how to increase fuel milage?

[MrQuick]

Increase areodynamics with a hood deflecter and rear spoiler. Keep the Tahoe washed and waxed. Drive bare footed and learn to coast and teach her how to draft safely.
These engines don't require 91 octane till you use it. The computer will get use to the 91 and will ping if you try to switch to 87.
Most GM techs know how to blow out the memory and how to train the computer with the proper drive cycle.
K&N cold air kit...leave the tornado in the recycling bin.

[Bill Howell]

i'm getting 22mpg out of my crew cab duramax :icon996:

For real? Of course I have never driven 65 either so maybe that is my problem. How much you getting around town? What year?
My 04 does about 18/14

[gen3bu]

i think car craft had an article a few months back where they added a magna charger and complete jba exhaust. it added @ 95 rwhp and increased mpw from 16 to 19 or 20, pretty good in my book.

definatley use the cruise. i drove my in-laws 2002 trailblazer to work one day with it and drove home without it, watching the instant and average mpg (i reset it both times for an acurate comparo). i could nt beleive the diff. 8 mpg!!! i got 19 going to work and 27 coming home.

know that i know that it drive me nuts when other drivers cant keep a consistant speed - USE THE CRUISE!!

kevin

[protouring70]

Hey guys I really want to thank everyone for their help on this. I think I will wax the Tahoe this weekend and use the cruise control as much as possible.
Thanks!!!

[MarkM66]

i'm getting 22mpg out of my crew cab duramax :icon996: . a few years back i had some mag that they tested a few driving habbits, they found that getting on the gas to get up to speed used less gas than slowly getting up to speed. so i guess try to hual ass to 63-65 and hit the cruse. also hoes only get about 15-17mpg, my dad has a avalanch and thats all he gets too. you could get a programer and lean out the fuel trim a little bit, but nothing too much. don't wanna run'er too lean.

Anychance you have that magazine information online?

Not saying you're lying, but I'd have to call bs on this one.

If this were the case, drag cars would be getting great mpg.

If anyone has a vehicle with an on demand milage calculator, they'd also realize this wasn't the case.

[JLM]

The theory is actually pretty sound. Acceleration of any kind, even grannying the car still uses a lot more fuel than cruising at a steady speed. If you granny the car and it takes you a mile to reach 65mph then you're well below average fuel economy for that entire mile. If you step on it a little bit and it takes you a 1/4 mile to reach 65 you lost a little bit more while you were in it but now you're crusing for an additional 3/4 of a mile. It probably works itself out to be pretty much a wash I would think.

WIth that said however I do beleive that as long as you aren't really hotrodding it getting to the speed limit quicker may be better for fuel economy.

Case in point: I used to own a 2003 Cobra. The car had intake, mid-pipe, catback, 2.8 pulley (15psi) and was tuned. The car made 460rwhp/490rwtq so figure in the 525 hp range for the engine. The car averaged 20 mpg which is a mix of highway driving too and from work then cruising the car around in the city almost daily. I saw as high as 25 mpg on a road trip in that car.

[69boo307]

OK, the question everyone is asking. Here it is, my wife has an '03 Tahoe and milage is 16mpg. And guess what gas is high. Guess you knew that already huh. So what can i do to help get more mpg out of this thing. I hear of changing filters or the Tornado but do they work. are there any other options?
Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brent

Simple, trade it for something with a 4-banger.

I mean you bought a 4500+ lb vehicle with a v8 and the aerodynamics of a pole barn, and you are worried about gas mileage?

There isn't much you could do that would show a significant improvement, not enough to really show up in your wallet. I mean you could go with a K&N intake kit (not just the filter, but the entire intake), maybe add headers and a good flowing exhaust, upgrade the ignition. You'd improve the efficiency of the engine, but all that effort probably wouldn't buy you more than a couple mpg.
The Tornado? I can't believe anyone would actually PAY to introduce a restriction to their air intake. Just shove a sock in your intake and you could get the same effect.

[Stuart Adams]

Sell it, don't put any money into trying to get better mileage - you will see no return on investment. At the most you may improve it 1-2 mpg. Get something else with better mileage and more reliable.

[JLM]

The problem with trading in the car is negative equity. Even going to a cheaper economy car he'll loose thousands unless the tahoe is worth more than he owes on it. With it being a 2003 I'm doubting that's the case unless cash was paid or the financing term was very short.

