michaelaland

Hello all,
Please excuse my ignorance but I am new to the forums and new to my truck. I have a 2004 5.9L deisel 4x4 with 54000 miles on it. ALL i am concerned with is getting better fuel economy. Im getting about 15 on average hwy/city combined. If possible I would love to get a few more. Im a construction worker with no experience with modifications to vehicles. I have been reading a lot about these chips(smarty jr, etc) and sounds pretty confusing to be honest. Ive also heard contradicting info on air intake and exhaust systems. Where do I start just to get some better fuel economy that Im not going to have to go to college to figure out how to operate these chip systems? Again, pease excuse my ignorance and thank you in advance for the help...

cstewart

michaelaland,

First off, WELCOME to DTR!!!

Start off by going back into "Quick Links" at the top right of the screen and editing your signiature with all your truck info (it will help people know what you are working with when you ask questions such as this...)
Second, continue simply reading through these threads and pick up as much knowledge as you can (I have learned volumes since joining this site myself)!

Based on what you are describing, it sounds like you would like a VERY simple tuner like the Smarty JR. Beleive me, it is extremely easy to use and the benefits range from lower EGTs (exhaust gas temps), better mileage (which will always be attributed to your use of the skinny pedal ), throttle response, and overall driveability.
As for your exhaust and intake, save your money for now. Many on here will tell you that your stock exhaust is more than ample for your horse power needs and your stock intake will work well with an upgraded filter (you will want to look into this...I forget what everyone on here suggest as a replacement filter). I tell you this because I ran out and put all kinds of money towards exhaust and intake when I could have been purchasing something uselful like gauges (I would get those next...EGT, Trans temp, etc...)

Again, there are many, many guys on here that have a wealth of knowledge about these truck (MUCH more than myself). Just pay attention to what your goals are with your truck, do the research, and fianlly you can make an educated purchase. But again, not trying to push the Smarty on you....but you really can't go wrong with this tuner. It will allow you to choose how mild or wild you want to go without the headache and financial burden of upgrading all your supporting parts (turbo, injectors,etc....).
That said, there is a quick warning...You wouldn't want to just plug this tuner in on the 100 HP setting and run with it on a daily basis without expecting to upgrade your tranny within a short spell .
Regardless, if and when you decide to pull the trigger on ANY tuner, you can expect to get the support and help your looking for here on this site!

Again, welcome and good luck! Heck, you'll probably be pushing twins, a Goerand tranny & 90 HP nozzles within 6 months now !! Hopefully you can resist the addiction!

Later

Bankdude

Welcome to DTR.

The addition begins....

Good advice above by cstewart.

A simple smarty JR on low settings will help out. Stay out of the high performance setting - the stock 2004 48RE trannys will not hold much more than the mild settings. push button easy to use, set it and forget it on mild.

Upgrade your fuel filtration. In the least, start today by replacing the factory filter with a drop in Baldwin PF7977. Your injectors will thank you. Adding better filtration will save you money - look up posts by AH64ID here in DTR. He has put alot of effort into filtration research.

You could stop there, but guages can be helpful and should be installed if you get the urge to go harder on the programmer, but wont help mileage.

Intake mods are way off as support to much bigger power. If you have to replace your exhaust do an upgrade then, but for mileage the gain is marginal.

Keep up your maintenance and avoid stomping the skinny pedal.

Good luck and good fun.

HUNTINNUT

You have more or less the same truck as i have. Your mpg sounds a little low, but there are a lot of factors that go into that, tire size, weight, short runs when the truck is not up to temp. winter fuel etc.But it sounds like you bought this truck used, and if you are going by the overhead display and have not reset it from the previous owner, its hard to tell how the truck was driven, Could have pulled a trailer or just hammered it all the time. Reset the overhead average, or better yet hand calculate. Listen to all the good advice above and good luck.

michaelaland

Thank you gentlemen for all the input. Im on it, going to look into a smarty jr and set it on the least aggresive setting, I will forget about the exhaust and intake for now and also look into some gauges for future reference. As for the mpg, I hand calculated it, the digital one on the roof of truck is a little off by a few mpg. Oh and with regard to my signature, I have set it up but its not showing up for some reason, I went to the quick link on the top right, it shows its there, I hit save and nothing..... Anyway, thanks again everyone for the input.....

michaelaland

Ok, well looks like my signature is working now, gentlemen, a couple last question if I may. I bought this truck used from a dealer so I was unable to get any info answered and have no owners manual. I was curious what type of rear end axel ratio I have(3.73 or 4.10) and what my stock HP and torque is? I tried searching the internet and saw axel ratio could be either/or and HP could be 305 or 325? Mine is a 4spd automatic tranny.

