Sounds like a winner, looking forward to seeing how it does on the long highway trip.

Go Buckeyes!

 

Should bring you right back down to 6 MPG.

 

I am well aware of this. That is why I did not want to be starting at 4.5-7.5 and then go lower from there.

That being said, my 04 Excursion got me 14.5 mpg on a 700 mile trip from Portland to Spokane in November of 2015 when I had 3 people and 1 skybox and it was loaded down pretty heavy. I'm praying for the best, but ready to stop more than once on my way to Utah!

 

interesting read

my old 2002 had 4.30 gears...my current 2000 has the 3.73

I'm currently getting the same MPG's with 31.8" tires that my old 2002 had with 35" tires


my truck has also lived its entire life in the NE. I may throw some O2 sensors at her once I'm done rebuilding the axles. I understand the V-10 drinks gas, but I'm always a fan of getting better MPG's. That, or maybe I'll get lucky and find some 4.30 or 4.56 gears for cheap

 

From my perspective, 3.73 w/stock tires and a tune are perfect for our 6000 lbs trailer. I wouldn't mind seeing the diff with a 10,000 lbs trailer. Anything over that and I would want the deeper gears.

 

Okay fellas, I think we got it.

I left Battle Ground early Thursday morning and drove 384 (mileage adjusted for tires) to Ontario Oregon, about 360 of that was all on I84. since it was the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere, I kept it at 55mph in cc the whole way, which kept my RPM right at 1500. Took 28.4 gallons to fill back up which gave me a MPG of 13.486!

Keep in mind, I drove with 2 Yakima Skyboxes on top, a platform out the back with an icechest, gas and other car stuff, plus 8 people and a weeks worth of stuff for 8 people. NOT a light load.

Then I drove from Ontario Oregon we kept going East on I84 through Idaho into Brigham City Utah. This was 336 miles (adjusted) and I needed just under 28.5 gal to fill back up. This portion of the trip was in daylight and most of it was doing 70mph with the RPM at just over 2000. That got me 12.37 mpg! Not bad doing 70 with the rig setup I had.

Overall I drove 720 miles with 12.94 MPG.

Thanks again for everyone's help. I could not have done it with out you guys.

Also, I'm not complaining about the gas prices in the 2.39-2.45/gal range. I pay closer to 2.80 at home.





Excursion in Utah

 

glad we were able to find an solve your MPG problem and hope you get to enjoy lots of fun outing with the X now that the old and horrible MPG is a old unwanted memory

 

Excellent news, looks like you are back to decent mileage, enjoy the trip and the EX!

 

I've been watching this thread close. I have 2003 v10 I purchased recently. Runs like a clock but gets 10 mpg even unladen on the freeway at 65mpg and drops to 7 when I add a 5k trailer. This gives me hope.

 

Welcome!
What size tires are you running?

 

Good morning. I’m running 285/75 R16. They came woth the truck when I bought it. Didn’t seem to be much different than stock. Could be wrong though

 

As we discussed above, the larger than stock tire (265/75R16 is stock at 31.6" tall) will throw off the MPG calculation a little bit (almost 3%). You are calculating your MPGs by hand and not going off the overhead display, correct?
Is that 5k trailer (actual weight or best guess?) a tall profile like a travel trailer or a lower profile like an open car hauler? The taller trailers will knock the mileage down a good bit due to the aerodynamic drag of the box trailer. A decrease of a few miles per hour while towing will improve the MPGs, it's a time vs money equation you need to justify in your individual situation.

 

Good to know abouty the tires. Yes, I'm doing the mpg by hand with at least 20 gallons or more on full ups. The overhead display is a work pure fiction. I'd love to live in its world. The trailer was 4500 dry. I'm giving it 5k with water and gear. The trailer was just the average travel trailer height. I fully understand the V10 is not a Prius and the mileage will drop while pulling, however, the unweighted and pulling mpg seemed a little low to me compared to what I expected out of this set up.

My mpg may be reality but this thread gives me hope I can still dream

 

BJlevesque. Between the mpg issues and the skyboxes I think our excursions might be cousins. ��

 

FWIW - I lost about .5 mpg in town switching from a 2wd 2000 V10(totaled but not really) to a 4wd 2001 V10, all else being equal.