Attention: TDR Forum Junkies My fuel mileage over 65 mph used to suck, now it's better at 85 mph than at 60.
I recently went on a long road trip, and at $3. 50/gal, I dreaded it. I have always had to drive my truck under 65 or my mileage went way down. So I started out my trip from Salt Lake to LA. I kept my speed at 64-65. Filled up in Vegas 377 miles, took 21. 7 gallons only 17. 4 mpg. From there to LA I went 62-62 mph, filled up 249 miles took 14. 1 gal. still only 17. 6 mpg. The whole time my truck mileage gage read between 18. 8-19. 4.
So on the way home, I left late, and had to hurry, so I thought who cares, and I drove appx 80-81 mph, expecting horrible mileage, because in the past when I went this fast I would get around 15mpg. I noticed my mileage gage was reading 20-20. 5 mpg. Filled in Mesquite 335 miles took 18. 4 gal that's 18. 2 mpg. I thought there had to be some error. I bumped my speed to 85-90 until home, there are a lot of uphill points from Mesquite to Salt Lake. Filled up at home 318 miles 17. 2 gal or 18. 5 mpg. I didn't know why, but i was home 2 hrs sooner than I would have been and got the best mileage this truck ever had, I was insanely happy.
Next day I called some friends to tell and ask, no one had a clue why. Finally I called Brett over at Diesel power source, he said it's because of the twin turbos he'd put on, and that a lot of his customers are reporting the same thing, at higher speeds they become much more effecient than a single turbo, because the big turbo is working as well. He went into a bunch of math curve talk, heat transfer, yada, yada, to explain, way over my head. Apparently he understood the reason, I didn't completely, he is amazing to talk to. Whatever it does it works, the harder I worked the turbos, the better mileage I got. No more long slow road trips for me. The other thing he told me was that when towing, when the twins are working harder anyway, so going higher speeds when towing will see an even better impact on the mileage over a single turbo.
I recently went on a long road trip, and at $3. 50/gal, I dreaded it. I have always had to drive my truck under 65 or my mileage went way down. So I started out my trip from Salt Lake to LA. I kept my speed at 64-65. Filled up in Vegas 377 miles, took 21. 7 gallons only 17. 4 mpg. From there to LA I went 62-62 mph, filled up 249 miles took 14. 1 gal. still only 17. 6 mpg. The whole time my truck mileage gage read between 18. 8-19. 4.
So on the way home, I left late, and had to hurry, so I thought who cares, and I drove appx 80-81 mph, expecting horrible mileage, because in the past when I went this fast I would get around 15mpg. I noticed my mileage gage was reading 20-20. 5 mpg. Filled in Mesquite 335 miles took 18. 4 gal that's 18. 2 mpg. I thought there had to be some error. I bumped my speed to 85-90 until home, there are a lot of uphill points from Mesquite to Salt Lake. Filled up at home 318 miles 17. 2 gal or 18. 5 mpg. I didn't know why, but i was home 2 hrs sooner than I would have been and got the best mileage this truck ever had, I was insanely happy.
Next day I called some friends to tell and ask, no one had a clue why. Finally I called Brett over at Diesel power source, he said it's because of the twin turbos he'd put on, and that a lot of his customers are reporting the same thing, at higher speeds they become much more effecient than a single turbo, because the big turbo is working as well. He went into a bunch of math curve talk, heat transfer, yada, yada, to explain, way over my head. Apparently he understood the reason, I didn't completely, he is amazing to talk to. Whatever it does it works, the harder I worked the turbos, the better mileage I got. No more long slow road trips for me. The other thing he told me was that when towing, when the twins are working harder anyway, so going higher speeds when towing will see an even better impact on the mileage over a single turbo.
