2007 GMC Canyon - It begins ;-)

[Longsnowsm]

Josh27, Very cool... Your getting amazing fuel economy already! I haven't slowed down and set the cruise at 55mph to see what this truck does at that speed. I will have to give it a try. You have some very large tires on your truck! What speed are you going in 5th gear at 2k rpm? What tire pressures are you running? Oh, and welcome to the forum!

Each day this week I have jumped in the truck and took it for about a 36 mile loop trying to get the injector cleaner and engine cleaner through the system. I am primarily working on the maint items on the truck at the moment. I will be replacing the plugs, and cleaning the MAF and Throttle body soon. I am considering a bump in tire pressures. The tire max psi is 50 on these tires and that is where I have them, I am considering bumping them to 52 or 55 psi. Also unrelated to the fuel economy I have a full plate of projects that I have to fix or replace on the truck. Just part of the buying a used vehicle experience I guess... I always factor in that I will have to spend some money getting whatever I buy fixed and the way I want it. So those projects are under way also...

Yesterday I finally went out and calibrated my Ultragauge to this truck. It turns out my math calculations were off. I had estimated a difference between the speedo and the actual speed according to the GPS and I was off. So I have been using a factor of 1.0833 for the multiplier to get a number for the miles travelled due to the size of the tires. Well yesterday I used the odometer output from the app on my phone using the GPS and it turns out the factor is a little over 1.11. So my calculations were a little off. So that would mean that last tank of mixed driving would have been about 25.44 mpg. Around town the truck likes to suck the fuel fast! So it took me a few runs to dial in that number so that it is somewhat close and the Ultragauge shows the correct speed and distance in the trip. That will make is a lot easier now to get a read on what is going on now that the gauge is reflecting more true to life numbers. Now I just have to learn how to drive this thing!

[Longsnowsm]

Ok, modifications for the day on the truck. I am a big believer in filtration. Air and oil filtration are right at the top of the list. If you want to understand the value and importance of filtration and how it can help I suggest you pop over to the BobistheOilGuy forums and get an education in oil, additives, and filters. So on the filter front I added my Amsoil air filter to the truck today. I don't expect a fuel economy change, but I do expect go get better filtration and a reusable filter that I won't have to toss into a land fill for a very very long time.

Second mod I completed today was a safety issue. When I purchased the truck recently it had a bad seat belt receiver for the drivers seat. The housing was cracked and apparently there was a wiring issue. The seat belt alarm continued to go off even when it was fastened. So I finally got the part, and some massive torx bits to remove the old one and I managed to get that replaced. Mechanics should be called contortionists... I don't know how they do what they do all day... Getting your hands into these small spaces and cutting the tar out of your hands fishing wires into spaces that hands shouldn't be isn't much fun! The good news is that I got it replaced and it now works properly in my initial test in the driveway.

And that is all I have for mods today... :-)

[oil pan 4]

You can toss the steel mesh air filters into a scrap metal bin. Or burn the paper filter.

[Longsnowsm]

I really do look forward to the day when products that are produced and sold are specifically made to be completely recycled, or refreshed and used again. It really is a shame that we are forced to waste so much. I prefer the reusable filter if possible, but I am still not happy by the fact that it is made of stuff that will end up in a land fill eventually... Maybe not as soon as the other products, but still soon enough and will not break down. Even my paper filters are still made with plastics and other things that cannot be burned without dumping stuff in the air. That isn't cool. I am into this partially because of the environmental impacts of the choices and actions we take. I would really like to see companies change the focus. How about a "refillable" air filter. You walk into a store, or order the refill online and get just the filter element that you reload/refresh yourself. That is what I am attempting to do with my bypass filter. No more cartridges, but just replace the filter element itself and eliminate so much of the waste. It is a baby step in the right direction but we have a long way to go.

[JRMichler]

My truck is still on the original factory air filter at 98,000 miles. And it's still good.

[Longsnowsm]

Thats cool to hear that your stock filter is holding up. I am hoping the same with this microfiber reusable filter that if I take care of it that it may outlast the vehicle. I guess time will tell. Fingers crossed.

[Longsnowsm]

I am not really doing any testing yet, just taking the truck for a spin as often as I can to keep moving the injector cleaner through it and the engine cleaner. I have a route that I have been driving that really isn't going to work for MPG testing, but since I finally have the UG dialed in I slowed down and payed attention tonight. The loop I am driving is 19.3 miles, there is are 16 traffic lights, and the spaces between the lights vary between 45 mph to 65 mph. The drive out on this loop is a climb in elevation of probably 500-800 ft. I am at a higher elevation here so that may be an advantage as far as fuel economy is concerned. Still no real ecomods to the truck, but I kept the speed at 55 on the 65 mph stretches of road and looks like the round trip economy on the UG is reporting a 34.4 mpg. I will try some runs at the PSL and see how that looks and watch the impact to the round trip. Of course it will vary by the number of lights I get stopped at and the amount of traffic. Tonight seemed to move somewhat smoothly even with traffic with only about 3-4 stops each direction for about 6-8 stops. This will at least give me some ideas of what to expect as I move to the next steps in the ecomods.

Right now I am still working to flush a couple tanks of fuel through the truck with cleaner and a another engine flush and oil change once I have completed the fuel cleaning routine before I start the ecomods. Not sure if it will be the synth fluids or the tonneau cover first... I guess I will flip a coin. :-)

[Longsnowsm]

Ok, so I am poking around on the truck forums looking for air dam info... OMG, these guys almost alway jerk the factory chin spoiler off the truck as soon as they get them... So I was sitting here scratching my head... WTH? Do I even have the factory chin spoiler on my truck? <runs out to my truck> Well CRUD! I don't have the spoiler on my truck! So first things first I am going to get a replacement OEM spoiler put back on the truck. I just found one for $34 shipped free to the door on eBay. So I went ahead and ordered one. I will do my baseline test without the chin spoiler to see how much of a difference that makes and then decide how much lower than that I should go.

So just thought I would mention it here... I had no idea that the factory spoiler was missing. So this should help a little bit once I get that reinstalled.

[oil pan 4]

What can I say. Most truck guys are idiots.

Since you have a 2wd and I am going to guess you aren't taking it off road much you should put the OEM chin spoiler on there (since you already bought one) but before you do, make it bigger.
Ford added 75mm to their chin spoilers back in 2008 to "help increase fuel economy".

[Longsnowsm]

Thanks, I am scanning the truck forums now to see if others have extended it, and if so by how much. I found one guy that made a nice extension on his truck, but it lasted all of 2 days before his driveway ripped it off. Which has me thinking a bit.

I do take the truck off road, but generally driving across my pasture and around my property in MO. But nothing extreme. There is also the snow factor that I am thinking about also. I will start measuring and thinking about how I can do this. Possibly make the extension removable for bad weather or if I find myself in a spot where I need the clearance. I will pick up some landscape edging and start toying with some ideas. I will start by measuring how much clearance I have now going into or exiting out of my driveway... :-)