my 02 with 4.10 gears only gets 10 in town and 13 on the highway.

 

So wondering if anyone did the injector o-ring replacement and saw any improved MPGs also hearing some of the other replies about milage makes me want to sell this thing now. I think diesel only makes sense if the milage is good your paying a premium for fuel and maintenance is crazy expensive. I like ford but cummins and duramax friends are getting 20 ish range and as much as I brag about no substitute for cubic inches I gotta admit I think their trucks could handle anything mine could and probably more .

 

Lots of people exaggerate their fuel mileage. He isnt getting 15mpg pulling 15k.

Maybe he hit 20 pnce pr twice unloaded in perfect conditions so now he claims he has a 20mpg truck

 

I find this conversation happens a lot......I have a friend who has about 800K combined on his 3 7.3Ls and he always claims he gets 18-20mpg even though he travels with roughly 1500lbs in the bed at all times and drives like the cops are chasing him (ie.75-85mph).

I asked him how many 380-400mile tanks he gets and he looked at me like I was crazy....."naw man I get like 325-350miles or so to a tank and fill up at like 1/8th to 1/4 on the gauge."......non-modified tanks foam up something fierce when you are refueling......if people think that "well the pump shut off at 18gallons therefore my fuel mileage for these 325miles is 18mpg"....then the numbers are really flawed.

I have a non modified tank and once the pump shuts off I can trickle in anywhere from 3-7 more GALLONs of fuel. for all the math majors out there, changing your 18gallon denominator to a 21 or 23 for those 325-350 miles sure changes things.

The same conversation is true for duramax and cummins guys......I think they do in fact get better mileage and hell they should, the 7.3L is an old platform by any standard......but if people believe a tuned Duramax is getting 23mpg highway or 20mpg towing 8000lbs they need to put the crack pipe down.

I think the newer engines from Dodge and GM can be tuned and still get high teens but I have two buddies with PSD 6.7s that would sell their kids for something that would get them 17mpg consistently.

 

That range on a tank will depend on which tank they have. I have the 38-gallon on the EC:

 

The LB7 Dmax will get 21-23 mpg highway, that's the truth about that engine, there also plagued with injector issues. Guys are definitely looking at their over head displays. Cummins drivers do see 20+ mpg highway driving like a grandma preDPF and emissions junk. The 7.3 is the work horse of the diesel world that will run forever!
In my opinion if you don't want 14-16 mpg unloaded with tried and proven reliability go back to a gasser

 

Rich.....no ****....lol

Most of us still have the original 29 gallon stock tank. I assumed that for the point I made :-)

John - I get that the LB7 will get 20-23mpg in perfect conditions unloaded on the highway stock. That being said, I see way too many BS claims on tuned rigs dropping HP like you have in the Cummins and claiming 20+ consistently. IIRC you are seeing high teens with that newer rig putting out some serious power.

I personally have yet to see a 7.3L in any form that consistently hits 20mpg.....as I also haven't seen many 2wd models in person.

I think 14 - 17mpg is about where a 4wd 7.3L should operate all day and then about 10-14mpg towing depending on many factors. I tow a similar load to the OP (I tow 2 horses with a Hawk with a dressing room loaded with overpriced dressage gear).....6500lbs-7500lbs depending on the second horse we have. I see about that 10-14mpg towing depending on the route.

 

Yes I forgot to mention that my truck is slightly modified with emissions deleted, my signature is a dead giveaway. I claim 16 in the worse driving conditions I will see around my area on summer blend and when traffic isn't too bad it will go up 1 mpg or so even with my spirited driving style. Generally the more HP the more effective a system need a to be so the more mpg. Spending $20k for a couple mpgs doesn't make any sense. I'm sorry I didn't specify but I want to be clear that an unmodified 6.7 Will see worse mileage then a 7.3 almost any day.
I only intended to try to help out because I happen to know most diesel engines not just the tried and proven 7.3 so if I miss lead anyone I apologize.

 

For the record I wasn't trying to counter-point your post......Your new rig is living proof the new Cummins can make serious power and deliver fuel economy in the mid to upper teens with relative ease.

BTW, thanks for hanging around here even after the dodge purchase.....always enjoyed your perspective on things.

 

Great point and funny post.

 

No problem, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't misleading. Knowledge is useless unless it's shared . I bought a Cummins and a dodge came with it

 

I can't really say what might be wrong if anything, but your concern is the exact opposite as mine. I sold my 1994.5 PSD 2WD Dually that would barely get 14mpg city/highway driving and drop down to 10-11 pulling my single car enclosed hauler. My 2002 gets ~17 city/highway driving and dropped down to 13mph on my first pull. I'm quite content with that. What I find interesting about these trucks is HOW MUCH MPG's can vary from person to person and truck to truck. Fortunately I don't drive mine enough to get bent over MPG's.

 

That there was just down right funny

 

that is funny haha I average 16-17 on my commute to work. mix of 60mph highway and 35-40mph in town. last trailer I hooked to was a shade under 12K, towed it back and forth to the lake at a consistent 60mph. when I filled up again it hand calculated to 14.6 mpg. which I think is acceptable, especially comparing it to my uncles 97 F-250 with a 460 which usually pulls the trailer. It gets 8-10mpg empty, loaded, or idling on a trailer haha sometimes the best option is to get an economy car for commuting and save the brute for what it was built to do. my uncle also has an escape hybrid he drives around town and to work and when he did the math on the fuel money difference, the escape took a little over a year to pay for itself. and anybody with mechanical ability can keep an old camry or escort or even a Taurus running as a commuter and you can pick those up for less than a grand all day long. just comes down to how bad you wanna get good mpg's.

 

Ok again guys not looking for a pissing match just looking for advice for possible lost mpg .. Which so far all I hear is nothing related to that still looking for the guy who did o-ring change and what the results are. As far as the guy stating diesel foam equates to 3 to 7 gallons of fill up difference sorry guy but that is total bs I have driven a tdi diesel daily for years and thou its only 14.7 gallon tank I have never had it vary by gallons even .5 gallon at a fill up even after checking oil ect and then trying to put more in . And further more empty my 1995 gets 18-20 plus every time again I check it every full up so either way foaming or not the numbers don't lie . I just hauled a backhoe total 1200 miles 8200 lbs and got believe it or not 16 and hauling *** 75 plus mph trailer only 19 all highway but still numbers don't lie guys look not interested I anything except info that may point to lost mpg and yes guys I do drive a tdi that gets average 45 mpg everyday. So only here looking for places to improve the 2000 which I feel is not as strong as the 95 another reason I feel something is wrong with it . But maybe 7.3's vary by 50% MPGs which to me is crazy and some of you guys getting 10 city it's closer to 60% which to me is crazy