[Kingford]

I recently took a trip that forced me to reread a few important threads on here. "Stuck in regen" is an important one but there are others. In short, I've had my truck for a little over 6 months now and think I have exhaust filter regens and overall truck nuances down .. but maybe not. Maybe it's just me and my expectations for this truck. Y'all let me know.

I left for my trip (all interstate) and soon after leaving the truck kicked into regen. I was around 60% full but since I don't have OCR enabled I was expecting this regen as I knew I was close to 300 mile-mark. I keep a watchful eye on my filter percentages and plan to add OCR in forscan soon. After the regen, my truck never went above 0% full that I saw and I assume that is due to passive regen at highway speeds. I filled up my DEF fluid prior to the trip but, after driving the 500 mile one-way trip, I had used approx 3/8 of the DEF fluid tank. Is that a normal amount? Seems high, but maybe the tank wasn't completely full. On the trip to my destination, I averaged less than 21 mpg, which is disappointing. I wasn't hauling anything but kept my truck around 80mph (allegedly, lol) on a flat empty interstate when I could. On the way back I didn't use up any noticeable amount of DEF and got about 23 mpg but went slower (70-75max) due to traffic. The entire trip was done in eco mode and I'm easy on the throttle, no big pulls to pass people. I actually kept an eye on my fuel consumption meter most of the way back and tried to maximize fuel efficiency on the return trip and 23 was best I could do. That's close to best tank ever for me too.

The fuel efficiency on this trip and in ownership has been discouraging. It's not terrible but I'm a far cry from the numbers some boast (uppers 20s) and what I expected from this engine, especially in interstate driving where everything should be somewhat even. Should I be happy with those numbers? Are regens the culprit? Why do some boast such great mpg that I can't seem to get? In the past 4-5 tanks I've been in eco mode 100% of the time, I really am trying to squeeze every last mpg out of this baby!

Of note: My lifetime average on this truck is 21.2mpg calculated by hand. I typically drive a mix of 2/3 city and 1/3 highway. The truck itself currently sits at ~9,000 miles after this trip and is essentially stock. It has 3.31 mpg-friendly gears, 4x4, tires are always at proper pressures, Rotella T6 oil at 6,000 according to the "severe duty" specifications in Ford's manual, auto-start-stop disabled, and I use Stanadyne Performance fuel additive at every fill-up.

 

[Gradymaci]

Just today I checked my mpg's in town and it was 24 plus..I made a 400 mile trip a month ago and I got 32 MPG's..I drove 75 mph and I have 4000 miles with no additive and never look at def meter..
I'm getting 15 Pulling my 7000# camper. So either I'm right where I thought I would be or something is up with your rig..

 

[mascrappo]

Sounds very much like what happened to a friend of mine driving a 17 Super Duty from NM to California. He was concerned about the high DEF usage and took it to two dealerships there, both said "normal", nothing to worry about. On return trip it barely used any DEF.


I have got my best MPG on Normal Drive Mode, not Eco, strangely enough.

 

[ScotsSkier]

OP. That is pretty close to what mine (19 loaded patty 4x4, 3.55) is showing for lifetime after 6000+ miles. Similarly on def, I have used about 8 gallons. I have seen 24-25 on longer trips. A lot of my trips are 5-20 miles though, plus I live at 6500’ and have a lot of up and down over the pass.

I do think a lot of it comes down to personal habits though. I us3d to see lots of people on the F150 forums claiming they got 21-22 from the 3.5 ecoboost. I got 13ish from my 14 and 15.5 from my 16 so seeing the number start with a 2 on my PS ismorethan acceptable and I really don t miss the ecoboost extra power too much other than in the 60-80 range going up hill

Yes,the def consumption is higher than I. Expected but realistically the mileage is pretty much where I suspect3d it would be. I don’t have a total lead foot but I don’t hang about.

And to add, as an earlier poster said, I don’t use eco much, only difference I see is it goes into 10th gear earlier/ more whereas in normal, I see it in 7 & 8 a lot of the time

 

[Smokewagun]

I’m at about 13k on my truck. I’ve put 5 gallons of DEF in since new. Frankly, if I run it down to less than 1/4 tank, it’ll stay there registering 2,500 miles until empty for well over 1,000 miles. Then I dump 2-1/2 gallons in just to be safe.
Several times I’ve driven up north, and started at about 60% full DPF. After 200+ miles on the interstate, it’ll run down to 30% in passive, and then go into active to take off another 15% before shutting off. My ScanGauge has never shown a clean DPF at 0%. I’ve heard that these 3.0L trucks will go into active regeneration regardless, every “x” miles. I thought I heard “x” equaled 300 miles? I could believe it as my truck on the interstate goes upwards of 350 between active regents, but averages 200 daily driving. I’m very pleased, as my 6.7L trucks before being deleted, MIGHT run 500 miles max on the interstate, but more like 350-400 daily driving, and that DPF was 8 times larger, minimum.

 

[Kingford]

I really appreciate everyone's response. There are so many variables that go into one's claimed MPG and for a while I've been telling myself it is my personal driving habits and local terrain and I'm trying to understand that better, hence this post. On the interstate, things should be more comparable, right?
@Gradymaci, 32 mpg seems bonkers to me. I don't doubt that validity though as others have claimed similar numbers and there's a video of a journalist driving in CA who gets over 30 in a 2wd with 3.31s if I remember correctly. I wonder if the hills I drive here in East TN might be the culprit?
@mascrappo, yeah, the DEF usage seems high. I wouldn't say that's typical for me but it's not uncommon either. I'll go through my logs and check how much DEF I've used since ownership. I wonder if that's a symptom of something regen related going on. There was a post somewhere on this forum of a guy draining his DEF tank on a single day's drive. I'd like to know more about what caused that. Maybe I should dig that up beyond my memory.
@ScotsSkier, I really appreciate your confirmation of similar MPGs. This variance in folks experience may very well be personal driving styles. It surprises me the variability is so wide though (like up to 10mpgs swing!). Maybe it shouldn't be that surprising. I had a '17 base model F150 with a NA 3.5 and I got 18-19mpg so, I agree, I'll take a number that starts with a 2- and gets me more torque when needed.
@Smokewagun, I really question the accuracy of the miles till empty on the DEF gauge. Any idea how that is calculated? Mine will jump thousands of miles of expected range in a few hundred miles of actual driving.

Another forum related to this is "long trip observations". That thread really made me question the MPGs I'm getting. In that, the OP drove in a variety of conditions for a lengthy amount of time with a pretty loaded truck and got 27mpg! Arggg!!

 

[Gradymaci]

maybe you got a dud...neighbor is right with mine. No hills 65mph cruise set, and eco. and turn up the bluegrass.

 

[mbates6o]

My regens seem to be rite in line with what everyone else is saying, I have a little over 11,000 miles and have put 7.5 gallons of def in, it is currently full.
As far as mileage goes, been averaging a little over 22 mpg mixed driving, hand calculation and trucks computer are actually very close.
I tried using eco mode for 1 month and mileage went down to 19 mpg????
So everything seems to be inline with what most others are getting.
While I won’t discount the people claiming 30+ mpg I don’t see how, unless their commute is downhill both ways. So I will call them out to prove it. Any takers?

 

[Stonedragon2002]

Where are the diesel filter percentages? I am only seen no the def miles screen.

 

[jmperlik]

@Stonedragon2002 - Ford, in their infinite wisdom, chose to not expose this important metric by default to the end user.

DPF % Full can be exposed in your IPC (Instrument Panel Cluster) via FORScan programming -- See START HERE: New FORScan user education or you can attempt to ask your dealer if they will expose it for you.