How can i get more fuel economy? I'm at my wits' end!

[BBowers]

I have installed the expensive but nice Banks monster single exhaust, amsoil ea drop in filter, homebuilt ram air with 3" pvc pipe, gutted intake silencer, removed silencer ring, bullydog triple dog on tow/economy, 35 12. 50 17" dick cepeks, amsoil throughout, bypass filter, outlook monitor, and otherwise stock truck. 3:73 gears, 4x4, auto. transmission works great, truck has 101k miles on it, and I drive like a granny! I can only get about 17. 5 mpg mixed driving, an usually about 16-16. 5 city. On the hwy I can get 20 at 52 mph. All my driving has been at around 65 degrees F, flat ground, no load, and PS cetane booster added! Why can't I see more than this? I'd expect a stock truck to do as well or better! CAn I stack something or try another programmer? DOes the diablosport predator make good economy? I get max EGT's of 1290 on tow/econ on hard top gear acceleration. On extreme, it hits 1400-1420 degrees!

 

[BHenn]

What do you expect to get for mileage? I'd be like a pig in ***** if I could average 17. 5 overall. I am bone stock and get about 14. 5 in town which is about 90% of my miles. I can get 18ish on the hwy if I stay around 70-72 mph. I would say that 17. 5 overall is damn good mileage for a truck of this size and power. These are huge, heavy trucks. You want more mileage, buy a Honda... ..... That will be a lot of fun to drive. Just my opinion.



Brent

 

[DZLROKET]

I just hand calculated it today and I got 12. 7 in mixed driving. Dealer said I could expect 17 to 20. I TOO am disapointed

 

[fkovalski]

What altitude are you at? I live at about 9,000+ feet. This is a big factor on my milage. I average about 16. 5 overall with and w/o my camper.

 

[KParsons]

mpg

my truck an 06, gets 15-19 most of the time. 90% of my driving is 40-45mpg in a 94 civic, only use the truck when you really need it! kp

 

[TCDiesel]

The New and so Called Bio-Diesel winter blend has Killed every makes Mileage,if something is not done soon ,I see many diesel owners going back to gas, than maybe the demand will drop and so (maybe the price also), I doubt that, they will just foment some reason to raise it. . BBowers owners around here pray for your all around. 17. 5 for all around is Dam Good,for 7000 LB $X$ Truck.

 

[GButia]

Thats actually pretty good mileage..... what do you expect to get? I feel 14-16mpg around town is about right and 17-20 mpg on the highway is reasonable depending on configuration. transmission and vehicle config. make a big difference. My 05 3500 48re qc long bed got between 13-14. 5 mpg around town and 15. 5-18mpg on the highway depending on conditions and how fast I wanted to get from point A to B. My 06 2500 qc swb manual gets 15-16. 5 in town and 17-19 mpg on the highway again speed being a variable. I find if people tell the truth about fuel economy, this is what you will see. Is 21-22 mpg possible? Maybe on the right day and not in a 4x4 truck. I bet 4x2's see the 20's on a regular bassis on the highway. If you think your fuel mileage stinks try a gasser. My 06 250 ford work truck( reg. cab 4x4 auto) with vet unit gets 12 mpg on a good day... and thats mostly highway!!



The ford is the 5. 4 v8... . forgot to mention that

 

[Regcabguy]

3rd gen mpg.

I just hand calculated my mileage w/2000# popup and it came up@12. 5. Nice truck but hoped for better mpg. I've got a long way to go before breakin as I've got only 1100 miles. :-laf

 

[ACamilli]

I got a double whammy here in PA... winterized fuel started when ultra low sulphur fuel started. My 10000 mile 06 4x4 3500 auto DRW 3. 73 went down to 12. 3 mpg, about 80% city and 20% 55mph cruise control. Heck my 99 2500 auto 4x4 4. 10 got 11mpg when pulling a 10000 lb travel trailer on 95 at 65mph!!!!!!!!!

 

[Lifted Mega]

Baja hope your mpg goes up. My 06 mega has 6500 miles and still get 10. 5 - 11. 4 driving the speed limit and babying it. If i drive it like my car which is usually 10 mph over the speed limit i see my mpg drop down to about 9. 6-10. 4. These mpg's are all unloaded. This really sucks. And this is driving in central calif which is completely flat, no hills. I'm very unhappy with the mileage ,not the truck. Tomarrow im going to the dealer to re-flash the ecm. We'll see what happens

 

[Regcabguy]

Mpg.

