Alright guys, I am pretty new to the diesel world but i bought my first one a couple weeks ago. Look at my sig for details.

Here is the thing. My mileage sucks!!!!!!!! i try and drive pretty conservatively but i still only get like 12mpg. Is it because of the ULSD? Is there something wrong with my engine? It can't be from my lift. My buddy runs 40" tires and does better than me.

I still don't have exhaust or a tuner.

Any ideas? What about Biodiesel? should i start running that? will it void my warranty?

HELPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First off, good job on your sig. You're 1 up on most new members.

It is 9" taller and you are turning 37's...Whats your buddy have?

My buddie's is at like 10-12" lift with 40" Toyos and he gets better mileage than i do.

Does my break in have something to do with it? i only have 1000 miles on it.

I got way better mpg after 4500 miles 18 city & 22-23 hwy.

did you regear for the tires?

i was getting like 9 mpg when i got my truck new w/ 6 miles on it

No i did not regear from stock. My buddy said i should be running it in tow haul mode all the time now because of the load the tires put on the truck.

is that true?

regear it. that would be the best choice.
tow/haul mode it delays the shift points only

No, you do not have to run in T/H...you probably should re-gear though.

Remember you are running WAY out of the power band for fuel economy (I really do not want to do the math on this one) and have increased the rolling resistance significantly. Not to mention that the truck has not even approached being broken in yet. Have patience grashopper and regear that bad-boy.

My buddie's is at like 10-12" lift with 40" Toyos and he gets better mileage than i do.

Does my break in have something to do with it? i only have 1000 miles on it.

Jeesh...Give it time. Let it break in a bit.

What gearing would you recommend i regear to?

**** mine has 1300 miles on it and Im gettin 11 with Low Sulfer, we dont even have the new stuff yet. I am heavy on the pedal at times though

4:56's might do the trick.

Iggle,
Running 6" on 35s. Getting about 14.5 mpg overall mostly freeway. Interested in maybe re-gearing. Anyone have any break through stories on getting great mpg by re-gearing?
Recently got the front pipe and predator- no mpg change!

I second the let it break in a bit, My truck only has about 250 miles on it and it is getting terrible fuel mileage.

Alright guys, I am pretty new to the diesel world but i bought my first one a couple weeks ago. Look at my sig for details.

Here is the thing. My mileage sucks!!!!!!!! i try and drive pretty conservatively but i still only get like 12mpg. Is it because of the ULSD? Is there something wrong with my engine? It can't be from my lift. My buddy runs 40" tires and does better than me.

I still don't have exhaust or a tuner.

Any ideas? What about Biodiesel? should i start running that? will it void my warranty?

HELPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!Are you hand calculating your mileage, or are those numbers from the DIC? Have you reset the DIC since you got the truck? I reset my DIC at every fuel stop and hand calculate every tank full.

Also, you need to correct your odometer readings for the taller tires. If you are running 37" tires, you need to multiply your mileage x 1.217 to get the actual mileage. That would put you at around 14.6 mpg. Not too bad for a 9 inch lift.

I correct my mileage to 1.18. Miles driven x 1.18 will be a good start for a correction factor for the your 37's, because those tires are not actually 37" tall. My mileage looked real bad too.:)

How do you reset the DIC ??
Ken

Mine stayed at 12 to 13 mpg for a long time when new, at 11,000 now and up to 14 to 17 mpg depending on how i drive.

How do you reset the DIC ??
Ken

I'm pretty anal. I read the manual that comes with a $79 vacuum cleaner. However, I can't imagine anyone buying a $40,000 truck and not taking an hour to sit down and read the owner's manual.

:grd:

At 165,000 on my 06 and I am still waiting for that big "break in" MPG gain):h ):h . But it sure pulls a trailer good.

How do you reset the DIC ??
KenSee picture below.

To reset DIC Average MPG readout:
Press Button #2 until Average MPG showns on DIC
Hold Button # 4 for 3 or 4 seconds until DIC reads 0 MPH.This might be a good time to read your owners manual. There is a lot of valuable information in there.

Thank you. I found it in the manual. When I bought the truck the sales guy sat down with me and explained and show me all the features.
I asked him at that time if you could reset the avg mpg he said no it just keeps avgraging so I never looked it up,I should have.I though it was strange because I could reset the one in my Ford Excursion very easy.
Thanks again.
Ken

Have 1700 miles on 07 classic CC totally stock and getting 20 mpg at 68 mph on the road.

Should mention that DIC reads 18.3 mpg and while 20.0 is hand calculated.

somewhat back to the start of the thread... check out www.4lo.com (http://www.4lo.com) for re-gearing calculations. hope this helps.

