Hyper-miling the EcoD Rubicon Gladiator

[Pescatoral Pursuit]

I've tried using a consistent light touch on the throttle to maintain the mileage gauge in the green and that didn't seem to work too well.

Hit upon something recently but it comes with a fly in the ointment.

On my last tank I gained 3 mpg (21) by operating the throttle as if I were driving a manual. Firm acceleration then let off at about 30 mph and allow the gauge to touch the 40 MPG mark, then back in the throttle (with about as much lag and throttle application as it would take to shift a manual, which is also when the auto will shift,) until the MPG gauge dips below 20, rinse repeat until speed is reached and gauge stabilizes at 25+.
On inclines, as the mpg gauge begins to dip, instead of lightening the throttle, I back off until the gauge maxes, then accelerate until under 20, and continue until it stabilizes at 25+.

I think the mileage gains are from getting the turbo out of boost on acceleration.

The only drawback I've found so far is that the engine is doing noticeably more regens.

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[A 2]

If you haven’t already, check the MPG with a calculator. I recall doing this and found i may have been tricking the gauge? Not sure how the calculation on the gauge works. And, I may be wrong, but as the tank got closer to empty, the gauge calculation started to correct itself and the MPG started to correct itself and went down.

regarding regen, mine has never done a regen. Is that normal at 27k miles?

 

[Pescatoral Pursuit]

If you haven’t already, check the MPG with a calculator. I recall doing this and found i may have been tricking the gauge? Not sure how the calculation on the gauge works. And, I may be wrong, but as the tank got closer to empty, the gauge calculation started to correct itself and the MPG started to correct itself and went down.

regarding regen, mine has never done a regen. Is that normal at 27k miles?

I've been hand calculating every tank of gas since about 2007. 21.98 was the hand calculated MPG. Just under 19 is the average hand calculated.

Yes there is some trickery with the vehicle gauge and it does start off optimistic and as the tank begins to empty becomes more realistic. I have not checked this past fill up, but the previous one was within 7 miles.

Last 2 pics are from this past fill up and based on my hand calculated MPG, and the combined miles driven and range from the truck. They're within 2 miles. I'd say that's pretty accurate even though the 22.8 average is a little off.

 

[Sbro2021]

I’m at 43k on mine and no regen to date either. Any gain you may be getting could very likely be lost once you tack up the cost to replace the emissions after treatment which I have no doubt will not last the life of the vehicle!
The cat alone is outrageous!

 

[Pescatoral Pursuit]

You guys with the no-regens are killing me.

 

[RodRecket]

Well in the end your still driving a flying brick so... interesting data!

 

[Pescatoral Pursuit]

Well in the end your still driving a flying brick so... interesting data!

Maybe a grumper will help with the aerodynamics? Hmm...

 

[Lunentucker]

Instead of being light on the throttle try manually forcing a higher gear, or do both. I've been doing that recently and I'm up 2 mpg (11.4%) on my gasser.
Often I can see that the incline is going to be brief, so I'll hold 8th gear and let it lose 1-2 mph.
In town I'll hold 7th running 35 and 8th when I get over 40.

 

[RodRecket]

Maybe a grumper will help with the aerodynamics? Hmm...

LOL post up lots of pics for forum glory

 

[22EcoDs]

Every diesel has gone through a regen, you just didn't know it. I recall previous posts mentioning regen is by soot load % or mileage. Even if the filter isnt full mine regens after certain mileage. I wanna say 7-800 miles. Unless you're not using any def at all and magically haven't clogged the exhaust and there's no cel.

 

[Pescatoral Pursuit]

Instead of being light on the throttle try manually forcing a higher gear, or do both.

I've done this a lot to no appreciable effect. The diesel doesn't like to be lugged and that reflects in the MPGs, and backing down a bit on inclines to maintain MPG hasn't helped either.

I've found that embracing the load whether it be accelerating to speed or an incline yields far better results. If the truck wants to downshift I go with it, briefly accelerating with the downshift, then letting off the throttle, rinse repeat until the MPG gauge restabilizes.

I've spent 26k miles trying to find the best driving method to maximize mileage since normal driving has fallen way short of advertised, and so far the diesel appears to like this method the most by far.

 

[A 2]

well, at $4.229 per gallon you are getting way better MPD (Miles per dollars) than us here in CA.

 

[CreepyJeepy]

Yeah Regen's on the 3.0 in the gladiator occur often. It's normal, it's good.
I bet mine happens at least every 1000 miles, maybe even closer to 500.

There is no notice on the dash, and zero change to the way the vehicle operates.

You may notice if you shut off the vehicle during a regen, the passenger side rear floor will feel warm, you can sometimes smell residue burning off the outside of the particular filter...

This is why an oil leak that runs down your exhaust pipes can spell the end of a diesel vehicle... (fire)

You will notice if you watch your ECU metrics (using an OBD scanner) soot load will hit 80% and a Regen will start shortly after.

The Regen state will change from a 0 or 1, to a 2 (meaning active regen in progress).

That will burn down the soot in the particulate filter from 80% to about 10%.

What's interesting is how this works.... During the exhaust stroke diesel is injected into the cyl, and is not burned, it's pushed down the exhaust where it hits the particulate filter and ignites, raising the internal temp of the particulate filter to 1200 degrees, thus burning off carbon.

Yes you waste fuel to have cleaner emissions. We all know this, and frankly it's a good thing for the environment.... (regardless of what folks have to say about it... this is fact)... Modern diesels have very complex yet effective emission systems, it's frankly incredible the torque you can get vs the emissions that are expelled.

If you shut the vehicle down during that process no worries, it will manage that on future drives....
If that happens too often it will give you a message on your dash that you need to continue to drive.... If you see that message (not everyone will) then you should continue to drive for the extra 10-15 min to let it finish burning off the carbon.

 

[Rusty PW]

Fuel mileage reading is based off of the injector pulse width, throttle position, engine load.


Those who say that they didn't have any regens. Your diesel has gone through many of them and you never knew. Regens happens when the soot load gets around 80%, or around 800+ miles, or 900+ minutes of engine run time.

I have the Banks iDash gauge set up to read soot load, Regen, and active or passive regen. I just did a trip from south of Pittsburgh to Denver and back in 5 days. 3,200 miles. Watching the gauge. I did 3 regens going out and 3 regens coming back. All passive. The soot load never got above 25%. My speed was between 65 and 80 mph. Local driving. I've seen my soot load at 80% and it go into a passive regen.

On the highway when it goes into a passive regen. It will take between 11 to 16 minutes at 65+ mph.

 

[Camaroboi13]

Out of curiosity, are you on 37s or 40s? I’m leveled on 37s and I can touch 21mpg average all day everyday. Before putting the 37s on I would easily see 26.5-28 average. Longer drives would obviously see a little more. And yes, that was hand calculated. If I were to head to my mom’s house, 1200 miles away, I’d be willing to bet I could touch 500 miles on stock tires. 440-460 on a tank was the norm, not sure what mods you have or how far you drive but that makes more of a difference than your driving style.

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