Baja hope your mpg goes up. My 06 mega has 6500 miles and still get 10. 5 - 11. 4 driving the speed limit and babying it. If i drive it like my car which is usually 10 mph over the speed limit i see my mpg drop down to about 9. 6-10. 4. These mpegs are all unloaded. This really sucks. And this is driving in central Calif which is completely flat, no hills. I'm very unhappy with the mileage ,not the truck. Tomorrow im going to the dealer to re-flash the ecm. We'll see what happens

I think we've(especially me) have got a long way to go before breaking in all the drivetrain components. Emission requirements, increased rolling resistance(oversized tires),and load(my camper) certainly play into the equation. A Smarty is in the future for me. It needs more poop and potential warranty denial makes Marco's invention the only option.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

transmission works great, truck has 101k miles on it, and I drive like a granny! I can only get about 17. 5 mpg mixed driving, an usually about 16-16. 5 city. On the hwy I can get 20 at 52 mph. All my driving has been at around 65 degrees F, flat ground, no load, and PS cetane booster added!

I hope you don't drive like a granny all the time

Too much easy driving and it will lose MPG from not getting enough "exercise. " Crank that Bullydog up, put some weight in the back (or hook on a trailer), and give it a nice long run at 75+ MPH

 

[LeeJ]

Hi I just wanted to say, I have a 2004 2500 with now about 98000 miles on it. I bought the truck at 48000 miles and the fuel econ was 16. 7 average I put a lincoln pipeliner welder and some tools and a steel flat bed with no loss in fuel economy then around 64000-67000 miles my truck climbed avg 17. 5 and has stayed pretty good ever since. My truck always has quite a bit of weight on it before I had the Dodge I had a 98 Chevy with a 454 Avg miles were 7 to 12 These Dodge are hard to beat for a work horse!

 

[pholt]

Be HAPPY

I have had many Dodge diesels and it might be the fact that you spinning a Dana 60 all the time, or its just FATE OF THE DIESEL GODS. The Dodge 4x4 gets horrible gas mileage, it just does. My 04. 5 4x4 got 16. 5 on the highway with those little tires at 55 to 60 mph, go 75, its all over. I now have 20" rims with just a little larger tires, and a Edge Attitude, gutted silencer, air-raid it has NEVER got better than 14. 5, and it usually gets 13.



But I can tie onto the White House and actually move it, and it still gets 11. 5



Gas mileage key on this truck, you have to keep it under 2 grand, or it eats fuel.



I have soon to 'HAD' a 04 Common rail one ton, I gets 24 empty, it has never got worse than 15, pulling 20k, WIDE OPEN. It started smoking the other day, they said all injectors were shot, it has 143k on it. NICE.



IF YOU WANT GAS MILEAGE.

My dads 94, gets 20 mpg putting around a farm. I hooked it to my gooseneck the other day, and now I know why, WE ARE SPOILED BY THE H. P THESE NEW TRUCKS HAVE NOW.



My older 02 4x4 3:73 Bulldog equiped truck got no better than 15 mpg.



If I got your mpg, I would smile EVERY DAY. YOUR LUCKY, OR YOU CAN ADD. :-laf

 

[klenger]

I'm getting 20 around town totally stock. The 35" tires probably hurt more than they help. The auto hurts some too. All-in-all, you're doing OK.

 

[CDonaldson]

My 06 is doing about the same kind of mileage as yours, I'm at 13K on the odometer. I thought this mileage was pretty good because I'm at 7K ft altitude. When I drop down to the 3-5K altitude it get about 1 to 1-1/2 mpg better. Was actually lower mileage with the stock tires running at around 2500rpm's at 65. Now with the 35"ers 2K rpm at 65mph.



CD

 

[BBowers]

I don't think anyone is reading what I originally wrote as far as mods. I think I should get better than a stock truck with 13k miles on it and 7,000 foot altitude! I am at 5 feet above sealevel, 25 feet max! I just think that I should get what my old man gets in his 04 with a 6 speed, stock, but same truck, he is getting 22 mpg 30 % city, 70 % hwy driving and keeps it at 60 mph and has stock size tires, running empty. I'm thinking of repowering with a 4bta! Twin turbo!

