Read the second paragraph in my post right above your post: "I don't think that this is a realistic number." And Brutus: It's 26.93 mpg, not 33mpg. Here is the point once again. It is "possible" to come up with some real gas mileage wonders, depending on how you check mileage. But it also possible that a V6 can get very good gas mileage, although I don't think that you will ever be convinced of it. I just recounted what I actually did and the actual result to illustrate the difference between city and highway mileage. It looks like a touched some nerve so I will stay off this topic.
Also the measurement error is more significant for such a small amount of gas to go to fill up. If your measurement was off by 0.25 gallons it could throw the mileage off by 4 mpg. It would be easy to be off by 0.2 gallons too, especially since you filled up twice in that measurement. The first time the pump could have let you put in 0.125 gallons extra and then the second time the pump could have shut off 0.125 gallons early. Lots of factors can affect the measurement like whether the nozzle is in all the way, how hard you're squeezing the lever, if you're using the same pump, if the truck parked in the same spot (i.e. same levelness) both times, etc.
Note, I'm not saying 27 is impossible with a V6 (especially if it's driven conservatively), I've gotten 21 several times with my big Vortec 5.7L, but you really need to go a full tank to get anywhere near a repeatable precision. -powerisfun
tuscon, don't misinterpret the tone of my post. I didn't mean to sound condescending. I was only making the point that to get a true mpg indicator, you really need to test it on the hwy for a few hundred miles.
I'm also not saying that a V-6 won't get better mpg. I just wanted to make the point that some of the heavier full size trucks won't get significantly better mpg with a six cylinder.
I think that your mpg info will be very useful in this topic area, especially if you can get out on the hwy for a few hundred mile trip. If you live in Tuscon, a RT to Phoenix would give us some firm numbers that we could compare to owners of the same setup as you with the V-8. That's a pretty wide open run on I-10.
I made a trip through that area in 1995 when I lived in Southern CA and went to visit my brother when he was stationed at Ft. Huachuca. I drove through AZ again in late 1997 when I moved from CA to Dallas, but I took I-40 that trip and stopped at the Grand Canyon. Personally, I think one of the most scenic stretches of hwy in AZ is the 30-40 miles I-15 goes through the state.
I am a first time truck buyer and do not want to make a mistake in this truck as I will have it for a long time. I going to order a 1500 GMC extended 4 door cab with 5.3, 2 wheel, locking diff. and am not sure which rear end I want, 3.42 or 3.73. Can some one help me on gas milage between the both or explain the difference. Is 3.73 a lot better for towing or pickup but a lot less in gas mileage?
With my 10'11" Bigfoot slide-in truck camper in the bed, plus passengers and gear for a trip, my camper/truck combo tips the scale just under 12,000 pounds. I average 8.5-9 mpg on the hwy, including numerous mountain passes since I live in Alaska. I can get close to 10 if I get on flat hwy or keep the speed down around 55. I know someone with almost an identical setup, except that he has a 99 PSD rather than the 99 V-10. He gets 4-5 mpg better than me.
I'm certainly not going to complain about that kind of mpg with that kind of load. The 4.30 axle ratio keeps me in OD quite a bit until I get to a pretty good climb. For me personally, the 4.30 with my camper is well worth the mpg sacrifice.
gtt, the 11.9 is a mix of city/hwy, right? Like I said, with the 4.30 and duallys, I get that kind of mpg on the hwy. My commute to work is 15 miles one way, so I'm logging 30 miles per day in a mix of city/hwy. I average 9.5+ for that trip. Even in the winter with winter fuel and 4wd locked in most of the time, I'm getting 9ish. I'd suspect with the 3.73, your mpg would be 1.5-2mpg better than me, especially if you have a SRW instead of a dually.
3.73 gets the same, maybe even better gas mileage than the 3.42. the 3.42 is a little too tall, 3.73 is just about right. Get the 3.73, get better power, and better mileage.
I agree with cdean. Unless you live in a place that is totally flat and all your driving is highway, I think you'll actually get better mileage with the 3.73. Just so you can have a data point, my truck ('98 GMC K1500 ext-cab, 5.7L, auto, 3.73's) gets 18-19.5 highway in the winter and 19.5-21+ mpg in the summer. This is driving 65 mph. The newer 5.3L is actually more efficient, so yours should get that going 70-75 mph on the highway (once it's fully broken in, that is. My mileage kept going up till about 7-8000 miles). Keep in mind that because of the bigger tires on trucks the effective-axle-ratio-compared-to-a-car is quite a bit less than 3.73, in fact, you can calculate it in comparison to a car as follows:
Reff = (Dcar/Dtruck)*3.73
where Reff = effective axle ratio Dcar = tire diameter of average car Dtruck = tire diameter of your truck
For my truck, the tire diameter is 31 inches (P265/75R-16's) and for my wife's car the tire diameter is 26 inches That makes my truck's Reff = 3.12. Most non-performance cars have axle ratios around 2.8-2.9, so you can see 3.12 not all that gas-piggish, and besides because of the added weight, trucks need a little lower gearing for good acceleration. -powerisfun
INFO: '97 C1500 Ex.cab SB 5.7 Auto,3.42 15 local 20 highway '99 silverado 1500,Ex cab,SB, 5.3 Auto, LS, 3.73 14 local 19 highway The '99 would pull my 34' TT with the'97 hooked to I beleve. Go with the 3.73.
