Fuel Stats Cargo Van

[Moot]

Below are some yearly average statistics for a 2004, 6.0, Chevrolet 3500 extended cargo van. This van was put into service April, 2004. It replaced a 1998, 5.8, 3500 extended van. The stats for 2004 include both vans with Jan, Feb, March and part of April for the 1998 van. Until sometime in 2008 my typical freeway cruising speed was 67 mph. Since then my average freeway cruising speed is 63 mph. Yeah, it took me a long time to realize slowing down would save me money. In 14 years I have had one service failure and that was due to a breakdown. In most cases I arrive to the consignee 1 to 3 hours early.


2004 mpg 15.89 ppg $1.76 ppm $0.11

2005 mpg 16.50 ppg $2.16 ppm $0.13

2006 mpg 16.39 ppg $2.42 ppm $0.15

2007 mpg 16.29 ppg $2.70 ppm $0.17

2008 mpg 16.54 ppg $3.08 ppm $0.19

2009 mpg 17.07 ppg $2.24 ppm $0.13

2010 mpg 16.94 ppg $2.67 ppm $0.16

 

[aristotle]

Those MPG's are impressive. My Ford diesels avg about 18mpg. Given the price differential for fuel (gas v. diesel) I am tempted to go with a gasoline engine on my next purchase. If convinced it would last 500k miles, I would definitely/maybe make the change. Once an O/O gets locked into a diesel mindset, change isn't easy.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I retired my old 98 Dodge 318 with almost 600K...and it was running fine when retired just a gas guzzler..

IF I were to go back to a van it definately would be a gasser...

 

[Moot]

I should note that I don't do any sustained idling. Occasionally if I get hung up at a shipper for a short time I will idle rather than fire up the heater. Also I use the fill-to-fill method of calculating my mpg. After 850,000 miles of doing it this way I believe it to be very accurate. My ScanGauge usually shows about 2 mpg more per tank than the fill-to-fill method. I don't believe the ScanGauge.

Once an O/O gets locked into a diesel mindset, change isn't easy.

When I first started I was looking at a Ford diesel. At the time diesel fuel was generally slightly cheaper than gasoline. I ran the numbers and tried to justify the extra $3500 for a diesel. In the end the Chevy gasser won out because of the long wheelbase.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Those diesel upgrades are closer to $6-7,000 more now Moot...

and the extra weight and loss of load capacity...gas is the way to go...

Have an owner here with an 2009 E350 gas...claims 18 mpg on E85 at 63 mph...

 

[purgoose10]

Those diesel upgrades are closer to $6-7,000 more now Moot...

and the extra weight and loss of load capacity...gas is the way to go...

Have an owner here with an 2009 E350 gas...claims 18 mpg on E85 at 63 mph...

Your right on the gas verses diesel. I am also a diesel guy but looking at all aspects, it looks like a 6.0 in my new one. As far as the guy getting 18mpg with E85, I would have to see it to believe it. But all's fair in love and war.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Your right on the gas verses diesel. I am also a diesel guy but looking at all aspects, it looks like a 6.0 in my new one. As far as the guy getting 18mpg with E85, I would have to see it to believe it. But all's fair in love and war.

That is one of the...I HEARD cases...*LOL* remember?

 

[purgoose10]

That is one of the...I HEARD cases...*LOL* remember?

Yeh, Yeh rub it in.

 

[LDB]

I am averaging about 16 3/4 in my 2009 Chev. 6.0 running 65mph. That puts my cpm under dispatch about 7.5cpm and out of pocket about 18cpm on $3 gasoline. YMMV

 

[LDB]

Ummm.. SHUT UP!

 

[chefdennis]

Good numbers Moot...Me, I don't even figure it anymore...i put gas in it when it needs it and run it until it needs it again... Off the top of my head, when I am trying to fgure out how many gallons I might need to get me to the next TA when i need gas and there isn't one available when i need gas, I do use 16 mpg, because that was the constant when I did keep track of it...seems to work out pretty close still...

 

[Moot]

... it looks like a 6.0 in my new one.

If you are ordering new, get the 6L90 6 speed transmission. Anybody in E.O. Land running a GM van with this transmission?

