Fuel Mileage and winter......

[Warren96]

My mileage in the winter is $)I#y.Should I plug in the block heater?It starts fine here in New Jersey without it. 1994 6.5TD 4WD Blazer

[Dvldog 8793]

Howdy
The winter blended fuel will not give as good mileage as straight #2. If possible you could go with #2 and then use your own additive. Also the cooler denser winter air makes better power but mileage suffers. other things also come into play like the temp of diff oil, trans fluid, bearing grease etc....
Hope this helps...
L8r
Conley

[Tough Guy]

You also should look at your tire pressure, run at or near the max rating for better efficiency...

Also, idling the motor for extended warm up periods decreases fuel economy.

I always run a good fuel additive which seems to be good for around 1mpg...

Chris

[John J. LoCrasto]

Well with the winter blend fuel, I definately see a loss in power and it sounds different and crappy MPG. Warren96 your not far from me, so I know you know of I280 and the nice long hill it has, in the summer with the ac on I go up it at 70 2200rpm no problem winter is like 65 2500rpm if I am lucky.. Though it's off road winter diesel so i dunno if that makes a difference IIR it's 60% Diesel 40% Kero.

Later
Johnny

[Warren96]

I thought someone should bring up this topic because of the intense intrest in mileage recently.It seems that when the truck is warmed up it gets much better mpg.On an average round trip to Georgia and back it can get just over 22mpg. Around here in the winter its lucky to get 19mpg! I am considering using the block heater and a transmission warmer overnight, how about opening up the air cleaner to warmer underhood temps?