot in it alot more often once you swap to 3.90 ;>, then
yes the 3.90 gears will definitely reduce your mileage.
jeff
98 RC 4x2 V8 5spd 3.55LSD
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:08:08 EDT