Grumpy Bear

29.85 MPG over a 303 mile road trip using 10.151 pumped gallons of 87 octane E10. Meter shows 9% ethanol content. 29.2 MPG by the Scan Gauge showing 10.4 gallons used. DIC showed 31.2 MPG. 8.8 cents per mile. I've had this Scan Gauge II for a long time and have both the fuel metering and odometer dialed in to always be pessimistic. I.E. the odometer is dead on and the fuel metering is set to record @ 2% fat so that I'm never taken by surprise. Whatever the Scan Gauge II is reading I'm getting a bit better. By design. 5.7 hour trip averaging 53 mph trip average speed with a cruse control regulated 55 mph. 61 mph peak shown on Scan Gauge II. Ramp speed merging. 62 F degree day. 65 F degree AIT. 142 F TFT, 192 F Oil Temp, 170 F water temp. 3 mph wind with gust to 5 mph from a direction of 135 degrees magnetic. 153 miles east and west. 150 miles north and south. Interstate travel I-39 and Toll I-88. Moderate traffic and only about 10 miles total in road construction. Only made two stops for puppy and I to stretch our legs and get a drink. Talk about road buzzzzzzzz. Northern Illinois doesn't get too many windless days, ever, and Pepper shows her appreciation for them when we get one. Good Girl. Windless, Warm and oh so steady. No hypermiling. Just being steady.

Ask yourself why GM, or any manufacture for that matter, would go to the expense and trouble of a new part/part# for something that is identical. And the answer is...they would not. There is something different about it and not being able to physically discern that difference means precious little. Money drives these people. They changed something. IMHO.

Four Seasons Chart. Fall Sept-Nov Winter Dec-Feb Spring March-May Summer June-August They way I've broke this down reflects the seasonal fuel changes within a week or two instead of the traditional solar based seasonal breaks. Most of the differences can be attributed to seasonal temperature and winds instead of fuel blend.

Were all replacement shocks McGaughey's for this kit? Sounds indeed like a length miss match.

Sissy is a recently widowed teenage mother of twin baby girls. Steve had a private contractors job in Iraq. He’s been interned for over year and money is tight. Sissy never finished school so she’s been taking classes at a local Junior College to acquire her GED and hope is, a degree as a paralegal. Her only living relative is a sister fifteen years her senior whose in poor health and on state aid who has taken on part time mother duties while Sissy makes a living on the night shift cleaning bathrooms, bed pans and the common areas of the smallish hospital slash county nursing home. Work that doesn’t require an education and pays to suit; takes classes during the day. She’s driving north in a dated Dodge Caravan on an old Federal Highway built in the days of Ike with concrete gutters that empty into culverts that empty into the many and sorted farm creeks that make up the headwaters of a small river that eventually runs into the Missouri just west of the bluffs. It’ rolling country and currently she’s rolling up a three percent grade of a mile in length that’s marked no passing for half its length. The speed limit is 55 mph but Sissy is doing 62 as she is late for the third time in as many days to pick up the girls. Millie, her sister has been unhappy about that. At the top of the rise is a farmhouse that is situated on a country corner “T” just the other side of that rise. Making a right turn into the southbound lane is Randy in his families newer Crown Victoria. Randy is in his early forties and a contract welder at the corn plant seven miles back. His wife and child are expecting him for dinner in under an hour at home. Meatloaf!! As he turns onto the highway he sees an elderly lady checking her farms mailbox. Their eyes meet and they exchange the friendly nod and wave common to country folk. The days grown long and so have the shadows. Edna is a mother of four. Grandmother of nine and great grandmother of two. Her husband of fifty years Earl, who is now mowing the well-manicured lawn of their families dairy farm sits on the tractor at the hills crest. Earl will turn the farm over to the boys in two months and he and Edna are moving to their dream home in the Rockies to start that perfect retired life they dreamed of. Behind Sissy and closing fast is Ben and his wife, Janet, in his work/fun truck. Ben is a business major who runs the family construction business his grandfather left his father and now belongs to him and their two month old boy he hopes one day. They are twenty minutes late for a dinner date with friends thirty miles further north and Ben is in a hurry delayed the last twenty minutes by the spring parade of farm equipment. He gauges his speed and distance. He’s presently doing 75 mph and a hundred feet past the start of the no passing zone Sissy just entered. He does not lack confidence the truck can clear the Caravan with room to spare before the crest if he just reacts and doesn’t break momentum. Pedal now on the mat, motor in a howl and a firm pull to the opposite lane. Momentum now pushing past the point of no return. Earl has just shut off the tractor in time to hear the raucous roar of a big GM V-8 and in his panic looks back at Edna waving and screaming, motioning her to the ditch. Randy sees Earl wild wave and instinctively places both feet on the brake and heads as far to the right as the guttered ditch will permit just in time to see the C-10 and the Caravan crest the hill side by side and fifty feet to impact. Ben’s eyes wide and Janet’s voice at full song he cranks the wheel hard right hoping Sissy has enough room. For six people time stops for a second, for many, their last second. Ben cleared neither the Caravan nor the Vicky catching Randy twenty percent head on sandwiched between two immovable objects. The interior space is growing smaller and smaller as Edna is collected into the grill of the Caravan. From Earls point of view it’s a cloud of red mist and twisting steel…… Sissy sister wonders what is taking her sister so long tonight. A month from now the courts will split the twins into foster care. Ben’s son fairs little better. Relatives take him in but the insurance will not cover his life expenses and education. A burden his Uncle will bear. Earl’s retirement becomes years of mental therapy funded by the farm which fails under the strain after two years and is sold for his expenses. Edna's coffin is buried empty close casket. Randy is the least damaged. Seat beat bruising and air bag rash. He will not have a peaceful night’s sleep the remainder of his life. There are real people with real lives with real stories behind every wheel and they all matter. There is no legal or moral justification for breaking laws meant to bring order and safety to us all and decide for all others which stories get told or whose life is important enough to live. That's one Paradigm. And the other would be........