 

[DerekW]

I think we've(especially me) have got a long way to go before breaking in all the drivetrain components. Emission requirements, increased rolling resistance(oversized tires),and load(my camper) certainly play into the equation. A Smarty is in the future for me. It needs more poop and potential warranty denial makes Marco's invention the only option.

Ok... . so whats marco's invention?



also as a guy with highly modded jeep and former 4wd shop employee that has run em all I can tell you its not so much as to the rolling resistance. Its rolling resistance plus the added rotational mass. Swampers are really heavy and suck up mpg. some don't roll very well especially the taller the sidewall the smaller the wheel. then heres learning experience that taught me quite a bit about rolling resistance. if you take a bias ply swamper for instance and you carve it out to increase tire flex for increased bite while rock crawling and you drive the jeep with those tires around daily (I used to do 95mph on the carved tires to my GF's house every weekend back in the day). then you make the switch to a tire such as a goodyear MTR on the same rearend ratios (4. 10, 33's, 6 banger) then you will be amazed in the difference in power and mpg you'll be getting. SO for tires No bias plys and unless you want it up there go big. but those off you who want to drop rpms change the stinking rearend ratios(make sure to use a quality gear and a good shop). And if you are going to be changing ratios drop tire size too with a higher ratio gear (smaller number). This will decrease rolling resistance since you wil have less sidewall to wheel ratio and smaller tire will normally yeild less rolling mass.



I personally am a 4WD guy but sadly I think I might end up fabricating ACOS among other stuff and drop the front. Also I will not consider a offroad bumper for instance roadarmor since I want that airdam (valence, what ever several names) to keep air from going under the truck. sure it will cost me on those late at night (or should I say early morning of a week night) offroad recovery calls I get but I will just have to remove the winch from the jeep and install it in the hitch. Also more diesel guys should be considering the SRT body conversions (parts sold from dealer) just dont use the hood scoop air intake. You want a cowl induction hood to try to throw the air over the window shield. Also unless you a fabricator run the bed covers. Simply removing tailgate actually yeilds more aerodrag in the windtunnel. If you are a fabricator NASA (as in the well funded space nerds) says the magic number for aerodynamics is 23 degrees, so consider fabbing up a nice looking attachemnt to go in the hitch (when not towing) to change the rear of the body angle from 90 degrees to 23 degrees but dont forget lighting and such. also make a attachment that hitch pins on to change aero from top of cab to bed cover, magic number 23 degrees. But You only need aerodynamics at 68 mph and higher. oh and that import tailgating you is a good thing since he is taking away the air disturbance behind you and making it his problem but he gains from tailgating you so its win win situation. And every idiot knows about tailgating truckers. Just make sure they can either see you in mirrors by staying over or if they want to try to get you from behind them simply insist no matter where they go and even if they slow down. Dont take their driving games for shtit. But then again if you are the guy on the cell phone playing with the radio, talking to you buddy, got kids in the back then respect the truckers requests.



Synthetic fluids every were you can. one exception to that: I went to jiffy lube and the shop manager was trying to sell me 5w-40 synthetic oil for my diesel power cummins. I don't know if you guys change your own oil or work in racing industry building engines, But I will sure as hell tell you cummins calls for 15W-40 and they dont come from factory with synthetic. so why the hell would I even consider putting "water" in my oil pan to lube and cool my engine???????? If you go to walmart you will see they dont normally have 15w-40. I believe reason being is 15w-40 is industry standard for diesels. If I can remember correctly the VW Passat uses 5W (something oil) and I seriously dont that the bottom end of those things are under the pressure a diesel bottomend is under. SO what I am saying tell the jiffy lube people they lost their mind and you are not putting 5w-40 synthetic 'water" in your crankcase unless they wish to provide customer loaner vehicle while they pay to have a new engine put in then reimburse you for the rediculous fuel economy while breaking int he diesel. I believe they wont pull that stunt with anyone ever again. And I sure as hell made sure I sat there in the shop right next to the truck baby sitting them while they changed my fluids. Next time around I hope i have a shop put up with a hazardous waste tank out back.



