Thanks to the great information on this site, I hit my goal of 30 mpg from my work truck.
Let me start with info on the truck. It's a 2003 Chevrolet S10 extended cab step side. I have about 85k miles on it. It has a 2.2 four cyl engine with a 5 speed tranny. The truck is lowered 2" in the front and 3" in the back. It has 18" wheels with 235/50/18 non LRR tires. It also has a 4.10 rear end which really hurts.
Before I joined this site, I was getting about 26 mpg per tank. I bought a scan gauge ii for my birthday and while looking for info on it I stumbled upon this site. I joined right away.
After reading and digesting a ton of info on this site, I started my mods. Firstly I was due for an oil change so I went with Mobil 1 fuel economy 0w 30 full synthetic motor oil. While I had the truck in my shop I also did a radiator flush on it. I then looked at the tires and saw that the max sidewall pressure was 44 psi, so I aired them all up to 45 psi. I then pulled off my factory air dam and used duct tape to seal off the fake foglight holes from behind. I also pulled the entire grill and blocked off half of it using the same duct tape from behind method. After reassembly you can hardly notice any of the duct tape and it all looks very factory and isn't noticable. I began to see the results right away. However, the greatest mod I have is the scan gauge. It has taught me how to drive my truck for maximum MPG. I can't say enough for this device. If you don't have one you should get one and make it your first mod.
I use this truck to commute to work and occasionally pull a small trailer and haul stuff for the house. The tank I just used was all commuting to work with no hauling or towing. My commute to work is about 48 miles per day round trip. I have a choice of 3 routes to work. One is all highway with the speed limt of 65 mph (avg mpg of this route 28.1mpg). Secondly is a country back road speed limit 45 (avg mpg of up to 34 mpg). Lastly is the beach road speed limit 25. The beach road is currently under construction and I haven't been able to get a true reading taking this route as there are many detours. I used the country route for this entire tank.
So, after all this I averaged
30.1 mpg from this tank of fuel, just barely beating my goal of 30 mpg.
I have had trips to and from work with averages of up to 34.7 mpg, but a hard rain one day took my average mpg down quite a bit. I really thought my average would be around 31 mpg but I came up just short. I am not complaining though. Seeing an increase of around 4 mpg is more than I had hoped for. I owe it all to the information I received from this site. You guys are great.
So what now? Well I may have to set a new goal.
I have a few more mods I want to try. I have a bottle of synthetic gear oil for my rear end, I used this mod in my last truck and did see an increase in MPG. I'd really like to install an electric fan from a Ford Taurus, a popular mod for S10s. I also would like to build some underpans for the truck, it's very unaero down there. I'll be riding my motorcycle the rest of the week, I'll have to see how high I can get it's MPG 8)
I'll keep reading all the threads from this forum and keep modding my truck for MPG. You guys have really helped me and I greatly appreciate it. Sorry for the long post but I was really excited to share my success. Take care guys and gals and thanks again.