Will buying a tuner decrease gas mileage?

[98mazdaman]

If I buy a tuner for my 98 3.0 and tune for performance, will there be a decrease in gas mileage? Thanks in advance.

 

[rurouni20xx]

well what do you plan on using the tuner for? if you plan on tuning for power you may see a slight decrease in mileage depending on what else is done to the trk, however you can also use the programmer to enhance your mileage by having it tuned a hair leaner when cruising. the programmer is a tool not a bolt on and has to be calibrated to ones wants/needs. personally i agree w/ a tuner to help smoothen out the fuel/ign curve when adding other mods such as intake/exhaust etc. the 3.0 however shows little effect when adding an exhaust w/o other mods and a "cold air intake" is a waste of money since the factory setup works better than any aftermarket you can buy and actually inducts cold air from under the headlight rather than sucking in hot engine bay air. to make a long story short it wouldnt hurt for you to get it just realize that you dont just put it in and expect it to do anything. it has to be calibrated by an experienced tuner and can be a powerful tool to adjust the engines perameters based on needs from other aftermarket mods as well as adjusting a stock engine for better mileage or slightly more power.

 

[98mazdaman]

I was thinking about adding a gibson cat-back exhaust and headers. I was thinking about a c.a.i, but now that you say it does not work better than factory, probably not. This is my first vehicle and I heard if you do many mods, you should get it tuned. I just don't want to hurt the gas mileage. Also, if I buy a tuner, I should let a pro do it? I just can't download files from the internet, or maybe it comes with tunes?

 

[rurouni20xx]

some tuners have that option or you can contact the person that sells it and tell them what you are running and they can preload it. otherwise its best to do a dyno tune to be honest, that way your not shooting in the dark. the exhaust that your talking about does well w/o the tuner from what ive heard, but if you plan on doing 1.7 rockers or porting intakes/larger throttlebody you should tune it just in case. i will let you know in advance an exhaust w/o tuning and other mods just gives you noise. the 1.7 rockers and underdrive pulleys are some of the best bang for the buck mods on a 3.0 ranger. regearing the rear end helps a good bit too, it shifts the cruising rpm to the upward rpm powerband that the 3.0 has which helps w/ power and ive heard it helps mileage a hair as well.

 

[98mazdaman]

Will rockers require actual grinding, drilling, or fabication to the actual engine? I'm not sure I want to go that far. Time being, I do alot of 40-45 mph driving in O.D at around
2k rpm's. Would it be better to leave it in fourth? Also, I'm not sure if I can find access to a dyno to tune. I really don't want to get too complex on mods. What should be the very first thing I should do?

 

[betomonroy]

You can install 1.7 rockers from a 5.0. Just remember that 3.0 studs are 8mm X 1.25 and they are almost a drop in thing (no grinding or drilling) but you may requirre to shimm them.
Now if you do a lot of city driving You are at the right rpm.. But at Higway I sugest you try to keep the rpm around 3K. You'll get a little better mileage.

 

[fleck]

You can install 1.7 rockers from a 5.0. Just remember that 3.0 studs are 8mm X 1.25 and they are almost a drop in thing (no grinding or drilling) but you may requirre to shimm them.
Now if you do a lot of city driving You are at the right rpm.. But at Higway I sugest you try to keep the rpm around 3K. You'll get a little better mileage.

So shifting to 5th at 55MPH will actually give me worse mileage than just staying on 4th?

 

[bigcountry]

to the op just leave the truck alone and take good care of it and your gasmileage will not suffer and keep your foot off the gas dont treat the truck like a racecar sloiw and steady always wins

 

[rurouni20xx]

well i have an a4ld 3.0 so i couldnt tell you on your shifting, i just know that i cruise 60 at 2200 rpm which i wish was a lil lower. my 2.3 on the other hand is a stick and when i put it in 5th at 45 its like it bogs too far so for the most part i dont put it in 5th unless im rolling smooth at 45. any other time i dont put it in 5th until im in a 55 zone and dont shift til 60 where i cruise. yes i speed a lil my trk my prob but i found that in my 2.3 the lil higher speed helps me go uphill better and i bob the gas pedal to cruise w/ very lil throttle. the 1.7s as stated b4 are a bolt in mod, ultimately while cruising you cruise at a hair lower rpm due to added lift and more power. when you add power it takes less throttle to cruise, but when you dump on it is when you drink gas. the simpler route of underdriving the trk actually just frees up some hp from redriving the pulleys making less strain on the crank, which will help you cruise w/ less throttle as well, no tuning or engine work required other than changing out the pulleys. regearing changes the ratio that your trk cruises, by lowering your gear ratio slightly you push your trk into the upper rpm range to cruise, but at the same time your riding the hp curve more and use less throttle as well because your at the higher rpm w/o pushing the trk as hard. again no tuning or engine work necessary, thats why these mods are recommended and are considered your better bang for the buck mods.

 

[98mazdaman]

do you have an underdrive pulley to recomend? And just to make sure, you would recomend getting the truck tuned if rockers are added?

 

[jasonrobo02]

do you have an underdrive pulley to recomend? And just to make sure, you would recomend getting the truck tuned if rockers are added?

Go get the underdrive pulley or the full pulley set from Underdog Performance.

 

[98mazdaman]

Thanks. You've gotten good performance from them?

 

[rurouni20xx]

it never hurts to have things looked at, if you have access to a tuning center after you install the rockers have them check the air/fuel ratio and see if it needs tweaking, if not leave it id leave it be and spend my money elsewhere. underdog performance makes a good set from what im reading, ill be going w/ them in the future.