please post your diesel truck fuel milage

DMB · May 15, 2004

99 2500 Dodge Cummins 2WD with auto trans. and 3.5 ratio Dana axle. 16-17 average around town and driving back and forth to work which is 26 miles one way split 2/3 expressway and 1/3 stoplight to stoplight slow and go. 19-21 unloaded highway depending on speed. I've never checked loaded. I traded in a 94 360 gas V8 2500 on the Cummins 3 years ago. It was about 13 on the same in town cycle and about 16 best highway. I've never looked back.
DMB

Libertine · May 15, 2004

hazmet:

96 Dodge 5.9-worst ever 11 towing across Texas high plains recently at 70mph. Best ever 24 trying for economy. average 19-20mpg easy road. average 17-18 town. when towing (6000lbs+) average 16mpg if rpm kept under 2000. has 175000 miles on it.

The vw diesel driven easy will get you around 40mpg. don't know about MB (the old 240d and 300d were by all accounts some of the longest livers ever made).

JEH

jinman · May 15, 2004

Libertine, I have a '96 Dodge 2500 Automatic with 243,000 on the odo, and my mileage has been 21-22 mpg as a commuter and about the same as your's towing a trailer. The worst I ever got was towing two sections of a 12'x24' portable building. The mileage dropped to 11.

Egon · May 15, 2004

Just curious, how many times have you had to repalce the transmission.

I also have a 96 with an auto.

Egon

Libertine · May 16, 2004

jinman:

You're doing a bit better than I am-I have the lower speed rear end (4.1) though which requires about 200-300 rpm more for a given speed. What's your axle ratio?

Egan: have heard the trans go out on these & have been expecting it, but, so far so good. I have been told (don't know if it's true though) that some of the Dodge trans during these years had a problem "searching" gears which tended to burn them out quicker. There is (supposedly) a simple fix and a repair place in Oklahoma City specializes in dropping rebuilts in with the fix installed (don't have the name handy-if you're intested I will locate it)-can't vouch for them, but I have talked with people who have used them & gotten good feedback.

Am hoping for 300,000+ on the engine, then have a Cummins place do a rebuild.

JEH

Egon · May 16, 2004

Libertine:

Just curious on the transmisions trying to separate fact from fiction. Mines still okay.

Egon

Chechnya · May 16, 2004

Your best bet is to buy a Toyota Prius, 60 mpg!

Nice cars, my city inspectors drive the newer ones and the older ones and they like them so you cant go wrong.

_RaT_ · May 16, 2004

Robert, I thought all the trucks from Dodge were running 4.10's not 4.11's.

hazmat · May 16, 2004

Thanks everybody for the info. Looks like I could do ~20-30% better on fuel consumption with the diesel.

I'm still running the numbers. When you factor in depreciation on my truck, and all the costs associated with buying a new (to me) truck (tax title etc.) it might not make sense yet at least financially.

jyoutz · May 17, 2004

One thing to keep in mind IF this applies to you. The diesel motor will very likely outlast your truck and could go 300-400K+ miles. So IF you're like me, and put so many miles on a vehicle that it is wore out before the finance term is over, then that is another consideration. I usually buy something new, drive it for 10 years and put several hundred thousand miles on the vehicle. In this case, buying a diesel is the only way I could have a vehicle that's not wore out by the end of the finance term. BUT, if you trade every couple years, then the extra cost may not be worth it. The trade-in value will be higher however. People will look at a diesel with 200K+ miles, but won't even consider a gasser with that much mileage.