How do I improve my MPG?

**Chevy Racer** · 03-21-2013, 04:15 PM

So i just bought a 2wd 2008 silverado with the 5.3. The truck is bone stock except for fender flares and a soft roll up tonneau cover. I always put in 89 octane at the pump and haven't used any fuel cleaners yet. I have the stock tires on it to. The problem is i am getting between 11.9 and 13.5 mpg in the city. Im wondering what you guys are getting with your silverados and how to improve gas mileage. My truck does have the AFM but it doesn't kick on in the city anyway. What are your suggestions on fuel cleaners? I was thinking about doing a high flow filter soon but i cant afford any high flow exausts for a while.
Its also spring here and about 25 degrees so i dont know if that would affect my MPG

**goldie** · 03-21-2013, 06:19 PM

Take a look at www.cleanmpg.com. It's a site dediacted to improving mpg's throught driving techniques. Most of the members and discussions are for small cars. But us truck types are alway welcome and the memebers are courteous as well as knowledgeable, just like this site! There is a primer on the site that has some good info on how to improve your driving techniques. Your mileage should come up some as the weather improves. One thing you can do now is to inflate your tires to the maximum as listed on the sidewalls. I conditions warrant it. Also take a look at www.gassavers.com.

**undertheradar** · 03-21-2013, 07:10 PM

Get a hypertech max energy tuner. I have 285x65x18 nittos and avg 16 mpg mixed driving. All highway driving I get 19 mpg, which is rare b/c I work in the city. My average would be 17 mpg mixed driving but I tow my jon boat 30 miles every weekend and knocks it back some. HYPERTECH. Find some of my few posts by searching "undertheradar" in the search engine.

**JimmyA** · 03-21-2013, 07:38 PM

Gear-down! I purchased new, a Sierra with 3:08's thinking MPG. I am getting 14 highway and pulling light loads @ 11MPG. Gearing to 4;10's will keep a load off my engine and the Tranny will be saved too! Hopefully soon! 2 Grand is hard to come by, lately....I added a SCT programmer and it didn't help.

**SurrealOne** · 03-21-2013, 10:41 PM

I see combined 13.8-14.5mpg depending on season (with it being lower in winter due to the winter mix). Pure highway driving I see 16mpg in the summer and 15 in the winter.

I don't have AFM on my truck as it's a 2004, but I'm basically only 1mpg shy of the 15-17mpg range for the truck when bone stock. I've added a pile of weight (tires, sound deadning, winch, truck box full of heavy things) and also lifted ... and prior to re-gearing, efan additions, and tuning I was seeing 10.5-12mpg. After adding a custom tune, regearing to 4.56's, and replacing the clutch fan with electric fans my mpg came up to what it is, today.

You've already got efans in your truck, so no gains to be had, there. However, a handheld tuner and a custom tune are the logical places to start. This is what provided me my largest gains. I'd expect your improvement to be smaller than mine, as my gains were mostly the recovery of mpg's lost to mods ... but still, the best bang for your buck will be a handheld tuner combined with a tune that's specific to your vehicle.

I run 87 octane, by the way ... and if you do a custom tune I suggest tuning for the same.