for additional economy use AFE stage 2, Biggest exhaust you can afford but remember that aeros over the cab will pull exhaust from stacks at speed (but sssh dont tell) Change out the crappy stock turbo that is by no means efficient, change out injectors to better quality that stock diesel dynamics stage 1 or better injectors, keep the truck as empty as you can at all times, keep tires inflated to max on sidewall (if the ride is rough consider a different tire load rating or removing some of the spring pack and replace with timbren, or deal with it rough until it softens up. when I bought mine used with 45K the suspension went from hopping and skipping at 70mph on concrete seams to alot nicer just letting it break in), well its been too long since I actually fired up my truck so I beleive I am tapped out from what is ont he top of my head until I finally get all my parts to get my transmission built up and fix the odometer.



BUT HERES ONE MORE SUGGESTION. IF YOU HAVE A 4WD TRUCK AND THE ODOMETER TURNS 666 DIG TWO HOLES IN THE BACKYARD AND BACK THE TRUCK IN THEM AND THEN SET THE CRUISE CONTROL AT A HIGH RATE OF SPEED. ITS SAFE TO HAVE THE TRUCK STUCK THEN IT IS ON JACKSTANDS WHEN YOU ARE DEALING WITH THE DEVILS NUMBERS. THEN WHEN YOU ARE AWAY FROM THE 666 THEN POP IT IN 4WD AND DRIVE IT RIGHT OUT. I have been buried dragging front and rear differentials in the I have even had the front housing like a bulldozer blade and I have never gotten stuck with the exception to playing on the beach with 8,000lbs and alot of torque. but thats a long story you can PM me about if you wanna here how I got my butt chewed out for unfounded legality concerns in a designated ORV zone in a national park.

 

[DerekW]

Oh I would personally like to acquire a about 15 grand and install a 2nd cummins on my truck for additional economy. But it wont happen unless I get on the horn and get this major lawsuit thing rollin for an incident last year that seems to have alot of perminant damage.



Also another Idea which I personally won't be doing but the guys in DC skunkworks or Detroit need to consider a diesel Electric. Hold on dont jump to conclusions of how bad it would suck, cuz if they do it they wa they previous experimented with electric I would probably not buy and if it was given to me I would "accidently" lose in the river or ocean or it might even show up in a demolition derby. They proper way to make a diesel electric or even a gasoline electric or even better turbine electic is total different from how previous setups were done. contact one of the custom transfer case manufacturers to build you a modded 271 or 273 with to have the t-case have 2 driveline mounts on the rear side of the case. the off center driveline mount needs stronger bearing support to handle input loads at that point along with the ussual input loads from the back of a transmission at the front of the t-case. Then mount the big heavy high voltage electric motor to the offcenter rear input of the t-case (transfer case for you newbs also can be pronouced "case" talking about 4wd transfercase) Then I think you have figured out the rest the electric motor with increase RWHP and take a load off the engine. less load= less work being performed, less work = less fuel consumption. the setup would be heavy but it would sure as hell increase economy better and have more power than the "conventional" engine/electric hybrids can put out which will make them 100% more driveable and less prone to getting rearended will merging on highway. The engine will have to run a big big big alternator as well as propel driveline but hey a cummins could handle it expecially with the tuners we have available today and the way that aftermarket doesn't have to worry about emissions.

 

[Cattletrkr]

Ok... . so whats marco's invention?



Synthetic fluids every were you can. one exception to that: I went to jiffy lube and the shop manager was trying to sell me 5w-40 synthetic oil for my diesel power cummins. I don't know if you guys change your own oil or work in racing industry building engines, But I will sure as hell tell you cummins calls for 15W-40 and they dont come from factory with synthetic. so why the hell would I even consider putting "water" in my oil pan to lube and cool my engine???????? ... SO what I am saying tell the jiffy lube people they lost their mind and you are not putting 5w-40 synthetic 'water" in your crankcase unless they wish to provide customer loaner vehicle while they pay to have a new engine put in then reimburse you for the rediculous fuel economy while breaking int he diesel. I believe they wont pull that stunt with anyone ever again. And I sure as hell made sure I sat there in the shop right next to the truck baby sitting them while they changed my fluids.

Ummm... everybody just ignore that. Check you owners manual for recommend oils, 5w-40 IS one of them.