Power & Mileage

I have a 94 S10 Blazer. 4.3L Vortec V6. I picked up the car from an auto auction for a grand. It was about 134,000 miles on it and to the best of my knowledge runs great. I just replaced the plugs, distributor cap and rotor. I was wondering what else i could do to it to get better gas mileage and better power without shelling out big bucks.

I also noticed a hole in my muffler where the exhaust pipe goes into it. I was wondering what kind of a restriction, if any, that has on the power and how it effects mileage. Before i changed plugs i got about 15 to the gallon.

K&N air filter, either panel filter or full intake.   free-flowing exhaust.  hypertech programmer....   it all depends on how much you really want to spend
 
i had about 12-14 mpg before my modifications and now im between 15-17

I doubt a simple hole in your exhaust pipe is going to affect gas mileage and power positively or negatively.

My 94 CPI has 158k miles on it and it gets around 14mpg in the city. I don't expect too much more out of it really.

i have a 94 is it tbi or cpi cause when i did injectors on my cpi it made a huge difference and ignition coil wouldnt hurt either

Im sorry if i sound stupid saying this haha but i honestly dont know how to tell if its a tbi or cbi

If you have a traditional, round air cleaner, then you have TBI.  If you have a large aluminum upper intake plenum with a black plastic cover having the word 'Vortec' written on it in orange, then you have CPI.

Well in that case i have the CPI.

What exactly did you do with the injectors.

I'm sure what blazinblack was referring to was a complete replacement of the CPI injection spider.  If you are not having any troubles with the current spider, then I would not recommend changing it unnecessarily as it isn't exactly cheap.  

im getting 20mpg w/ just a K/N air filter, and thats w/ 20's. when i had my welds i think it was like 22 to 24MPG

 !??!  wtf is wrong with my truck?  a lot of these threads about gas mileage depress me. i get around 16. sometimes 17 if im lucky.  i have to admit, i am a little harder on the gas than some people. but can a heavier foot really make that much of a difference?  i figured it was maybe costing me about 1-2mpg but not 7.  i do have a 4door 4wd which is quite a bit heavier than an xtreme but its still depressing

I never got better than 18 with my old Bravada (AWD w/ 3.73 gears) and that was pure highway, albeit loaded to the gills.  Anyhow, mileage is HIGHLY dependant on terrain, temperature, traffic, and # of stops you generally make.  Also influencing mileage greatly is the gears and drivetrain of the vehicle.  If you have 3.73 ratio gears, you shouldn't expect to get the same mileage as 3.42 ratio gears.

Heck, with my new Rainier, I get 16mpg on my commute to and from work.  I did get 22mpg on my most recent trip with it though.  But again, it's AWD and has 3.73 gears.  Am I worried, no, I bought another truck for a reason.

i got the 3.42...    i have a little extra weight from my subs but thats not much.  blznlow  has subs too.  i guess the only way for me to find out how much my heavy foot is costing me is to go a few tank fulls with a lighter foot. 

quote:

ORIGINAL: otnietdehoooo

i got the 3.42...    i have a little extra weight from my subs but thats not much.  blznlow  has subs too.  i guess the only way for me to find out how much my heavy foot is costing me is to go a few tank fulls with a lighter foot. 

 
You think you have it bad, i get 14mpg... But its all city driving tho. I'm on a highway for a total of 2 minutes. And that's with my subs and 20's on my truck. Btw I have 3.42 gears as well..

Well the lot of you getting better gas mileage than me also have newer blazers, keep in mind i have a 94. haha

well, my driving is about 75% on the freeway but when im going to school and coming home, its rush hour trafiic so it might as well be all city driving...   yeah the newer trucks seem to get a little bit better mileage.
 Dave, when you get your lift and big tires, are you gonna change the gears too?

Hi Just found this site and have to say i was getting around 14mpg with a leaky fuel return lines(nut kit) however now its fixed i seem to get around 20-22mpg doing both country roads and motorway  here in the UK and the thing drives like new again
also i have to mention that when i tow my caravan the mpg doesn't drop that much either.
 
the car is a 1994 blazer taho LT with the vortec 4.3w engine fitted
cheers
Keith UK member

Do your fuel filter and clean out your throttle body. I take and clean my throttle body and the upper part of my engine. Where are you idling at right now when the engine is warm?
BTW I only get like 11-13 mpg and I've got a 98 with a K&N FIPK2, high flow fuel pump, magnaflow high flow cat, flowmaster with 2 inch pipes, hypertech, and a couple of other goodies but you should still be able to get a couple more miles if all your stuff is clean and well maintained.  

well i just put mobil1 synthetic oit in it and now i idle right between 500-600... 
 
i have been reluctant to try and clean the throttle body because a guy i work with said his truck ran rougher after cleaning it.   he said it knocked out a lot of carbon build up and gunk in the engine, but he also said, the build up was actually keeping everything working correctly and after it was gone, it wasnt so smooth anymore...    he said it should work if you do it every few thousand miles but it was the first time he had done it and his truck had like 165000 miles
 
does anyone know if there is any truth to that?   an upper intake cleaning actually hurting performance?

I only get around 13   but I need new tires cause mine loose air every week or so. And in the future, I'm going to buy an eBay intake and get a new muffler. hopefully that will help

be sure and make some sort of barrier to block engine heat from the ebay intake. otherwise it isnt any better than the stock air box

quote:

ORIGINAL: N2BLAZIN

Do your fuel filter and clean out your throttle body. I take and clean my throttle body and the upper part of my engine. Where are you idling at right now when the engine is warm?
BTW I only get like 11-13 mpg and I've got a 98 with a K&N FIPK2, high flow fuel pump, magnaflow high flow cat, flowmaster with 2 inch pipes, hypertech, and a couple of other goodies but you should still be able to get a couple more miles if all your stuff is clean and well maintained.  

Only way that true is if he got all the carbon in the engine. The object is to clean it out, not in.