Give me some cheap, easy mpg increasing ideas

[blueflamed03]

I picked up just over 2 MPG after my BB tune Saturday.

 

[DenaliAK]

I picked up just over 2 MPG after my BB tune Saturday.

How do they tune? Do you have to take in your truck? Is it a downloadable tune? (my old car you could download tunes and plug a laptop into your car's access port).

 

[withac]

Cheap is a relative term, what's cheap for one person might be quite spendy to someone else.

As far as mufflers, I always recommend this one because it's the only one I have experience with, however, I really think it might be just what you're looking for. Spintech Sportsman XL. I have one on my Ram 5.2. High flow, they were developed for the race track, but not too loud. gives it a nice, distinct rumble at idle, a throatier sound. Under acceleration it gives more of a rumble but not too loud. I can tell when someone is coming home because I can hear them when they make the turn a block and a half away. NOt because it's so loud, but because it's a little louder and a distinct sound. It's not too loud at highway speeds either. Go to youtube and search for some sound bites. I have a limited budget so I haven't been able to replace the muffler but if I did I'd get a Spintech.

There are two ways to do the Black Bear tune. ONe is more cookie cutter, you send in your specs and Justin tunes for that. The better, although more expensive way is called a cable tune. For a deposit (you get it back) Justin sends you a scan cable and the wire harness to plug it in. YOu plug that into a lap top and log some data files. It's the closest you can get to a dyno tune without a dyno. This way, the tune is for the exact way YOUR ride is performing, not just any Tahoe that year with that engine. Make sense? Hell, Justin even diagnosed a small leak in my intake manifold gasket. YOu can have the tune as aggressive or mellow as you want. I wanted mileage but it still made it funner to drive. The good thing about this, is there is a process called a crank case relearn (if I remember the name) that usually needs to be done when the PCM is removed. With the cable and lap top you can easily do this yourself.

My personal mods are an AEM Brute Force and a Black Bear tune. Prior to both I was gettingmid 14's for mixed or town mpg. That hasn't reall changed. I finally had the chance to get a couple of highway trips in. Before the BF and BB, the best highway mpg I saw was around 17.8. Because of the air leak I'm running 91 octane to help reduce ping. In 311 miles, A/C on about half the way, 75 to 80 mph for most of the trip I got 19.5 mpg. coming back the A/C was on 75 to 95% of the time and I had a roof top carrier on. I still got 18 mpg. Sooooo, if you ask me, Brute Force and Black Bear FTW!

Now, on CAI's, a lot of guys suggest a cheaper knock off of the Brute Force. For the CAI itself that's probably an okay idea, but for me at least, I wouldn't scrimp on the actual filter. YOu have no idea what kind of construction or quality control the knock offs have. If you get a knock off intake, pop for the real Brute Force filter.

 

[DenaliAK]

Withac: Thanks for the good info. I'll check into all of it as soon as I can get my "service ride control" warning fixed. I may have to invest in new shocks and compressor, which could hold off any mods or improvements for quite a while.

 

[withac]

Damn, that sucks

 

[blueflamed03]

How do they tune? Do you have to take in your truck? Is it a downloadable tune? (my old car you could download tunes and plug a laptop into your car's access port).

several ways, you can do a live tune if Justin is in your area, or, send your ECM in to them for a traditional tune, or scan cable tune, which resembles a 'live' tune.

 

[Z15]

How much money do you have to spend to get a 1 mpg increase? Is it really worth it? Very often people spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars to get 1-2 mpg. A $500 exhaust system to save 50 cents on every fill-up? How long before that pays off? 100,000 miles? 200,000? before your break even? If you put a loud exhaust on you will drive it harder because you want to make noise. Same with a cold air intake, they make noise and guys drive harder and the end result it they get worse mpg.

Almost all of these things will never pay off, after all is said and done you are still pushing 2-1/2 tons of steel down the road and it takes fuel to accomplish that. I know lots of people will tell you they increased their mileage by a fantastic amount but can you really rely on that information being accurate? I say no. Take it from me, I have owned many 4x4 trucks dating back to 1975 and non of these add on's were ever worth it, just money wasted on high priced junk.

 

[Repo503]

Agreed, live with crappy mileage or buy a smaller car. really 12-13 isn't so bad for a 5500 lb car with awd and a 6 liter v8. Gas is cheap, enjoy it while you can.

 

[Grocery Getter]

How much money do you have to spend to get a 1 mpg increase? Is it really worth it? Very often people spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars to get 1-2 mpg. A $500 exhaust system to save 50 cents on every fill-up? How long before that pays off? 100,000 miles? 200,000? before your break even? If you put a loud exhaust on you will drive it harder because you want to make noise. Same with a cold air intake, they make noise and guys drive harder and the end result it they get worse mpg.

Almost all of these things will never pay off, after all is said and done you are still pushing 2-1/2 tons of steel down the road and it takes fuel to accomplish that. I know lots of people will tell you they increased their mileage by a fantastic amount but can you really rely on that information being accurate? I say no. Take it from me, I have owned many 4x4 trucks dating back to 1975 and non of these add on's were ever worth it, just money wasted on high priced junk.

You're 100% right but MPGs are less the reason for the mods and more of a biproduct. This thread is simply answering the question what mods will improve MPGs and if that is the driving force behind modding your rig then you are right, it's not worth it. Performance is the main reason IMO. Look at the guys running super chargers, they certainly did not get a supercharger to get better MPGs but they DO, if they drive normal, get much better MPG's. At the end of the day the key to better gas milage is attached to the end of your leg and that's the bottom line. More HP=Better MPG's when one drives conservatively.

 

[snowjay]

How much money do you have to spend to get a 1 mpg increase? Is it really worth it? Very often people spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars to get 1-2 mpg. A $500 exhaust system to save 50 cents on every fill-up? How long before that pays off? 100,000 miles? 200,000? before your break even? If you put a loud exhaust on you will drive it harder because you want to make noise. Same with a cold air intake, they make noise and guys drive harder and the end result it they get worse mpg.

Almost all of these things will never pay off, after all is said and done you are still pushing 2-1/2 tons of steel down the road and it takes fuel to accomplish that. I know lots of people will tell you they increased their mileage by a fantastic amount but can you really rely on that information being accurate? I say no. Take it from me, I have owned many 4x4 trucks dating back to 1975 and non of these add on's were ever worth it, just money wasted on high priced junk.

Lets do the math. I'm going to use round numbers just because it's easier, but feel free to use your own.

Truck has a 26 gal tank.

A 1 mpg increase means I can travel an extra 26 miles per tank.

26 miles at 13 mpg is 2 gallons of gas.

2 x $2.50 = $5 per tank.

Lets say you fill up once a week.

$5 x 52 = $260

So if you can get a CAI for $300 and it gives you a 1 mpg increase then it will take a little over a year (1yr 2 mos) to get pay back on it or ~20,000 miles (13mpg * 26gal * 60weeks) using the numbers above.

That means a $500 exhaust to get 1 mpg would take about 2 years or ~35k.