fuel milage

[CHolman]

For what it's worth I just got off a 6,000 mile trip and I averaged 21. 2 mpg @70 and 15. 1 mpg towing a 14x10 trailer with my furniture in it and a 250 cc motor cycle in the back. These numbers are hand figured and I was pretty impressed with the milage. I do have the 6 speed, with 373 gears so I know that helped and also the Bully Dog Power Pup set on tow, AEM Brute Force intake and dual 5 inch stacks with 5 inch pipe form the turbo back. . I'm impressed with what I averaged... The first long trip I took a year ago here to NC from NM, I only averaged 18 mpg. I also think switching to Royal Purple helped, because my milage is up almost 1 mpg around town now... I switched to RP two days before I left to New Mexico, so far I like it... :-laf

 

[CHolman]

When I say I switched to RP, I mean through the whole truck, transmission, front and rear diff's, T-case, 15-40 in the pan, the whole nine... .

 

[JApol]

I have 7000 miles on my 05 and got 17. 4 empty. that was hammering on it every stop.

 

[Trophy1]

Don;t understand the difference between 05 and an 03 autoRE48, 373 gears 4x4. I only get 13 around town and best no tow is 15 I would love the truck if I got 21mpg. bye the bye all my mileage is hand calculated and I haver 38000 on her.

 

[Disel Dave]

Don;t understand the difference between 05 and an 03 autoRE48, 373 gears 4x4. I only get 13 around town and best no tow is 15 I would love the truck if I got 21mpg. bye the bye all my mileage is hand calculated and I haver 38000 on her.

Me to My 04 1/2 Is only getting 11. 3 I should have figured i would get the worse one out there

 

[Trophy1]

I think we both got screwed and mine on the road is at 1900RPM = 67MPH. DC says all is well with my truck. Yet the service manager at the local dealership says he gets 20 MPG at 2000RPM with an 05 4x4 auto. :-{}

 

[Disel Dave]

I think we both got screwed and mine on the road is at 1900RPM = 67MPH. DC says all is well with my truck. Yet the service manager at the local dealership says he gets 20 MPG at 2000RPM with an 05 4x4 auto. :-{}

I just dont understand how it can verry so much.

I would think if some get 18. 5-20. 0 MPG with a quad cab SB SRW then I would expect to be in the 15. 0-16. 0 with the same thing long bed DRW.

as long as they both had 3:73 gears. The whole reason it went with the 3:73 gears was for MPG and it just isnt working.

something has to be wrong to be getting 11. 1- 11. 3

I been driving it like Im useing a pencil for a drive shaft. The other thing Is It runs cool Like around 150* unless i work it Then It will get close to 200* Is that normal with these trucks?

 

[RPolidora]

I cannot believe the variance in mileage figures either. I know there are some variables, but darn there is a huge span. I just made 2 trips to PA and back from NC unloaded and I averaged right at 20mpg. That is driving between 65-75 the majority of the time except for a few bursts on I95 of 85-90. Mine is an 04 SRW 4x4 with the 305/555 48re and 4. 10 gears. I am way more than happy with that but I think many folks have a valid point with their unhappiness.

 

[Disel Dave]

I cannot believe the variance in mileage figures either. I know there are some variables, but darn there is a huge span. I just made 2 trips to PA and back from NC unloaded and I averaged right at 20mpg. That is driving between 65-75 the majority of the time except for a few bursts on I95 of 85-90. Mine is an 04 SRW 4x4 with the 305/555 48re and 4. 10 gears. I am way more than happy with that but I think many folks have a valid point with their unhappiness.

Are you stock? and where are the RPM when running 75 MPH with 4:10 gears?

Are your tires stock size?

If i could get that kind of MPG I would be really happy It just dont Make sence. Did you ever look at the mile markears and see if you are logging miles right? I think some may log miles slow and uthers fast.

 

[RHildreth]

If you are running 150 degrees or so, you might want to check out your thermostat to make sure it is operationg correctly. I know that in cold weather my truck takes forever to get to full operating temp. My mileage drops 1 to 2 mpg when that is happening.