Is regearing really necessary? Am i going to be hurting my tranny if i don't regear?

The 9" Lift without re-gearing will suck down the fuel i think... Mine is stock height, and am now running the stock tires, but in regards to the LSD & ULSD, i havent noticed any loss in mileage. I drive the same 150 miles twice per week. The Mileage i have noticed is actually up 1 MPG with the ULSD... i thought it would fall! there is no smoke anymore, but no loss of power noticed.

9" Cognito lift on 37" Toyo M/T's

i only have 1000 miles on it.


That pretty much sums it up. Lift and big tires will drop MPG plain and simple...

I am also looking forward to better MPG, I got about 11 MPG so far, but only have 500 miles on truck.

You can tell by my user name what I own. I have been toying with the idea of trying an d max for my 07 truck. After hearing some of these horer stories about the mpg these d max's are getting along with the consumer reports customer maintnance report for 06 trucks. I think I will stick to my 06 dodge till they get some of there maitn. issues fixed. Besides that I kind of like my 18-20 mpg I am getting for now.

On a recent trip of about 2800 miles to New Mexico in my dad's new '06 LBZ ext. cab long box 4X4, we averaged 18.75 MPG overall, hand calculated CORRECTLY, of course.

We drove anywhere from 60-80 mph, empty with topper on the whole time. The truck only had something like 600 miles on it when we left.

I was amazed at the mileage--that's better already than I average with my LLY @ 60,000 miles on the clock! It's hard to give the two a fair comparison without really driving them on the exact same trip in the exact same conditions.

Quite a few friends of mine have Dodges, and none of them are getting great fuel mileage.

A buddy of mine just got a new LBZ dually and it get 10mpg

You can tell by my user name what I own. I have been toying with the idea of trying an d max for my 07 truck. After hearing some of these horer stories about the mpg these d max's are getting along with the consumer reports customer maintnance report for 06 trucks. I think I will stick to my 06 dodge till they get some of there maitn. issues fixed. Besides that I kind of like my 18-20 mpg I am getting for now.What horror stories are you referring to?:confused:

My truck is totally stock.

I get 23.5+ @ 55 MPH, 21.5+ @ 60 MPH and 19.5+ @ 70 - 75 MPH. These are hand calc'd numbers for trips of at least 100 miles.

In the city I get anywhere from 14.6 to 18 mpg depending on how hard I drive it.

I have kept record of every single gallon of fuel burned and my total fuel economy from day one to date it is 17.82+ mpg. this includes total City and Highway driving, including all the times I got on it just for the fun of it. The worst fuel economy I've ever gotten was while driving all heavy city traffic during X-Mas shopping last December with only 911 miles on the odometer and that was 14.66+ mpg hand calc'd. - If this is a horror story, I would love to see what you call good 'cause I'm open for suggestions.

I have had absolutely ZERO problems in 10 1/2 months with over 13,000 mile in the odo. This D/A is running FLAWLESS!!!

Is regearing really necessary?

Yes...if you want to get better mpg and keep your rig in it's designed powerband

Am i going to be hurting my tranny if i don't regear?

No.

Regear it...it is the other half of the modification you already started.

What horror stories are you referring to?:confused:

My truck is totally stock.

I get 23.5+ @ 55 MPH, 21.5+ @ 60 MPH and 19.5+ @ 70 - 75 MPH. These are hand calc'd numbers for trips of at least 100 miles.

In the city I get anywhere from 14.6 to 18 mpg depending on how hard I drive it.

I have kept record of every single gallon of fuel burned and my total fuel economy from day one to date it is 17.82+ mpg. this includes total City and Highway driving, including all the times I got on it just for the fun of it. The worst fuel economy I've ever gotten was while driving all heavy city traffic during X-Mas shopping last December with only 911 miles on the odometer and that was 14.66+ mpg hand calc'd. - If this is a horror story, I would love to see what you call good 'cause I'm open for suggestions.

I have had absolutely ZERO problems in 10 1/2 months with over 13,000 mile in the odo. This D/A is running FLAWLESS!!! I just read the latest consummer reports on customer satisfaction. I am only telling you what I read. Maybe you should go pick yourself up a copy and read it before you come on here blurtin your ****. If you don't know what kind of mag it is, it ask's only the people that own them the question on a servay. It does not mean that everyone that owns one is going to have the same problems. But it sounds like the gm's had more issues than the dodges. Once again a servay from the people that own them not from bias owners of other brands.If you are happy with your purchase, great and I hope that continues. But like I said, Yes I am going to wait and keep driving what I know is good. MY DODGE CUNNINS DEISEL.

