improving mpgs?

[bluebear15]

on average i've been getting 13mpg. i travel about 67 miles a day and just looking for some improvements i can make to get up in the range of 15-18mpg. using a 1/4 of gas a day is a bit rough when going to school and not working much. i used to have a 94 s10 blazer that got 18mpg on avg and that didn't bother me.

any way to help improve my mpgs?

 

[6chevy9]

what are you driving? if its the 97 tahoe in your sig... some on road tires with alot of air will help. any kind of air intake and exhaust mods will help. throttle body space does alot. all of that together on my 350 vortec did ALOT of improvment. id say i get around 18-19 mpg with my mud tires on the hway. norm tires maybe 20

 

[bluebear15]

ya its a 97 tahoe. they're only 285's so going back to the stock 265's i dont think it would be well worth the switch. ik for 33s to 35s you prolly lose around 3mpg and thats a differance of 2" where as 10mm wont make that much of a difference maybe 1mpg and imo not worth it.

if doing intake, exhaust and tb spacer get me up to about 18mpg thats more worth it imo than going down in tire size.

i'm just looking for the best cost effective way to improve my mpgs up to the 15-18mpg range

 

[6chevy9]

i would do the above. and the tire size wasnt really what i was getting at but the tread. like my mud terrains are recomended to run at 35 psi. where an on road tire can run up to 50 or so. thats makes the difference. but i hardley get on the freeway with mine so idc but i have drove a few 500 mile trips with aggresive tires and id much rather get the lower milage to keep the tires myself too. try the intake and tbs and throw a flowmaster in your stock exhaust system and not only will it be cool but you will see milage improvments as well. check out the anyone running a cold air intake thread and my home make intake is in there for you to copy. it works great!

 

[tattooed4life]

Use a programmer and tune your computer. Intake, exhaust, hi-po plugs, wires, cap and rotor and my tuner I was getting 21mpg out of my obs 99 Yukon with 285's on it. I really helps keeping your foot out of the pedal, I rarely ran mine over 2000 rpm, my mileage stayed up.

 

[Hodges87]

Do you ever run fuel injection cleaner thru your tahoe? I bought a quart of this for $10 http://www.lucasoil.com/products/display_products.sd?iid=26&catid=8&loc=show&headTitle=%20-%20Lucas%20Fuel%20Treatment and it seems to help. I add a little over the recommended dosage to my gas tank every time I put gas in my truck.

I would also check your ignition system and make sure its in top condition. If you have weak spark, your mpg is going to suffer.

How many miles are on your O2 Sensors? If its over 75k I would replace them. You can get 2 new pre-cat Delphi O2 sensors from Rockauto for $100 or just a tad over.

Exhaust is going to help, but it is expensive.

 

[bluebear15]

ya i've played around with how i drive. you dont want to go too easy cuz then your just taking longer to get up to speed and using more gas in the process but you dont want to gun it everytime cuz then your wasting gas too. so i've found the proper way to drive to get the best mpgs.

i'm def looking into a blackbear tune now that i found out they do lifetime retunes. and ya i will be doing a full tune up this summer when i get some extra cash flow.

for the o2 sensors, the previous own replaced them in the past two years so theres less than 20k mi on them. i do have 211xxx mi tho overall

 

[6chevy9]

does anyone know if it would be best to do a blackbear tune or a 411 swap for him? which would be most benifical in this case? i would go the 411 route myself but idk what your long term plans are or if it would be worth it for what your doing with your truck. also it looks like you still have it in the pic but that black lower valance that hangs off your bumper helps your mpgs a little also.

 

[bluebear15]

ya i still have the valance. i have heard nothing but good things about blackbear tunes so thats why i opted for them. in the long run i'd like to get a lil bit more power out too

i travel about 67 miles a day but that will only be until about mid may. i'm just going to this college for one semester then back to msoe of which i already have 2 yrs done there. (just took a break to get cheaper classes from high tuition) so after that i'll be down to only traveling about 40 miles a day. like i mentioned i'm fine with the 15-18mpg range

 

[6chevy9]

yeah i understand just wanted to make sure you were aware of the 411 swap and all before you spend the money on somthing else for it.