I love statistics and only wish I was a Black Belt at it but "There can only be One"; Stephen Hawking. (too soon?) I actually keep about six different charts based on different time periods and against some modeling. This one, like the previous, is every tank plus a 12 point moving average. Normally you use multipoint values to dampen noise in an otherwise noisy environment. Literally it is too soon to peg this but it would appear the transmission cooling circuit modification has done the dampening for us. Actually pretty cool as it make reading them easier and results show sooner. We will watch this trend. Note what has happened to the blue line. Seasonally, this is the second cycle which will complete in August this year. I can pretty much peg November 1st to April 1st as inclusive of all data points that normally fall within 3 sigma to be below the central tendency and life time average of 26.4 mpg (to date) The bars, I've explained previously are 3 sigma plus and minus and what you may have noticed is that the individual data points obviously lean toward the area above the centerline. If your inquisitive as to why the reason is quite simple. I drive less between 11/1 and 5/1 as a matter of life habit. Evidently creating a asymmetric node. I could quite literally raise the center line by 10% or more by storing her in the winter. So to the fellow who asked if a 27 mpg lifetime average was possible....yea. Another note of interest, if to no one other than myself, is the Transmission Fluid Temperature Gauge now acts as somewhat of a 'hot wire anemometer' of sorts allowing to know for a certainty if the wind is with or against me. No Witchcraft here. A radiator is a fin fan exchanger whose terminal exchange rate for a give fluid delta is about 25 meters per second or roughly 56 mph. It's the basis of cooling design for iron cylinder motor cycles. Funny thing is that's is my personal preferred driving speed. For instance today the temperature was 35 F. Into the wind the TFT was low 120's and when at my back lower to mid 130's. Cross wind 127F with no more than 10 degrees off cross. I just need a base reading which I get entering the truck and keeping an eye on the ambient number. There is a good reason for the grill shutters hated by most without understanding. As there is with CAI system and dismissing the box out of hand. Whatever. I keep plugging along making progress and paying my own bills. Without stats you can own a truck it's full lifetime and not know much about it. Sad.

You may have noticed I've had 1/2 the grill covered all winter and it still isn't enough! It was right at freezing today when I left for the horizon. First time with the cooler modification from dead cold. Took 9 miles for the water to come to heat. The trans and oil were pretty close to stable in that same period of time. No comparison to the unmodified version though as it just doesn't get that warm. The Jet 170 radiator thermostat will modulate to a stead 168 F at 50 mph and 170 at 55 F. Below 50 mph it vacillates around 172 F +2F / - 4F.

I did not count on the crazy radiator efficiency of this truck. I have a measured 40 degree F spread hot to cold on the water side and what you read in the photo on the oil side. The photo is 3.5 hours into a 4 hour 200 mile trip today that ended at 28.0 mpg. Trip speed average was 48 mph with the highest speed driven 55 mph. Ambient air temperature peak was 52 F with a low of 48 F. 20 mph wind split equal against and assist. 25.9 mpg into it and 30.1 with it. Most of this trip is Interstate. Federal and State highway most of the rest and about 5% city. I can bump the trans temp to the low 140's on an on ramp or in town but it recovers quickly. Warmer temperatures will moderate the radiator efficiency. I just don't know how much yet. It shifts sweet.