My normal mileage without trying is arouind 17. 5 mpg in town. If I baby it and watch my routes to avoid traffic lights, I can get over 18 in town. I just did a 180 mile roundtrip from Denver to Fort Carson (on the south side of Colorado Springs) last week and had 21. 0 mpg on the overhead when I got home. My overhead varies +/- about 1 mpg. I never know if it is low or high until I calculate mileage for my tank. I had about another 300 miles on that tank with extreme low temps. Lows were in the negative double digits last week here (-10 to -18 degrees f). My calculated mileage was 18. 09 mpg for the tank. Overhead still said 18. 8. Probably about half of those extra miles were with the temp gauge showing around 150 to 160.



I have kept records for mileage (overhead and calculated) for every tank of fuel I have bought. The only times I have been below 17 were when I was fourwheeling low range for a significant amount of time or pulling my trailer.



Unless you are driving with your foot in the throttle all the time, you should be able to get in the high teens.

 

[Alan Reagan]

I just returned from a 500 mile trip and average 20. 5. That was bucking a headwind in both directions. First the wind was out of the east, then it shifted to out of the west after a cold front moved through.

 

[sniper351]

Mine is a daily driver and I average about 17. 5. I have about a 45 mile trip one way to work and it's mostly highway, but I do baby it to keep it that way in town, until I get some mods for it to help out. I agree with those of you that are having a major difference in mileage though, I don't understand how it would be such a difference. Wish I knew enough about the CTD to offer up some suggestions.

 

[CHolman]

I have 100,000 miles on mine now, so maybe once it get's broke in ya'll will see better milage; I don't know... That is strange that some of us get pretty decent milage and other's suck. I wished I could offer more advise too. I just did the usual things to help the truck breath easier, intake, exhaust, and computer and couldn't be happier.

 

[PKitzman]

I would try the Rokkteck timing sensor mod. I was getting 14. 7 mpg aroung town and a smidge over 18 on the highway before the sensor swap. After the swap I got 20 on the highway and a little ofer 16 around town.

 

[RPolidora]

Dave, I have checked the mile markers and I have used a GPS a couple times. I have stock 265's. I am running right at 2300-2350 at 75mph.



for the truck, it has a banks exhaust on it and an edge ez on the lowest setting. I am at 37,000 and a long time ago(at about 10,000) I removed the edge a couple times and my mileage always increased by about 1mpg. this is all hand calculated. I haven't taken the edge off for a while to try it for 2 reasons, I hate the power loss and I am happy with the mileage with it on.



I did just install the rokktech sensor a couple months ago. I seemed to have gained nothing except a little better idle and throttle response and more clatter. I averaged 20mpg on this same trip before the sensor.



I have run it at right at about 60mph for a 200 mile roundtrip and I got right at 22mpg.

 

[Disel Dave]

Dave, I have checked the mile markers and I have used a GPS a couple times. I have stock 265's. I am running right at 2300-2350 at 75mph.



for the truck, it has a banks exhaust on it and an edge ez on the lowest setting. I am at 37,000 and a long time ago(at about 10,000) I removed the edge a couple times and my mileage always increased by about 1mpg. this is all hand calculated. I haven't taken the edge off for a while to try it for 2 reasons, I hate the power loss and I am happy with the mileage with it on.



I did just install the rokktech sensor a couple months ago. I seemed to have gained nothing except a little better idle and throttle response and more clatter. I averaged 20mpg on this same trip before the sensor.



I have run it at right at about 60mph for a 200 mile roundtrip and I got right at 22mpg.

