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Possible sticky section for mpg improvement

gonnasellit

gonnasellit

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How about a section for fuel mileage improvements. This seems to be a hot topic for all of us at current fuel prices. There's lots for all of us to learn on this subject. Any interest here?
 
Not much you can do with a diesel besides a clean air filter, tire pressures in spec, alignment, easy with the go pedal, don't use winter blend, and a tall gear ratio.

I seem to stay around 17 mpg no matter what I do.
 
is there a way to dig into the tranny and makethe last gear a littler taller for improved effeciency??
 
Make sure your brakes are properly adjusted, a dragging brake shoe will cost you a mile or two.
 
Improving 6.5 Mileage

Work is currently in progress. If everyone will post their thoughts, ideas, sugestions, real world experiences, facts, figures, numbers, data, links and anything else you might feel useful to this topic, I'll try to compile most of it in a easy to use format we can all use. Thanks in advance for you contributions!

BTW I'll be away (in the swamps of north Florida) for a few days and won't have computer access.

on edit:
What does everyone think of a poll of reported mpg's with various combos of vehicle, gears, load, speed etc? I'm not sure I know how to do it but i'm sure there are many here who do. Might be a good resource for first time buyers and to help spot performance problems. If you search other forums on the subject you will find the numbers are all over the place. Would be nice to have an accurate database of what should be expected.
 
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Using your GPS doesn't give you more miles per gallon, but it can still save a lot of fuel. If your GPS has the ability, let it plot out the most efficient routes for you. My GPS almost always finds shorter routes than I would have used, especially around town. In a ten mile trip all you have to save is one mile to see 10% fuel saving. That's nothing to sneeze at!

The savings can get huge if you have several places to go and let it figure out the most efficient order and route.
 
Air dams, tonneau covers, synthetic oil, no AC use (spring only) :sifone: Tires w/ less rolling resistance, alloys, etc. The list goes on & on, also, lowering kits might help.

There was a Diesel Power article a while back of a guy that got 26mpg (i think) w/ a 1999 or newer f250 7.3PSD w/ smaller tires, excursion bumper/airdam, 2wd, ZF6, covered bed, etc.
 
Turn off your headlights. I hear in the Honda Civic forums that it makes your car go faster, so I recon with a diesel it will get you better mpg.

:D
 
monel_funkawitz said:
Not much you can do with a diesel besides a clean air filter, tire pressures in spec, alignment, easy with the go pedal, don't use winter blend, and a tall gear ratio.
Click to expand...

Tire type makes a big difference. With highway tires my van will get 21 mpg at 65. With M&S (Revo's) the best I can get is 17. Of course the van will now actually stop in the rain - mighty handy at stop signs.
 
monel_funkawitz said:
Not much you can do with a diesel besides a clean air filter, tire pressures in spec, alignment, easy with the go pedal, don't use winter blend, and a tall gear ratio.

I seem to stay around 17 mpg no matter what I do.
Click to expand...

Winter blend is a must in the Winter tho...
Of course, when I spend the winter in 4wd, it doesnt help the fuel mileage either :banghead:
 
I spoke to gonnasellit this morning via telephone and we were discussing one of the major delivery companies (The guys with the big brown trucks) who has started optimizing their routes to avoid making left turns. Apparently, sitting in left turn lanes waiting on traffic causes a measurable increase in idle time and needless fuel consumption. The moral of the story: Keep the wheels rolling so you aren't wasting anything. It takes a lot of fuel to get a heavy truck rolling after a stop, and idling is a huge waste.

BTW, be sure to ask him about the bear showing up at 4:30 in the morning and the squirrel eating the wires of the air conditioner in his camper. Seems the wildlife on this particular trip has kept him busy. :eek6:
 
Oh, yeah :idea:, start slowing down before red lights. 4 out of 5 times, i'm still rolling up to the stoplight at a decent speed, and it turns, and i blow past the guy that roared up there and stopped! Plus, with the truck already rolling, i'm getting better mileage! (rolling vehicles have kinetic energy, stopped ones don't.....hey! I learned something worthwhile in my physics class! :biggrinjester:)

I've also heard about what VWhauler is talking about, delivery fleets eliminating left turns. It makes sense!
 
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GM Guy said:
hey! I learned something worthwhile in my physics class! :biggrinjester:)
Click to expand...

that's surprising. anyway best i've found like said allready is if you know that a stoplight is going to change to red stop accelerating, easy (not too easy) on the startups and limit how much smoke comes out of your tailpipe (as much fun as it may be)
 
Clean the truck. Clean out unneccesary weight. and i also bet on roadtrips, a clean vehicle has less drag than a dirty one, but you would probably not notice. keep the windows up too.
Also, try to get alloys, they look cool and lighten up the truck. :auto:
 
no need for a thread...it all boils down to a few things already said above.........

stock tires or smaller (narrow as possible)


stock motor as possible
 
My friend gave me his used set of 31.5x10.5 R15's Good year Wrangler RT/S load range C tires.
He drives a toyota tacoma, since he gave me his old tires and replaced them with yokohama A/T's and also has a set of yohohama mud tires. He got 25mpg with the good years and has not been able to match that milage since the change. But says the good years sucked in the rain, I don't notice any problem on my heavy ass truck in the rain. He also added that they sucked off road and didn't handle that good. He says the yokohama A/T's are better all around but in fuel milage.
There are a few coments on tire rack about these tires getting good milage and sucking too.
So if you have a truck that you drive on the high way a set of these might be good for you.

I also installed electric fans on my truck. It looks like I have pick up about 1mpg city and 2mpg in a 60/40 (high way/city, a strange week for me). I drive about 95% in the city most of the time.
I figured before hand I would see the most improvement on the high way.

Burning your used motor oil is a great way to dispose of a gallon and a half of used waste oil and to keep form having to buy a few gallons of diesel.

Synthetic oil seems to help too, because its thinner I guess. When I changed the connecting rod and main bearings on my truck I also started using 5w-40 Rotella. Before that my all time high city milage was 15mpg, after the big change it was and still is 17mpg, well untill I put the electric fans. Now it looks like its up to 18 city.

I pulled the 3rd row of seats (about 150lb to 180lb) when I first brought the truck home, just over 2 years ago now. I am sure its saved more then a few gallons in that time.
 
Air dams..? Any feedback on them?

They seem to be pretty inexpensive on gar-bay, not sure if they are stock GM items though.

How about tire suggestions 235/85R16s? or some Commercial tread tire? The next tires I buy will not be A/Ts like now as they are not the most efficient on fuel.
 
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