Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - View Single Post - New Guy / Guess my MPG ('05 GMC Canyon Crew Cab 4x4 Z71)

KY_Canyon · 02-28-2012, 10:38 PM

Hey all. Long time Lurker ~ First time User. I live & work in the rolling hills of Kentucky. My daily work commute is 65 miles (round trip). This consists 80/20 hwy/city. The hwy portion is 4-lane 70MPH, which I generally drive at 73 mph or so.

At the beginning of Feb I purchased a 2005 GMC Canyon Crew Cab Z71 4x4, 3.5L I5 / Auto with 68,000 miles. My first several tanks of fuel averaged right around 17.3 MPG (using cruise @ 70 MPH on the the highway portion of my drive). Now since this is a heavy 4-dr 4x4 truck with 30.5" inch tires with 10" wide tread, I didn't think that this was horrible. However, I know that it can be better. So, I immediately began searching for ways to improve the MPG.

Here's what I've done so far:
1) Drove a couple of trips with my OBD2 scanner to watch vacuum, throttle, load, fuel trim, etc. Trying to find inefficiency.
2) Replaced air filter - not expecting any gains.
3) Purchased a vinyl tonneau cover
4) Adjusted my driving style to eliminate cruise control (per my findings on my few trips monitoring).

After making these few changes, what does everyone think my MPG has gone to?

02-28-2012, 10:38 PM	#1 (permalink)
KY_Canyon EcoModding Lurker Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Kentucky (Go Cats!) Posts: 24 BigBlue - '05 GMC Canyon Crew Cab 4x4 Z71 90 day: 22.39 mpg (US) Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	New Guy / Guess my MPG ('05 GMC Canyon Crew Cab 4x4 Z71) Hey all. Long time Lurker ~ First time User. I live & work in the rolling hills of Kentucky. My daily work commute is 65 miles (round trip). This consists 80/20 hwy/city. The hwy portion is 4-lane 70MPH, which I generally drive at 73 mph or so. At the beginning of Feb I purchased a 2005 GMC Canyon Crew Cab Z71 4x4, 3.5L I5 / Auto with 68,000 miles. My first several tanks of fuel averaged right around 17.3 MPG (using cruise @ 70 MPH on the the highway portion of my drive). Now since this is a heavy 4-dr 4x4 truck with 30.5" inch tires with 10" wide tread, I didn't think that this was horrible. However, I know that it can be better. So, I immediately began searching for ways to improve the MPG. Here's what I've done so far: 1) Drove a couple of trips with my OBD2 scanner to watch vacuum, throttle, load, fuel trim, etc. Trying to find inefficiency. 2) Replaced air filter - not expecting any gains. 3) Purchased a vinyl tonneau cover 4) Adjusted my driving style to eliminate cruise control (per my findings on my few trips monitoring). After making these few changes, what does everyone think my MPG has gone to?