My average is 11.3 mpg in town, always

[J1000]

If you haven't done so in awhile first thing I'd do is replace the spark plugs and possibly the coilpacks also. If your O2 sensors are in unknown condition, go ahead and replace those as well.

Also I 2nd the opinion that you should pump up your tires to 45-50psi. I run max sidewall pressure on all my vehicles, why not? In city driving this likely won't make too much of a difference, but it can't hurt and your tires will last longer.

Something is up with your truck, I get better MPG in city driving and I run exclusively E85.

 

[68W65D]

I was having similar issues. Here is what fixed it for me.
1) Disconnect battery
2) Clean air filter or replace
3) Clean MAF
4) Clean throttle body
5) Reconnect battery (make sure you leave it off for at least 30 minutes)
6) One can of BG 44k at next fill up.

I've used Seafoam a few times and have been happy with it as well.

Also, I use nothing but Chevron gas. Have have not notice any performance difference with higher octanes except at higher altitude.

 

[CloudCity]

Made a realization here also, I cleaned the MAF but didn't do the battery reset, so I'll do that also. I'll air the tires up a bit, that should help no matter what. Thanks for all the tips, I have a few options now and will see how things go.

 

[J1000]

Check your spark plugs for tightness too:
Spark plugs Alert Alert Alert!

 

[Spike555]

Hey Spike just wanted to say not poking at you with this post. Your comment brings up some good info.

Costco puts their fuel contract out for bid. The only thing Costco about it is there name. The type of fuel they sell comes from the lowest bidder at the time of the contract. Depending on where you live the base stock will be different, as well as, the supplier. Several top tier companies get their base stock from the same pipe.

As for trusting what the pump says on the 10%... that would be ethanol injected into the load at the time of loading on the transport truck. The base stock may very well have been adjusted to meet octane ratings. The only thing that makes fuel top tier is the additive package injected at the time of loading on the truck. A non top tier fuel can be loaded at the same depot on the next truck and the only difference is they don't inject the same additives like Techron for instance. Reduction in mileage is a great indication of the quality of fuel you are putting in your vehicle. Our series vehicles were not designed to run an ethanol mixed fuel and it has an impact on more than mileage . The results speak for themselves run a load out of Costco and then run an ethanol free tank full and the results are quite noticeable. Top tier is just a higher level of additives, that in my opinion, neither increase MPG or performance.

Only reason I brought this up was because the OP is scratching his head about mileage and getting ready start replacing stuff. We can't even trust what's in a can of seltzer water lately and the fuel industry wants me to believe that what it says on the pump is what I get? Don't bet on it. We are talking millions of gallons of fuel and the evidence is burned up before anyone would be the wiser $$$

You make some good points that I had not thought of. Thank you.

 

[Spike555]

Made a realization here also, I cleaned the MAF but didn't do the battery reset, so I'll do that also. I'll air the tires up a bit, that should help no matter what. Thanks for all the tips, I have a few options now and will see how things go.

I cleaned my MAF, no "battery reset" and my MPG went up by 1 mpg.
I am a firm believer that the battery reset is a wives tale. But that's just me.

 

[Spike555]

I know this is off topic, but in your opinion why are tire rotations a waste of time and money?

The whole tire rotation thing was because of bias ply tires, they did not wear evenly. Quality was not very good and tire life span was extremely short.

With modern radial tires quality is top notch and as long as your tire's are properly inflated and your alignment and suspension components are good all four tires will wear evenly.
I am NOT saying you should not inspect your tires for uneven wear, you should. This tells you if something is wrong with your car.

But taking a perfectly good set of tires and moving them to different positions does nothing other than make you sit in a waiting room as the tire store tries to sell you stuff. It is all about the upsell. Once the tires have been bought and you leave the tire STORE you are no longer a source of revenue for the tire STORE.
Including your spare tire in the rotation? Now you need to buy 5 tires instead of 4. Remember, stores need to sell things to make money.
Rotate your tires yourself? Cool, no sitting in a waiting room with bad coffee and snotty kids that aren't yours. Wouldn't you rather be watching Netflix? Spending time with your family? Napping? Hunting? Fishing?
"Only takes an hour..." my time is better well spend doing other things.

