broke2000

Hello all, I finally got rid of the old truck and bought a new one. It is an 05 SLT bighorn with the six speed 4x4. I am amazed at the power and towing difference between the new one and the old one and love the truck but have a few questions. First is the fuel mileage is horrible on this thing, about 9 towing, will it get better and is there anything i can do to increase it? Second is the rumor of running it on soy oil, I've heard there are some big advantages to this and am looking for thoughts on it before I try it? And third is there anything I should be aware of or be watching or doing to avoid problems? Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

Nuttymopar

Check for the 70 mph vibration and door seals ripping. Those are the 2 that I keep looking for but have yet to get them....

dgm

From what I hear, the milage will get better as you rack up some miles...I bought mine with 23000 on it, and I'm getting 17-19 unloaded. 14-17 pulling my boat.

I don't know what to tell you about the Soy Oil, but there are several posts here about using Bio fuel, do a search. I am very interested in it though. If you try it, please come back and share your experiences. I would love to experiment with it, but I haven't found anywhere around here yet that sells bio-diesel of any sort.

-daniel

moterhead

I've read many posts on various sites about using soy oil, old fry oil from fast food joints, pouring your crankcase drain oil in, on and on. Personally, I think the engines and fuel systems are much too expensive to try this sort of thing. Especially during warranty. Yeah, diesel is a bit expensive right now, but how much does the soy oil cost? What fuel economy do you get with it? How much is your time worth messing with it? JOIBO!

dgm

I think its worth an awful lot. The possibility of being free of the chains that bind us with the oil industry. I'd pay 10-20 cents more/gallon if I could find a place nearby that sold bio. The only reason that it might effect warranty is because people like us haven't pushed DC to fund the research and develop an engine that they will warrant to run on bio. Its got to start with us, in my opinion.

-daniel

werewolf

bio diesel is a hot topic here in texas but from what i have determined you can only use a small amount mixed with diesel any way. my son is ag science major ,pre-vet, and they have discussed this and were told that you could use cooking oil, but it is more expensive by the gallon than diesel. i used to feed gallons to our horses. what has happened to the oil industry is what i would call artificial meaning that politicians and big business have not been interested in building more refinaries, not to mention those who say no drilling or refinaries in my neighborhood. i am plenty frustated on the high fuel too being as how i live 25 miles from town, and have another diesel to feed as well, i agree as well though i would not jeopardize my engine to save small dinero.jmo

dgm

I agree, I wouldn't honestly take a chance on damaging my engine....BUT my point is that the whole reason we have to wonder about engine damage is because we (the public) haven't pushed hard enough for companies like DC to warrant spending $$$ on bio-research with their engine development. That is, if DC was very clear in saying something like, "100% bio is ok to use in the engines listed below and use of this fuel does not alter/void the engines warranty," we'd have nothing to worry about and vendors selling the stuff would be popping up everywhere, which in turn would hopefully drive the price down within reason. ...maybe I'm just living in my dream world again.

-daniel