Don’t forget winter blend gas will drop fuel mileage.
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@thro @SgtAwesomesauce yeah I was reluctant on spacers but at least I went with a trusted hubcentric brand that A LOT of Toyota peeps have run on and off road with great success.
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I used my girlfriend’s dad’s 2016 Silverado to move some of my stuff for my new apartment, and now I really want a truck. I’ve been looking for a while, but haven’t been able to make up my mind between a truck or SUV, but now after driving a bit of both I know I want a truck.
My budget allows for about $15-20k, which gets me around a 2008-2013 Silverado with 4x4. Any major known issues with those? They’re mostly around 100k-120k miles is seems, which isn’t high for me but I don’t know if there are any major issues with them. I haven’t really heard anything bad about Chevy from anyone I know, other than my dad saying the interiors are cheap, but there are hordes of them on used car lots so it makes me wonder if they’re unreliable, or if people just overwhelmingly buy Chevy where I’m from (which it does kinda seem that way just looking around while driving) so naturally there would be more used ones for sale. Trouble is finding one that’s not lifted or has wide wheels and stretched tires.
I guess there is some issue with the cylinder deactivation where it gunks up the cylinders more than it normally would, so I was thinking about getting one of those plugins that disables it. I will be test driving it, so I can kinda get a feel for if it’s lacking in power.
Dodge is hard to find around here in my budget. It’s either gonna be really old or brand new. I don’t care for the era of Ford that I’m able to afford. If I could get like a 2016 or newer with the 2.7L EcoBoost that would be awesome, but that’s about $15k over my budget.
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I had a 2008 and 2010 silverado. Didn’t have any issues with either truck.
I have a 2014 (beta model) silverado now and its had a fuck ton of recalls, 90% programming and an A/C issue. Though I expected issues with a first year refresh (just couldn’t help myself they are super nice). Otherwise no problems with this new one.
The Colorado/canyons may be more within budget.
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I actually got caught driving a used 2016 Nissan Frontier. Not bad to be honest. Felt pretty good. Also its the shortest mid sized pickup on the market. Some come with the bed extender.
At least in my local area they are under $22K.
The cold weather itself has a much bigger impact.
The fuel should only make a 1-3% difference.
Thank you. That’s good to know.
I would expect issues with a beta model as well. I’ve never really had a new-ish car until I got my Fiesta ST, but I’ve had like four different recalls, one of them has to do with the coolant temperature sensor not working, so the car overheats and there’s no way to know until your engine starts smoking due to the cylinder head cracking. They replaced the sensor for free, but won’t fix the actual issue with the overheating, which pisses me off. I also had one for Sync, which the recall says they’re supposed to replace but they just did a software update and said it’s good to go. It worked fine for about two weeks, and now it’s acting up again and I HATE taking time off work for this kind of stuff. My experience with Ford has been that they’re lazy and don’t want to fix the actual issues, but maybe that’s just how they all are and I haven’t noticed because I’ve never had recalls before this car.
I do like the newly revised Colorado/Canyon, but they’re really rare where I’m from and I don’t really like the previous generation. I kinda wanna just stick to full-size too.
Ya my dad has a 2018 and I like it. From what I’ve heard it’s been around long enough with out any major changes that they’ve been able to work out pretty much all the kinks, like they had with the transmission fluid mixing with the coolant or whatever that was. I just want to stick to full-size.
I wanna stick to full-size because I’m going to be keeping this for 10+ years and I don’t want to end up wishing I had gotten something bigger. I also like the feel of it more, just like a big lumbering beast rolling down the road. I don’t plan on ever living in an area where I wish I had a small car.
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@SgtAwesomesauce Oh yeah, did not mention, but I used a coin gaping measuring tool. I was gently with the plug but do you think I sheared off some of the iridium on the electrode, enough to make a difference? If so they are junk at this point huh?
I didn’t know that. See, I’m not sure how much difference that really is in our region, since it rarely drops below freezing.
If you gapped iridium plugs yourself, it’s probably not good. If you damaged the iridium, that’s problematic. I would consider getting new ones and if they’re not the gap you need, take them back, rather than trying to gap them yourself. They’re supposed to be in spec from the factory.
Honestly, gap doesn’t matter that much for fuel economy. What really matters is spark strength. If your car isn’t CoP, you should consider replacing plug wires if your spark is suspect.
I’ve spent a lot of time chasing spark issues these last few months and came to realize that gap is really only important when you’re chasing high boost. If you’re running under 2bar, you’re fine.
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Amazon flash deal on an OBD2 reader. Just thought I’d share it here.
Might be that I removed some of the material.
Left is the old and right is the new.
All of the new ones have that slight angle on the electrode.
Only reason why I gaped it is that when I first received the new ones was that they were at 0.6mm and 0.024.
Even though it says that its gaped to spec at 0.7mm and 0.028"
So, the good news is that your engine is running strong.
I don’t know enough about spark plugs themselves to say if that’s enough damage to cause a problem. Maybe @teckmonster can give his 2c on this one.
Smaller gaps aren’t bad, typically. You can get an idle that’s a tiny bit more rough, but TBH, 0.1mm off is perfectly fine. If it was 0.9 or so, we’d have something to talk about, but it was probably fine as is.
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I doubt the new plugs have any effect on your change in mpg. Probably a failing maf or o2 sensor. Those would also cause stutter and hesitation.
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Did @Theonewhoisdrunk mention stuttering? If so, I completely missed it and it’s most likely an O2 sensor.
Only on 87 when I first got it. Been using 91 since then. Never had any stutter/surging after that.
My dad had a 2004 Silverado up until a year or 2 ago and the only real issues were self-inflicted
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I wonder if that’s masking the problem. The compression never changes and only sensors that effect timing could advance the ignition enough to cause detonation.
Just something to ponder.
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that probably isn’t an O2 sensor, that’s probably just shitty California gas. I’m getting sick and tired of getting knock in my race car from the “91 octane” shit they have at the pump. Some day I’ll get this thing up to 105 octane, but that’s not today. 
O2 sensors only change your fuel injector duty cycle, not your spark map. Spark map is what causes detonation.
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I meant in terms of using 91over 87. If its designed for 87 something that effects timing is probably at fault.
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For now changed out the spark plugs to the original. I will give it a week, at least 100 miles to see how MPG fairs.
I will probably gas up on 87 next time too. Currently about 3/4 of a tank. So about 3 or 4 more weeks.
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