2003 e350 Steel Blue - MT to FL to MT - Trip Report
I generally use this van to tour into Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons...they are in my backyard. Last year I took a solo trip from Livingston MT to Bosque Del Apache, NM and racked up ~3,000 miles over a week's tiem. I did not pay much attention to egts and mpgs on that epic trip. Since that trip, I have added cruise control, pop-out rear windows, insulated the dog house, and added a 3rd Sienna seat.
Life changes created an opportunity for us to sell our rental house in the FL panhandle. So we drove the van fully loaded with 3 adults, 2 dogs, food and water to Santa Rosa Beach, FL. There we loaded a 5x8 U-haul trailer to the brim. After fun-filled two days in FL, we started our return trip. Three days out and three days back led to just under 5,000 miles. How did the van perform?
First, cruise control...best upgrade ever! It was simple to do and I have commented on other threads. Happy to help you out if you have any questions.
Secondly, i drove 75 mph in a 6" lifted 4wd van with 35" tires and got 11-13 mpg. (Gears 4:11). There are shoe boxes with better areodynamics than this rig, so I was pleased. While there are no real mountain passes in the route we took, we did experience some big hills and a few times I dropped to 55 mph. On the return with the trailer fully loaded, we saw 10-12 mpg.
On the egts front we were seeing 900 while running about 7 lbs of boost and 75 mph on slight upward gradients. A couple of times I saw it climb to 1200 so I just back off a little and let it find cooler temps. As the boost dropped to 5 the egts dropped to 700-800. Dropping the speed down to 65 and the boost to near zero was like turning on the a/c for egts!
Kudos to U-joint for the 4x4 conversion...the driveablility is incredible. Also we were very pleased with the layout of the Advanture interior and SMB penthouse.
__________________
____________________
2003 E350, 7.3L, Sportsmobile Top, Advanture Interior, U-Joint 4WD/coil conversion and 2005 front clip
|