Swapped transmission thermostats today at Deegan's. Pretty straight forward. Mine did not have the screw in clips for the lines but a 'crows foot' plate and it only goes on one way. A little grease was needed to reseat the lines. The single central unit attachment bolt was finger tight! Torque spec is 182 in/lb. The crows foot just nice and snug. It is in the 30's (F) here today and the truck was already warm from the 18 mile drive to the shop so I still haven't an idea how quickly it will warm up...but...peak temperature was a surprise even for 37F ambient. At 55 mph over hill and dale for a hour it ran between 125 and 130 F. An easy pass through the lower four gears got it to 141 F and then cooled right back down. That is colder than I thought it would go by quite a bit. Don't expect this on yours unless your running the same 170 F coolant thermostat. Oil peaked at 188 F on the hot side. It's pretty close to warmer weather so I'm going to take a wait and see if this will be enough on hot days and I'm sure it will be but.... This is still warm enough to trip the set points for the transmission and AFM. Everything works just fine. It ran cooler than that on 0 F days without a cooler. Seriously I had thought it would be over 160 F and I'd still like to see that temperature routinely. But that isn't going to happen with the factory unit in any configuration I can dream up. The factory unit in the open position still bypasses too much fluid around the cooler and restricts what does go to the cooler. Aftermarket units have a built in 10% or so bleed in the closed position. I had anticipated that there might be need for a second stage cooler with it's own thermostat for addition cooling but as it looks now that thermostat may be better placed between the pump and cooler. Warm weather will make that choice. IF one is installed it will be a 160F unit. Time will tell. FYI the top line on the thermostat is the out and goes to the bottom of the radiator tank mounted cooler. From the top of the cooler to the bottom of the thermostat. Now you know.

Ah, the spring interior clean. I keep the seats covered and yet that quill like hair of my pet Ratty infest it like maggots. Now there's a picture to plant in a mind. Oh well, it's done now. Looks like new.

Yes. I bought a replacement thermostat and altered the internals. It will be swapped for the factory is Friday. There are two YouTube videos on this modification. They both work fine. I did the part shuffle. You have to assure that the window in the bobbin aligns with the port to get full flow. I'll have a spare if it isn't to my pleasure.

Haven't posted one of these in awhile. Red is a 24 tank moving average. Blue dots tank by tank. Yellow life time linear trend. Band bars are 3 standard deviations. This is a season and a half and shows summer winter longer term trending. I picked new markers for the transmission modification. Temp points picked with the coolant thermostat opens. Those points are 181F water 143F oil 98F Transmission fluid. These will be less ambient sensitive. Modification happens Friday morning.

It should help unless your just bad mouthing the product in good Troll fashion. It lets you know there are units out there that function perfectly. It gives proof that it isn't 'normal' that can be shared with your GM tech. What doesn't help is denial and kicking every possible fix offered to the curb off hand. I rarely listen to anything but the peace and quite in cab and I'm not deaf nor 'out of touch' with my trucks mechanicals. Being dismissive and rude wont get you any help either. That's a pretty good formula for getting yourself ignored when you ask for help. Come to think of it, you have it figured out so well I'm unsure why anyone would comment further.

Remember when I was driving around in M5 simulating the 4.10 gear? Looking for impact of fuel mileage the goal. I never came to a conclusion as the AFM isn't in play and I couldn't get an apples to apples look. Well Pepper has learned a new trick (idiot drivers light bulb turned on). Drive away from rest in M5. At any speed between roughly 45 and 55 and now on cruise control engage the tow mode. Now toggle up to M6. It will remain in gear 5 and enable the AFM. ********************************************************************************************************************* Took the thermal bypass valve apart and modified it swapping the preload spring and ‘pill’ positions and turning the pill end for end then reassembled. But before I install it I need some base line information so we go for a drive. 47 degree ambient. 50 degree under hood. From dead cold it took 3 miles to reach 160 degrees water temperature. Nearly 8 miles to reach 160 degrees oil temperature and 37 miles to reach 160 degrees transmission fluid temperature. (F) These numbers move allot with ambient temperature and engine load so I keep that in the back of my mind as I collect the data. There are multiple exchange mediums in this system. Air. A 55/45 water/glycol mixture and two different lubricants. Both of which in my case are POA/Ester based and as I use 5W20 in Pepper they are actually only about 2 cSt apart in viscosity at 212F. 9 cSt oil and 7 cSt Transmission fluid. Air and coolant exchange heat in the radiator core; an example of a fin fan exchanger. Then in each tank we exchange coolant temperature with lubricant temperature in what amounts to a tube in shell system. The motor oil is on the hot side tank (driver’s side) and the transmission is on the cold side (passenger side). As GM set this transmission exchanger system up it is bypassed until the transmission fluid temperature reaches 190 F. The radiator is regulating the hot side tank to 207 F and we get about a 20/22 degree reduction in sensible heat leaving the cold side at roughly 185 F in round numbers. That means the coolant is only 5 degrees colder than the transmission fluid. Still the fin fan part of this system is large enough to hold the line under normal operating conditions. There are two weakness with this plan. The transmission holds a bit over 12 quarts of fluid and it takes forever and a day to reach operating temperature in the winter and isn’t much of a hedge in the summer under more than moderate loads. That means in the winter the engine it being asked to rotate the transmission gears in what amounts to honey and in the summer it isn’t hard to push temperatures well past a sane operating temperature. First step was to lower the coolant temperature which we did by a nominal 35 degrees giving a cold side temperature of 150 F. Transmission fluid does not have the same thermal capacity of the coolant mixture so it can never get that cold. More like something along the 170 F range. That’s a pretty big lever during the summer. But this doesn’t help winter warm up at all. Thus the thermal bypass modification. As long as the transmission temperature is lower than the coolant temperature the trans temperature will be drawing heat from the system thus heating to operating temperatures more rapidly with no down side to summer conditions. Will this be enough? We’ll see.

