Dodge gas milelage

[kevfish]

I put a post on here about a month ago about my gas milelage for my 98 Dodge ram. I was getting 10 mpg at the time. I put new plugs in and got 17 mpg the next tank of gas. The next tank I got 14 mpg and now down to 11 mpg. I am concluding that it must be the spark plugs- is there another plug that a guy could run that would maybe help this problem- possibly one that would run hotter?

[Moose-Hunter]

kevfish...

I had a 97 with a 5.9... I had the same results as you're getting. That truck was really strange.... I'd get 11 mpg any time, any where. City, highway, towing, pushed out of an airplane..... Didn't matter, I still got 11 mpg.

Question... Is the truck completely stock?

BTW... forget the hotter plug idea. Does NOT work and you run the risk of burning a hole in a piston.

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M-H (aka: Dan)

[kevfish]

everything is stock-why the better milelage after changing plugs and then such a rapid decreas in milelage-has to have something to do with the plugs- Ihad dealer hook it up to a computer and everything is fine

[Phred52]

Kevfish, When you installed the new plugs, you did double check the gap, right? I would suggest pulling out a couple of the "easier" ones and recheck the gap. It sounds like you're burning off the tip of the electrodes causing your gaps to increase gradually. Another thing you may want to do is try a different brand of fuel (just as a trial). But most of all, if you do pull a couple of plugs, pay close attention to what the business end of the plug looks like. If you can, get ahold of a plug chart and compare your plugs to the pictures. They'll tell you the whole story, you know what they looked new. Good luck, Phred52

[Valv]

I changed plugs from stock type to Bosch Platinum and I had much better mileage with my '99 Ram 5.9
Truck kept blowing plugs, under warranty, but was annoying taking it to delaer for it, and they installed stock plugs. Decided the switch to Bosch and never regretted it.
Also check intake gasket, mine came from factory with a leak in it.

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Val Vignati

www.kvesurplus.com
[email protected]

[upnorth]

I know that this a different brand of truck, but my Ranger with the 4.0 was getting crappy mileage so I decided to change the plugs. So I call Champion and they said just plain plugs would work fine. WRONG!!! I drove the dang thing for a week and got worse gas mileage. Called Napa and they told me the truck needed platinum plus plugs. I thought expensive, but with the mileage I was getting even the old plugs looked good about that time. So I coughed up the $5 per plug and what a difference, I think I got better mileage than when the truck was new. More power for towing and better mileage, it was worth $$ to replace them with the platinum plus plugs.

Not all plugs are created equal.

[This message has been edited by upnorth (edited 07-24-2004).]