As far as the guy getting 18mpg with E85, I would have to see it to believe it.

I'm a bit skeptical about that claim also. E-85 is 85% ethanol. Back in the day when regular gas was only a cent or two more than a 10% ethanol blend I would opt for the straight gas because of the better mpg. I would also question the 18 mpg if the data was coming from the on-board computer or the E.P.A.

 

[Freightdawg]

Also I use the fill-to-fill method of calculating my mpg. After 850,000 miles of doing it this way I believe it to be very accurate. My ScanGauge usually shows about 2 mpg more per tank than the fill-to-fill method. I don't believe the ScanGauge.


I believe that is the most accurate method to figure MPG. I use my scan gauge more for trends. It did make me a little more conservative on throttle application, and highway cruising speeds.

 

[Moot]

I use my scan gauge more for trends. It did make me a little more conservative on throttle application, and highway cruising speeds.

Exactly! I usually have the average mpg showing on the trip screen and volts, water temp, RPM, and air intake temp displayed on the gauge screen and toggle back and forth. In the past few months I have had an intermittent problem with the throttle position sensor so I have been monitoring that instead of the water temp. Of course the ScanGauge is also good for pulling and resetting fault codes.

 

[scottm4211]

I'd also love to hear some feedback on mpg with the new 6 sp. Me? Average right at 18 mpg with the 4.8.

 

[Freightdawg]

What speed are you driving?

 

[Turtle]

The ScanGauge isn't accurate insofar as MPG, and they'll tell you so (in the manual). I'm not sure about the original model, but the ScanGauge II has a plus/minus thing when you go to MORE|FILLUP and tell it you just filled the tank. It will tell you how much it thinks you should have put in there, and if you put more or less in there you can do the plus/minus thing to increase or decrease the percentage it uses to calculate the fuel consumption. After a while, with enough tweaking, it can become somewhat accurate.

If you have a Espar heater (or a refer, for that matter), you'll need to tweak the percentages in the winter to account for the fuel used by the Espar (although it's almost small enough to not even worry about).

What I do is take the total miles driven for the year (or month or whatever), and divide that by the total amount of fuel put into the vehicle. That gives me the most accurate fuel economy for the fuel I've consumed, be it running down the road, idling or with the Espar heater. I also check it fill-to-fill, especially on long loads, just to keep an eye on things, to make sure I don't have a sudden major drop in fuel consumption.

I can generally look down at the fuel gauge and know within a few miles how many miles I have remaining. Although, I really pushed that the other day when, in zero degree weather, I put 27.363 gallons into a 26.5 gallon tank.

I mostly use the ScanGauge II to monitor coolant temp, voltage, current MPG (the one that changes rapidly) and for MPH since the Sprinter's odometer is off by 3-5 MPH depending on speed.

 

[scottm4211]

What speed are you driving?

60-65 mph.

 

[pellgrn]

I gotta 2010 2500 chevy with a 6.0 and a 3.42 rear end,i haven't driven it much but i do know i'm turning 2000 rpm's at around 70 mph with is nothing like my fords.If i'm doing 70 in my 2006 e250 with a 3.73 and a 5.4 i'm around 2400 rpm's.I haven't expedited with it yet,i'm still setting it up still.

 

[purgoose10]

If you are ordering new, get the 6L90 6 speed transmission. Anybody in E.O. Land running a GM van with this transmission?
I'm a bit skeptical about that claim also. E-85 is 85% ethanol. Back in the day when regular gas was only a cent or two more than a 10% ethanol blend I would opt for the straight gas because of the better mpg. I would also question the 18 mpg if the data was coming from the on-board computer or the E.P.A.

I am debating on my new truck. We are specking now about the 6spd w/342 gear and 6.0 engine. Would like to talk to someone also about that. I have another truck with a 4.8 and 6spd w/342 gear, it has plenty of power but the thing down shifts whenever you go over a hill. I am going to have that truck stay in direct and check the miles on it next week to see what the difference in mpg is. It's going to downshift doesn't matter what the engine. It drops 200rpms and comes out of overdrive. I find it quite annoying.