buddy has an '09 F-150. he can read his mileage and MPG using the digital dash gauge. while towing a boat, the MPG decreases. makes sense, right.

also, he also says that even after he unhooks the boat from tow, that his MPG still shows a decreased number. and he says that it takes a few hundred miles to get back to "even" or "normal" mpg.

for example, he says he towed a boat one weekend and noticed the MPG bump down a bit. then drove from north Texas to Austin and back (not towing anything) and said his MPG did not return to pre-towing numbers until after he returned from Austin.

can this be true? in other words, is there a period after towing during which the engine recovers its regular rated MPG? or might this be a glitch with the digital read-out from the gauge?

i would really like to know the answer to this question.

BS. those digital read outs don't work, and it's an average, not current MPG. gonna take some miles to raise the average back up

immediately reset it after he unhooks, or better yet

calculate it the old fashion way for a true answer

It's giving a recent average, not realtime MPG

So yes, it will take a while to come back up to normal

You have to re-set the mpg and the fuel used each time you refill the tank for it to be ball park accurate.

On mine you have to hit reset and it recalculates the mileage after towing. Like others said its an average and not real time mileage.

I have the Torque app for my phone and a bluetooth odb reader. Seems pretty cool with realtime data. mpg,mph, rpm, digital temp, all kinds of emmisions krap i don't understand, AND a code reader.

Reader was $30 and app cost me $5.

so after you hit reset, it goes right back to normal MPG after towing, correct?

how do you reset it?

That is one app that was well worth the money I spent on it. It helped me diagnose that the fuel pressure regulator was partially failing on my truck. symptoms could have been several things and wasted a few hundred dollars just in parts. Being able to see real time info on how the computer was trying to adjust the fuel rails and what the O2 sensor readings were while all that was going on helped me ID the right part the first time. As an added bonus I found an extra 4.5 MPG after I replaced it.

Can you be sure that EVERYTHING is not a "glitch"?


It's not that I don't trust digital stuff.....

It's not that I don't like digital stuff.......

It's because I ..... FREEEEEEKIN' HATE ... digital stuff!

Some vehicles have two, one that calculates an average till you reset it and another that gives real time economy** Some people take the readouts as gospel, but it just aint so.

**=they are seldom correct. I had two dodges they were never right, would be way hi all the time. Dad and brother have them on a chevy d-maxes and they are hi. My mom drives a tahoe and I drive a chevy 1500z71 and every time I have checked them hand calc they have come in within 1/2 a mile per gallon. 90% of the time I dont trust them, and if I am really wanting to check gas milleage I will figure it wiht a calculator.

I hate those stupid electric gas milage counters. Let me tell you what there good for NOTHING!!! they tell people that there is this and that in there milage and left to empty. So there for people run there fuel tanks even lower because they read those miles to empty numbers and they burn up there injection pumps or electric fuel pump. My buddy who has a mechanic shop replaces fuel pumps all the time because people run there vehicles really low on fuel because they relly on the miles to empty on the dash. Just wish they would have left a regular fuel gauge,Maybe its just me but I think they get worse fuel milage with that miles to empty and mpg info center on the trucks and suvs now. I even replace the fuel systems for my nieghbors because they relly on that junk.

2 weeks ago i towed a 19ft alumacraft boat from athens to lake palestine, that MPG reader said 14.5 when i left the lake, this past week i went to athens from mexia and back to mexia, it still shows 14.5 avg. that isnt right. so yea it dont work. and only way i know how to reset it, is to unplug the battery.

You might have to reset it after towing to get a good average while not towing

they are called the Lie-O-Meter for a reason