Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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-mike
I think you may be wrong there. I have a 2000 Trooper and there is a hesitation when it is cold and you put it in gear and I don't think it means the trannie is going bad. I think it is just the way Troopers work when cold. On the other hand, maybe wildbuc and I should both run out and check our transmission oil levels!
As for the brakes that SB mentioned, most brakes, especially the big ones we have need to come up to operatingtemp in order to be fully effective.
-mike
Since the condition isn't normal, you may have something else going on. First guess would be low fluid as Mike suggests, or something worse. I doubt you're out of warranty on a '99, so I'd take it in for a check if it isn't caused by low fluid.
Charlie
* If you've worked an auto xmsn hard (e.g., towing a heavy load) it's also a good idea to run the engine a for couple minutes in neutral before shutting off - provided you have a transmission cooler to dissipate the heat, which the Trooper does. We even have a transmission temperature sensor, although it's hooked up to an idiot light instead of a gauge ;-( Excessive heat cooks the fluid, which leads to decreased lubricity, which leads to premature wear. Running low on fluid can also overheat what fluid you do have.
-mike
If the 6 X 12 trailer is close to 5000 lbs loaded, and you are traveling over 100 miles, I would strongly suggest adding a tranny cooler to your Trooper. Coolers aren't that expensive.
David
-mike
11 mpg is something bad wrong. 11 mpg is what you should get pulling a 5000# trailer.
One guy a long while back either here or on ITOG.com posted 10 mpg and lots of drivetrain trouble, turned out he was driving around highway speed on dry pavement with his non-TOD trooper in 4wd. It was too late for him, needed lots of expensive non warrantee repair. If you have TOD I think you can run on dry pavement.
Maybe you have a real bad batch of gas.
Maybe the engine computer needs reprogramming.
Be sure to find out what it is soon.
Thank You
BoxTrooper
PS Don't forget to check your oil. I burned a quart in my first 1500 miles. Some people here burn 1/2 a quart or more per 3000 miles. I am lucky and have very little burn, but don't be alarmed it is common.
Since your truck has only a thousand miles on it, things are likely to get noticeably better in the next few thousand miles.
The problem could be as simple as an error in your arithmetic. Try again and see what happens making careful note of how much gasoline you put into your tank and the miles you drive.
tidester
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Regarding mileage, I have actually obtained 19.6 on trips but most often from 18 to 19 mpg. I do drive more conservatively than most, and use correct air pressure in tires.
Regarding oil use, I was adding a quart every 3000 miles until I switched to Mobil One around 6K miles. After successive oil changes since the change to Mobil One, I seem to be using less and less oil. My latest figure is 1/4th quart every 3K miles. It does seem important that the Trooper's oil level is measured on level ground. Ground variations seem to affect the reading more so than on most vehicles I have owned.
Conditions:
1) TOD Engaged
2) Heavy footed stop and go traffic (lots of small sprints)
3) Oxegenated fule
4) 500lbs worth of gear that I usually keep in the truck. (hitch, hitch bar, tools, floor jack, etc)
-mike
Anyway, I am doing a 5,000 mile oil change interval. Sometimes it will drop to the fill line after about 4K and I will add a little oil till the next change. I don't think that is too bad at all. When I was doing 3K intervals I never had to add any oil between changes. FWIW I use Mobil One 5W-30.
-mike
On the oil consumption thing, I checked the level before I left, and several times along the way, then again when I got back home. It consumed about 3/4 of a quart of Mobil 1 5W-30. This is my 01' Trooper and it has only 6250 miles on it now. I don't hold out much hope of seeing better mpg numbers as the engine accumulates miles. I have given thought to finding a later model rear-end and putting it under my 97' Trooper. That would couple a higher speed rear with the engine that is a bit more economical. Might yield around 20-22 mpg. Of course the cheapest way to get better mileage has already been mentioned previously... put on a size larger (diameter) tires. You won't see the mileage numbers improve in a straight calculation of mpg, but you will actually be going more miles than your odometer is registering. With the Trooper, there's plenty of engine so it will not load down and loose efficiency with a bit bigger tire. You could easily increase mileage 10-15% with the right tire size.
