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ARG
Dodge Dakota
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9/03/2003
01:34:33
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 Subject: Best mileage from 5.2 club-cab?
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Hello all. I have a 97 5.2 litre Dakota club-cab. 81,000 miles, bone stock. I just bought this truck last week and I checked my mileage. Around town driving with the A/C on max I'm getting 14 MPG. Is that normal for a 5.2 club-cab?
Iv'e noticed that most of the topics on this website deal with taking stock Dakotas and making them run 10 second 1/4 miles. Well, I'm not into that. I have two young sons that I want to take on hunting trips, and I need to get as much MPG as possible out of this 5.2 V8.
Is there a tried and true formula to get better mileage out of the Dakota? What is the most anyone has gotten out of their Dakota, city and highway?
Has anyone gotten 17 or 18 in the city? 20-22 on the highway? If yes, how did you do it?
What mods, simple or complex, did you have to do to get good mileage out of your Dak?
Many thanks in advance to all who choose to answer my questions.
Regards, ARG
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toolman
Gen I
9/03/2003
02:05:36
|  RE: Best mileage from 5.2 club-cab?
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hi arg!!! yes i have a 97 cc 5.2 & 5 speed it gets 19mpg on the highway at 65 mph before i put on the tonneau cover & thats shifting when the light comes on !!also has 3.92 gears !with tonneau cover 19.5 -20 mpgnow thats in the spring . now in the summer with a/c running its 17mpg
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Rob 1
Dodge Dakota
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9/03/2003
06:21:55
| RE: Best mileage from 5.2 club-cab?
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I have 97CC 4x4 5.2 Auto that get 12-13 MPG City 15 HWY if lucky. 3.92LSD gears
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EBL
Dodge Dakota
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9/03/2003
11:18:04
| RE: Best mileage from 5.2 club-cab?
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Hi there,
92 4x2 with the 318 Auto.
Normal driving (City and Highway)I average 16.5-17mpg. Probably closer to 17. Straight highway I once made 21mpg but 20 something has been much more repeatable.
The engine is a bone stock 318 with 150k miles on it. The transmission has the same. I have 3.21 gears out back... (I believe... I turn 2k at 65mph) I have a toneau cover.
The speed was 65-70mph and I did not stop for around 300 miles or when I was afraid I would run out of fuel.
Things I have modified on the intake side are:
Removed plastic covering under the grill to allow more cold air into the engine and a drop in K&N air filter.
The exhaust system has the 92-93 exhaust manifolds (larger volume) and the stock y pipe and cat. From the y to the cat is factory 3" pipe. After the cat I fabricated a 3" mandrel bent system following the stock path using a Summit Turbo muffler.
Keep your oil clean and do a tune up before your run and you should do well.
Hope this helps!
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toolman
Gen I
9/03/2003
11:25:56
| RE: Best mileage from 5.2 club-cab?
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oh by the way mine has 3.92 lsd also
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Jacque
Dodge Dakota
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9/04/2003
13:07:42
| RE: Best mileage from 5.2 club-cab?
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Message:
I can get 24 mpg on the road with my 94 5.2 CC Dakota. Mixed city and highway driving I get usually 20-21 mpg. I can get that because I live in a rural area. When I was staying in Savannah, I was getting 12-13 mpg. But that was before I changed to the K&N and before I installed the Autolie AR 3934's. My list of mods and what effect they have on gas mileage is as follows.
1. K&N drop-in filter - 2 mpg increase over stock paper filter. Increased power as well. A must have in my book. Used the filter wrap that is around the stock paper filter to protect the K&N filter. Keep a lot of the dirt from getting into the filter and also increases the intervials that you have to recharge the K&N. I also got a longer throttle body stud so I could flip the breather to allow even more air to get to the engine. The stock replacement K&N filter is actually a little smaller than the stock paper filter. So if you go Advance like I did or somewhere like that you can pick out a K&N filter that is a little larger and a better fit with filter wrap than the stock drop-in replacement.
2.Autolite AR 3934 sparkplugs - Autolite racing sparkplugs that have the ground electrode ground back to expose the center electrode. They burn more of the fuel in the combustion chamber to give you better mileage and power. Rough estimates on incresaed gas mileage due to the use of these plugs are 1 to maybe 1 1/2 mpg. I used the 3934's because at the time that was all that was in stock. I would have used the 3935's. The 3935's have the same heat range as the Autolite 3922's. They are a non-resister type plug and I haven't noticed any difference in radio reception. I live in Georgia so I ordered these plugs from Barnett Performance. 1-800-533-1320.
3. Changed injector sync to 6 with the use of Mopar scanner ( value 12 with use of a Snap-On scanner). Helps power. Not sure of any gas mileage increases due to this mod.
4. Repaired the belly pan gasket on the intake manifold. If the gasket is blown you will notice that engine is using a little oil. A quart every 3-4 thousand miles in my case. Or you can see oil residue inside the intake manifold by taking the air cleaner off and opening the throtle blades on the throttle body. Can adversely affect gas mileage if gasket is bad.
5. Replaced the pvc valve and the cap and rotor button. Preventive maintanance to insurance the best gas mileage.
6. Use larger diameter tires when replacing the stock ones (27.1. I am currrently using 225/70/15's that are 27.4 inches tall because I got a good deal on them. I normally run a tire 28 inches tall(235/70/15) and am thinking of maybe going as large as 29 inches (255/70/15).
7. Replaced my stock beer keg type intake mannifold with a modified one. Runners are cut down 1 3/4 inches. I did this just to see what would happen. You don't want to do this in your case. You lose some bottom end torque because the shorter runners move the torque curve up. It might be a good mod if you want to do some towing with your truck. No difference in gas mileage that I can see.
I plan on using some Petron Plus in the differential to see if I can pick up some more gas mileage. Unlike a lot of oil additives that are on the market Petron Plus works. I have never checked to see what effect it has on gas mileage, but it diffently reduces friction and gives you more power. They have additives for your engine, auto transmission, manual transmission, and differential. The use of synthtic oil in the engine will help your gas mileage also. I don't know whether the additional cost is worth the gain in gas mileage as I haven't used synthnic oil enough to check the difference. I have used and will continue to use Chevron Delo 400 15W-40 for the time being.
Hope this helps you. Good luck.
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