Average Fuel Mileage 2005 Dodge w/ Cummins 5.9l

[tinhorn97062]

Does anybody drive an un-modded 2005 Dodge 2500 w/ 5.9l Cummins? If so, can you tell me what your actual HWY/City mileage is when empty, and when towing?

[paul h]

I have a 2006. Empty highway mileage is 20-21 mpg, towing my boat it drops to 16 mpg and city driving drops down to 13-15 mpg depending on winter/summer time and how well I keep my foot out of it.

[shooter93]

Mine is a 2001 and I really don't have what people would call city driving or very little of it and I don't tow all that often but I pretty much run 20-21 all the time. I would imagine that towing it would go down but I never checked because I don't tow often and mostly a light job trailer when I do. It's been a good truck....16 years and 300,000 miles. I think I may get the 1500 series ECO diesel next. It did seem to drop a bit recently and a loss of some power....the fuel pressure regulator went out.....installed a new one and it runs like it was new.

[shaune509]

imho a true tow rig will have 4.1 or lower rear ratio and would be lucky to get 20+mpg empty, the ones with ratio of 3.56 or higher can get 20+mpg but not tow any real load [10,000lbs] in hill country and average any were near posted speed, a 20' bass boat is not a test of towing for any diesel pu. just imho.
Shaune509

[41magjh]

I've got a 06 lucky to get 20 on hwy doing 55 to 60 . When I pull my trailer with my tc45 New Holland with front end loader an back hole between 12 an 14. It's a 2500 4x4 6 speed extend cab 8 ft. Bed

[tinhorn97062]

Thanks guys!

[sljacob]

I have a 2007 full size 3500 crew cab with the 5.9l and I get around 15 to 16 mpg @ freeway speeds (75 to 80 mph) towing a four horse trailer loaded with 5 head of cattle weighing 12 to 1400 lbs each. Running empty at the 65 mph range it will easily get above 20 mpg.
I can't say what the city mpg is as I seldom go there.

[Mal Paso]

04.5 24V HO same as 05 unmodified except it weighs 5 tons and if I pull the 18' flatbed with the Cat on it I can get that mileage down to 10 MPG.

BD exhaust brake :awesome:

[Petrol & Powder]

I had a 1995 4WD 2500 with the old Cummins 12 valve engine and the mechanical injector pump. I ran that truck for 17 years. It got 19 mpg regardless of how you ran it. Fast, slow, loaded, empty, whatever. The only thing that reduced the mileage was cold weather. In fact the fuel gauge broke after the first few years and I just used the odometer for the rest of the time. (The sending units on those trucks are notoriously bad but it wasn't worth dropping the tank to fix it)

The newer 24 valve heads and common rail injector engines got better mileage.

[Budzilla 19]

2002 Dodge 5.9 Cummins diesel, with the programmer in fuel saver mode, 20.9! Before programmer, 19! With all programmer in wide open mode, 18.9, but, that is at dyno'ed 401 RWHP
! Stock truck? Nope.with a laundry list of high-performance parts,rebuilt tranny, and still get 19+mpg? Why drive stock? Seriously though, there a lot of programmers for fuel mileage on the market today that won't kill your trans. 04 x4x4 we had got 13 mpg no matter what you did to it! Sold it, bought a2015 Dodge diesel , it gets right at 20 mpg on the interstate! And4x4 to boot, so I don't know! Good luck on your quest for mpg!

[wlc]

I have a 2006. Empty highway mileage is 20-21 mpg, towing my boat it drops to 16 mpg and city driving drops down to 13-15 mpg depending on winter/summer time and how well I keep my foot out of it.

I have an '05 megacab and my experience mimics Pauls. Around 20-22 unloaded and about 15-16 pulling my 26ft camper. Mileage changes a bit when they change to winter blend fuel in October. I usually lose 2-4mpg when that takes place.

[BD]

My hunting buddy has a 2002 Dodge with the Cummins which we've driven PA to CO and back about 4 times. He has a chip in it, takes pretty good care of it, and with just us and hunting gear it'll get 24-26 mpg on 70 between PA and Denver. Once we're in the mountains I'm sure the milage goes down, but we're usually not paying attention to milage at that point. Edit to post that he's got the higher rear, (3.54?) in it as well.

[pull the trigger]

My 94 will pull 5 tons up any hill and accelerate all you want. Only gets 17-19 MPG tho

[PatMarlin]

"I have a 2006. Empty highway mileage is 20-21 mpg, towing my boat it drops to 16 mpg and city driving drops down to 13-15 mpg depending on winter/summer time and how well I keep my foot out of it."

My 2004 does about the same.

[smoked turkey]

My 2004 Cummins 3500 one ton weighs in at 8000#. I get about 18.5 mpg empty and 15 mpg pulling my 26' gooseneck travel trailer. Those Cummins diesels are amazing when it comes to pulling a load. Tremendous torque.

[PatMarlin]

Tremendous torque is right.

We were high up the mountain to get Christmas trees. No where to turn around my long bed extra cab 4x4 and 1/3 cord of oak firewood in the bed. Hit snow and Ice spots and all I could do was air down my tires to 20 lbs and hauled up high in elevation. Girl friend's daughter was with us pregnant with her husband. We get to the top and get our trees, 2/3's back down I had no low gearing, no reverse and the tran was toast all except forward high. Thank God I have air brakes. $3200 tranny rebuild Christmas trees for me this year.

Thank God that trans had not failed on the way up either. That would have been real bad.

[rush1886]

2000 here. We live "out of town". 90% of my miles are on county/state 2 lane roads. 20mpg empty, 12.5mpg, with a fully loaded, 24' 5th wheel behind and a 12' aluminum boat on top, mounted over the cab.

Cummins 24 valve, no mods whatsoever, 123k total miles.

[Desertbuck]

I'm an owner of an 06 Dodge Quad Cab 3500 dually. And I've been averaging 14 mpg city driving 21 mpg onthe highway. If I cruise at around 60 miles per hour it'll jump up to 23-24 mpg unloaded of course. And yes all of this is hand calculated.
A couple of a tips of how I'm getting such good mileage.

1. replace your fuel filter every 10 thousand miles and get the smallest micron you can. The filters I use or 5 micron for the stock filter housing.

2. Keep your air filter clean!

Some of you may scold me for this but my mileage jumped up by 3 miles as well as my engine quieted down.

3. tc-w3 super tech 2 stroke oil and Power Service mixed 50/50. Add 1oz to every 5gal of diesel.
DO NOT! Add 1 ounce of 2 stroke oil to every gallon of diesel. The Common rail 5.9 does not need that much.
You can add a little more PS if you wish. I was a little skeptical of the two stroke oil thing but my truck loves the stuff. And the power service will prevent any kind of build up that the two stroke oil will cause if any. And it is very important that you use just TC - W3 do not use synthetic.

4. And one more little thing. Tree huggers get all uptight about this one! Even though it's nothing more than soot. You need to sneeze your exhaust system every now and then. The way I accomplished it is from a dead stop I push my accelerator three quarters of the way down and let those ponies go. I don't take it all the way to the floor! Because when the turbo really windups up my back tires break free.:bigsmyl2: