What does your tow rig get for gas mileage? (Part 2)

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Originally Posted by Tik-Tok

There's got to be something wrong with your truck. Unless you're driving 150km/h everywhere, then that would explain it.

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Originally Posted by Twin_Cam_Turbo

If he’s mostly city driving unloaded that’s pretty normal.

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Originally Posted by ExtraSlow

There very well could be. I mean, yeah, that's not pure highway mileage, but I don't think I have a tank of pure highway to test on.

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So, I finally got a long highway trip to test out non-towing highway mileage. Calgary to Edmonton, cruise set on 128 km/h, got 16.2 L/100km. The drive home I went slower, around 118 km/h and got 15.1L/100km. I'm certain if I stayed at legal speeds I'd be close to 14.
The 4.10 gearing for sure hurts mileage. But I rarely go anywhere without a trailer attached.

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Originally Posted by never

Mine’s an LBZ, pretty sure it has 3.73 and same size tire as you. Intake, exhaust and a few other mods plus custom EFI Live tunes from Kory Willis at PPEI. I usually run it on the 125 tune. When towing a heavier load, I run the tow tune.

And I used to have a different 2006 LZB with similar specs except a Diablo generic programmer...before tune/mods, I would usually see 13-14L/100km but after tune (usually ran the 150 with that truck), it was always 10-11L/100km...without a trailer.

Your gears will be hurting a bit but not that much.

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Turns out my truck has 3.73s after investigation of RPO codes more thoroughly. Now I’m even more worried. I went back to stock tune and my last tank mixed city and highway 70/30 was 14.0L/100km hand calculated.

If it helps, the more aggressive the tune, the better the mileage I got/get.

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Originally Posted by mzdspd

Truck: 2015 Sierra 2500HD, crew cab, 6.5 ft box
Engine: 6.0L Gas
Transmission: 6-Auto
Rear axle ratio: 4.10
Tire size:Stock, 265/70/18
weight of truck (including people and stuff in the bed): Not much in the truck, two people and a dog.
total weight of trailer: 1750 lbs dry slide in truck camper, probably 2000-2200 lbs with stuff in it.
towing speed: usually 95-105 on highway
modifications: Stock

Mileage seems to really vary with the wind..

Edmonton to Jasper, I was averaging 20-22 L/100k but on the drive back it was really windy so mileage was around 30 L/100k.
Overall, I seem to be getting around 22-24 L/100k on most trips.

I am planning a longer trip through BC (Nelson area) in the next few weeks so I will probably monitor mileage to see what I get on this trip.

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Just got back from BC, did about 2200 km through Crowsnest, Creston, Nelson and back through Revelstoke and to Edmonton. I averaged 20 L/100k, I was normally driving 95-100. Not too bad.

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Originally Posted by never

If it helps, the more aggressive the tune, the better the mileage I got/get.

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Interesting, I only tried the lowest state of tune on mine. Maybe I will turn it up to the towing tune or the lowest performance tune and try it.

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Originally Posted by never

If it helps, the more aggressive the tune, the better the mileage I got/get.

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This statement has a very big caveat. I know if i ran my performance tune while pulling my 5th, my transmission would likely explode. Its called a tow tune for a reason and i would caution running high HP tunes when towing heavy.

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Originally Posted by spike98

This statement has a very big caveat. I know if i ran my performance tune while pulling my 5th, my transmission would likely explode. Its called a tow tune for a reason and i would caution running high HP tunes when towing heavy.

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@Twin_Cam_Turbo was talking about his non-towing mileage.

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Originally Posted by spike98

This statement has a very big caveat. I know if i ran my performance tune while pulling my 5th, my transmission would likely explode. Its called a tow tune for a reason and i would caution running high HP tunes when towing heavy.

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I’ve only ever run stock or fuel economy tune when towing my trailer, haven’t even tried the tow tune. I’ve run the performance tune once for about 10km and feared for my injectors so went back to the fuel economy tune.

I’ve got a run to Ponoka and back towing a shit ton of furniture and a old Toyota truck this week, will log my mileage by hand as usual.

Wow I tried the performance tune for about 45km today around town and the DIC was definitely reading lower L/100km.

Hehehehehe you said dick.

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Originally Posted by Twin_Cam_Turbo

Wow I tried the performance tune for about 45km today around town and the DIC was definitely reading lower L/100km.

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Stock to 125 or 150 tune, I usually see a 2-3 L/100 km improvement. But it sounds like I drive slower than you do so that likely makes a difference too.

FYI, I have been running the 125 tune on that truck you looked at before I bought it, for the past 170,000 km. All the time except when towing heavier loads. I’d run the race tune all the time except I don’t like the torque management setup in that tune. A good diesel additive with every tank, a lift pump and no issues.

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Originally Posted by never

Stock to 125 or 150 tune, I usually see a 2-3 L/100 km improvement. But it sounds like I drive slower than you do so that likely makes a difference too.

FYI, I have been running the 125 tune on that truck you looked at before I bought it, for the past 170,000 km. All the time except when towing heavier loads. I’d run the race tune all the time except I don’t like the torque management setup in that tune. A good diesel additive with every tank, a lift pump and no issues.

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My tuner has stock, fuel economy, towing, performance and extreme. I stuck it on the performance tune which is supposed to be +85HP and +185LBFT. I do add a diesel additive every fill up as well. I generally am driving like a grandma, I usually stick to the speed limit maybe 5 over but I’m doing mostly city driving.

On my journey today (a long one thanks to a tire blowout) averaged 19.5L/100km according to my DIC. Trailer was around 11000lbs loaded, truck is around 7000lbs so 18000lbs combined. 95-100km/h average on the way up loaded, 118km/h on the way back unloaded (12000lbs total) with a few sprints up to 140-150km/h. Ran it on the towing tune.

Ran full tank of pretty much just towing. 4500lb trailer and lots of hills, usually 90-110kph. 20.02L/100km hand calculated

Truck is a 2008 GMC Sierra 1500 with the 5.3, 4" lift and 285/70/17 AT tires

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Originally Posted by FraserB

Ran full tank of pretty much just towing. 4500lb trailer and lots of hills, usually 90-110kph. 20.02L/100km hand calculated

Truck is a 2008 GMC Sierra 1500 with the 5.3, 4" lift and 285/70/17 AT tires

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The 4 speed vs later 6 speed in the later GMT900s is definitely worth 1-2L/100km towing I find.

Symons Valley RV Storage -> Hamptons -> Ardrossan -> Castrol Raceway -> Hamptons -> Symons Valley RV Storage. Approximately 19000lbs GCWR (two cars in the trailer). 21.3L/100km on the way up, 18.6L/100km on the way back. 06 Duramax, hand calculated. Speeds were 100-105km/h on cruise, peak speed was 133km/h.

Fuck, that's awesome. I get the same numbers towing 5200'ish lbs (gasser of course)

Reset my best unloaded economy at 12.4L/100km. 80% highway 20% city keeping it to 5km/h over, touched 150-170 roughly 5-6 times passing. 20 mins idle time included. 11 cents per km cost.

My truck is a fuckin pig with a trailer hooked to it. I don't know the weight because it was too hot to bother this weekend, but I pulled a 8.5x23' enclosed v-nose trailer to Medicine Hat and back. 100-110 the whole way, and I roughly calculated 11mpg (25L/100km). I normally get double that, or half that in metric, unloaded. Diesel is about 50 cents a liter more expensive than gas right now too.

You got 25L/100km on diesel??¡?!
That seems terrible. I thought newer ones would get as bad as 14 if they were pulling a rail car. I think my friend's Ram 1-ton is near 12 but maybe I'm retawded