Shocking mileage drop
Ten years ago we had a lightweight camper (don't recall the brand or model) on my Tundra Supercab with a V-6. That camper dropped my mileage on the road from 24 to 19 MPG. Many years later, we j...
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If my quick math is accurate, it looks like you used around 10 gallons more gas on the 280 miles coming back with the camper. Another way to look at this is it takes one gallon of gas to haul your camper 28 miles - pretty reasonable! :B
Your mileage will go down with a camper and will vary with all the stuff already mentioned on this thread. My comment is around filling the gas tank. Are you sure the tank was full on the return trip? Sometimes 'fussy' fill nozzles will shut off long before the tank is full. Is it possible the first & third fill (presumably your home station) is less sensitive and completely fills the tank and the second fill (out on the road) did not?
Until I changed it, my truck would cause the gas station nozzle to shut off 5-6 gallons before the tank was completely full. That was because GM had a tiny vent hole at the top of the sending unit. I drilled it out to a 1/4 inch when I changed the fuel pump, and now I don't have that problem.
Anyway, just another variable to consider. At the end of the day this is a really small sample with which to base a conclusion. Go take your camper on a long cross-country road trip for "research purposes". (LOL - I drove a classic car from OR to MN and back last summer. I got much better mileage when I was in the 100% gas states and away from the west coast ethanol states.)
HTH,
-Eric
Your mileage will go down with a camper and will vary with all the stuff already mentioned on this thread. My comment is around filling the gas tank. Are you sure the tank was full on the return trip? Sometimes 'fussy' fill nozzles will shut off long before the tank is full. Is it possible the first & third fill (presumably your home station) is less sensitive and completely fills the tank and the second fill (out on the road) did not?
Until I changed it, my truck would cause the gas station nozzle to shut off 5-6 gallons before the tank was completely full. That was because GM had a tiny vent hole at the top of the sending unit. I drilled it out to a 1/4 inch when I changed the fuel pump, and now I don't have that problem.
Anyway, just another variable to consider. At the end of the day this is a really small sample with which to base a conclusion. Go take your camper on a long cross-country road trip for "research purposes". (LOL - I drove a classic car from OR to MN and back last summer. I got much better mileage when I was in the 100% gas states and away from the west coast ethanol states.)
HTH,
-Eric