Oh yeah, great post on the windshield noise issue. That screen spline sounds like 'just the ticket' to cure the problem! Happy Trooping !!!
1. Bigger tires are heavier. The heavier the vehicle, the more energy (gas) needed to accelerate it. This actually affects city driving mileage more than highway mileage.
2. Bigger tires lift the vehicle, causing greater wind resistance drag, both from the larger profile of the tires and, more importantly, greater exposure of the undercarriage to the wind. This affects highway mileage more than city driving.
Also, in some cases bigger tires will have more rolling resistance due to their construction. LT tires have slightly higher rolling resistance than passenger tire, primarily due to stiffer sidewalls.
Obviously these are simplifications of real world conditions, but the bottom line is, bigger tires don't necessarily mean better mileage.
Paisan, what kind of differences are you noticing? I wouldn't call the gas mileage "good" to begin with.
Going from 245/70 to 265/75 tires is about a 7% change, equivalent to changing your differential gearing from 4.30:1 to 3.99:1 (while keeping the same tire size). As discussed above, this could theoretically improve gas mileage, but other factors may negate any advantage gained.
Not that I am an expert on gears or anything, that's just the way I understand it.
OK paisan, what has your experience been with your change in tire size?? Happy Trooping !!!
With the 5.6% larger diamter tires I am getting about 15-16mpg, with the stock tires I was getting 16-18mpg.
The best idea would be to run something like 245-80-16 or 245-75-16 with the same tread pattern as the stockers. Barring that, I believe that the larger diameter tires do hurt milage due to:
1) Weight. The pirelli Scorpion ATs I run now are considerably heavier than the stockers. Especially harmful because it is un-sprung weight.
2) Tread width. The tread is putting 30mm more tread x 4 onto the ground that ammountsto 120mm more surface area than what was there previously.
3) Tread pattern. The Stockers are not truely AT tires, so the AT treads on my Scorpions will present much more resistance than the smoother Duelers.
-mike
Now the Uh Oh.....slipping a higher speed rear-end under the Trooper won't work. The gearing in the rear and the front driveline have to match exactly for the 4X4 owners. I realized this last night when looking at my owners manuals. The gearing on the 01' model is 4.3 to 1 and on the 97' its 4.555 to 1.
The curb weight of the two vehicles is listed at about 100 lbs different, with the 97' being heavier. I assume they are assuming each vehicle to be 4X4 which my 01' is not. Thus my estimate of it being several hundred pounds lighter. Wish I had access to some truck scales to measure the difference. I KNOW it 'feels' lighter when driving the 01' and going across rough terrain. Happy Trooping !!!!
Yes, a narrower or same width tire with the same weight will yield better fuel economy, but you will also increase your rollover risk considerably by increasing the height w/o increasing the width. You would never catch me putting a narrower tread on a vehicle than what was stock, unless it was a car and they were snow tires and even at that it would be 205->195 or 215->205, not more than 10mm narrower.
-mike
-mike
Conversely the new tires do weigh more so it takes more energy to get them up to speed thus decreasing the mileage. They also have more tread so they theoretically flex more and use more fuel. Whether the new Michelins are better compounded and/or designed to offset this I do not know.
In any event, the net effect is that my mileage, adjusted for tire size, is up on the highway but just a hair less in the city.
-mike
Jim
P.S. For the record, I probably wouldn't have thought of it. At least not right away.
-mike
-mike
You could buy a new trooper, and import the 3rd row of seats from Australia? They fold against the outside windows.
-mike
The Yukon and Tahoe/Suburban 6.6L Duramax versions are delayed because there is such high demand for the Duramax pickups.
-mike
I would be interested in hearing more about this 96' model you have if you care to give me all the particulars on it. I own a 97' and these two years were pretty much identical. A 96' with reasonable miles and price would be appealing to me. Let me know.... you can contact me at bsmart10@hotmail.com if you like.
Happy Trooping !!! ;->