Can someone define "servay?"

servay comes after cunnins deisel. I couldn't find any of these in my funk and wagnals

All I can say is that I have lurked for quite a while in the Ford and Dodge diesel forums reading what those owners have to say about their trucks and those "unbiased" owners have NOT been very complimetary of their own trucks.

The Ford 6.0 Liter PSD and the Dodge automatic transmission and general body & chassis related problems have made for a lot of unhappy customers.

Cummins makes a good durable engine, but besides that, what have you got?

I am glad that you really like your truck; by all means enjoy it and go drive the hell out of it. But don't tell me about "horror stories" about the Duramax based on what you read in Consumer's Report magazine; it has already been proven that they are biased against General Motors' products, that is no secret.

I've driven both GM and Dodge products and my own personal experience with Dodge has been horrible. This is NOT from what I might have read in a Consumer's Report magazine, but my own personal experience as well as from friends and other members of my family.

Go ahead and take Consumer's Report surveys as gospel truth, but when you have a problem with your Dodge, I hope you have better luck than I've had getting it fixed, 'cause the Dodge dealer network that I've dealt with is not necessarily known for being the most customer friendly or knowledgeable bunch.

Those who drive a cummins and come on this site to bash our GMs is like bringing a knife to a gun fight.

I just read the latest consummer reports on customer satisfaction. I am only telling you what I read. Maybe you should go pick yourself up a copy and read it before you come on here blurtin your ****. If you don't know what kind of mag it is, it ask's only the people that own them the question on a servay. It does not mean that everyone that owns one is going to have the same problems. But it sounds like the gm's had more issues than the dodges. Once again a servay from the people that own them not from bias owners of other brands.If you are happy with your purchase, great and I hope that continues. But like I said, Yes I am going to wait and keep driving what I know is good. MY DODGE CUNNINS DEISEL.

for a guy that loves his truck you spelled cummins wrong. I had two Ford 6.0's go to thedieselstop.com to the 6.0 forum and read all the posts about problems. You don't see anything like that here.

Basically it all comes down to how much time you want to spend at the dealership. We GM owners don't want to spend much time there and that is why we bought what we bought. However Dodge owners like to spend a little time at the dealers and Ford owners...well they just can't get enough of the dealers.

I have a 7" lift with 35" Coopers and I am getting about 14.5 city/highway mpg right now. I only have 3000 miles on the truck and I haven't geared it and not totally sure if I am going to yet. My LB7 got a little better gas mileage as it got broke in and am looking forward to the same for my LBZ.

cummins#1

I have a 99 Dodge Ram 2500, 99187 miles. It gets great fuel economy better than my D/A, the motor runs like a striped ***-ed ape, the interior is immaculate, not sure what the premium sound system sounds like as I cant hear the radio over the motor yadda yadda yadda.....

Now lets get to the truth of the matter, the motor stock was 215 horse power and the tranny is crap. I have over $8,000 invested in transmission parts and service and another $2,000 into the motor and all the performance shiznit..... the new motors are coming out at 315 Hp and max out at 12000 lbs and the transmissions are still crap and the frames are as thin as a Nissan titan..

When it came time to buy my new truck, (research to include consumer reports) hands down the decision was easy.... D/A all the way. 360 hp 16500lbs towing capcity and an interior that is out of this world

Good luck with your Daimler Chrysler especially if you ever need warranty work.

P.S the dodge is for sale, http://adcache.trucktraderonline.com/4/8/8/86199688.htm Plz show continued product loyalty and buy it

No kidding. I look at it like this. There is too much variability in the Dodges and Fords. You can get a good one or a real bad one. Sure we have problems at times with GM but no where near the problem as Ford or Dodge. Statistically you might as well just not talk about Dodge because they sell only a 1/4 of the trucks that GM and Ford do. Further to the point Dodge sells mostly 1/2 tons and there numbers vs. GM and Ford in the 3/4 and 1-ton catagory are even lower.

this started out as a thread about MPG and ended up about DODGE and CHEVY dealership service.

What happened?

this started out as a thread about MPG and ended up about DODGE and CHEVY dealership service.

What happened?Sorry!;)

Let's try this again.
http://dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1393317#post1393317

Also, as previously stated, you may want to consinder regearing to bring the power band back to where it used to be. 4.56 should bring you pretty close to the original RPM/MPH range with those 37" tires.

Hope this helps.

enough of the bash fest):h ............my 03 took about 75,000 miles to get broke in......within a month or so of hitting that mileage mine went from 17.2 mpg up to 18.9 mpg.......now with almost 170,000 it is getting a constant 19-19.5 mpg ............hand calculated it's only .4 mpg different than the dic:ro)

If i regear it, and it brings it back into the stock power band range, wouldn't that increase my RPM's and decrease my MPG?

