i have a 2006 chevy silverado 1500 and averaging 13 mpg.. what can i do to help it

 

Buy a civic

 

Thats about normal for a 5.3 4x4 truck

What are the mods? Stock and aired up tires, take off the lift, take all the crap out of it, put a bed cap on it, put the 2wd front valance on

etc

Eventually, the money you spend on mods will need 5-10 or even 15yrs to pay you back in economy savings. Buy a smaller or newer tech truck if you really care that much about fuel econ. You'll spend 5k or so making the engine breathe better and working on the body to go from 13 average to 14, IMO.

My 5.3 Tahoe 4x4 with mods seems to be stuck right at 13 as well. Used to be in the 15s, but then I changed cams and I guess I like hammering on it more now, because Ive never been back. My commute is 26mi highway, couple stops lights. Full street econ is in the single digits for me. like 180mi/tank, well 3/4 tank because I never run below a 1/4, and neither should you

 

Tune it. I did a 93 tune (can turn up timing quite a bit with 93) and got 2 mpg. But then you pay a hair more for fuel. The extra MPG washes out the extra cost but it's a whole lot more fun to drive.

You may be able to get 1 mpg or so from tuning it on 87. Make sure the intake and exhaust aren't restrictive. They don't have to be race car stuff but restrictions cost MPG. I gained a couple of MPG by cutting the restrictive flapper out of the exhaust on my 2014.

Light wheels and low rolling resistance tires. Higher end tires have a different rubber compound that returns some of the energy to the road and increases MPG. I did a tire program at lexus and some of the customers opted for cheap tires on their hybrids then came back complaining of MPG loss. Look for tires labeled LRR

Run on the high side of air pressure. Low air pressure increases rolling resistance.

Make sure it's running tip top, tuned up, etc.

Not a whole lot else you can do.

 

Maintenance and driving habits.

But 13-15 combined is probably avg for those years. Higher if you drive only freeway.

 

Agreed.

Driving habits is the number 1 thing though. There's a few tricks you can pull but not much magic. You could do better heads and up the compression/tighten the quench to get more efficiency but most don't want to go that far.

 

My 06 2500 got 13 combined driving and loaded with 800-1000lbs everyday. That's why I traded it. If that's only city and it's not a reg cab that could be normal. Great advice above.

 

That's actually good man lol.

I got 12-14 on a regular basis in my 1500 5.3 ex cab truck that was tuned for better mileage.

But I drove it hard and was wasteful. Best it ever did was around 16-17 though with mixed city and highway.