ZD30 Fuel Economy

It's been a while - hope everybody has survived lockdown OK!!

I did a search but couldn't find any threads on fuel economy even though I seem to recall seeing one a few years back. Anyway, I've been taking photos of the fuel pump and odometer every time I filled up for the last year and so now I have a reasonable amount of data in regards to fuel economy. My Patrol is as follows:

2011 GU Patrol, Manual, ZD30
2 inch lift kit
factory bullbar with winch and spotlights fitted
roofrack
285 mud terrain tyres
drawers/fridge in the rear
3" exhaust from the turbo back
Tuneit chip set to 6 (can go from 0 to 10)

I would estimate that probably 70% or so of my driving is with a boat attached that is approximately 1700 kg on the trailer and of that 70% I reckon that 80% of it would be on the freeway at 100 km/h. The remaining 30% is generally with just me in the car and doing local running around suburbia in Melbourne.

For 2021 (noting that we were in lockdown a number of times) I did 7,371 km of driving and used 1424 L of fuel at an overall average of 19.33 L/100 km. Now to me this is nothing to write home about but given that I am towing a boat a lot of the time I think it's OK but I would be very interested to understand what sort of economy other people are getting with their ZD30s?

Cheers,

Gags

G’day Gags, as best as I can possibly remember our first GU family wagon (2002 manual) with only an alloy factory bullbar/sidesteps and no other mods scored around 13.0L per 100km unladen.
I believe we could score up around 16.0L per 100km towing a couple of horses throughout the Yarra Valley hills but that’s done slowly and steadily too so would guesstimate it would have scored much higher if we flogged it up the likes of Calder Hwy in headwinds towing etc…..


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I average 14.7L/100kms, stock tyres/lift, re-tune @ 18.5psi & 3" exhaust.

13.45 LPH city and country driving. Factory bar and winch. Tuned and remapped. 285 75’s
manual 134,000km

Growler - thanks for that - out of interest, where did you get the tune/remap done and how much difference did it make for you??

My car is the same as yours, Manual, lift, bullbar, 285 mud tyres, carrying weight, drawers, winch, etc ... not towing ave 13.3 L/100.

Mud tyres instantly added 1L/100 to my figures....

My 08 st wagon has 2 inch lift winch bar roof rack 285 70 ats etc etc custom remap done running 21psi and I'll get about 13 average or if I'm a nanna ill get around 11. Every now and then I run a tank of fuel dr through and that seems to help restore economy a bit

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Big Gags

Growler - thanks for that - out of interest, where did you get the tune/remap done and how much difference did it make for you??

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Diesel tune in Glenelg SA. Cost $1200. 35% gain in torque (approx) 2/3 of bugger all lag now. I should still get the inlet manifold removed and cleaned to keep it healthy
I regularly get mid 10’s and low 11’s city driving (Adelaide)

Thanks Growler. I was actually booked in at Ultimate Diesel Tuning here in Melbourne to get an ECU remap (which included a de-soot and from memory a modification to when/how the turbo is actuated) and I even paid a deposit during lockdown but then decided against it. I had some nagging concerns in regards to longevity of the engine after the modifications (working on the theory that if it's running harder than it was designed for then it might be more likely to fail) and I was also considering potentially getting a Y62 or a Cruiser (have not done either yet). It was a bit more expensive than what you paid (it was quoted at $3.5k) and at the end of the day I wasn't 100% comfortable as I haven't heard any long-term reviews on those mods and so I pulled the pin. I also don't have an EGT sensor fitted yet and I figured that if I was upping the power/torque I would probably need to get an EGT fitted too so I could monitor the exhaust temperature (and obviously that would have cost more too).

https://ultimatedieseltuning.com.au/...es-5-series-8/

I'm still toying with the idea but might shop around a bit to see if there is anywhere else in Melbourne worth considering.

Out of interest, was yours just an ECU remap or did they do some other modifications as well??