abomb69(zerozero)@comcast.net wrote:

a minivan again.

I own a 2002 envoy and i was wondering if anyone had any suggestions
on how to improve my fuel economy such as k and n filters new intakes
or what I could do. thanks bill

bill wrote:
I think air filters only start to help after a free flowing exhaust
is put on. At least that's what I noticed with my old 5.3 and the
new 6.0.

Does your truck have the 5.3 motor? If so, they respond GREAT to mods.

I'm not familiar with the engine bay of a Envoy, but the following
worked great on my Silverado SS.

A set of Flex-A-Lite electric fans free'd up a good 1.5 to 2mpg.

A set of good plug wires got me another 1mpg. Exhaust another 1mpg.

I'm not a fan of aftermarket airboxes or intakes, unless the engine is
running some drastic intake mods like a LS6 intake manifold, cam, or
blower. I get the best gas mileage with my stock airbox, and a simple
drop in filter.

My all time high is 22mpg in a 5,300lb 4x4 truck. My average best right
now is between 20 and 21mpg. During "normal" (fun) driving, I get high
18's.

-marc

My Adivice would be, if you were really worried about fuel milage, you would
have bought somthing different anyways. Go buy somthing a bit smaller, maybe
a minivan, there ya go lots better fuel milage, and you can get them in All
wheel drive too.


<fogerson (AT) siu (DOT) edu> wrote

abomb69(zerozero)@comcast.net wrote:

compare it to and bash SUV's in the process). We made the mistake of
buying a minivan, it was taller and longer than my parents blazer so the
minivan blocked the view of smaller cars. It also weighed more than my
parents blazer and coming down the big mountain in WV on the way from their
house, even with shifting the transmission to a lower gear, I would pretty
much not have any brakes left at the bottom (almost rear ended my parents a
couple times following them so we could eat in town before my wife and I
went the rest of the way back to our home). I replaced the brakes with
several different brands and couldn't get much improvement. I had to
replace more parts on that minivan than their Blazer and it went through
tires faster and needed alignmets more often even though my parents drove
the blazer on worse roads. I finally got rid of that van and bought my
second S10, its a much better vehicle and gets better milage than the
minivan also (its 2wd though but after I put in a lock-right it will pretty
much go anywhere).

Personally I wouldnt drive a minivan ever either especially AWD because of
too many problems, but I drive a full size van with a 5.0 FI and it doesnt
do all that bad on gas really.

"Eugene" <nospam (AT) columbus (DOT) rr.com> wrote

Isnt that true though, an s10 is a lot better, in some ways, I just dont
like the 4x4 systems, no lockouts.

"Eugene" <nospam (AT) columbus (DOT) rr.com> wrote

"Charlie" <some_where_over_the (AT) rainbow (DOT) org> wrote

a 5.0 that gets better fuel economy than that thing probally.
Never in my life have I seen a v6 get 15mpg and 20 on highway

Bill I won't talk down to you about a poor decision you made 2 years ago,
like the others.
What you can do is keep the tires inflated properly and buy a highway
treaded type tire.
The more pressure you run the easier they roll.
Also have the alignment checked no matter how many miles it has on it.
In the mornings, run without a/c on. You know the cars with the automatic
climate control can run the a/c compressor whenever the control head wants
it on.
Limit your speed to over 45 mph but under 70 mph.


"bill" <fogerson (AT) siu (DOT) edu> wrote

On 3 Aug 2004 11:28:57 -0700, fogerson (AT) siu (DOT) edu (bill) wrote:

There are a number of options:

Not sure if it uses a traditional transfer case and drive shaft
arrangement, but if so you could potentially disconnect the front
drive shaft during the clear road season.

Keeping tire pressure as high as possible helps (not advised for
certain Ford 4X4's (I won't mention roll overs & poor design)

Not sure what you want to spend (to save) or how far you drive. But
if you love the vehicle & spend most of your time on the highway you
could get a taller set of final gearings, that will save gas & make
for a much quieter drive as well. That coupled with synthetic low
friction oils for the drive line & engine could possibly add another
mpg or two (depending).

Then of course there's a more radical approach.......
Contact your local natural gas board & find out who does conversions.
I know that there was an arrangement some places to allow for a home
system to allow you to fuel your vehicle from home (slow compression).
Of course that would depend upon the availability and practicality.

Finally & most importantly do some math.

Figure out how much more it costs you to run your truck over the
mileage you actually drive. You might not save as much as you think
that you might.

If you drive a lot & don't care what you're in 3/4's of the time, get
a GOOD Sprint or VW Diesel. I know that here in Canada you can pick
up older one's in decent(ish) shape for a few grand if you look around
and they cost nothing in fuel. (but you wouldn't want to get hit by a
4x4 like yours when you're driving one of them).

To put things in perspective. I drive about 40,000 miles a year in my
Olds 98 with a 3.8 auto. I would save about $1,500.00 CDN per year if
I purchased a 1.9 Litre Diesel Volkswagen. However I might spend
more than that the first few minutes in hospital should there be an
accident. (& being an insurance adjuster I KNOW there's going to be
an accident, only a matter of time).

You've got, what you've got, so we can't/shouldn't bitch that you
"should have" purchased something less "evil". These are the options
that I can think of. I'll await the flames

Me.