Gas Mileage Question

This is a trip I make regularly and I average close to the same both ways...
Truck is all stock, I feel the truck gets great fuel economy if people change the way they drive. Small changes make a big difference. You don't have to pretend it's a 800+HP trophy truck off the line everytime.

 

Trust me, I don't drive it like 800hp trophy truck. Those were the college days a long time ago.

I did the chalk test and 41psi seems pretty spot on with 40 in the rear.

 

Got the tires set at what I feel is their sweet spot. 41 up front and 40 rear after the chalk test. Reinstalled the air dam. Ran a normal route I squally do town driving in s5. Lot better results. Haven't seen this around town driving since I've owned it. I feel better now

 

And when you take on the tire size that's closer to 22.5mpg - sweet! Glad it's working for ya!

I only chalked one tire. I may redo mine and do front and back to be sure.

 

I guess you gotta account for the extra weight up front. This was taken after about 20 minutes of driving

 

Thanks for the tips

 

Ignore the tank average and do the math yourself... Mine has been off by 2 gpm for each tank I have had.

 

I have a manual and got 21.2 on my last tank, 60 miles into this tank and im almost at 22. Even though the manual has the 4.3 diff, you can really baby it around the city, which I suspect is where you guys lose a lot of your mpg's.

Coast when you can, anticipate the traffic. Dont race from stop sign to sign. Cruise control on this truck seems to be way better at conserving fuel then me, which hasnt been the case on other trucks. USE IT. Dont waste to much time in the lower gears if your going to be getting up to speed and sustaining it.

 

So since I live in Texas and do me long drives, 6 hrs to south padre, 10 hrs to Big Bend National Park and typically doing 75-80 mph.
Should I shift in S mode to 6th once I get up to speed?

 

I noticed a difference in mpg since the temps have dropped, resulting in lower tire pressure. When it was high 80s most of august my tire pressure was around 35, last night temps dipped to 65 and tire pressure dropped to 30. Truck was much slower to reach 20 mpg and only hit 22 for the trip. Not sure if wind played a factor but i have noticed a slight dip in fuel ecomony overall in the past week and its beeb cooler out. Temps are expected to get back in the 80s next week so im not going to add air just yet, and ill see if i notice a difference.

 

Get them filled with nitrogen, they won't be affected by the ambient air temp then.

 

Am I the only one on the forum who doesn't care about fuel mileage? I got 15.6mpg unloaded at 75mph in S5. And I got 14.5 with 2000lb on the back at 75 in s5.

 

Drive above 60 - 65 and your gas mileage is going south. Takes so much energy to push a brick down the road. Simple physics.

Take Care

Bob

 

How do you tell your mpg 60 miles into the tank? I have a 6spd double cab trd, 2014

 

Buy a Gen 3...they tell you.

 

Thanks, valuable information I will consider.

 

Just made a trip from Houston to San Antonio (200 miles) with a 3" lift and 285/75/16 BFG KO2 tires (60lbs each + 18 lbs wheels) getting 21 mpg @ ~70-75 mph. Was carrying GF and 2 dogs with around 300 lbs of gear. When switching into S mode it will always go to 4th as default. Don't use cruise control for anything besides flat driving or it will be searching gears the whole time with even a slight elevation changing. Also look at you mpg read out and watch how backing off the gas it will gain mpg with out decelerating. The slight peddle movement is the area that engine is programmed to shift in and out of the Atkinson cycle which is where you will see the mpg's.

Update: I run 40 psi in the front and 38 psi in the rear.

 

I will give one tip if you live in mountains, throwing it into neutral on the down hills for some reason makes a big different on MPG. My guess would be the computer senses idle and no load and does fuel conservation mapping..

Turn off the avg. MPG in your display, It's not accurate and not worth looking at all the time. Like people mention, so many factors, like.. driving into wind the entire trip, drove up hill gradually the entire trip, AC ran more..