GM 5.3 gas mileage

[Turbys_1700]

I think I will keep my 7.3 diesel...
I baby it driving back and forth to work but get an honest 14 to 15 mpg...
That's 36 miles round trip in mixed rural and in town driving...
Towing my 10K fifth wheel yields 11...
That's an F350 4x4 crew cab dually with a dry weight of ~7500#...

 

[deerefan]

I think I will keep my 7.3 diesel...
I baby it driving back and forth to work but get an honest 14 to 15 mpg...
That's 36 miles round trip in mixed rural and in town driving...
Towing my 10K fifth wheel yields 11...
That's an F350 4x4 crew cab dually with a dry weight of ~7500#...

The 7.3 is quickly becoming as popular as the 12/24 valve cummins. These new diesels and their emissions, just more stuff to fail.

 

[Soundguy]

i love my 7.3

 

[General Lee]

I didn't read all the responses before posting this so not sure if it was mentioned. If you have the option of auto and manual locking hubs, check and make sure there not locked manually. It can affect your milage by a couple mpg.

 

[deerefan]

i love my 7.3

There are several guys I work with that have 250k miles plus on them, still pulling loads and running around, worked hard. Look there, I just hijacked my own thread!!

 

[TheGoose]

My '05 Z71 w/5.3 gets 16.3 in town driving...lots of short runs. On the hi way in cruse and running the speed limit (65) I can get close to 19mpg on a good day. 18.5 is more the norm. I have the 3:42 screw in the back end and run synthetic oil in the engine and both front and rear differentials. I'm probably one of the few here that didn't buy the truck looking for mileage. I got it because I wanted it, but am satisfied w/mileage anyway. Being retired makes a big difference. If I had a job that requires I drive 50 -100 mi each day, I'd look for something more economical.

Not many people buy a V-8 Full size 4x4 truck for the "mileage"

considering i've seen large diesels go over a million miles with no engine work, and / or 12000 hours.. etc.. vs NOT that much on gas engines.. yeah... epicenter of reliability...

at work we bought a mack tractor.. 80 i think.. when we got it it had a mil on it. .. got it from a milk hauler who bought it new... never had the engine worked on.. at all we dropped the pan on it and checked a main.. still looked new.. we put it back together. we ran that truck for another half million and then sold it. only work it ever had done was an air pump and a rear-rear end.

I'm guessing a gasser wouldn't have faired so well


soundguy

I don't think it's quite fair to compare a big rig to a daily driver. I have seen several gas engines go for 200-300K miles with no internal problems. And seriously, at 200K miles the engine decides to give up, you could probably put a new engine in there for about 2-4K. Couldn't even put head gaskets on a diesel for that price.

Don't get me wrong, I think diesels can be very reliable and long lived, but for the average person doing average hauling, I think a Turbo charged engine, be it V6, V8, or whatever, can go for 200,000+ miles with no problem.

 

[Soundguy]

given that you don't see 'gasser' heavy equipment all over road jobs anymore ... the diesels have to have something going for them... smae with tractors.

I'm nostalgic, and I like old iron, and i don't mind putting around my yard on an old gasser doing chores.. but for real work.. I use something that burns fuel oil....

soundguy

I don't think it's quite fair to compare a big rig to a daily driver. .

why not. it's a technology comparison.. not a size comparison.

I have seen several gas engines go for 200-300K miles with no internal problems. And seriously, at 200K miles the engine decides to give up, you could probably put a new engine in there for about 2-4K. Couldn't even put head gaskets on a diesel for that price. .

and diesels routinely go for much more than that. i don't think we have many diesels in out fleet that don't have hundreds of thousands of miles on them.. with no end in sight. any gas equipment we have that has near 200K is looking like it needs a body-makeover in addition to engine work.

looking at it like this.. my 98 dodge is tired at near 200kmiles.. just about every part of the truck is worn. it's not worth putting 2k to k4 into tit for a new engine, for a truck worth 1000$ my 99 f450 on the other hand. all around heavier class of vehicle.. still doing good.. a few less miles.. but way more value.

Another thing to look at is 'duty class' you see diesels in a heavier duty class vehicle. those tend to wear better (longer) than light duty gassers. ( havy duty gassers tend to benefit from that heavier class too.. so alot of it is frame / build vs lifespan and value.

hard to gain much putting a 500K engine in a light duty frame that is sloppy and ready to retire at 200k, or a 150k engine in a chassie made for 300K.. etc.

soundguy

Don't get me wrong, I think diesels can be very reliable and long lived, but for the average person doing average hauling, I think a Turbo charged engine, be it V6, V8, or whatever, can go for 200,000+ miles with no problem.

 

[TheGoose]

Well, we got off the original topic, which was about the 5.3 gas engine and whether or not a turbo would be reliable in a gas engine.

Neither of which have anything to do with old Mack trucks, tractors, or diesels running a million miles.

At any rate, I plan on taking a hard look at the Eco-boost engine or similar engines when it's time to buy my next truck.

 

[deerefan]

I filled up this am and got the same mileage, never went over 65 but did pull a 3600 lb load 16 miles. Take the towing out of the equation, i may have eclipsed 16. I will post again at the next fill up.

 

[roamerr]

Your mpg sounds correct to me. I had a 2004 Chev Tahoe with 5.3L and it averaged 15.3mpg over 50,000 miles.

I have a Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 with 3.92 gearing and it is averaging 13.5 mpg over approx 80,000 miles. Towing my ToyHauler (8000 lbs 12 ft tall 30 ft long) I average 6.3mpg. Those are real hand calculated numbers. No bull.