annabelle

RJ's truck first hand.....driving to Waco.....with the windows up.......90*F......NO AC......proves your crazy......HAHA.

Tree DR

I'll restate my agreement with those that have years of experience around the Dodge cummins trucks. 20mpg as a norm is not a reallity, just the exception probably based on incomplete fillups, incorrect odomiters, (Well I corrrected for my tire size-but your OD was off 2-4% to begin with), and useing the overhead guess-o-meter. I'm always asking eveyone I meet about their fuel mpg and it is very rare to hear 20mpg or better. I've heard lots of storys in person and internet stories are much easier to make up than in person.

annabelle

I fill up at the same station, have my OD verifird with a GPS, duplicate the procedure multiple times a week. I'm tired of people infering that a college graduate with a minor in chemistry can't fill up his truck or use a calculator.

qwest

That away to tell it annabelle:

Tree Dr : I will ignore all of your comments... untill you reread my first post.

But , I will say one thing FLORIDA IS FLAT !!!!!!!!!!

Tree DR

You must be doing a lot of driveing to fuel up multiple times a week. When a used to hotshot I normally only fueled up 10-16 times a week. Now I only fuel up once a week. What do you do with your truck?

74dart

When I had My stock 93 2wd I got 20 around town and could pull 22 on the highway to visit my girlfriend at the time whos now my wife. Now on my 96
4x4 i get around 16-18 all the time. With the new mods I think it has dropped to around 15 city don't know the highway yet.

annabelle

I'm in Construction, and live in the boonies. I visit multiple sites daily.

ajg617

Really interesting thread. My dad got me into the habit of logging miles and gallons in the 60's when I first started driving. My regular commuting car was a 1963 Pontiac Bonneville convertible, 389-4bbl. Best I ever got in mixed traffic was around 14 commuting to New Brunswick, NJ. On the other hand, my 1967 GTO 400 HO auto and a quadrajet got me 20.1 mpg on a trip to Albany, NY and back to Fair Haven, NJ. I noticed an immediate increase in MPG after installing Hookers on that car. Still couldn't believe the numbers with 3.90 rear in it, but verified on a 2nd trip. My later 1974 Grand Am (m-21 close ratio but could only get 3:55 gears ) was a real hog. 8mpg around town and 12.5 on highway. What a dog.

Tracking mileage became very important in the early 70's gas shortages when you could only get gas every other day in NJ depending on whether or not you had odd or even plate numbers - and even then you could only buy $2 or $3 (can't remember which). Luckily I had both cars and one had an odd plate and the other an even. My dad and I would get in long lines at 4am just to get 2$ worth and go to work. Actually made a lot of friends then

As far as my Cummins, best I have ever gotten is 18.6 driving 65-70 and no load but conservatively between Boston and Manchester, NH. The 410s don't help. I can nurse it up to 19.3 if I stay under 60mph. Darn dangerous to do that these days though. Still on a recent trip to Aiken, SC and Orlando of 3300 miles (2400 towing a 2-horse bumper pull with one horse in it) I averaged 13.89 for the entire trip. Didn't think that was too bad given the mountains in PA and down through Roanoke. Truck is a 4x4 with 265s on it.

regards,
AJG

SIXSLUG

Don't run your tank that low or you could be lookin at a new injection pump as the by passed fuel cools the vp44....more reserve in tank = cooler temp coming back. I get 15 around town with #1000 of tools about 19 highway at 65-68 mph. around 16 over 70mph all hand calced at fill ups and compared to trip computer. The #'s are always very close. Best I have gotten is 23mpg at altitude in MT, Kalispell to Great Falls around 90*F outside temps; no tools in bed. 3.55 gears with Stanadyne in every tank. Stock w/ synthetics in driveline. Rotella 15w-40. I'm a pretty average driver, I don't worry about mileage too much w/my driving style but I don't gun it very often by any means.

annabelle

I fillup when I hit 1/2 tank. Got use to cooling the FP in my old gasser that way. I have an intank LP so I rarely let it get below 1/2 tank. Usually takes between 23-24 gallons each fillup. As you can see, I have installed a vent kit.

SolarExpress

Yeah. I made it all up to impress you.

To the top every time, verified with radar and mile markers and my guess-o-meter is very generous by about .5 on average, thats why I hand calc.

As I mentioned, I keep a log book. I still keep a log book on my last truck also, which is not a diesel, but I have kept that book for 15 years and 268K miles and still going. I think I have the hang of math by now. And other CTD drivers that you talk to are probably more go-pedal happy than I might be.

ib516

I just took my truck on a hwy trip. Box loaded full of stuff, bike rack in the receiver hitch, 4 bikes on board, and family of 5. Went 466 Km on 55L of fuel. That's 23.7 mpg CDN gallons, 19.9 US mpg - 4.5 hrs of hwy driving.

Tree DR

I've gotten over 19mpg on a tank once and over 21mpg once with a 30ft trailer. The normal mpg as some have posted is 16-18 on hwy and 13-15 in town. If you were reading I never said 20 was not possible just not the norm. If there was a poll the percentage of 20mpg trucks would be a very small %. It's funny that people that work on these trucks don't seem to think 20mpg is the norm.

annabelle

I read, Seems plain to me.

wcbcruzer

That's true. Most people don't drive conservatively. If you're a granny, then yes, 20 mpg is the norm for you!