Fuel milage Sucks!!

Fuel quality is part of the mpg issue. Try to fill up at the same station each time. After seversl tanks of fuel from each station in our town, One station is constitanly 3-4 mpg less than the rest. Its either fuel quality or the pumps are rigged! I get most of fuel from the truck stop down the road now.

 

mrgenz

just sold an 04.5 3500 ram 6 speed,this truck is getting a flat 23 mpg on hwy at 67 or 68 mph i had a fram air boost intake,a predator module stage II,towing and economy, 5 inch muffler, polished intake horn,this is a dually also i forgot to mention, all i know is keep it simple. good luck and better mileage.

 

Does anybody use any additives in their fuel? A friend who has a ag mechanic shop recomended that an additive should be used with the new ultra low fuel, as removing the sulfur is also removing the lubricity in the fuel. I have used some Lucas fuel additive for about three tanks now and seems maybe a little better. Kinda hard to tell with my driving, 100 - 150 miles a day, within a 40-60 mi. range and sometimes pulling a trailer. No real high way driving for me.

I did take a road trip a few weeks back, about 800 mi. one way. Pulling my empty trailer at 70 mph I got 13 mpg. Loaded on the way back, 13,000 on my trailer, I got 8.5 mpg.

 

Jake; I use Stanadyne (a manufacturer of injector pumps) Junior fuel treatment. It addresses the lubricity issue as well as fuel preservation/stabilization, and fuel system corrosion.
Also as an update since I first posted a reply to your question last month, I'm up to 17.3 now after driving 900 miles (250 towing 9K 5er) thats not after driving like gramma-but 75 to 85 when not towing and mashing the loud peddle at every opportunity.
Have you seen any improvement in your MPG yet?
Take it easy, DD

 

Diesel Dog, The best I've deen yet is 16, hand calculated. That was a 140 mi. round trip, mostly highway at 70 mph, some stop lights and some two lane at 65 mph. I filled the tank completly (I put in 5.5 gal. after the nozzle shut off by itself ) and tried to drive as easy as I could. No start ups over half throtle and cruise on as soon as I reached cruising speed. I didn't let it idle any at any time. Still only 16 mpg. The overhead read 21.5.

 

Ron Archer

It definatelly should do better. I consistantly get 21 or 22 even with a fair amount of town driving mixed in. You need to drive it fairlyl easy but it sounds like you were doing that.

 

My last trip I got 677 miles out of one 34 gallon tank doing between 75 and 80 MPH. How many miles on your truck. I didn't see an increase in mileage in mine till I hit about 13000 miles.

 

My truck has got 126,000 mi., should be broken in. I bought it about 4 months ago with 112,000 mi.. I consistenly get about 400 - 450 mi on a tank of fuel (32-34 gal.) I don't do a lot of highway driving, maybe only 30 -40 mi. at a time. I also pull my skidloader around quite a bit. I'm running on the tow mode with the Power Pup, kinda because I'm scared of the transmission, (I already fixed it once.) Should I try the performance level?

 

I would not try the performance level while towing that heavy. I think that even Bully Dog only remomened pulling up to 2000 lbs while in the performance mode. If I am not mistaking your skid loader is going to weigh around 6000 lbs and a trailer that has the capisity to hold it will weigh anywhere from 2000 to 4000 lbs. That means that you are hauling up to 10000 lbs. Your vehicle may only get this much due to your hauling and running around town. My mileage was figured unloaded. It will drop as soon as you hook a trailer to it. If I haul my flatbed trailer empty, 6000 lbs., then my mileage will drop to 16 mpg and even lower if I am hauling in just in town. I did not realize that your mileage was like this due to your hauling and short trips in town.
I would also bet that most of the folks thought that you were empty and getting this bad mileage. Sorry for the mistake on my part.
LT.

 

All the numbers that I have posted are running empty, no trailer, nothing in the bed. The best I've seen so far was 16 mpg (see my previous post) on the highway, cruise set at 70. Most of the time I only get between 10 & 12 mpg if I pull my trailer at all.

 

My bad. I did not read all the posts again. With the 48re and the 3.73's empty, I still don't see why you would be getting such poor mileage. I still think that with a consertive driving style you should easily be in the low 20's and better. Sorry for the mistake.

 

I've got an 05, 48RE/3.73 as well. I was really disappointed in my mileage during the first 20,000 miles. I figured it was break-in, but after 22,000 miles and no improvement, I started looking at other varibles and found my tires underinflated. With my tires were at 45psi and I was getting:
10.5 Grossing ~20,000 at 70mph
14.5 Empty at 75
17.0 Empty at 65

Inflating tires to 80psi, my mileage went to
12.4 Grossing 20,000 at 70mph
16.8 Empty at 75
19.5 Empty at 65

 

I know I may be too late to add much to this old thread, but there was a TSB / computer re-flash for the 2004.5 truck that helped increase fuel mialage.

 

451; I think the flash you are talking about only changes the way the overhead calculates your milage.
In other words no real MPG improvement...
As I mentioned earlier in this string, the only real improvements come from getting an overdrive, and the injector timing improvements from the TST powermax unit. Beyond that I think we are just wasting are time, all the smog adjustments have deminished the inherent effiency of our diesels...
Good luck.

 

04.5 quadcab 2wd long bed dually 48e tran and 373 gears, 5" exhaust I get 19 on the computer and a little over 20 doing the math myself on the interstate unloaded and get around 16 pulling fifth wheel or in town

 

Interesting that you guys should bring this up again. No big changes since last post. Actually, I think it might be little worse over winter here. Lots of idle time and cold weather.

However, I did buy a Mac cold air intake. Just put it on last night so don't know how good it works. I'll keep you posted. Does anybody else use a Mac?And do you like it?