DON'T LET THE COST OF DIESEL FUEL RUIN YOUR DAY
By Mike Mavrigian, Editor, Precision Engine
I'm in the mood to talk about diesel trucks, so that's what I'll flap my gums about for this issue's editorial page (as good a subject as any). In 1996 I bought a brand-new Ford F-350 XLT crew cab dually equipped with the Navistar 7.3L turbo diesel and a four-speed automatic. I wasn't concerned about winter driving so the truck had 2WD.
The truck was great. Best truck I ever owned. Drove great, towed great and rode great, especially when pulling a gooseneck trailer. Shortly after I bought the truck, it's first towing trip was with my 46-foot gooseneck trailer fully loaded with two race cars, 76 wheels and tires, race fuel drums, tools, refueling rig, pit and paddock awnings, pit cart, ATV, spares, etc., with gross trailer and cargo weighing in at about 20,000 lbs. We towed from my shop in Ohio down to Moroso Motorsports Park in West Palm Beach, Fla., for a 24-hour endurance race (a 1,100-mile trip). The rig wasn't exactly quick going up the many steep hills through West Virginia, but the truck made it without a whimper. Fuel economy was about 10 mpg. Driving empty with no trailer, the truck always managed a consistent 14 mpg. At the time, I recall diesel fuel was about $1.50 per gallon or so.
Fast-forward to today. I recently purchased a newer truck (a 2002 Ford F-350 Super Duty Lariat crew cab dually, 2WD, automatic, with the 7.3L turbo diesel). Since the thought of shelling out about $57,000 for a 2008 sent shivers down my spine, I searched for a low-mileage 2002 since I knew that the 2002 model still had the 7.3L instead of the crap 6.0L that was introduced in 2003. This truck is extremely clean and like-new with only 43,000 miles, and I snagged it for a reasonable $20,000. I found it in Kentucky, where they don't use salt on the roads.
The reason I decided to share this with you: the previous owner had installed an aftermarket engine controller (computer reprogrammer) and told me that it allowed for better performance and better fuel mileage. On the return trip from Kentucky to my shop, I discovered that he wasn't lying as I managed the entire 302-mile jaunt while nailing a steady 22.5–23.5 mpg. Needless to say, I was a happy boy. Even while commuting in stop-and-go traffic, the truck is getting about 19 mpg.
Considering today's beyond-ridiculous cost of diesel fuel, it's obvious that the extended fuel mileage capability is a welcome change. Also, the programmer changes the engine management to produce (according to the programmer's tech info manual) an extra 50–75 more horsepower (depending on the setting), which certainly adds to the fun factor. The soft "lag" on initial acceleration is gone. This bugger gets up and scoots.
While we focus on street performance and race engines in this publication, it occurred to me that most of our readers, and most of our readers' customers, own truck and trailer rigs, with the likely majority of those trucks diesel-powered.
If you (or your customers) haven't looked into the various add-on engine programmers for diesels, it's high time to do so. Some of these systems involve a simple plug-in chip/module, with others requiring minor wiring harness and sensor installations while offering on-the-fly adjustability (allowing easy switching between mileage, towing or performance modes).
As anyone who drives a diesel truck is only too painfully aware, the pump price for diesel fuel has skyrocketed. In addition, everyone has asked the same question: Why does diesel fuel cost more than gasoline, when we know damn well that it costs less to produce diesel than gas? Without making my brain hurt in trying to understand today's global economics, I suspect that the answer is simply because the oil companies can get away with it. The result is that all of us with diesels are paying through the nose. As I write this useless bit of trivia, my local diesel price has jumped to an obscene $4.25 per gallon. You can imagine my dismay.
Do yourself (and your customers) a favor. While you may or may not sell aftermarket electronic control devices as part of your engine business, consider either doing so or, at the very least, urge your customers to take advantage of these systems. Since diesel prices are hurting all of us, moving up from the mid-teens to the 20s in terms of fuel mileage can spell the difference between running a dozen races this season instead of eight or nine races. Even the best-financed teams have a budget and that budget is strained with every increase in pump prices. While I fully admit that I'm not familiar with every brand of aftermarket controller out there, my personal experience has made me a staunch believer that these things work. From a sheer standpoint of gaining improved fuel economy, the less your customers need to spend on fuel, the more money they'll have to spend for engine work in your shop.