On front wheel drive cars, the rear tires will last twice as long as the fronts. Why? Because the rear tires only hold up the back of the car and provide some braking.

Do you think they rotate tires on semi's? Trucks that drive 100k/yr and tires are $500+ each would want to get maximum life out of those tires right? They do not rotate them. Why? Because tire rotations are not needed.

What causes tire wear? Stopping, starting and turning. Don't do jack rabbits starts at every stop. Don't wait until the last minute to stop. Don't fly around curves on two wheels. You'll save gas, your tires and brakes will last longer too.

Everyone can do whatever they want. This is what I do and have always done.

 

[J1000]

On front wheel drive cars, the rear tires will last twice as long as the fronts. Why? Because the rear tires only hold up the back of the car and provide some braking.

Isn't this exactly the reason for rotating tires? I think you'll find the weight distribution on a 100 series is mostly over the front tires.

 

[Spike555]

Isn't this exactly the reason for rotating tires? I think you'll find the weight distribution on a 100 series is mostly over the front tires.

I have no idea what the weight distribution of the 100 series is. And weight has nothing to do with it as long as you're using the proper rated tire and not overloading them.

The reason for rotating tires it for even tire wear, but here is the thing, the tires are going to wear evenly anyway. So why bother?

You rotate your tires and get 60k out of them, I do not rotate mine and get 60k out of them.

Again, you guys can do whatever your want, this is what I do and why I do it.

And one more addition for the guys thinking "but my owners manual says to"...your owners manual also says to only use their parts and fluids and repair centers. And it says to buy tires at the dealer too, "to ensure that your vehicle has the same ride and handling characteristics as the day you bought it"

 

[J1000]

I have no idea what the weight distribution of the 100 series is. And weight has nothing to do with it as long as you're using the proper rated tire and not overloading them.

Ok so why make a distinction for FWD cars then? Because they wear unevenly front to rear? Well guess what so do AWD cars with front weight bias.

Yes we will all do what we want and pointing out bad advice is what I like to do

 

[Spike555]

Ok so why make a distinction for FWD cars then? Because they wear unevenly front to rear? Well guess what so do AWD cars with front weight bias.

Yes we will all do what we want and pointing out bad advice is what I like to do

My distinction with FWD cars is that the front tires do all of the work, they wear when you accelerate and they wear when you stop. The rear tires hold up the back of the car so they free wheel and do little actual work, much like a trailer tire. Therefore they last twice as long as the fronts. So you get 60k out of the fronts and 120k out of the rear tires on a FWD car.
On a AWD car the tires are going to wear evenly because all four tires are accelerating the car and you'll get 60k out of all four tires.

 

[J1000]

My distinction with FWD cars is that the front tires do all of the work, they wear when you accelerate and they wear when you stop. The rear tires hold up the back of the car so they free wheel and do little actual work, much like a trailer tire. Therefore they last twice as long as the fronts. So you get 60k out of the fronts and 120k out of the rear tires on a FWD car.
On a AWD car the tires are going to wear evenly because all four tires are accelerating the car and you'll get 60k out of all four tires.

Wrong. What about braking? You left that off your list this time. On AWD car with front weight bias the front wearout faster than the rears. Acceleration is by far the weakest force a street car puts on it's tires. Normal braking and cornering put much more stress on the tires than accelerating at full speed. You can make your tires squeel with the brakes and steering wheel but you can't with the gas pedal.

Physics is great stuff.

 

[Spike555]

Wrong. What about braking? You left that off your list this time. On AWD car with front weight bias the front wearout faster than the rears. Acceleration is by far the weakest force a street car puts on it's tires. Normal braking and cornering put much more stress on the tires than accelerating at full speed. You can make your tires squeel with the brakes and steering wheel but you can't with the gas pedal.

Physics is great stuff.

I didn't realize I had to repeat myself on every reply.

If you are making your tires squeal everytime you stop or corner then I suppose you need to rotate your tires.
Drive like a normal person and you don't have to.

 

[jwbc84]

Hey Spike just wanted to say not poking at you with this post. Your comment brings up some good info.

