04 Tacoma Prerunner question...

Hi Guys,

First, of many future post. Just got my son a 2004 Ex-Cab Taco with a 2.7 L (I4) engine. My question, is this engine known for wasting alot a gas ? i had a 1999 2.4 and it was wonderful on gas (shouldnt have sold it ). I have a 2007 Taco V6 and its fair at best (18-20mpg) on a good day.

Thanks Manny

 

Welcome to TW, Manny!

 

welcome to tw, Manny!!!

that motor should be pretty decent on gas. you may want to change your fuel filter and maybe install a good air filter to help wih mileage a bit, and also, running some techron thru the gas tank may help a bit also.

 

That motor is great on Gas. But your lift and tires are going to kill it...

See a prerunner and 4X4 are lifted and that increased your resistance to teh Air becuase of this. Then you add larger wider tires and this increases your friction to the road. THen add in the gearing and drive train, Weight and a few other things.

This is why the gas mile goes down.

If you took that truck and added Skinny tires small tires, it would get much better mileage, but would look bad.

Having good fuel, clean Air filter and well adjusted spark plugs will help the most.
Adding in a Deck plate mod, or Cold Air intake might also help.

Keeping the Tire filled with as much Air as possible without hurting your tire wear wil also help. To much air wil hurt and to little will also hurt.


over all this is not a Gas sipper, but a great combo that will get you around..

 

First off, that's a V6, so your son's truck will do considerably better as you would expect.

Next, bear in mind that your mpg depends on how what you do with the truck and how you drive it. I have the same truck, just four years older, and I'm getting 27 mpg!

The catch is that I'm anal about my mpg. I do everything possible to increase it. I always have my tires up at 40 psi (a little higher than the recommended, its fine) because more pressure = less contact area = less friction = more mpg. When I got my truck, I invested thirty bucks in a K&N drop-in filter, which is better quality than the stock one and lets more air in. Next, I did the deck plate mod, which also increases air flow through the engine. The easier the engine breathes, the less gas it needs. Lastly, and this is the most important, I drive with a LIGHT FOOT. Accelerate slowly, do everything possible to keep your momentum up, and don't drive too fast on the freeway because air resistance increases exponentially (meaning 70 mph is much much worse than 60 mph, even tho it's only 10 mph difference).

I realize that this is your son's truck, not yours, but if you make him pay for gas I'm sure he'll be motivated to do all this stuff and you'll see some decent gas mpg numbers pretty soon.


Enjoy your taco! Update us on how it goes!