This is Crazy It just makes me mad cause the reason I came to The CTD was I wanted Better MPG My Powerstroke got 10 MPG around town no matter how many rice burners I would race. I gues im on a quest now to find out why some can get 20 and others get 11

 

[cruiser_2]

I have a 98 12 V now has 468,700+ miles on it I went down the Natchez Trace this week. Posted speed limit is 50... was doing 57 by GPS got 21. 5 mpg. Best I have ever gotten. View was nice down there too... LOTS of deer feeding on the side of the road too! Otherwise I get about 17 to 18. 5 mpg depending on what fuel stop I use. (mostly Flying J)

 

[Trophy1]

confusion over years

It seems that most of those with good mileage are either 04's and newer or 12 valve. The temperature thing may help some as I am sure I run colder than I need to. I really try to keep my foot out of it 95% of the time. I Drive like there is an egg under my foot. I wonder what the problem is with 03's as I stated earlier my dealers service rep tells me his 05 is getting great mileage. :-{}

 

[brods]

It seems that most of those with good mileage are either 04's and newer or 12 valve. The temperature thing may help some as I am sure I run colder than I need to. I really try to keep my foot out of it 95% of the time. I Drive like there is an egg under my foot. I wonder what the problem is with 03's as I stated earlier my dealers service rep tells me his 05 is getting great mileage. :-{}

Have him define "great". My '05 gets 15 city / 18 highway. Not bad for a heavy pickup, but not "great" and certainly not what I expected after reading all the high mpg claims on this site.



Many things to consider when trying to compare mpg to someone else. First thing I notice is a lot of guys claiming high mpg have mods to their trucks. There will also be differences between 2wd vs 4wd, reg cab vs heavier qc loaded with options, highway treads vs "off-road" treads, where people drive and, of course, how they drive. Someone said to keep the boost under 5psi. That may work in rural areas, but do that around here and you'll get people waving at you telling you you're number one!



Another issue is how the mpg is calculated or if it just off the unrelyable overhead. Forget about one tank wonders where a short fill gives the illusion of great mpg. Only believe consistent mpg numbers over several tanks. Personally I don't believe anybody's overhead numbers unless the guys back em up with hand calcs. Too many ways for the overhead to be off for it to be trustworthy.

 

[RHildreth]

Here is my history from my logbook. I have this on an XCEL spreadsheet with comments about what I was doing that would effect mileage like pulling my travel trailer, 4X4 low range operating, cold weather, etc. I don't know how to attach a file though. As you can see, there are several 20 plus tanks. Not just short trips.



To date, I have purchased 1555. 586 gallons of diesel at a cost of $3,282. 20. Ave mpg for the life of the vehicle with all fuel purchased and all miles (minus whatever the dealer had in it when I drove it off) is 18. 06 mpg. I can't complain. The Bronco it replaced never got over 13 mpg and it sure couldn't pull a trailer like this beast.



Sorry about the columns not lining up, it looked good before I previewed.





