Fuel Efficiency

[RMaynard]

Ok all you fuel smart people. What are the opinions out there as to what is the best item to increase fuel economy. I wold like to see my 05 diesel 3500

short bed, the least agressive michelin tires on board, banks exhaust, banks

stinger system, banks air box, just do better than I am. I live in Massachusetts so I know right now it's cold, warm up time,heavy winter sneakers, etc. arent doing me any good. During the summer, highway maybe 17. 5 max. Is any more possible or am if dreaming ??? Going cross country towing my camper in august, need all the help I can get !! Thanx, roger M.

 

[MChrist]

I've kept painstaking records on my fuel mileage for the last 11,000 miles with my '06 2500 QC short bed 4x4 automatic 3. 73 geared truck. All my miles are short,stop and go and towing heavy quite often. Average fuel mileage during that time has been 15. 02. Worst being 10. 7 just recently ( just got a remote start and idles for 15 minutes each morning). normally never goes below 12. 7 towing, 15-16 bopping around town, and 21-22 on the highway if I drive 55-60, 20 if highway and 65mph, and 15 if I drive 75. When I had the Banks Ram Air intake and Smarty Jr, I got the 22mpg. Haven't done a highway test since I switched to the Smarty Sr. and Twins, though. I would think better, if only slightly.

 

[jelag]

I played with cold air induction... . changed the way my 05 takes in cold air..... several on this board mentioned that the process would add 2 mpg... but I didn't see any measurable change... .

I also added a 35-50 hp box that was touted to give an additional 2-3 mpg... . again, I enjoyed the power... and the way it tows, but again no change that we could measure...

The truck now has over 100K and we're just not seeing a change we can measure... we purchase all fuel through card locks so at the end of the month, or quarter we can see exactly how many gallons and we also have to report mileage...

In both cases, (still installed) we're happy with the performance but haven't seen the MPG that was promised...

Just my thoughts. .

 

[JRMora]

Tried a few things myself - best thing is to go slower.



No, really.



We pulled our trailer through 13 states on a 4600+ mile, 23 day trip this summer and averaged 10. 98 mpg. Daily driving I see 17. 117k miles. Quadzilla gives same mpg at 30 hp setting, goes down on the 60 and 100 hp settings. I rarely use the quad anymore. I still have my oroginal clutch. The psm airbox and mbrp did nothing for mileage but have helped quite a bit on EGT.



Juan

 

[odinjunior]

What the heck is wrong with mine? I'm gettin 12. 7 around town. I just turned 9K miles. Is the mileage really gonna go up that much when I get 50K?

 

[MChrist]

The speed you drive and how you accelerate from stops makes more of a difference to mpg than any add-on goodie in my opinion. Find one of those "hypermiler" websites where the guys there go to extremes to get the best mpg, and employ some of those techniques and you WILL see a difference, guaranteed. Drives my wife nuts because she is a lead foot!
For example, my truck idles for 15 minutes in the driveway each morning now that I have remote start and it's been below freezing for the past month, my tire pressure is at 40 now and I have 900# of salt bags in the bed. Last average tank was 10. 7.
Normally I keep tires around 65-70, don't idle and don't have weight in bed and get 16 ish on the same exact route each morning. On my way to/from work I take all back roads and never even get into OD.
When towing, speed is the main factor in mpg, but right up there is head wind and cross wind. Cross wind can mess up your mpg just as easily as head wind.

 

[jgillott]

Like others, I have a fuel log for all of my trucks since the day they were purchased. This '07 will gets 17. 5 mpg in mixed driving during the winter with 800# of sand in the bed. Empty on summer fuel driving 65-70 on the highway it gets about the same 17. 5-18. Empty on the highway running 55-60 I can consistantly see slightly over 20 with the best ever being 21. 3 on an all highway slow run. As others have said, speed seems to be the biggest variable with these trucks.

 

[AH64ID]

While fuel increases may be very small on each components the following is a list of things that will help. .

Smarty Jr (SW1 for a 6spd, SW3 for an auto. . if you stay OUT of it)
Intake. . as simple as a Airaid MIT and a good filter. . some CAI's may actually reduce mpgs by not flow as smooth as the MIT and stock tube
Intake Horn. . I like the GDP for cost/flow/functionality
Exhaust. . not really going to see much of a change


Now here gets to the $$
Cam. . PDR Cam, Colt Stage 1 or Stage 2, or Hamilton
Injector nozzles, 50hp DDP's or Flux MM or F1's
Turbo. . if you do the above two you will be at the max of the HE351. . suggest a 62/65/12 or 62/65/13ss.
Hubs. . may make a small change at higher speeds

You may be able to break 20 with all of that, but no guarantees.

 

[Jim W]

What the heck is wrong with mine? I'm gettin 12. 7 around town. I just turned 9K miles. Is the mileage really gonna go up that much when I get 50K?

The 6. 7L engine will never achieve the same fuel economy as the 5. 9L in the stock configuration. The 6. 7L has more horsepower and has the emission control equipment on this style of truck.

I believe that the 5. 9L 2005, has 305HP where as the 6. 7L has 350HP this will take more fuel. Thus the fuel mileage will be off slightly. Then with the emission control equipment that may have up to 5 injections per firing cycle and will use fuel to burn off the soot in the DPF also. This is where the rest of the fuel usage has gone, thus your mileage will never be as good as a5. 9L truck. In the stock configuration.

 

[AH64ID]

2005 was 325/610.