caissiel
Senior Member
I tow the 3500RL with my F250 6.0L 6 speed and average over 11 MPG towing. It goes down fast if I drive faster then 63 MPH. So for a Canadian I keep it at 100KPH. With the E-Con the fuel millage has not increased much but the power is great. So I take my foot of the Accelarator going downhill and just keep the speed uphill. The HL trailer is capable of Pushing the truck and trailer down hill, something I never experienced before towing a 5th wheel. With the standard tranny the engine keeps the RPM steady while on overdrive and the fuel flow is 0 GPH. So Ecomizing is the only way to get better millage as I found out with my Scangauge. Its awfull for any truck that gets stuck behind me as I never accelerate going downhill, so I keep sight in the mirror for transports tailing behind and try to be nice.
newbie
Northern Virginia
My mileage has gone down lately too. I figured I was idling more because of the cold or driving harder or maybe because I am a nut, or the fuel changes to a winter blend? I just filled up today and the DIC displayed 14.5 MPG with 50/50 city/highway. I have averaged almost 17 during the summer with the same driving.
Riverman
Well-known member
I think there may be a Pinochio or two lurking about...you could get better mileage / performance with the addition of a chip...but there are downsides to those as well.
beasleyrl
Well-known member
John- I have the classic 2007 Duramax diesel 3500 Dually. I too get about 14-15 in town without towing and about 18-19 on the road without towing. However, when I pull my Cyclone on the road, I get about 7.5-8.5MPG on the road depending upon speed. As Cassiel says, speed does matter. I tend to run about 70 on the interstate which keeps me down about 8 most of the time. When I run slower for example, going down to the OBX on non-highways, I actually get somewhere around 9.5MPG.
caissiel
Senior Member
I was reading the last issue of Diesel Tech and they have a nice write up on the work they did on a 2005 Duramax to tow a 18000 Lbs trailer. Its a shame we have to read about the cost involved in making our truck capable to tow with more power. They never once talked about the braking requirements, and the weight and safety involved while driving at 80MPH as they tested the truck. I am sure that at 60MPH my 6.0L in drive will do most of the 6% hills in america without overheating and all I have is the Hypertech E-Con at $329.00. I use the gears and keep it at 1800RPM where the torque is best and I get there safely and cheaply.
JohnDar
Prolifically Gabby Member
Your numbers are similar to what I'm getting with the 2009 GMC 3500 dually. The few times I've actually pulled mine, I average a little better, though. I was getting 12 mpg on level freeway and dropped to 10 in the low hills of northern Michigan, running at 65 mph. I've just clocked 10,000 miles, so if it's now "broken in," we'll see if there's any change. But I won't be pulling the BH until next spring.
Boca_Shuffles
Well-known member
May be purely a coincidence but, my mileage improved 2-4 mpg around town immediately after I had my main battery replaced. I was getting 12-14 mpg, now it is back to 16-19 mpg around town. The temperature is in the 20 degree F range.
Could the alternator have been trying too hard to charge the bad battery?
Could the alternator have been trying too hard to charge the bad battery?
Tom of Ypsi
Well-known member
When calculating mileage make sure you do it by hand the lie-o-meters in trucks are notoriously wrong.
newbie
Northern Virginia
I kept reading that statement on the diesel forums and started hand calculating my mileage. I can tell you on my 2008 GMC truck, the DIC is correct to within a tenth of a gallon on the MPG. I quit doing it by hand after two months because the DIC was so consistently accurate.
John
JohnDar
Prolifically Gabby Member
Yes, it is an average unless you reset it. Try filling up your tank and resetting the display before you leave the gas station. That will give you a better look at what you're getting, based on how you're driving for a period of time. Otherwise, it's an average of mpg from the day you bought it.
wyleyrabbit
Well-known member
Do you use your scanguage to increase hp/torque or to increase mileage?
