Can a C3500 5.7L 4.10 beat 10 MPG?

Darrin De May · Jun 15, 2019

Ever since my fuel gauge began constantly reading "Full", I've been keeping an eye on my Trip Odometer to give me an idea of how much gas I've got left. Today I was at Costco, so I decided to top off my 34 gallon tank. It took 19 gallons to fill it up, and it's been 190 miles since I filled it last, making for a simple calculation. So 10 MPG is fairly consistent for just toolin' around town, it does marginally better on the freeway. For a Regular Cab Long Bed with an L31 5.7L and a 4.10, I'm assuming that this is normal and there's not much that I can do to improve it, short of changing the rear end gear ratio, correct? One of these days I'll get the fuel pump / sending unit replaced and go back to watching the fuel gauge instead of paying so much attention to the actual MPG...

Big dreams · Jun 15, 2019

I have a 96 c3500 crewcab long bed with a 5.7l I drive it back and forth to work before with went down and avg 11.5 and that’s doing mostly 55 to 70 in 15 miles one way

alpinecrick · Jun 15, 2019

That ain't right if you're empty. It should do better than that. 14 mpg may be asking too much, but something over 10 mpg. And the 4.10 gears should actually do at least as well as say, 3.42 gears around town. Even for a 1 ton truck........

letitsnow · Jun 15, 2019

My 1999 K2500 extended cab short box gets 13-15 empty on the highway. I don't know about city driving as I would rather jump off of a bridge. I have 4.10 gears and the 5.7 also.

Mine is modded, but it got the same when it was stock, it was just slower.

Darrin De May · Jun 15, 2019

I guess that, fuel economy-wise anyway, I'm jealous that my wife's 2015 Subaru Forester XT Touring with a 16 gallon tank can go way further than me, and she leadfoots the turbo!

Frank Compagnon · Jun 15, 2019

At Costco the other week a guy was fueling up a new ford 350 extended cab with gas, I asked what kind of fuel mileage he gets and he said towing a travel trailer he gets 13 mpg and 15 empty. And that's a new truck.

letitsnow · Jun 15, 2019

Getting 13 with a 6.2 while pulling a camper - maybe a pop up haha. I know a few guys with that motor and they average 7-9 while pulling campers.

Frank Compagnon · Jun 16, 2019

letitsnow said:
Getting 13 with a 6.2 while pulling a camper - may be a pop up haha. I know a few guys with that motor and they average 7-9 while pulling campers.

The thing is, I was filling my old 98 crew cab 454, 4x4 with 4; 10s, and it gets about the same mileage.

TheAutumnWind · Jun 16, 2019

My 05 Cadillac Escalade esv platinum averages about 13 mpg mixed. (Mostly around town tho) Big heavy vehicle. Not aerodynamic. Whatcha gonna do.

letitsnow · Jun 16, 2019

All of the trucks I've had, it seems tough to get more than 13-15 mpg empty/7-9 mpg towing our camper with a 3/4 ton or bigger gas truck. Even new ones.

1/2 tons seem to get 15-17 mpg empty/ 7-9 mpg towing our camper.

Diesels have been about 2 mpg better.

The OP should get better than 10 mpg, but that depends on how much stop/go, quality of gas, and the right foot.

Can a C3500 5.7L 4.10 beat 10 MPG?

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