Anybody here know how to get the best MPG and performance out of a 2007 Duramax for towing and regular driving? Thanks, Larry.
Mine (‘04 LLY, 196K, no mods) seldom varies much. Best highway mpg (not towing) has been 18.2. Local driving varies between 15.5-16.5. Never towed long enough to get a mpg number.
My LLY gets the same mileage with the 77 body as it did with the 05. 17ish all day on the highway. There is room for improvement with a custom tune but I never bothered. Claims of 20-25mpg seem to be only internet based and never real world. I would leave it stock and enjoy the durability and dependability.
I have a 2006 3500 dually that gets 20-22 mpg on the interstate without my trailer. I carry a small book in the truck and write down the amount of fuel and odometer reading every time I get fuel. It has the lowest upgrade Banks program and a K&N filter in the stock air cleaner.
Michelin LTX low rolling resistance tires, K & N air intake, FASS Fuel System, Synthetic oil, trans fluid & gear oil, Edge Evolution programmer in the fuel mileage setting. You must have some self control to own a programmer! LOL. Mine has never been out of the mileage setting as I get paid by the loaded mile, so the better mileage, the more I make! 4 inch straight through exhaust (can't remember what year the DEF started). I have all of these modifications on both trucks. Pictures in my link below Mine are both LB7s, (02 & 03) Great fuel mileage towing the two trailers & they last forever. As a business owner I keep records of every mile & cost per mile. God Bless Bill https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/
Thanks everybody for the input! My 2007 "3500 single rear tire truck" gets about 15-16 mpg when towing or not,and I'd like to step it up into that 20-22 mpg range. So, John tell me about this Banks system, is it a plug in program type system or a chip? or what? I get the K/N filter part, and what are your thoughts on an exhaust upgrade? Thanks! Larry.
My 05 4WD LLY with superchip, cold air dam and Mbrp exhaust would get 22-23 regularly on the highway if I babied it.
Bill, I just saw your post and since you make hauling your business your trucks are probaly super tuned, so what kind of mpg do you make? Thanks! Larry.
Larry, The single wheel 2500HD pulling the Featherlite open trailer WITH a car on it I avg 18.5 with a best of 20.8. The Dually 3500 pulling the enclosed trailer WITH a car in it, I average 16.3 with a best of 18.6
The funny thing is how consistent they are! I can run 3 or 4 tank fulls & be within 3 tenths for all of them!
Mark, thanks for the info, how much does it cost to do these upgrades on a 2007 if you were to guess? Larry.
Bill, thanks for all the info, these different setups really help out in making an informed decision on the what might work on my truck Thankyou, Larry.
I have a 2002 gmc 2500 with a 6.0l gas motor. Bought a 35' 5th wheel camper that after the wife loaded up was 12000+ lbs and pulled it 2000+ miles. Didnt feel comfortable pulling as it spent a lot of time in 3rd gear. Put a single turbo on it and it was a whole new ball game. Pulled it great with 10 lbs boost but only got 6mpg. Bought a 25k miles 2006 duramax truck thinking that I could get over 12mpg pulling it. All the hype of the duramax getting high teens pulling that 5th wheel were smoke and mirrors. Get between 9 and 10 pulling it and if I am lucky and really drive like a grandpa (which I am but don't act like it) I can get 17ish on the hyway and 15ish running around. Have done the egr delete, banks exhaust, cat delete, and tune. I know a few guys with duramaxes and it seems like this is about normal. If I run empty one lanes at 60mph I might be able to squeeze 20 out of it. It seems like there are a small group that are saying there getting 20+ empty and 15+ pulling 15000 lbs. The rest of us are getting 16ish running around and 10ish pulling heavy. I payed good money for a tune and it didn't do any better than my tune. I have the software and have been tuning gasses for over 15 years. Just giving you my experience. Mike