Costco puts their fuel contract out for bid. The only thing Costco about it is there name. The type of fuel they sell comes from the lowest bidder at the time of the contract. Depending on where you live the base stock will be different, as well as, the supplier. Several top tier companies get their base stock from the same pipe.

As for trusting what the pump says on the 10%... that would be ethanol injected into the load at the time of loading on the transport truck. The base stock may very well have been adjusted to meet octane ratings. The only thing that makes fuel top tier is the additive package injected at the time of loading on the truck. A non top tier fuel can be loaded at the same depot on the next truck and the only difference is they don't inject the same additives like Techron for instance. Reduction in mileage is a great indication of the quality of fuel you are putting in your vehicle. Our series vehicles were not designed to run an ethanol mixed fuel and it has an impact on more than mileage . The results speak for themselves run a load out of Costco and then run an ethanol free tank full and the results are quite noticeable. Top tier is just a higher level of additives, that in my opinion, neither increase MPG or performance.

Only reason I brought this up was because the OP is scratching his head about mileage and getting ready start replacing stuff. We can't even trust what's in a can of seltzer water lately and the fuel industry wants me to believe that what it says on the pump is what I get? Don't bet on it. We are talking millions of gallons of fuel and the evidence is burned up before anyone would be the wiser $$$

I'm intrigued on the process of how fuel is distributed and have always been curious as to how volumes of fuel was sold and managed. Are you saying that fuel from an Arco, Chevron, Costco or wherever would be all from the same refinery with back to back trucks but just different additives placed in each truck?

 

[J1000]

I didn't realize I had to repeat myself on every reply.

If you are making your tires squeal everytime you stop or corner then I suppose you need to rotate your tires.
Drive like a normal person and you don't have to.

It was simply a thought exercise to illustrate the forces at work. Acceleration is the smallest force especially if you "drive normally."

You repeat yourself because you are inconsistent. You contradict yourself every time. "Tires don't wear unevenly" is not consistent with "on FWD cars rears last twice as long as fronts"

I don't expect you to realize this but it's quite clear for anyone else reading along.

 

[Travis Bickle]

I cleaned my MAF, no "battery reset" and my MPG went up by 1 mpg.
I am a firm believer that the battery reset is a wives tale. But that's just me.

Battery reset just puts your fuel trim values back to default, should have no effect on mpg.

If you want to do it quickly though just disconnect the battery cables and hold them together for about 10 seconds, then reconnect. No need to wait for so long.

 

[68W65D]

I like having my tires rotated for inspection purposes, for the cleaning of the rotors, and for balancing. And since I rotate all 5 tires, it keeps the spare equal to the others.

 

[JayM]

I'm intrigued on the process of how fuel is distributed and have always been curious as to how volumes of fuel was sold and managed. Are you saying that fuel from an Arco, Chevron, Costco or wherever would be all from the same refinery with back to back trucks but just different additives placed in each truck?

Depending on location most cities have bulk storage depots. Sometimes they are owned by the big refiners like shell etc. Sometimes they are operated by larger conglomerates you likely have not heard of. The fuel comes to the depot by pipeline , ship, truck depending on volume and location. The depot is also where the fuel trucks come in to load. Depots can serve several customers like Chevron, BP, shell etc. When truck hauling a Chevron load comes in and hooks up to load the additive is directly injected into the fuel while loading by computer system. The next truck could load a completely different customer next with a different additive package injected. They may all use the same base stock fuel. Some companies lease tank space and bring in their own product but that is pretty rare. Most bulk stock comes in on pipeline so having a unique fuel is almost impossible.

There are fewer and fewer refineries so unique base stocks is really not an option. We see a bunch of marketing hype making us think we are getting a unique product. I do agree that all addative packages are different to some extent and some are better.

 

[Captndcoke]

so which gas is better? Costco or BP? didn't mean to open

 

[Spike555]

so which gas is better? Costco or BP? didn't mean to open

I think as long as you're using a TopTeir fuel (both of those are) you are going to be fine. As to which is "better", I can't say.
But this discussion has given me an idea for a "test", I am going to run three tanks of Costco fuel and then swtich to Shell (the BP in my area just switched to Citgo this weekend) and keep track of my mpg using the app I have.
This will give me exact mpg numbers as well as total cost.