My father has a 2004 Silverado 2500 4x4 and he gets horrible gas mileage, averaging 12.8 MPG. Are there any good bolt-ons or mods to get his mileage better?

 

I've heard a tune and a CAI could help.

 

Honestly no. There are guys out there that have gotten better mileage from bolt-ons such as tunes and exhausts and intakes and the like. But they are more flukes than anything else. I don't think that there are any bolt-on mods on the market that actually guarranty gas mileage gains. If there were, everyone would be using them.

You may gain some mileage from various bolt-ons but I would not expect it or spend the money specifically with the idea that you are going to gain 2 miles per gallon from a cat-back exhaust for example. Because you are going to be let down and disappointed.

 

Bolt ons help the engine run more efficiently. This helps to increase gas mileage. Exhaust, CAI, tuning, and even FI all help. The draw back is it is difficult to keep your foot out of the throttle with the new found power, which causes a decrease in gas mileage. Big cams and tq converters usually have a negative effect on mileage.

 

I've added intake, exhaust, tunning and frankly it makes the car run better, but in my case did not add MPG. Anyone that buys a car or truck with a V8 has to expect an honorary membership to OPEC....cause Greenpeace ain't coming for ya!

Additionally, you have to figure even if the mods did increase MPG, how much you gonna spend to get that perk to pay for itself. For example, spend $200 on an intake and $100 on programming, throw about $400 for an exhaust (mine cost far more than $400). $700 still buys about 300 gallons of gas at about $2/gallon and if you are like most, will see a better performance, but equal or less MPG....your results may vary. :

 

You can get a tune for better mileage and it will help, but you have to sacrifice power and torque for mileage.

 

More power often yields better mpg to a certain point. Jerry 2500 is a good example. https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...hlight=sts+mpg

 

I had a 02 Sonoma with a 2.2,5-spd and 3.73 rear. I got a 3 mpg increase with a K&N drop-in filter. On my present truck,after the FIPK,my gas mileage actually went down about 2 mpg for awhile. I think it was because I was hitting it more;now it seems I'm getting about the same as before the change. My best hwy,so far,is 20.15 and combined is about 18.xx mpg.
4x4s are always going to use more. I don't know what,if anything,can give any significant gains in economy. Unfortunately they aren't like f-bodies which give very good performance and good mpg.
I was surprised my 2.2 got a 3 mpg increase;it must have been pretty restricted.

 

My tune was good for 2-3MPG. This was a Westers Garage tune.

it's not hard to gain a little more MPG. But don't expect honda like MPG. At most2-5MPG with a free'r flowing intake and exhaust and a good conservative ECU that is leaned out in the right places.

 

Ageed.


Something most people overlook is rolling resistence of tires. If you went with a highway rib commercial tire with a very low rolling resistence you could see a significant gain in mpg. The only problem is running 80psi in your tires equals a much rougher ride.

=Dave