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92dakota
Dodge Dakota
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5/20/2005
22:17:17
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 Subject: V6 dakota gas mileage
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I'm trying to get some more miles per gallon out of my 1992 dakota and I noticed that there is a plastic plate in front of the air intake duct's opening, right behind the grille. It's held in by three clips. I imagine they put it there there to keep excessive bugs/dirt/rain out of the intake.
Can this part be safely removed so that air can enter directly into the intake duct and be 'rammed' in when the vehicle is in motion? It seems to be an easy job, only requiring that the grille be removed to gain access. Will doing so give any noticible MPG benefit? I have a 12-gallon gas tank and 170 miles (mostly city) per tank is the most that I can get out of it. I would like to get closer to 200 if that can be done without a lot of expensive mods.
Can I insulate the air intake duct with mylar to keep some of the engine heat away from it or would that be not worth it?
The only other thing I can think of would be to drop the clutch fan in favor of an electric, but I haven't looked into how expensive it would be to have someone do that. Although, the clutch fan simply bolts onto the water pump pulley and has a shroud that is clipped to the radiator... so maybe I could do it myself.
Am I on the right track to rising above my 15 miles-per-gallon rut?
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Dan M
Dodge Dakota
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5/20/2005
22:30:28
|  RE: V6 dakota gas mileage
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I removed that plate on my 95 CC 4x4 with 3.9L. I did not notice any improvements (i was able to remove it , it's just held in place with clips on the back of the plate, without removing the grill. I then replaced the stock air box with a edelbrock 10" chrome air cleaner and K&N filter. This gives me better throttle response and did gain a little which I offset by driving it harder :) Alot of people on here make their own home-made air intake system, do a search you'll find the details.
Is the air filter clean? Done a tune-up recently? Replaced the oxygen sensor? Replaced breather? Pvc? hoses for both? grommets for both?
I did alot of work to mine and increased my mpg up to 17.5 combined city/highway (I drive 22 miles each way for work of which 17 is highway and since I live in the Atlanta metro rush hour is pretty bad). I was getting < 15 mpg driving 6 miles each way across traffic.
My biggest gain was from the engine flush service at pepboys. I do regular oil changes but all of those years of dino oil led to alot of crud build up that the flush removed. I have been running synthetic oil for a few months. Every oil change now I run a can of seafoam though. 1/3 in oil, 1/3 in gas tank and 1/3 in air intake (down throttle body).
- Dan M
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J and J Auto
GenII
5/21/2005
06:05:48
| RE: V6 dakota gas mileage
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Remove the flap and get a K&N drop in cotton gause
filter they flow better than paper and you never
have to replace them just clean and re oil
Auto Zone has them around $35
Larry
J&J Auto
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Bob Lincoln
Dodge Dakota
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5/21/2005
17:37:38
| RE: V6 dakota gas mileage
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BTW, if you have a '92, your gas tank is either 15 or 22 gallons, not 12.
If tuned normally, a stock Dak with V-6 should get at least 16 mpg city; 20 mpg highway; more if you do Larry's mods.
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92dakota
Dodge Dakota
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5/22/2005
13:26:05
| RE: V6 dakota gas mileage
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Thanks for the replies!
Probably none of the maintenance that you mentioned has been done. My grandfather previously owned the truck and unfortunately did not take care of it as he should have. Bad fuel line, bad instruments, brakes, and other things all had to be fixed.
I really suspect that the clutch fan might be wast ing a lot of fuel. The fan clutch is bad, I'm pretty sure, because it locks up solid when the radiator gets cold. Once the engine is running it will break free within a few minutes, but until then the fan makes a loud roaring sound and runs basically at engine speed. So accelerating is very noisy and you can feel that the truck doesn't accelerate as fast. I don't think the fan even frees up all the way even when warmed up, it runs pretty fast a lot of the time, even when it's cold out. I think I need a new one, or an electric one.
Would adding a bottle of fuel injector cleaner to the gas improve anything?
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Dan M
Dodge Dakota
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5/22/2005
14:13:39
| RE: V6 dakota gas mileage
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use seafoam, for the fuel, oil and air induction.
http://www.seafoamsales.com/
how many miles on the truck? might need to replacing timing belt too.
- Dan M
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Bob Lincoln
Dodge Dakota
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5/23/2005
09:28:35
| RE: V6 dakota gas mileage
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A stuck clutch fan can use a little more gas, but probably under 1 mpg penalty. Have you done a full tuneup recently?
15 mpg city is not far off the mark. Don't expect to get it above 16-17. Highway can be 20-21 with stock equipment.
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Relf
Dodge Dakota
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6/19/2005
12:57:30
|  RE: V6 dakota gas mileage
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Dan M, you pour 1/3 bottle of seafoam through the throttle body??? Is that safe for your plugs? What does your engine do when you start it? I can see pouring some in your oil before a change, but the TB? How much do you pay for the engine flush, by the way? Relf.
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Dan M
Dodge Dakota
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6/19/2005
17:58:29
| RE: V6 dakota gas mileage
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Yep, I put 1/3 in the fuel tank, 1/3 in the oil and the rest in the TB. I follow instructions on the can. It smokes and smells, but that's just the buildup being removed. Same smoke/smell when you pay to do the air induction cleaning. There is also instructions on the can if using the seafaom in the induction machine.
The engine flush I had done at pepboys and was $80 including proline oil filter and oil (pepboys brand). You can pay extra to go with a name brand dino or even synthetic.
Other shops may offer a similar service. The machine pepboys uses is made by bilstein.
- Dan M
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93dak4x4
Dodge Dakota
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6/21/2005
23:27:34
| RE: V6 dakota gas mileage
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Bob,
You say a stock tuned truck should pull 16 city and 20 hwy. I really would like to know why I cant pull that no matter what i do. I have changed about everything i can think of. The truck runs like a champ but gets horrid mileage 10-13 city and 16-17 hwy. is there something i am overlooking?.
93 CC 4x4 A500
139k mi 6k on tranny
all new sensors
double roller timing chain
v8 tb
high flow cat and flowmaster muffler
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