Fuel Economy
 

OK.. I've poked around here and figured to find this question asked to death, but can't find it. On my '05 what kind of fuel economy should I be getting and what is the best it will ever be. I've had it for 10 months. It now has 14k miles. I've changed the oil 3 times, replaced the air filter at 10k. The best it will get is 14 city and 17 hwy. I am tired of these jerks with fords and chevys braggin about their diesels getting 18 city and 22 hwy and laughing when I tell them what mine gets.

Stats: '05, 2500, 4wd, automatic,stock Cummins, stock tires, stock everything.

Quiestions:

1. Is this....

normal break-in.
just bad luck.
Cause it's a 4wd
cause Fords and Chevys are better than Dodge [yuk]

2. Should I...

Blow my 100k warranty and start adding preformance stuff
Set it a-blaze and collect the insurance
Trade it in for a Dura-min or a Power-Anurisim [dummy]
Just deal with it cause it's better than I was gettin with my old gas truck.

3. Do preformance chips really help fuel economy

Note: sorry I posted this in the wrong spot, thought I was still in the general area. How do I move this?

I get 17 around town in mine, with 11000 miles in 5 months....it may just need a little more time for break in too.....

As far as your cheby and furd friends, you can take great pride in having the same truck 5 years from now when they are having to buy new trucks from where their engines have given out.

I get 17 highway and 13 towing with sig vehicle. With the Unimog and the Mercedes diesel I get 10.

Do you excellerate real hard from a stop, and how fast do you drive on the highway. These are some big factors on fuel mileage. Everyone drives differant. A boost guage will really tell how hard you are driving.

Have you really worked it yet? If not try pullin somethin really heavy at highway speed for a couple hundred miles. It worked for my dad's '05 w/ 1500 miles. Now he gets 19-20 highway!!

I just bought the truck vehicle in my sig two weeks ago. I haven't towed anything with it yet, so I only have unloaded fuel numbers.

I do 75% interstate driving at about 68mph. I've been getting 18.8 calculated and 19.3 on the OHD. The truck has 1400 miles on it now.

My friends identical truck is getting about 13 on the ohd and 13 calculated. The only difference is he has the factory bfg's and I have the michelins.

I typically drive pretty easy accelerating from a stop light. My average mileage on the OHD usually goes up a couple tenths in city driving, but drops back down on the interstate.

The Furd and Cheby guys are lying to you.

MikeyB

I drive pretty conservetivly around town. Highway speed depends on my mood. 80mph when I need to get there fast [whistle] 70mph if I'm feeling socially responsible :rolleyes: and 65 if I'm trying to get the best fuel milage. About 15% of the miles were towing a 5000 lb trailer.
How critical are fuel filter replacements?
How often should I be doing filter changes?
What kind of milage are you folks getting?
Will the proformance "chips" help?

i change oil, oil filter, and fuel filter every 5-6000 miles or so.

Is it that critical to change your filter that often. I am new to the world of diesel engines so it suprises me that you change yours that often.

Just testing my signature.

I just hit the 4200 mile mark. I am getting 16mpg around town, 13 -14mpg towing 6500lbs, and 19 -20 mpg empty on the highway at 65mph.

Good MPG Setup
 

You should try this -
I was getting 11.5 city (So Cal) and 16 highway at 70 MPH.
I put in the Quadzilla Xillaraider race chip (3 HP settings) with the middle HP setting (100 HP gain) and a cold air intake. AirRaid or K&N or any other, they are mostly alike.
I now get 15.8 city driving and 24.9 highway at 72 MPH.
I got as high as 31.8 MPG in Oregon going 60 MPH (55 MPH zones on rural highways there)
Another thing you can do is get Gear Vendors. It adds another overdrive (if I understand it correctly) and should get even better.
I am putting on a 5 inch exhaust system that I just ordered and that should gain even more MPG.
Just with the chip and intake I am getting over 700 miles per stocker tank when the dummy fuel light comes on with a loaded bed but no trailer. approx #500 lbs in bed.
Hope this helps.

millage
 

Do you know what gear ratio you have ? it seems like you've got most things covered but it difficult to over come 4.10s when what you want is 3.55s

Not meaning to start any arguments,,,, But you do know that unless you are calculating your mileage by hand,,,,, any Fueling Boxes like the Quadzilla, EZ, Edge Comp, TST, Bluechip, etc. are going to throw your overhead mileage computer WAY OFF. My hand calculations were close to being right on the money with the overhead when the truck was stock. With just the DD2 injectors and an EZ,,,,,,,, the overhead says I'm getting 8-9mpg better than what I'm actually getting when calculated by hand. (I get a kick out of pointing to it whenever a Ford or GM guy asks me about what kind of mileage I'm getting!) [laugh] I'm still getting around 20-21mpg running empty as long as I drive sensibly,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, But where's the fun in that? [laugh]