If you go with too tall of a gearset, say somewhere in the 5.xx range probably so, but I had a h.o. cummins with a 6" lift on 37's and got the milage your talking about until I re-geared it, my milage increased and my truck was more sprited in the power category because it was close to how the power should be stock. Def. do a re-gear and then power mods will help your milage even more. a 4.10 would help but a 4.56 would get it done right, thats what i did with my cummins. good luck

I bought a 2007 3500 4x4 ext cab long wheelbase and on the first tank I got 19.7 mpg. That was a trip with varying speeds from 30mph to 65mph. I have since averaged 17.4 around town and 100 mile trips to the coast. Some of you have very heavy foots on the gas (diesel) pedal. I drive with a light foot and a lot of the younger guys use it like a hotrod. Nothing wrong with that, just don't expect good mileage if that is what you want. I think most of the young guys want performance, speed and don't care about mileage. I pull a 28' 5th wheel and run bone stock. Each to their own.

I have an 06 LLY Reg Cab that just turned 7000 miles.
About 4000 are with a 19 ft 5th wheel [5-6000#]. I average around 14 MPG towing and 17 MPG [+ or - 1mpg] until this week. Just made a 200 and then a 300 mile trip [empty] and averaged 22.2 at abt 65-68. All hand calculated and tank filled with care.
Seems it just seated things somewhere around 5000 miles.
So I guess some do get better as the miles climb.

Well for My First post I will Put this down and No I was Not coasting. Cruise was On.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Danzi/DSC03536.jpg


Do I believe It, No But Its close about 23.5 @ 60 Predator on the 85 setting.

Any one have any Idea why its so off?

Any time you put large tires on you MUST REGEAR! this is a well known fact in the Off road world. Think of it this way, the factory set your truck up with a tire size and gearing that compliment each other for performance/milage. You are Drastically changing that ratio with increasing your tire size, to get back to stock performance you need to get a numerically higher gear set. For 37's i WOULD ATLEAST get 4.56's ! good luck. BTW, You WILL get better MPG with these gears but rule of thumb is a solid 2-3 mpg loss over stock with lift/tires. Also get a programmer!

When I purchased my new '06 LBZ approx. 3 months ago I read where mileage would increase and not to be concerned during break-in period. I averaged approx. 16-17 mpg. I have done some mods. since then, i.e. 4" downpipe back MBRP exhaust and finger stick/blocker plate combination. Although some have posted that they have gotten less mpg's with being blocked and stuck I have not experienced that. Got my predator and installed the 65hp economy tune and took a trip with the Mrs. this weekend to So. Ohio mostly interstate driving and was greatly interested to see if there was any difference. Driving from central WV to So. Ohio there is a variety of hills and elevation changes and I didn't watch speed and change driving style(what I mean is that if I needed to pass someone I did, wasn't strictly trying to get best mpg's just a real world average). Set cruise on 74 mph in WV and 70 mph in Ohio. On the trip up I avg. 18.02 mpg and the 1st 20 miles or so was done around home stop and go and checking out the increased hp from the predator. On the return trip I avg. 20.11 mpg. I hand calculated everything and the speedo has been calibrated correctly for my tire size and checked with a GPS. With only 2,500 hundred miles on my truck so far I am very impressed with the power and the fuel economy.

I have 534 miles on my 07 classic LT3 extended cab with 8' box. I'm getting around 14.3 right now. I have 245 revo's and done nothing else but enjoy the truck...........

I believe its hit and miss with your truck. I ahve heard guys getting good mileage and guys getting bad mileage. It sounds like to me that its just like the LLY's with tranny over heat. 1 of 2 LLY trucks oveheat. Could be the same way with the LBZ's on fuel mileage.

I have stock 3.73's in my LB7 on 40's and while re-gearing will help you get some MPG back the Duramax has plenty of torque to turn those big meat's. The best I get is around 14mpg highway and I have a pretty heavy foot. I wouldn't expect any better than 16-18MPG if I re-geared it with 4.56 or 4.88 anyways. Like many have said your MPG will increase slightly over time.

I'm like Ray....keep track of everything.

here is my fuel log for comparison...

I have a 06 LBZ purchased in june this year.. 14,000 miles in a few days and im averaging 13.. towing 30% of my driving and mostly around town.. its better than the gas i had before so im happy with what i got

I'm getting about 16MPG with 6000 miles on the truck with 100% freeway driving going between 80 and 85 with two bikes in the back. Not complaining one bit, but I'm hoping it will get a bit better later on as miles accumulate (well, It does kinda flatted out at an indicated 95, but I know why that happens).