[Little Bob]

You could just stay home. Work from home and your gas milage and stress would probaly get better. I also heard by adding more air to your tires it creates less drag.

[JoshStratton]

You could do what I did and go rice. *sigh* I have to admit that I went out and bought a 98 Civic with 88K miles on it. I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo that gets about 18mpg and this little Civic get 38mpg. It will actually pay for itself since I was spending about 80 bucks a week on gas...and I have to say that it really is fun to drive (even with 106 screeming horsepower)! Those high school kids might have something there.

[TA219]

I added a K&N filter and took a hole saw to my air box on my 01 tahoe to let a little more air in and I think it made a small difference but not much.

I have heard that if you get your PCM tuned you will see a little better MPG, check out a site like silveradoSS.com and any of those custom tunes ($250 range) they say you can get you a little better performance and gas mileage.

[MarkM66]

The theory is actually pretty sound. Acceleration of any kind, even grannying the car still uses a lot more fuel than cruising at a steady speed. If you granny the car and it takes you a mile to reach 65mph then you're well below average fuel economy for that entire mile. If you step on it a little bit and it takes you a 1/4 mile to reach 65 you lost a little bit more while you were in it but now you're crusing for an additional 3/4 of a mile. It probably works itself out to be pretty much a wash I would think.

I could buy that theory, but would agree either way would probably equal the same result.

But that's not was said. What was said was "they found that getting on the gas (which could mean being at WOT) to get up to speed used less gas than slowly getting up to speed"

[JLM]

I could buy that theory, but would agree either way would probably equal the same result.

But that's not was said. What was said was "they found that getting on the gas (which could mean being at WOT) to get up to speed used less gas than slowly getting up to speed"

Yeah there's got to be a point of deminishing returns there. Not to mention the legality factor in gonig WOT from a stop everywhere you go.

I managed pretty decent mileage out of a 500+ hp v8 powered sports car but I did at points and could easily push that mileage down to around 15 mpg if I drove the piss out of it.

I know that I can beleive the arguement to an extent though. Prior to my 2003 Cobra I had a 2002 GT mustang. I drove this car regardless of weather, even in the snow. When the weather was crappy the car got horrid HORRID gas mileage, which at the time was very odd to me since the car was beeing grannied around, shifting at 1300rpms etc. vs normal driving where i would normally shift around 2500-3000 with a bit of foot in it.

[vanzuuk1]

Say you spend 1000 dollars a year on gas, for the sake of argument.

If you modify your car and you improve the gas mileage 10 percent ( which is a lot), you only save a hundred dollars that first year. Am I correct ?, that does not seem like much. You would have to drive a ton of miles to justify spending on modifications or a smaller car.

It seems to me the easiest way is to drive less, plan your errands carefully.

[CamaroAJ]

mine is an 2004.5 has the LLY in it, makes a big difference on power and fuel econ. average driving around town and freeway its about 17-18 but my whole drive to work the speed limit is double nickle so i cruse in the 62-64 mph area and it gets about 21.8-21.9. i know most have no idea about places in ohio but i drove from my house (Reynoldsburg, Ohio) to Cedar Point (Sandusky, Ohio) and back on less than half tank (26 gal. tank) its about 270miles according to map quest.

[CamaroAJ]

i forgot, Bill how often do you change the fuel filter? GM says every 14k on the fuel filter every 7k on the spin on trans filter. its critical on the duramax in fact if your is a LB7 (2000-2004.5) GM has a recall on the fuel filter because they didn't have enough for over the counter sales so there giving everyone that fits that range a free one

[gen3bu]

one of my customers install a flowmaster cat-back on his 2002 1500 hd pick-up. it improved 3 mpg, but was too loud for his taste.

[Bill Howell]

i forgot, Bill how often do you change the fuel filter? GM says every 14k on the fuel filter every 7k on the spin on trans filter. its critical on the duramax in fact if your is a LB7 (2000-2004.5) GM has a recall on the fuel filter because they didn't have enough for over the counter sales so there giving everyone that fits that range a free one

7K on the tranny filter? Damn, I probably have not had it changed yet. I was real late changing the fuel filter the first time, but keep it changed now. Thanks for the heads up on the tranny one though. It will get changed tommorrow.

[Chocolate Apocalypse]

This looks like it would help mileage tremendously...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...RK%3AMESE%3AIT