Fuel MPG in the 6.0 engine?

SouthpawHD · July 29, 2016

I towed out west, about 3,300 miles, in which 75% of that was actual towing, and averaged about 8.5MPG for the whole trip! That includes some unloaded mileage averaging in excess of 15MPG.

My travel trailer is 34' long, and probably weighs just under 8,000 pounds fully loaded.

It is what it is.

Mark Mortenson · July 29, 2016

I towed out west, about 3,300 miles, in which 75% of that was actual towing, and averaged about 8.5MPG for the whole trip! That includes some unloaded mileage averaging in excess of 15MPG.

My travel trailer is 34' long, and probably weighs just under 8,000 pounds fully loaded.

It is what it is.

My trip epa was basically the same 8.5 overall probably towing about the same 75% of the time. Towing a 28' travel trailer loaded about 8000lbs. 2500 miles up and over the Bighorns on 14 and over to Yellowstone. I pushed it on the hills and highway wasn't afraid to be on the throttle. 2015 2500HD double cab with 12,000 miles on it and oversized Duratracs on it.

Sirspeedy · July 30, 2016

Great info guys, I'm averaging 15.78 with a ECSB 1500 5.3 with 3.73 rear. Can live with 14 on a HD, just made my decision!

mzodarg · July 31, 2016

After reading through this thread an seeing the low MPG, I'm glad I got the diesel.

Just finish a trip from Oklahoma to Montana, roughly 3000 mile round trip and averaged 22.9 MPG on DIC. Manually calculated was 22.4. Of course mine is tuned and I have a 3:73 rear differential.

On average in the city I get 18.5 between fill ups.

Mike

Skeld · July 31, 2016

mzodarg, on 31 Jul 2016 - 10:39 AM, said:

After reading through this thread an seeing the low MPG, I'm glad I got the diesel.

Just finish a trip from Oklahoma to Montana, roughly 3000 mile round trip and averaged 22.9 MPG on DIC. Manually calculated was 22.4. Of course mine is tuned and I have a 3:73 rear differential.

On average in the city I get 18.5 between fill ups.

Mike

That is nice, but paying for the difference in cost between the two is still going to be tough, on average. Unless you do a lot of highway driving.

According to my figures, if 12 MPG is a good average for the 6.0, at the current prices you would need to average about 25 MPG with the Duramax to break even in 100,000 miles. Of course there will be higher resale on the other end, etc. But it's hard to make a financial case for the diesel. Only the case that either "it's cool" or you are going to do a ton of towing.

Edited July 31, 2016 by Skeld

Cowpie · August 1, 2016

After reading through this thread an seeing the low MPG, I'm glad I got the diesel.

Just finish a trip from Oklahoma to Montana, roughly 3000 mile round trip and averaged 22.9 MPG on DIC. Manually calculated was 22.4. Of course mine is tuned and I have a 3:73 rear differential.

On average in the city I get 18.5 between fill ups.

Mike

Right now, yeah, it is a great thing. If we ever get into the same territory we were a few years ago on fuel pricing, you may be crying in your beer. Just a few years ago, diesel was trying to touch $5 a gallon. Gas was a full dollar or more below that and E85 barely going over $2 a gallon. It was always a belly drop to fill my twin 100 gallon fuel tanks on my semi truck.... a few times each week.

Enjoy it and hope we don't go thru that fuel pricing cycle again. My lifetime average on my 2500 6.0 is 14 mpg. Not great, but not terrible. At 1.94 a gallon now, my fuel cost is around 13.8 cents a mile. Diesel is hovering around $2.40 a gallon in my area. At around 18 mpg average with diesel, that is almost the same cost per mile. Nothing special.

Edited August 1, 2016 by Cowpie

CRApex · August 3, 2016

Right now, yeah, it is a great thing. If we ever get into the same territory we were a few years ago on fuel pricing, you may be crying in your beer. Just a few years ago, diesel was trying to touch $5 a gallon. Gas was a full dollar or more below that and E85 barely going over $2 a gallon. It was always a belly drop to fill my twin 100 gallon fuel tanks on my semi truck.... a few times each week.

Enjoy it and hope we don't go thru that fuel pricing cycle again. My lifetime average on my 2500 6.0 is 14 mpg. Not great, but not terrible. At 1.94 a gallon now, my fuel cost is around 13.8 cents a mile. Diesel is hovering around $2.40 a gallon in my area. At around 18 mpg average with diesel, that is almost the same cost per mile. Nothing special.

Cost per mile might not be special but the HP and torque from the Duramax/Allison sure are

Cowpie · August 3, 2016

There is that.

mzodarg · August 3, 2016

Cow pie does make a valid point, but like CRApex stated the HP and TQ are amazing. I've had mine tuned within the first 3 months of purchasingit(along dumping all the EPA Crap) and all my fuel mileage numbers are with a PPEI street tune (150HP increase) I just upgraded the Allison with a tune and my numbers are rising. If anyone understands tuning, my truck is in the learning phase since I just retuned it (re learning the fuel trims). should get better as the miles go up.

All city driving 45-55 MPH a lot of stop and go. I've got about 50 miles on the tranny tune so far and I drive the sh!t out of it.

Edited August 3, 2016 by mzodarg

DMAXNAZ · August 3, 2016

My 6.0 gets 11 all day everday. I was paying more for 91 no ethenol, but now I'm running 87 no ethonol. Same mileage.

Silverado4x4 · August 3, 2016

Of course the Diesel is going to have a higher resale value but you pay for the higher resale value when you buy it so its a wash in the end.

Cowpie · August 4, 2016

Resale was a more compelling argument prior to the 2010 EPA stuff came on full force. Now there is a double whammy. A pickup with it all still intact at resale, a knowledgeable buyer is going to factor potential costs if it fails. If a buyer is faced with a pickup that has had the emissions stuff gutted and power ramped up, a knowledgeable buyer is going to wonder about transfer, trans, and diff reliability. Only the naive buyer will jump on a buy that has higher resale built in of the level the market enjoyed just a few years ago. The pool of buyers willing to pay the higher resale that some expect is shrinking.

I don't need a diesel in my pickup, but if I did, I would only buy new. Not willing to play in the used sand box with newer stuff. Been down used emissions engine road once and got burned pretty bad. Won't happen again.

Edited August 4, 2016 by Cowpie

mzodarg · August 4, 2016

Of course the Diesel is going to have a higher resale value but you pay for the higher resale value when you buy it so its a wash in the end.

That's true if you pay MSRP. In my case, my truck is still worth (about 4K) more than I paid for it according to blackbook.

Cowpie · August 5, 2016

Just like anything else though, one is only going to get what someone else is willing to pay for it. And with the latest emission stuff, the game has changed somewhat. The book may say what something is worth, doesn't mean one will get it. I deal primarily with commercial diesels, and there is a pretty good spread between book values on used emission trucks and what average selling prices are. Some low mileage/hour pre emission trucks are getting premium sale prices over book.