Anyone have any experience with what improvements can be made to Trailblazer SS MPGs with some good tuning efforts? Thinking of getting one, but I feel like the LS platform can deliver much better MPGs than it is advertised to in that platform. Maybe Im wrong?... Thoughts/Experience?

 

nothing. tuning does nothing for mileage. you can't lean it out unless you run open loop full time and even then you have to lean the crap out of it and you get about .5 mpg. btdt, drive slower and use a lighter foot, makes the biggest diff by far.

 

since when???

 

I don't know about TBSS's but my dads 02 5.3 Suburban picked up about 3mpg highway from a dyno tune. We didn't even activate lean cruise. Picked up about 15hp too.

 

I think you forgot about timing...

I would agree that Gen III's (such as the 02 mentioned above) can gain mileage through tuning. The Gen IV's & V's, not as much if it is not modified - GM did pretty good on the newer models as far as pulling the mpg out of them...

 

Electric fan, Electric water pump, 3.42 gears, full exhaust(lighter) and a retune, lighter wheels/tires, lowering, overall weight reduction. All of this will get you 18-20 city MPGs and your looking at close to 4k in parts. So it would take 4-6 years of gas to break even The truck just wasn't designed for fuel economy

 

Just curious... My last ride was an 04 Ram SRT-10!!... so a mpg freak im not, just wanted to know what they could wring out!

 

^^^Yah I hear yah, I just bought one and its really fun, the family loves it and it feels safe. I am getting around 16 city/hwy to work and dropping kids at school. I am going against the grain with mine and trying to get this mobile brick above 23mpgs on the highway! Its only a 2WD so I am going to lower it and treat it like a giant station wagon that can roast the tires!

 

I had a an 08 awd with volant cai/ PCM for less tune/ and a magnaflow exhaust an I think the best I would get was 18mpg on the hwy and that was running 91 octane. Boy there fun but that gas gauge drops fast