caissiel
Senior Member
THIS IS THE 100,000th POST ON HEARTLAND OWNERS FORUM!! CONGRATS LAURENT... ADMIN
Its the best tool I have used to improve milage, Its just a digital indicator of all the readings of your truck stats. I use it to determine the best instant MPG, Torque Power, in percent and HP. The shift points are very important with a standard truck. I found that without the trailer I can keep a steady 25MPG on flat road and by feathering the Accelarator keep it there for a long time. Ecomodders use it to train themself on fuel economy. The water temperature is in digital so I can see the engine heat increases before I get in trouble. Actually I never drive my engine beyound 206F before shifting to drive. So the fan never comes on robbing HP from the engine. The truck is hard on fuel at lower water temperatures like below 180F, it takes a long time to get it to heat up so I have a new thermostat to replace my unit to let it heat up to 195F. I once disconnected the EGR valve and the engine temperature never went beyound 180, and that was in the summer and the millage was way down. So I reconnected it and never disconnected it again. The E-Con is the Programing by Hypertech that I use to give me more torque and milage. With the trailer in tow, on stock program I hardly push the acelerator that the torque goes way up to 100%, recorded on the scangauge, and with the Program on level A best power, it sticks to 80% for a long time before slowly climbing to 90% which is my limit with the program on high setting, I can go to 100% but I conserve power and usualy shift down to protect the engine. I find the Programer is great for coolrunning the truck.
Its the best tool I have used to improve milage, Its just a digital indicator of all the readings of your truck stats. I use it to determine the best instant MPG, Torque Power, in percent and HP. The shift points are very important with a standard truck. I found that without the trailer I can keep a steady 25MPG on flat road and by feathering the Accelarator keep it there for a long time. Ecomodders use it to train themself on fuel economy. The water temperature is in digital so I can see the engine heat increases before I get in trouble. Actually I never drive my engine beyound 206F before shifting to drive. So the fan never comes on robbing HP from the engine. The truck is hard on fuel at lower water temperatures like below 180F, it takes a long time to get it to heat up so I have a new thermostat to replace my unit to let it heat up to 195F. I once disconnected the EGR valve and the engine temperature never went beyound 180, and that was in the summer and the millage was way down. So I reconnected it and never disconnected it again. The E-Con is the Programing by Hypertech that I use to give me more torque and milage. With the trailer in tow, on stock program I hardly push the acelerator that the torque goes way up to 100%, recorded on the scangauge, and with the Program on level A best power, it sticks to 80% for a long time before slowly climbing to 90% which is my limit with the program on high setting, I can go to 100% but I conserve power and usualy shift down to protect the engine. I find the Programer is great for coolrunning the truck.
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porthole
Retired
I would say the DIC in my truck is within a tenth or two of calculated numbers for the last 60,000 miles.
06 LBZ Duramax
I average about 13.5 -14.5 with a mix of driving.
I CAN get 21-22 on the highway if I set the cruise at 50-55 - who can do that?
At 60-65 I get about 17-19
But my commute to work in the morning has an average speed of 75-80, and that is NASCAR style - 3 wide and many are drafting
.NASCAR has better pit speed limits. I enter the highway from a cneter island rest area. I have at times had to do 85-90 in order to "merge"
I get about 9-10 towing the Cyclone average.
I have a Banks tuner and during my trip to Indiana (750 miles 1 way) I played with all the settings for about 150 miles at a time.
I really did not see much change in the mileage. But using cruise control will only let the engine build enough power to maintain speed, so it doesn't matter what setting the tuner is on.
25 mpg in an 8000 pound truck shaped like a brick .........................
caissiel
Senior Member
I did not say I average 25, I said I can keep it at 25 for a long time, the average realy goes down in stop and go and when the truck is cold, I can get at best 13MPG until it warms up. My best millage with the E-Con is running at 70MPH on cruise, and in traffic might be better, without its at 55MPH. Thats the difference with the program set at level 2. I once stayed behind a transport for 25 miles in a 2 lane highway I could not pass anyway. The milage for that section was 15MPG with the old trailer. So when we drove south this fall I told my wife to stay a good distance behind me and she found the right spot and I pulled her to florida, we did 4MPG better then the rated MPG of our Toyota Matrix. That was at every tank. But our speed was 63MPH with the trailer. With the scangauge on the Matrix I can keep the millage above the rated MPG everytime I take the highway, its all in the foot.
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