Is it the hill that's killing me.... Gas

Just got my best tank ever today. Light came on at 237miles. Wish I was getting the 300+ that everyone keeps talking about.

 

need more info

 

How much idling do you do? I was getting that in the Alaska winters when my truck would idle as much as it moved.

 

Almost zero idle. Live on the top of a hill. Elevation change in driving every day would probably be around 1500 to 2000 ft. Average road grade that I would be driving would be about 9-10%

 

I'm getting about 14mpg

 

Talking about miles per tank is just stupid, how many mile per gallon are you getting? My light may come on at a different time than yours. However you can calculate MPG no matter how full or empty the tank is. I get between 17 to 22 mpg depending on how much city vs highway driving. (and the 17 mpg came from city driving with many jack rabbit starts.)

 

OK 14 mpg is a number I can understand. Ouch! Even my lifted Jeep with big ol tires did better than that. Do you have a bunch of mods?

 

Robert, I have a similar, albeit smaller, elevation change everyday of around 1000 feet. I don't keep track of my mpgs because it's too depressing, but I know it's around 15. Unfortunately because of the aerodynamics of our trucks and the friction on the road of 4 truck tires, going downhill does not make up for all the lost gas it takes to get uphill. I'd say take as much excess weight out of your truck as possible and be conservative with the gas pedal, even downhill. That's probably your best chance at saving whatever fuel you can

 

Since i've been looking at my scanguage a lot while driving I find any kid of accelerating kills your mpg. Cruising speed is the only place you see good mpg, so you have to accelerate to go up hills is really going to hurt it. Also coast as much as you can, even a little throttle when you don't need it can hurt your mpg.

 

What is your tire pressure? If it is to low, you will greatly diminish mpg.

 

Running Duratracs at 32psi.

 

Try them at 35psi and see if it helps. My worst tank in my '09 with 285 Toyo MT's was about 230 for 17 gallons. I averaged 16.8 in that truck. In my '14 I've been averaging 18.2 mpg with mixed city/highway driving with 265/75/16 AT's I run 35psi.

 

Lol x2

 

How many miles? When's the last time the truck was serviced like plugs filter and such? I changed my plugs in the middle of a trek from Seattle to San Antonio and the mileage jumped a little after the change.

 

Plugs changed at around 60,000 miles. Have 72,000 miles right now. Just had all the oil changes done yesterday. Front & rear, engine, transmission.

 

What's the elevation in your area? And are you driving with the shifter in "D" or "4"?

Do you have 33" tires? You need to account for odometer error when calculating milage. 14 mpg x 33/31 = 15 mpg actual.