We were finally able to get out and take a trip last week. Went from Colorado Springs to Custer, SD for a few days. This was our first trip with the truck and I loved it except for the fuel consumption.
2011 Volvo 730, D 13 set at 435 HP, 3.55 gears, I shift with 707k miles.
I was towing 19k. and the truck weighed in by itself at 21k so total package was 40k. That’s pretty good with the cipherin’ right there! We like the road less traveled when we can and avoid Denver at all costs so we went east and then north through eastern Colorado and western Nebraska so we had plenty of wind.
I don’t have exact mileage vs fuel used. We left with two full tanks so 250 gal. of fuel and went 950 miles total. My fuel gauge is showing 3/8 tank left. I don’t want to fill it up for an exact amount of fuel because if I have contaminated fuel or something it would be less of a mess to deal with. Not sure that is the issue but…
The dash shows I averaged 3.4 mpg on the trip and that is what it shows bobtails as well. I’m sure that thing isn’t the most accurate tool to go by. If the fuel gauge is accurate, the math says I use about 150 gal so the mileage would be around 6.33. That’s still half of what I got bobtailing it back from Seattle.
I’m trying not to overlook the easy stuff so first I checked the air filter and I have a new one I could install but it looks clean.
The fuel filter also looks OK, might need to swap it out, don’t know if that would be enough to cause a 50% reduction.
Couldn’t find any signs of a fuel leak.
Might be time for injectors but wouldn’t that go bad over time?
Am I missing something?
Andy