Mopar1973

the 2004 came with the option of the High Output CTD (like the one in my sig) you can look on your valve cover, where there is an identification tag that will specify which engine you have. As for the rear gears there will be a tag held on by two bolts that should help you identify it. Also i believe it tells you on the tag on the door when you open it.

Shorts

Welcome

re: sig line - it shows up the first time you post in a thread then it disappears for subsequent posts in the thread. That is a site feature. Your sig looks like it is working right.

For an air intake, you don't need to spend big money on it. As said, the stock airbox is adequate for up to 450hp. What you can do, that many of us have done here, look at doing the "PSM airbox mod" or also called "home depot airbox mod" and "modded stock airbox". You cut a hole in the bottom of the airox and run a hose to get fresh air from outside. Then run a deeper stock air filter I *think* for the 4thgen trucks will work. (don't quote me on that as I don't have the part numbers in front of me).

For exhaust an easy change is an aftermarket muffler. IIRC the exhaust was not stock 4" until '06 so upgrading to a 4" system adds a little airway help to the truck.

On the programmer the Smarty Jr is probably the best easy programmer out there.

Shorts

Oh, for mpg, what is your driving style? That accounts for a lot.

michaelaland

thanks Mopar, I will check out those tags, I didnt think it was a High Output cause it didnt have the HO emblem - Shorts, I like the idea of opening up the airway with the larger exhaust, thats pretty easy to do as I do a little welding mysef, as far as getting on the gas pedal, im pretty mellow most the time so thats not an issue.....geesh, after reading up on some of the posts I always come up with more questions even though I say one more question :-) I read in one of the posts people were talking about getting an ECM flash,, is that something I should consider?

rockcrawler304

As for now, do not worry about the ECM flash unless you have other problems and it doesn't sound like you do.

Lots of good info above. One thing to add is tire pressure. Make sure you are not under inflated. I run a 285/70/17 Nitto Dura grappler and run 65 front 60 rear when not towing.

Welcome to DTR!! And don't be afraid to ask ANY question. sounds like you have figured out the search function and this will answer LOTS of questions but like you said it always leads to even more questions!! I know it did for me and at time still does VERY smart guys and gals on this site and there are very few things that have not been tried by some one here. After all this is the BEST Dodge diesel site ever!!!

michaelaland

Thank you rockcrawler.....

soulezoo

Welcome to DTR.
Your VIN # will tell you what your gear ratio is; however, that takes some research. What is your RPMs at 65 mph? If it is north of 2k rpm, then you have 4:10's. If around 1850-1900 rpm, then you have 3:73's.

I'll also suggest smarty jr on the mid setting. One thing to note here: with the 04 Auto, you likely have a 250hp engine (unless it is a California smog model, then it is 235hp-- if in doubt, look for the catalytic converter before the muffler). What smarty will do with its programming is give you 305hp (HO level) to start with then give you the extra 30, 60, 100 hp on top of that.

Duallys will always get lower fuel mileage due to the extra weight and drag. If you have 4:10's, well that won't help either. However, the 04 gets the best of all the common rails. I have seen as high as 24mpg on the hwy. Your driving habits will make all the difference in the world.

On the airbox filter, with a stock turbo still, an Airaid filter is a great drop in-- avoid K&N (they don't "filter" very well)

Lost Lake

These guys are steering you right.

The Smarty jr is a great unit. I've had mine for almost 6 years. I'd run it on 100hp though. I seemed to get the best mileage there, and if you think about it you aren't stressing your transmission until you start using that extra horsepower. If it takes you 100 hp to get going or up a hill, that's all the transmission is getting. Now if you stomp the pedal to the floor, then maybe you will put 400 hp to the trans. Just normal driving doesn't hurt anything but you take advantage of the different settings the Smarty has.

How simple is the Smarty jr? Plug it in, follow the on-screen prompts and unplug it. You're done. But man-o-man will you notice how the truck is a different machine.

ssandlin

Here is a link where you can download a free owner's manual.

http://www.dodge.com/webselfservice/dodge/index.jsp