I have had some success with large trucks and hypermiling. Most of the tips here are great, but as it has been said before, getting that monster rolling is where you are burning most of your fuel. Therefore I suggest the following.
During acceleration find your sweet spot. These beasts usually have pretty good torque therefore a brisk acceleration into an ideal cruising speed is usually more efficient than a long drawn out acceleration to cruising speed.
On these big beasts I have found that 40mph is usually a nice city speed for efficiency. On the highway, hehe ... learn to drive 55 my friend.
Coast as much as possible. With properly inflated tires that beast should coast very well in neutral and subsequently, pick an empty parking lot somewhere and practice Engine Off Coasting. They are hard to manuever in turns but could save you tons in straight away approaches to lights. Otherwise, kill your idle time by shutting down at lights and remove drive thrus of all kinds from your routine.
If you go that route, consider installing a push button starter which would be easier than turning the key, plus look into disabling your column steering lock if possible to avoid locking the wheel accidentally.
If you do not tow, look into smaller mirrors I am sure the flaps you have on either side are good for at least 1mpg on their own. Also remove any roof rack you may have up top.
These tips I bring to you from Hypermiling an 06 F-250 Diesel which went from an abismal 8mpg to 19mpg with just sensible driving.
__________________
Thx NoCO2; "The biggest FE mod you can make is to adjust the nut behind the wheel"
I am a precisional instrument of speed and aeromatics
If your knees bent in the opposite direction......what would a chair look like???
next time you need tires get as narrow of tires as you can for those rims, you might also see what you can get for narrower or lighter weight rims from a salvage yard, of course ally rims are not always lighter so bring a simple hanging scale, or read up on the specs.
the under side of that vehicle is the biggest air drag, make it smooth and make your air dam hang down as much as possible, flat rubber belting, or convayer belting has been used by someone on here, it flex's if you hit something.
synthetic fluids all the way.
you have a common American engine, hot rod catalogs have pages of electric water pumps, electric radiator fans, air intake add ons that smooth the air flow, of course not every race designed part improves mileage or lasts as long as the stock part, so keep that in mind before buying.
Not to mince words, but if I were to go 12 to 18, that'd be the same as you going from 24 to 36, not 72.... that would be like me going from 12 to 36. Not happenin'. FWIW, I had a 87 'burban for a while that was fuel injected, it didn't do much better on gas. 14mpg around town at best.
Synthetic, not a bad idea. Fan, not a bad idea. Engine swap to a 4cyl? Wow.... The V8 it has (a 350) doesn't make more horsepower than that 145hp ecotec, but it would probably take a couple of those ecotec's to get the torque. Torque makes cars go, not horsepower. Horsepower just *keeps* them going. Ah its a useless subject.
Hi, My name is Ryan, and I drive a gas guzzler.
Hey Ryan! Can you tell us a little more about where you rack up your miles? Around Reno? Or do you have to get into the mountains and run up and down 385? Knowing where your burning your fuel will help.
You could do better - even 30 MPG - but will take a lot.
Back about time this vehicle was made GM made a one-off 'Burb with a 6.2 NA diesel and 2.73 gears that got 30 MPG.
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! Since diesel is selling for about a dollar more than it should,maybe GM,with it's bailout money,might be courteous and respectful enough to release such a vehicle real soon,to honor our president's wishes to combat the US addiction to foreign oil,mitigate global climate change CO2,reduce terrorist funding through petro-dollars,and help heal an economy being bled white from capital flight to OPEC.
Common that thing has TONS of torque, and I know since its 4x4 there must be A LOT of aftermarket gears out there, lower and higher.
Just get the lowest gears out there, your massive torque will be enough to move that thing probably at 1,300 rpm @ 60mph. THEN you will definitely see a BIG improvement.
Its not how big the engine is that matters, is how you use that power. I am still in the school of thought that you can have a 10L 1,200HP engine get 40mpg; just cruise down the highway at 900rpms and your set.
'Good on ya' for doing what you can to optimize mpg when driving this beast. If you use as many as possible of the tips here you'll certainly do better than without them.
I formerly drove a Volvo 240 wagon, EPA 17/22, and in good summer weather got 30-32 mpg out of it on a 1-hour, 60-mile highway commute. I didn't do any weight reduction in terms of parts removal but I did some other mods and changed my driving habits, similarly to what you've been doing. Notes on my mods to that car are here: Sven - Volvo 240 wagon
I'm not saying you should do the same mods I did. But I do think that combining whatever mods and driving techniques you can, will give you good gains.
Good luck on it!
And may a far more FE vehicle, suitable to your needs, drop into your lap at little or no financial cost to you! Be sure to grab it when it appears.
BP
__________________ Coast long and prosper.
Driving '00 Honda Insight, acquired Feb 2016.
I know, a big 3/4 ton 4wd suburban, probably not much that can be done. It does have a huge wing on the back that causes air to curve down the rear of the truck at the rear doors.
Would I be better off to take this off? It doesn't serve any purpose as far as I can tell.
I cannot really do any other mods, perhaps put some spoilers (or whatever they're called) ahead of the wheels to smooth out turbulence around them.
I already drive as conservatively as I can, and will be getting a vacuum gauge soon.
Thanks for any advice. TTFN!
'86...is that the half electric quadrajet on that motor or throttle body?
If its TBI then you may want to consider one of those TB spacers. They are supposed to give ya little boost in mileage. If its still a quadrajet then never use the secondaries (they are huge and suck a ton of fuel).
As for the rear "spoiler"...I would want to research it more to find out if its helping with the Cd or hindering it. If its hindering can it be modified to be a vortex generator?
btw, if its a carb on your truck I saw a really cool experiment a guy on an old landcruiser forum did (IH8MUD.com). He swapped out his 4barrel carb and put on a 1 barrel. He disconnected his fuel tank line for the test and used a 1 gallon gas can mounted in the engine compartment. He ended up with HUGE fuel mileage gains. A stock FJ40 landcruiser usually gets single digit mileage. One with a v-8 usually gets 10-12. He was closer to 20mpg...and thats with the aerodynamics of a brick (the weight too cause they tend to weigh around 4500lbs).
The numerically lowest gears he could get for his front axle would be 3.55s. It would be cheaper and more effective to convert to a T-56 manual. OD = 0.5:1.
There are kits out there for converting GM vehicles.
__________________ 2000 Ford F-350 SC 4x2 6 Speed Manual
4" Slam
3.08:1 gears and Gear Vendor Overdrive
Rubber Conveyor Belt Air Dam
There are so many good suggestions already in this thread. Electric fan and synthetic fluids come immediately to mind. They're low cost (relatively) and almost certain to help your FE. In any case, use the thinnest fluids that GM recommends for your climate. Maybe thinner, if you have good reason to feel confident that no damage will result.
A standard trans conversion would likely net a large gain but you have to gauge that vs. the cost and complexity of the project.
i_am_socket mentioned a boattail.
I'd estimate that on a vehicle of that size and shape a boattail would be a big aero improvement. Of course, it would be big, period. Definitely worth considering. Check out basjos' Civic for inspiration. basjoos civic
Check your state's motor vehicle regulations first. Here in CT I was told you can't install anything permanent rear of the rear bumper. I wasn't going to get into an argument about tow hitches; I just wanted to hear what the guy would say. Check your state before cutting/building.
__________________ Coast long and prosper.
Driving '00 Honda Insight, acquired Feb 2016.
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