Does anybody have any positive input on using a programmer to get better mileage at these speeds? Also it seems to me that if I went with a slightly larger tire, I may get better MPG at 80-85 because it'd put the motor closer to the 2000RPM range that seems best for mileage.

I'm 100% happy with the truck and look forward to driving it to work tomorrow morning... :0)

i got the same truck you got and i use the predator on the 65hp tune and get 16mpg

Normal driving, 15mpg, but stillonly 800mi

Thought I would straighten out a couple of myths that I see running around here. All things being equal a slight tire change to larger tires should get you better mileage. You are reducing the gear ratio by the following formula
new ratio= old ration *(new tire diameter/old tire diameter).

A reduced gear ratio will get you better mileage at a given speed. Where this changes is with a lift kit which gets you increased frontal area which drops mileage.
Also with that lower gear ratio your acceleration at a given amount of gas pedal will be less. If you combat that with more gas pedal then sure your mileage will go down. Also you are bogging the trans more with bigger tires and in some cases may bog it enough to fall out of lock or even in the case of towing it will downshift easier and hence mileage could go out the window in hilly terrain.

Simple lesson once again is that there is no free lunch. Change one thing and you have to change another, so on and so forth.

Don't underestimate the mass of these larger tires. I put some 285's on my previous Silverado 1/2 ton and almost went through the stop sign at first because it took so much more pressure to get it to stop! Keeping the mass moving will also take fuel. When I changed over to the 285's on the 2006 Sierra I lost about 1 mpg or so but picked up a couple with a programmer. I get 18.5 in town and about 21 on hyw at 70 --- hand calculated summer fuel. That was with the Bully Dog, I am tracking the milage with the Juice now. :driver:

Let me ask you guys this I'm looking at a 07 2500 or 3500

would only get the 3500 to get the dually for better load handling, stability, and better snow traction etc

IS there a huge MPG loss with the dually, and does anyone know how much more it weighs?

Thanks!!

I have a 3 and a hlf week old 07 chevy classic LT3 3500 single rear wheels crew cab long box duramax with teh allison. I have about 1400 miles on it and I am getting 15.8 on the computer. I am commutin in it about 60 miles each way a day, I drive pretty hard, but about 25 miles of my commute are in heavy traffic 2 lane road (no passin). Anyway, I will be puttin an exhaust and a programmer on it sometime soon. Also I am thinkin of 7 inch Cognito and 35's..

seems most of yall are doing much better than me on mpg have 10K on 06 4dr dually nothing modified besides muffler and air intake and only getting 12 mpg hasnt got any better at all

Did you recalibrate your odometer for the larger tires? If not, you are getting better mileage than you think. Also, is this hand calc or off mileage meter? My meter read a full 5 mpg low for a time.

Hello Everyone,

I have an 06 2500 HD Crew Cab with 13000 miles on the odometer. Was getting about 16-19 mpg depending on how I was driving, hand calculated until about 12000. Upgraded to 265/75/16 all terrain tires and added a cat back 4" exhaust and dropped mileage to 12 mpg if I am easy on it. Changed the air filter and fuel filter with no improvement. If I am towing my 24' gooseneck flatbed I am getting about 9 mpg with 11,000 lbs behind me. Talked to the dealer and they are going to look at it for me, they say I should be doing better than that.

Will let you know if they find anything.

I have a 4x4 cc dually and get 17.5 on the hwy and 15-16 in town. Lifetime average is 15.33 mpg. Dually might be 1 mpg less than my srw.

do you think it's best to do an agressive early break in to better mileage or take it easy on her, what ir ead was agressive throttle mashing serats the rings earlier and gains you mileage? that the case?

My '06 with 2500mi. on it is getting about 12 in city, and 18 highway...

I just read the latest consummer reports on customer satisfaction. I am only telling you what I read. Maybe you should go pick yourself up a copy and read it before you come on here blurtin your ****. If you don't know what kind of mag it is, it ask's only the people that own them the question on a servay. It does not mean that everyone that owns one is going to have the same problems. But it sounds like the gm's had more issues than the dodges. Once again a servay from the people that own them not from bias owners of other brands.If you are happy with your purchase, great and I hope that continues. But like I said, Yes I am going to wait and keep driving what I know is good. MY DODGE CUNNINS DEISEL.


Hey now guy's,

don't bash this poor dodge owner. He has a hard enough time trying to find his way home .

People that can't even spell what they drive or what kind of fuel they use , can't comprehend what they read either.


Just pray for him................:Nothing_f