That is the average over the month and half I've had the truck. Today I went 225 miles on 16.125 gal= 13.9 mpg 90% flat at 70-75 mph. I noticed speed kill the mileage, using the Lariat computer 55 mph for 45-50 miles, I got 18 mpg. On the other hand at 75 for the same route, it dropped to 13-14 or so.(I know the computer is not the most accurate thing in the world) But as soon as I hit 2500 miles, the V10 woke up and finally had some of the power I paid for.
The computer is pretty accurate. I also have the Lariat. You're right about the speed knocking down the mpg. With the 4.30 axle ratio, its even more noticable. At 55mph running empty on straight hwy in Texas, no wind, I got 13.8 once running empty, but who drives 55? Like I said, at 70-75, I'm at 11.5-12. With your 3.73s, that 13.9 is right in line with what I've been hearing (13.5-14.5 average for 70ish).
By the way, diesel at the station up the street was only $.03 more per gallon than 87 octane, or so the sign advertised. It doesn't appear that we have some of the big discrepencies up here in Anchroage between the cost of diesel and gas.
Thanks for running a mileage test and posting your numbers for all to see. I hope you'll also let us know your mpg numbers if you take a long highway trip. As a V6 fan, I'm interested in getting more data!
I hate to say it but, welcome to the club. As I posted earlier I have the exact same trouble with milage that you do. Even after installing dual exhaust with a much less restrictive muffler and replacing my air filter with a K&N I have seen no significant improvements in my mpg ( always 15 or less) I do seem to have a little more power, which I couldn't care less about. This truck already had all the power I required.
(note: I am not a lawyer, nor do I, or have I played one on TV. The following statements are not intended to be legal advise in any way)
As for collecting data to go after Ford, don't waste your time. Mpg is not a covered warranty issue with Ford. It is also not something that you can use most state lemon laws to pursue. ( As a note on Ford's concern for quality: oil use in a new vehicle is not considered to be significant until the vehicle is using a quart of oil every 800 miles) If you do decide to pursue this legally with Ford you need to know that Ford, like many other major auto manufacturers, has been bidding out their warranty legal work. That means that law firms bid to contract with Ford to handle all their legal work associated with warranty issues over a certain period of time. ( i.e. $500,000 to do all of Ford's warranty work in the midwest region for 1 year) This is important to you because any action you may choose to take against Ford has no financial impact, as associated with legal costs, on Ford at all. Depressing isn't it!
I wish I had some other information for you , but I don't. Just tell anyone who asks, what you think of your vehicle. Also try to ignore all those great comments from people saying that you could get the same milage in a V8. They seem to forget that the only information available on mpg, for this vehicle was mistakenly inaccurate, in the most gracious of worlds.
All mpg figures are based on a manufacturers test in ideal conditions, meaning no wind, flat surface, perfect amount of overcast, perfect elevation. To make the claims any manufacturer has made (not just Ford), they definitely have it well documented to CYA before they put it in writing on 100 of thousands of trucks. Ford is no different from other manufacturers when it comes to advertised mpg.
But really, tell me nobody buys a full size pickup (or any other type of vehicle) with mpg as a deciding factor without first going out and doing a little mpg research of their own to get real world figures, do they?
The top priority for my purchase of my current truck was GVWR and how the truck handled at the max. Before I trusted the GVWR rating of the truck that was provided by the manufacturer, I did a little research to find out if it really could handle the weight I wanted it to carry.
When you buy anything, you really need to do at least a little research beyond what the sellers (aka manufacturers) claim. Their info may be legally correct, but that doesn't mean it applies to your intended use, in your intended location.
Comments
And Brutus: It's 26.93 mpg, not 33mpg.
Here is the point once again. It is "possible" to come up with some real gas mileage wonders, depending on how you check mileage. But it also possible that a V6 can get very good gas mileage, although I don't think that you will ever be convinced of it.
I just recounted what I actually did and the actual result to illustrate the difference between city and highway mileage.
It looks like a touched some nerve so I will stay off this topic.
Note, I'm not saying 27 is impossible with a V6 (especially if it's driven conservatively), I've gotten 21 several times with my big Vortec 5.7L, but you really need to go a full tank to get anywhere near a repeatable precision.
