BGT

My truck gets a new air filter every time I change the oil and give it new oil & fuel filters. Sometimes I feel like THAT is even too long...and it's only a couple months.

The filters in my pickup trucks generally last several years...but they don't play in the dust near as much, and probably see less miles in 3 years than the Mack does in 1 month.

That one was pretty bad.

Actually changing your filter too often is about the worse thing you could do. It allows the fine dust to get straight through to your engine. Of course if you like polished cylinders and don't mind in frames fairly often I guess it won't hurt much...

Hi, was looking around last night and came upone this site and thought I would join and see if anyone can help me figure out what to do with my truck. I bought the truck new back in year end of 2004 and previous truck was a 2000 mack vision. Had good success with that truck so figured would trade it for a new one. Well was told the truck should get 6mpg, a little less then what I was getting with the 2000 model, but only way I have gotten close to that is to bobtail. Pulling loads I am 4.5 to 5mpg, depending on weight. So I actually bought a used fld120 with a detroit in it 3 years back and have been driving that and letting the mack sit. I kept the mack because 2yrs left on payments at that point and didn't know how long the freightliner would last, plus I was saving more in fuel then what the two truck payments together were. Anyway the detroit needs an overhaul now so am back to driving the mack. Fuel mileage hasn't gotten any better sitting there. I like look and features of the truck and how quiet it is going down the road but spending $20,000 to $30,000 more in fuel a year doesn't make sense even if the truck is pd for. So has anyone done anything that has improved their mpg? Was seeing some posts about a plate to block the egr sensors and keeping the hot exhaust from going back through the engine again? Or could I just rebuild the detroit and put that into the mack truck so I could get back to the 7-8mpg range? Just trying to figure out some options at this point because being an o/o I need the most efficent truck I can get. I know the cheapest route would be to just rebuild the detroit and put back in the freightliner but that truck is old and noisy and figure since out on the road would be nice to have something quiet to drive and a bit more comfortable. Thanks.

Bryan I have an '05 Vision with the AC 355/380 and 3.90 rears. My last IFTA showed 8.01 mpg over the three month period ending in Dec. The previous showed 7.67 mpg and my worst one last year was the 2nd quarter with 7.27 mpg. All those are 3 month averages. I generally have my cruise set on 59 miles an hour or 1400 on the Tach. When the sensor on my EGR was going bad my mileage dropped into the ranges you are getting with your truck. Mine wasn't throwing any codes only the faint smell of exhaust was noticeable and even then everyone thought I was nuts when I said I could smell it. There was a recall on the exhaust manifold bolts that it seems hadn't been addressed. Those two things alone dropped my mileage down into the mid 5's to low 6's. I was in Phoenix at the time heading back to Memphis. I stopped in at Vanguard and had it checked and after two days of haggling and insisting they finally identified those two issues as being genuine. After replacing the sensor and changing out the manifold bolts my mileage immediately went back to my normal mid to high 7's. So it is possible to get good mileage from these trucks. Anyway just my two cents worth and I highly recommend that you check the recall on those bolts if you haven't already done so as they are what lead to my sensor going out to start with. Best of luck to you!