Everyone on this forum must have better fuel available than we have in Central FL lol I see awesome MPG ratings & wonder how my trucks never that much.


1998 Dodge Ram ext cab 2500 Cummins 24v 4X4 w/ a HEAVY landscape bed = 13/14 city, 15/16 hwy
2004.5 Dodge Ram quad cab 4X4, 6.25' bed 2500 Cummins "hi-output 610lbs torque = 14/15 city, 16/17 hwy


Current trucks:
1994 F350 crew cab 8' bed 2wd, 5.8l v8 = 6.75mpg ALL the TIME!
2001 F250 ext cab 6.25' bed 4X4 lariat v10 = 8 towing 3-5K lbs, 9.4 city/hwy.


Where is the secret fuel?! Let me get some!!

 

No secrets, you're just telling the truth. Sure my V10 got 11.3 mpg.....once. Running avg is 9.02 with a low of 6.38. I'm sure some get better but when the internet mpg battles show up I'm sure lots just post their few bests vs true avg and many may not know a true avg.

Yea yea I have a dually so it'll be worse but I don't believe half the numbers. Buddy has had newer cummins trucks every few years. Tells me he gets 12 towing a 20ft enclosed trailer. He did say his 02 would get 19-20 highway after mods.

 

My 05 cc sb 4x4 gets just over 10 in rural/city driving. 8.5mpg towing our 32ft travel trailer which weighs in around 9k. These engines don't care what you're doing they usually get the same mpg no matter what you're doing. They get the work done with no drama. Which is what I like.

 

One time I was able to get "non ethanol" 89 octane fuel and I pulled almost 15 mpgs hwy, a few weeks later they didn't have it any more. It makes a difference.

 

The only people who like ethanol are the ones making $ from it.
I'd like to run regular E0 in all my stuff, but can only get premium around these parts.

 

There are a few stations in my area that offer ethanol free gas. Just don't want to drive 8 miles to get it. Come summer I'll be getting that fuel for all my landscape equipment as the ethanol fuels are wreaking havoc on my small engine equipment.

 

As a farmer/cattle feeder I get a double bonus as I some of my corn goes to the ethanol plants and I then buy the distillers byproduct for cheaper feed/protein for my cattle. I've experimented with mpg tests with E10 and straight gas with mixed results and have also found that with newer fuel injected vehicles with well sealed fuel systems Ethanol isn't a problem but in small engines with carburetors and probably older vehicles with carburetors if they sit for very long in humid climates you have nasty green deposits in your fuel bowl. The pump labeling is very poorly done for ethanol, the premium hi octane gas is much more likely to have it but not necessarily labeled for Ethanol, the low grade low octane gas is is generally more likely to not have ethanol because it's a higher octane fuel so 85 octane is generally the only fuel that's pure gasoline but good luck finding that around hear.

 

I can get non ethanol in several places where I live, but only in 91 octane premium. And it's quite a bit more $$ per gallon.
I use it exclusively in the Harleys and any small engine application. The other vehicles are supposed to be designed for the ethanol crap so I use it in those to save money. It's bad enough that my state has 45¢ or more in taxes on every gallon.

 

New York State?

Yep. Feelin that tax pain.

 

FWIW (and I don't mean to hijack this thread too badly)...in 04 or 05, I think the injection sequence changed, to a multiple small volume injection before the "main" injection. Doing so quieted the 5.9L significantly. But it came at the cost of a bit of fuel mileage.

 

Yeah only 5 years to maybe 10 the 7.3. Over 10 years definitely the V10

I'm planning on keeping mine until the truck falls apart.
Then put it back together again and see how much longer I can get.
Only 6 years so far. Barely gettin' er broke in.

 

Dang. I think I might have got as LOW as 11.3 once or twice!




I used to track every single fillup, up to year 4 with the truck. For a while my rolling average was well above 13.

Now that's with a SRW, and mostly highway. Loaded, I'd rarely pull more than 8,000 lbs, and that's some of those 11.x figures. The green line btw is what the dash would say. It was almost always exactly .6-.7 higher than my calculation.

Unfortunately when I put new tires on it last year, I lost a good 1-2mpg. I didn't realize how much a difference even in the tiny stock size tire that different brands would make!

 

A lot of the the time I am hooked to a 14k dump trailer that weighs at a minimum 4,000lbs but normally around 8-10k with lots of short stop and go driving. But even a few times with mostly unloaded highway I've only netted in the 10 range. So yes my results are skewed but even with the highway runs I'm consistently at 10. I run the OEM BF Goodrich Rugged Trail tires which are not that aggressive. If I got a true highway tire I could probable squeeze out a tiny bit more mpg but would be in trouble when I drag that loaded trailer off the pavement.

 

How many of you, who have switched from the V10 to the 7.3 or viceversa, used them to pull at high altitudes (6000+ ft)?

I have a 2008 F350 v10 4x4 4.30s, and while I can maintain 65 on pretty much all hills, 15 minutes of 4500+ rpm is insane to me. It really seems like the truck can't breathe at 6-9k altitude (highest I've gone) when pulling, and my trailer isn't quite that heavy, 23ft bumper pull toy hauler, around 5-5.5k lbs the way I have it loaded when camping.

I am really wondering if a 7.3 would hold the load better/easier at higher altitudes, I would definitely try to find one with a manual if I got one, the 4R100 is a terrible tranny... On paper, the 3v v10 eats the 7.3 alive, but I really wonder just how much power my truck makes up in the boonies... I don't see it making more than 200hp/300tq

Around town or until I start climbing, at 1400ft altitude, I will hold any hill at 75mph with the trailer behind me, without getting out of 4th gear... as soon as I get around payson/prescott/flagstaff, it's 2nd-3rd gear and 4500+ rpm if I want to hold 65...

Empty the truck gets 11.5-12mpg, a bit lower than my older 2v trucks, and pulling the toy hauler, in Arizona, it's around 8-9 average.

 

That's a great point, Fosters. IIRC, the rule of thumb for a naturally aspirated engine is 3% loss in hp per every 1000 feet elevation.