easy mpg improvements?

[carrmann]

Disappointed so far with the mpg of my 2011 chevy. It has 3.42s and the 5.3l. Im only seeing a little under15mpg currently. I just put 32.5" toyo open country H/D (265/65/18) tires on it. It also has a 4" readylift. Im normally very good at getting good FE and am surprised by this. I can usually achieve highway mpg in town etc in most vehicles I drive. When I got it it had safari tsr 275/70/18s and a bad alignment, I thought those were the cause but I was wrong.

 

Are there any tried and true inexpensive things I can do for an increase in mpg? it has 54k miles on it, fresh plugs and a fresh air filter. Im thinking I may try LRR tires instead of the toyos if I can find some with the proper load handling. Maybe in a 255/70/18 to get closer to stock gearing.

Any input would be greatly appreciated! Yes, I know its a truck and it wont get great mpg... but my old 97 3/4 ton ram 2500 with a gas eating 360 got 15-16 around town with 4.10 gears. I also plan on swapping to synthetic at my first oil change (It had one just 400 miles ago or I'd change it now).

[kstruckcountry]

Pull the lift and put on OE size tires if you really want MPGs. There's no 2 ways about it. You can't expect any kind of good mileage 4" higher than stock. But IMO 15 is decent for a lifted truck.

[SILVERADOSC540]

is the under 15 in town or on the highway? Your hwy mileage should have gone up slightly on relatively flat terrain, down in city.If you're more worried about city mpg then re-gear or downsize the tires.

[carrmann]

mixed driving. going to try and reduce time warm up idling.

i was afraid that would be the first recommendation lol. not sure how hard it will be to put it back to stock lift (I didnt install the lift, bought the truck with it). I was assuming that would be one way to help it out. Seems even with 3.42s the truck is high geared with the 32.6" tires on the highway as it needs to downshift almost constantly on hills if I dont want to bleed a lot of speed.

was hoping to hear some 'cheap easy tricks' for mpg improvement, removing air silencer or crap like that.

silveradosc540 nice truck man!

[kstruckcountry]

Constant downshifting will definitely kill mileage. There's really no silver bullet. I have done a few things on my 2006 and all in all there has been little effect on MPG. Big bumper, no loss. Magnaflow muffler, maybe +1/4 MPG. AirAid MIT intake tube, no change. 10 ply AT tires, no change. BlackBear custom tune, no change.

 

 

That being said, every single one of those things has made me love my truck even more. I'd start with a custom tune, it will make you smile when you drive the truck, good mileage or not! It may help your MPG though because it will shift and hold gears better. Not much effect on mine as I have 3.73's and rarely downshift.

[SILVERADOSC540]

Thanks carrmann. Sounds like a tire or gear swap, neither real cheap so I guess it depends on what you like more. I guess with a lift a smaller tire might not look so good. Also consider how long you'll have the truck. no sense in spending a grand on tires or gears to save 700 bucks in fuel before a sell or trade.

[carrmann]

I just got it, plan on owning it at least a year or 2. It needed tires when I bought it, so thats not really an issue. Swapping to stock height, not sure how much that would cost, it did come with a lot of the stock parts so mostly time and effort vs money. I like the looks of the lift etc, but not so great fuel economy isnt worth looks IMO. its a good looking truck stock lol. would probably look WEIRD with stock height tires vs 33.5" tires (what was on it when I bought it). The 32.6" toyos dont look 'out of place' but they do look a little smaller and have a very non aggressive tire design vs the TSRs.

 

will not be doing gears as the cost of doing front/rear at the same time would be pretty high up there.

[Silverado4x4]

Put it this way if you spend the money to return to stock or change gears that money can buy you a hell of a lot of fuel to gain a few extra MPG'S. You have to look at it of that extra mpg's you get per tank say its 20 more it would take you like 5-8 years to get back the money you spent returning to stock, do the math, and as far as returning to stock suspension I don't see it happing unless you find a doner truck to get the parts off of that and put them of yours that the parts they cut of installing the lift.

 

Truck warm up time greatly reduces mpg's and the truck is cold so the motor runs a little on the rich side till its up to operating temp. So bottom line is you will burn more fuel in the cold months.

[carrmann]

the truck needed tires when I bought it (ones that were on it were SHOT). it came with i believe MOST of the stock suspension stuff to put it back to stock (i will probably be missing a few bolts, definitely missing 1 u bolt) which shouldnt be expensive to acquire. I will be able to install the stuff myself.

yea it does, Im quite aware lol!! temperatures in the negatives makes it hard NOT to do that though especially with leather seats haha.

so Im going to go with stockish size tires, LRR (either stock height or .5" taller than stock). taking the lift off in the spring or if my friend has space in his biggggg garage for me to pull it in to work on.

[mike94silverado]

Pull the lift and put on OE size tires if you really want MPGs. There's no 2 ways about it. You can't expect any kind of good mileage 4" higher than stock. But IMO 15 is decent for a lifted truck.

x2 you can't mod like that and expect to retain mileage. I just leveled and put BFG's on and only lost 3 mpgs I'm shocked. I thought I would have lost more

[carrmann]

last truck was a cummins with 34.5" tires and a leveling kit. would get about 18-20 in town, 22-24 highway. sat higher than my truck does with the 4" lift. so i didnt think a 4" lift would affect a truck rated 21mpg highway THAT much lol. oh well. I can fix the tire issue now, will fix the lift issue when I have garage access or this spring.

[kstruckcountry]

Turning big tires doesn't affect a big diesel very much, half tons are more sensitive lol.

[ujtruck]

I too tried every advice on Internet, but no go, its time to make more money, so i will not feel MPG

[HawkScot]

There are no magic beans generally speaking. You have to be very disciplined and take every advantage, drive very conservative, slowing down early (coasting), not accelerating hard... just getting on it a time or two per tank will destroy your average.

[carrmann]

lol.. I guess the diesels arent 'sensitive' haha!

 

yea, im pretty familiar with hypermiling etc. some vehicles have magic beans you can remove/replace to pick up 1 or 2 mpg etc. thats why i asked lol. my stock size tires will be in,in a few days and are LRR as well so hopefully that helps.