Date Odometer Trip miles Gallons Overhead Calculated

1/30/2004 239. 6 239. 6 22. 299

2/10/2004 641. 9 402. 3 27. 291 14. 74

2/26/2004 1063. 9 422. 0 25. 772 16. 37

3/11/2004 1558. 9 495. 0 28. 874 17. 4 17. 14

3/23/2004 2092. 3 533. 4 28. 590 18. 1 18. 66

4/7/2004 2603. 9 511. 6 27. 990 18. 6 18. 28

4/21/2004 3076. 9 473. 0 27. 070 18. 3 17. 47

5/5/2004 3530. 3 453. 4 24. 708 17. 8 18. 35

5/24/2004 4088. 8 558. 5 29. 492 18. 1 18. 94

6/1/2004 4591. 4 502. 6 25. 450 19. 8 19. 75

6/16/04 5088. 6 497. 2 26. 936 18. 3 18. 46

7/1/2004 5630. 3 541. 7 29. 879 18. 0 18. 13

7/3/2004 6183. 0 552. 7 30. 326 17. 0 18. 23

7/5/2004 6638. 0 455. 0 22. 294 18. 8 20. 41

7/7/2004 7018. 0 380. 0 21. 175 17. 4 17. 95

7/7/2004 7293. 0 275. 0 15. 529 14. 9 17. 71

7/19/2004 7819. 6 526. 6 26. 568 18. 4 19. 82

7/30/2004 8203. 9 384. 3 20. 621 17. 8 18. 64

8/1/2004 8412. 0 208. 1 15. 513 17. 2 13. 41

8/17/2004 8910. 2 498. 2 25. 180 18. 8 19. 79

9/1/2004 9434. 2 524. 0 26. 950 18. 5 19. 44

9/14/2004 9991. 9 557. 7 26. 760 19. 4 20. 84

9/27/2004 10446. 9 455. 0 22. 890 18. 9 19. 88

10/8/2004 10863. 0 416. 1 23. 541 18. 4 17. 68

10/19/2004 11354. 3 491. 3 24. 280 19. 1 20. 23

11/1/2004 11825. 6 471. 3 25. 124 17. 8 18. 76

11/5/2004 12182. 1 356. 5 23. 701 15. 6 15. 04

11/10/2004 12559. 5 377. 4 30. 055 11. 6 12. 56

11/13/2004 12898. 5 339. 0 20. 963 16. 2 16. 17

11/15/2004 13445. 7 547. 2 25. 010 21. 6 21. 88

11/27/2004 13956. 4 510. 7 26. 863 18. 7 19. 01

12/10/2004 14344. 6 388. 2 23. 811 17. 0 16. 30

12/26/2004 14806. 5 461. 9 25. 015 16. 7 18. 46

1/4/2005 15022. 8 216. 3 15. 175 16. 2 14. 25

1/16/2005 15426. 3 403. 5 27. 336 15. 7 14. 76

1/31/2005 15898. 6 472. 3 26. 415 17. 0 17. 88

2/11/2005 16357. 2 458. 6 25. 736 17. 4 17. 82

2/18/2005 16759. 7 402. 5 20. 900 19. 6 19. 26

3/3/2005 17237. 3 477. 6 26. 725 17. 8 17. 87

3/18/2005 17731. 9 494. 6 27. 511 17. 3 17. 98

4/2/2005 18199. 6 467. 7 27. 135 17. 2 17. 24

4/8/2005 18514. 4 314. 8 17. 160 16. 4 18. 34

4/9/2005 18860. 8 346. 4 20. 078 16. 6 17. 25

4/9/2005 19271. 8 411. 0 22. 697 17. 6 18. 11

4/17/2005 19604. 9 333. 1 16. 421 18. 0 20. 29

4/28/2005 20068. 5 463. 6 25. 532 17. 5 18. 16

5/5/2005 20299. 4 230. 9 14. 079 17. 0 16. 40

5/18/2005 20795. 7 496. 3 27. 054 17. 6 18. 34

5/31/2005 21298. 0 502. 3 27. 296 17. 5 18. 40

6/13/2005 21782. 7 484. 7 25. 465 17. 6 19. 03

6/24/2005 22340. 9 558. 2 27. 205 19. 1 20. 52

7/14/2005 22870. 7 529. 8 27. 005 17. 9 19. 62

7/27/2005 23395. 4 524. 7 26. 066 18. 4 20. 13

8/12/2005 23898. 1 502. 7 26. 493 17. 7 18. 97

8/30/2005 24384. 1 486. 0 25. 194 17. 7 19. 29

9/9/2005 24766. 2 382. 1 19. 454 18. 3 19. 64

9/17/2005 25228. 3 462. 1 27. 596 16. 6 16. 75

10/5/2005 25750. 4 522. 1 25. 749 18. 1 20. 28

11/2/2005 26264. 9 514. 5 27. 562 18. 8 18. 67

11/14/2005 26599. 4 335. 0 17. 750 17. 7 18. 87

11/15/2005 26807. 5 207. 6 15. 460 15. 8 13. 43

11/19/2005 27028. 1 220. 6 19. 605 11. 2 11. 25

11/29/2005 27447. 7 419. 6 24. 307 17. 0 17. 26

12/9/2005 27934. 4 486. 7 26. 905 18. 8 18. 09