Help my buds D-max

[Whit]

A friend at work has an 04 D-max 3/4 ton SRW long bed, 4 door. he has the tallest gears available but aint sure the ratio. He bought it new and now has 23k miles on it, completly stock, the dealership has done all the maintenance work, the best milage he has ever gotten was last summer at 16 to 16.5 he is now getting 13-14 mpg, I told him this is because of the winter blend of fuel, all diesels drop 2-4 mpg in winter withe blended, he understands that but is still disgruntled with the mpg................Is this mpg normal for a Max ? What can he do to better his economy? Is there a flash that he should get or what??

Cheers, Kevin

 

[rebel_horseman]

Is his truck auto or manual, 2wd or 4x4? Any mods made to the truck? What are his driving habits?

My Dmax (see sig) got me around 16 or 17 in the city (if I drove like a paw paw) and maybe 17 or so on the highway depending on circumstances. When I had to deal with traffic a lot my mileage dropped to 14 or 15 in town. Towing the cattle trailer I got 14 or 15 and with teh hay trailer I got 9 before the Juice and about 10.5 with it. My best tank ever was 19 with the Juice on level 2, the AmSoil air filter, and the straight pipe and that was driving 70-75 mph unloaded.

I know it takes a while for the engines to break in and get decent mileage, some say at least 20k miles. But I don't know too much about the new trucks. My cousin has an '04 truck identical to the one in my sig with teh exception that his is a 6-speed, and he said that he gets over 20mpg with it on the highway. I think the Allison sucks power and thereby ropbs mpg figures. Hope this helps.

[><]

 

[Whit]

Its a 4x4 , he has the Alison auto, no mods at all, he drives 70 mph on the highway

Is there a re-flash that would help?

 

[Max Power]

Lb7 or LLY? 8th digit of vin 1=LB7 2=LLY

 

[Swany]

Winter blend will affect it and at 23k, she ain't even broke in yet. Does he drive "normal", without a heavy foot?

Next time he should pick up a PSD, had to get my jab in there

 

[MUDDY]

a friend has an lly and sez he gets 12mpg. on the frwy at 65 mph. 13 w/ a tailwind. i asked him what he was towin. nuttin. ***. now he wishin he got a real diesel. at leaast he didnt get a 6.0 i h. sorry v8 guys j/k

wondr what up w/ the poor mpg. cat and egr combo or ? heck,,,,,a buddys chev 6.0 gasser gets bttr mpg than he does

 

[ISurvivedNMU]

HHRRMM, I have an lb7 and see 16 driving half city half expressway.. at 75.. I see 19-22 on long travels... 22 if im doing 60 with no wind.... Man, I got 13 towing my 4 place enclodes trailer up north full of quads and hunting equipment...

As far as to whats wrong? Dunno... A heavy foot in the city could do it. A freind just bought an LLY and he is getting 14 in the city with only 1100 on the clock, but he is driving really nice? Maybe the LLY is not getting as good of mileage?

 

[TPCDrafting]

Tell him to trade it in for a 8.1L gasser, he'll be lucky to get 10-11 mpg and have less towing power. I'll admit I had higher hopes for mileage when I bought my diesel, but am happy with what I get. We trailer horses to the mountains with friends often in the summer. They pull a very small 2-horse BP with his Dodge V10. We pull a larger 2 horse GN and we average 5 mpg better plus we have to wait up all the time on the hills.

 

[lennox69]

Hi guys as you can see,im new to this site,but not new to diesel engines (diesel moves the world) I have Duramax 2004 with 37,000 miles and all mine, i bought brand new. I have been reading here about fuel milage,mine at first was lousy,but now i;m getting 15 to 17 in town and 19-21 on hwy not pulling,winter fuel got alot of anti-freezing stuff,i don't worry about milage during winter,alot has to do with pre heating engine,bad fuel,driving in snow.the more miles the BETTER MY MILAGE GETS!..Thx,guys Iove this site!!!!

 

[ISurvivedNMU]

Welcome lennox.... Wow a 04 with 37k... You do some serious driving..... Your getting abot the same G/M as my 03 LB7 after a few miles....

 

[rubberfish]

Hey Kevin,
I don't know that his mileage is off by that much.
With my 6.5, I used to get about 18 combined,
and our gallon is a bit bigger too.
I haven't checked mileage since the transplant was done,
but it doesn't seem to empty my pockets any quicker than before.

Pretty soon, fuel will cost as much as a gallon of bottled water

 

[DetroitDan]

he's right, try buying a gallon of any liquid, you'll find that fuel is actually pretty cheap. A gallon of Pepto Bismol would be over $40 bucks! Beer, Jack Daniels, shampoo, anything. If you figure out the cost per gallon, I think youd be surprised. And most of the fuel is transported halfway around the world, refined, shipped again, there is a lot involved in getting the fuel from Kuwait to your tank. Of course, most of us buy more fuel than alcohol. If you go thru twenty gallons of Jack Daniels in a week, or Pepto Bismol for that matter, then perhaps you have a problem.