May I ask why you wanted them upside down? I think I know but.....

Actually the worst transmission I've ever had was a first year TH700R. That one was so bad that GM was forced to fix it. Second worst was the early Ford AOD.

I'll be sure to tell my truck's 6L80E transmission about this. It has been picture perfect for nearly 60,000 miles. Evidently it doesn't know that it spoiling the others awful reputation.

And the shocks? Report please

Luke I love this truck in spite of all the whimper whiner blowback the K2XX receives from the forums. I have about 1400 hours on this set of bulbs and as I'm of the understanding that 2000 hours is about the limit it could be a good long while yet before I wring them dry...and I find the stock lights pretty good for the conditions I have to deal with. As you know I tour Pepper so light is important. http://bulbfacts.com/ Color is a big deal for me and a little goes a long way. 250 degrees is huge as would be an extra 200 lumens. I don't want to be that guy everyone swears at from two miles away. What's important is you have me looking. Thanks. On another note the transmission thermal bypass valve showed up so I picked it up today. Time to open her up and see what it's going to take. When I picked it up I got a nice surprise. 30% off. $50!!

I use 3M and love it. Friends dog clawed the sill straight away. Fix the scratch and clear taped it. Been perfect since.

From Peppers Project Manager Rex! GM Part # 13507547. It’s description is “Trans Fluid Thermal Bypass”. Is there a reason ‘Thermostat’ doesn’t work for these people? Cost is about $75 and I ordered one to modify. It’s less than aftermarket most expensive and doesn’t require an expensive refitting of the cooler circuit as even the cheaper than factory aftermarket units do. I’m pretty sure I will be money ahead on this when I modify the original and it will look and hook up factory stock because…well….it is factory stock. I had been told that the 2500 pickups with the 6L80 or 90 transmissions haven’t a thermal bypass in the cooler circuit but a connection block instead. It isn’t separate either and the ‘block’ is part of the cooler piping which is, again, different than the 1500’s, Nothing is going to be easy. Or interchangeable. Per my VIN and onsite inspection this trucks trans cooler in indeed and fact the passenger side radiator tank. That differs from information on this site in threads where a remote filter is installed in line. After passing through the radiator it does not make a pass through the top two rows of the AC exchanger either. Lines are standard 3/8 but the fittings shown to be on the transmission are in fact those found at the radiator. In essence not one piece of information was correct. That said I have a starting point for this project. Project Scope: 1.) Shorten transmission fluid temperature warm up times. 2.) Increase winter fluid operation temperature. 3.) Lower summer peak load temperatures. 4.) Targeting 170 – 190 F Project Method: 1.) Bypass factory 190 F thermostat. 2.) Collect data. 3.) Add cooling or control end point as needed mechanically. Dressed for Dinner

Delete junk post

Me. I care. According to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the average American driver (Joe Average) puts in 13,474 miles behind the wheel each year. (2015 data) Stat's places the oldest trucks in this series at 54K. Any truck reporting, that logged more than 13,474 miles per year, is indeed and in fact a high mileage truck by any measure that matters. You will find that out when you sell it to a dealer or obtain financing. Ergo your condescension aimed at those that offered statistically valid information in good faith and in willing participation do not deserve the contempt and error filled oration unjustly laid on them. Opinions are not facts. Not even yours.

55,000 mile service. Quaker State 5W20 full synthetic and WIX filter. Rotate tires after pulling a nail and making a repair. Plug and boot. Thank you Deegan's. 7/32" left in tread and wearing well. Reset tire pressures to sticker 35 psig. Replaced fog lamp blubs with like and kind. Drivers side popped a week ago or so. Routine checks. All is good. Wife is a nail magnet. If there is one in the county she'll find it.

So in a short 5 year run just how many miles do you think Joe Average will (not can) put on one? How many 'war stories' can a five year old tell. Reports sound about right given the short and recent time period. I start seeing twenty current examples of the now average 2.5 years with a half million miles on them the BS meter will peg. Or is 'fake new' more the style these days. Their reporting reality. Let it be.