-powerisfun
I'm also not saying that a V-6 won't get better mpg. I just wanted to make the point that some of the heavier full size trucks won't get significantly better mpg with a six cylinder.
I think that your mpg info will be very useful in this topic area, especially if you can get out on the hwy for a few hundred mile trip. If you live in Tuscon, a RT to Phoenix would give us some firm numbers that we could compare to owners of the same setup as you with the V-8. That's a pretty wide open run on I-10.
I made a trip through that area in 1995 when I lived in Southern CA and went to visit my brother when he was stationed at Ft. Huachuca. I drove through AZ again in late 1997 when I moved from CA to Dallas, but I took I-40 that trip and stopped at the Grand Canyon. Personally, I think one of the most scenic stretches of hwy in AZ is the 30-40 miles I-15 goes through the state.
Off topic,,,but if I remember right Ft. Huachuca is prononced,,,Ft. Sneeze (Wa-choo-ka).
I'm certainly not going to complain about that kind of mpg with that kind of load. The 4.30 axle ratio keeps me in OD quite a bit until I get to a pretty good climb. For me personally, the 4.30 with my camper is well worth the mpg sacrifice.
gtt, the 11.9 is a mix of city/hwy, right? Like I said, with the 4.30 and duallys, I get that kind of mpg on the hwy. My commute to work is 15 miles one way, so I'm logging 30 miles per day in a mix of city/hwy. I average 9.5+ for that trip. Even in the winter with winter fuel and 4wd locked in most of the time, I'm getting 9ish. I'd suspect with the 3.73, your mpg would be 1.5-2mpg better than me, especially if you have a SRW instead of a dually.
Keep in mind that because of the bigger tires on trucks the effective-axle-ratio-compared-to-a-car is quite a bit less than 3.73, in fact, you can calculate it in comparison to a car as follows:
Reff = (Dcar/Dtruck)*3.73
where Reff = effective axle ratio
Dcar = tire diameter of average car
Dtruck = tire diameter of your truck
For my truck, the tire diameter is 31 inches (P265/75R-16's) and for my wife's car the tire diameter is 26 inches
That makes my truck's Reff = 3.12. Most non-performance cars have axle ratios around 2.8-2.9, so you can see 3.12 not all that gas-piggish, and besides because of the added weight, trucks need a little lower gearing for good acceleration.
-powerisfun
'97 C1500 Ex.cab SB 5.7 Auto,3.42 15 local 20 highway
'99 silverado 1500,Ex cab,SB, 5.3 Auto, LS, 3.73 14 local 19 highway
The '99 would pull my 34' TT with the'97 hooked to I beleve. Go with the 3.73.
By the way, diesel at the station up the street was only $.03 more per gallon than 87 octane, or so the sign advertised. It doesn't appear that we have some of the big discrepencies up here in Anchroage between the cost of diesel and gas.
Regards,
Dan
(note: I am not a lawyer, nor do I, or have I played one on TV. The following statements are not intended to be legal advise in any way)
As for collecting data to go after Ford, don't waste your time. Mpg is not a covered warranty issue with Ford. It is also not something that you can use most state lemon laws to pursue. ( As a note on Ford's concern for quality: oil use in a new vehicle is not considered to be significant until the vehicle is using a quart of oil every 800 miles)
If you do decide to pursue this legally with Ford you need to know that Ford, like many other major auto manufacturers, has been bidding out their warranty legal work. That means that law firms bid to contract with Ford to handle all their legal work associated with warranty issues over a certain period of time. ( i.e. $500,000 to do all of Ford's warranty work in the midwest region for 1 year) This is important to you because any action you may choose to take against Ford has no financial impact, as associated with legal costs, on Ford at all. Depressing isn't it!
I wish I had some other information for you , but I don't. Just tell anyone who asks, what you think of your vehicle. Also try to ignore all those great comments from people saying that you could get the same milage in a V8. They seem to forget that the only information available on mpg, for this vehicle was mistakenly inaccurate, in the most gracious of worlds.
But really, tell me nobody buys a full size pickup (or any other type of vehicle) with mpg as a deciding factor without first going out and doing a little mpg research of their own to get real world figures, do they?
The top priority for my purchase of my current truck was GVWR and how the truck handled at the max. Before I trusted the GVWR rating of the truck that was provided by the manufacturer, I did a little research to find out if it really could handle the weight I wanted it to carry.
When you buy anything, you really need to do at least a little research beyond what the sellers (aka manufacturers) claim. Their info may be legally correct, but that doesn't mean it applies to your intended use, in your intended location.
please continue these discussions in Topic 1593 Gas Mileage - II.
Front Porch Philosopher
SUV, Pickups, & Aftermarket and Accessories Host