WOW, I don't own a diesel anything, but those highway m.p.g. numbers seem low compared to a gas engine at highway speeds. Out of curiosity, what r.p.m. are your diesels turning, say at 70 m.p.h? I thought diesels got their fuel economy from their low r.p.m. torque ability, not having to rev them to keep them in their "happy place"
1700 rpm & 3 lbs of turbo boost @ 63mph Gas engines will get good fuel mileage until you hook a trailer to them & put a car on it, then everything changes. Before I had these two trucks, I had two with gas engines & put approx 2 million transporting miles on them, while still doing everything I could for fuel mileage & they could not get anything close to what I listed above for the diesels. I run 120-155k per year with these two LB7s, but probably only 500 miles per year without one of the trailers hooked to them, so I have no idea what they get for empty mileage. God Bless Bill https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/
I pull a 33 foot pull behind toy hauler. Ten years ago I had a 454 powered 4x4 3/4 ton Suburban. Literally got 5 mpg. My riding property is 160 miles from my house and had to fill it twice after leaving with a full tank. A year later I bought a 2011 2500HD Durtymaxx 4x4 and out the box it got 12mpg towing the 15000 pound Wolfpac. After I paid it off I had it tuned, ran a race pipe, and just unplugged the egr valves. Towing mileage went to 14mpg if I kept it below 70 mph. That was hard with all that extra power. How does that effect an 05? No clue. But my 2011 would roast the 35 inch Nittos at anything less than 30 mph. I now have a 2019 2500HD High Country. That L5P is damn inmpressive bone stock. Just waiting on the tuning to catch up with the newer bullit. As of now it is $1200 for a new PCM. $800 to unlock it, and $1000 to tune. At 910 ftlbs from GM, I can wait for the price to come down.
While not quite what the OP is asking about, a different perspective from an ‘18 L5P 2500HD Denali is that it gets around 18-19MPG towing a 6,000lb boat at 75mph and the rpm stays right around 1750. It loafs along even up the hills with the boat w/0 even a change in rpm let alone a downshift. I don’t even use tow/haul for 6000lbs. It’s eerie that nothing changes when you hit the hills, and I think the PCM is varying the turbo vane position behind the scenes, which is undetectable. Set the cruise and drive. I’ve made this particular boat pulling trip since 2002 with the same boat with 4 different trucks. The first 2 trucks were Dodge gassers, a 95 and 02 with a 5.2L and 5.9L. Those were so bad they don’t even count. Next, for 15 years, I had a 2003 Sierra 1500 with a 6.0L and the mileage was single digits and you had to plan accordingly to pass someone or go up a hill. The transmission got a workout, but it was miles ahead of either Dodge. The newer GM diesels trade-off some efficiency and emissions reliability for a smooth, quiet, and stink-less experience.
I don't tow anything with my GN, but it does the same thing going up hills, it stays in overdrive, mph and rpm remain the same, I hear a lazy whistle from the turbocharger
It is a Banks AutoMind flash programmer. I also have the Banks IQ. I can tell when I get a bad batch of fuel. The boost will be higher going up a hill. There is a lot of difference in quality of diesel fuel. Just like gasoline! I have refrained from going to an aftermarket exhaust. I do not like the noise. Especially when pulling the enclosed trailer. I feel sure that would help power and economy. Is your 2007 a classic or the newer body style. The newer style added the DPF and used diesel fuel to burn the particulate. This lowered the fuel economy of the truck. Even though the engine was not using this extra fuel.
John, my 2007 is a Classic Crew -cab, long-bed model that I bought new and it has about 120k on it now. Most of the miles where towing, I usually pull a 18ft. open heavy duty trailer with 8 lug axles. The weight of vehicles I haul is generally 3500-5000 lbs. My enclosed trailer is a 26ft. with a aluminum frame that pulls real easy. I try to use a additive every other tank year round when I fill-up. I feel this is important since most of the diesel today is "ultra low sulfer fuel'. I think this will extend the life of the injectors and pump. I'll check out Banks website to see what's the latest on their Duramax upgrades? Larry.
