$500 - $1000 to spend on better MPG on my 3.4L. Ideas?

Hello All,

I have a 2004 PreRunner DoubleCab V6 2wd. 17" Sequoia wheels with 265/70/17 Bridgestone Dueler HL Alenza's. Tires have about 8k miles on them. Truck has 99k miles on it. Most all maintenance is done by a local toyota dealer.

I do not want to go to smaller, lighter rims and tires. Everything else is stock on my truck. I am currently getting about 16.5 MPG on my stop and go city drive to work. It is about 35 miles round trip.

Anything I can do to get to get to 20mpg on this trip within the $500 - $1000 range? I really don't just want to throw away the money if I can't get much of an increase.

Besides regular maintenance, all I have done this year is have the throttle body cleaned and Seafoam.

Any of these things help MPG?

1. Deck Plate Mod
2. Synthetic or High Mileage Oil
3. Special Air and/or Oil Filters
4. Better Gas and/or Oil and Gas Supplements?
5. Cleaning Engine parts that the dealer usually doesn't with regular maintenance?


Anything else besides driving slower and keeping heavy foot off of gas?

I looked into getting another vehicle that would get 30mpg, but my Tacoma is paid for and going from 16 mpg to 30 mpg will only save me about $40 per month. Besides a used Corolla for an even swap, I can't get much for $40 per month, beside I really enjoy my Tacoma.

Thanks in advance for all replies and suggestions.

 

Buy a gas card.

No, seriously.

You already recalculated that going to 30 mpgs would only save you $40 a month. And you'll NEVER get EVEN CLOSE to that on a Tacoma. So why on earth would you spend upwards of $500 to save between $5 and $20 a month??

 

X2 - that's what I did

 

I understand, but now I got insurance and maintenance cost on a 2nd vehicle.

Very good point. On second thought maybe $500 - $1000 is a excessive to save 4 mpg. Maybe $200 is a better number.

 

Agreed.

 

Keep it tuned up, a good clean air filter, make sure tire pressures are even at where the should be and go easy on the pedal. I have the same truck and get 18.4 mpg country...
I don't drive highway and city here and there but mostly country back roads. Had a Nissan Frontier 4 banger that I sold because it wouldn't tow my boat. Miss the fuel savings though, that got me 26 mpg country.

 

$1000 would take you 25 months to break even on gas. Not worth it at all just keep up on oil spark plus air filters and such and it could increase your mileage if its been awhile.

 

Just use the $500 to $1000 on gas

 

A good way to save gas and money is to not drive. Maybe you could carpool or bike one day per week? If you bike it is good for your wallet, your health, and the environment. If you did that one of every five days, you could claim an instant 20% increase in fuel economy.

If you live in the right area a moped can save money and be a lot of fun.
No insurance, no license, almost no maintenance, park it anywhere, get about 100mpg. You can buy one for really cheap too.

I have had three hybrids with sophisticated mileage displays and the three things that most help mpg are:

-View down the road for red lights and get off the gas when you see one. Time it so that you coast into the green light. You use less gas, less brakes and you "hit the ground running."

-Draft semis. Crack your window, pull up behind the semi and wait for the sound of the wind to smooth out. That is your sweet spot. You can do this and be a very safe distance behind the semi/large vehicle.

-Keep your tires inflated to the highest suggested PSI, weather/season permitting.

 

Also, if you have a 5 speed, throw it in 5th going down a hill no matter what speed you're going. The slight amount of engine braking will shut the injectors off and you will burn absolutely no gas as long as you don't touch the pedal.

 

Not sure on your wheel/tyre size compared to stock, but first thing I'd do is verify what mpg you are actually getting. If your wheel/tyre size roll out is different to stock (even that is probably off to some extent to actual miles covered) then your odometer will not be reporting true miles. You can verify miles with a GPS to verify actual distance covered compared to the odometer. I've also heard that the scan guage set up correct can do this, but don't own one myself yet so can't say for sure.

Once you have any correction factor for your odo to get what it is showing compared to actual miles covered, then you can divide your gallons filled into that actual mile number and get a closer to accurate mpg.

Agree with the rest of the posts. Save the money. I must have calculated wrong as I took $4 a gallon. Weekly trip miles talking about to and from work (175) and difference in mpg and got more like a 33.67 months to pay back your $1000 investment.

Maintenance and driving style are going to do the most for you. Also, perhaps you can view routes to get to work that would avoid some of the stop and go stuff (within reason as you reach the point of driving further using the same fuel). There are lots of sites on hypermiling that give good tips and also driving "training" to help get better mpg. Well worth a search and it's free to do!

Cheers

 

If you're dead set on spending money, grab an Ultra Gauge and keep a close eye on your real time MPG and adjust your driving habits to maximize that reading. For $85 it's a cool little tool, and if used for that purpose could potentially save you some money in the long run.

 

That's the best mileage you're gonna get stop and go.

 

ultragauge, use to learn to drive with load, and how to gain back acceleration fuel use in your coasts
0w30 synthetic oil during winter months (virtually same weight as 5w30 when warm, just doesn't turn to goo when cold), 5w30 synthetic for those blistering TX summers (its a little more stable under a lot of heat)
deckplate mod is cheap, a little warmer air helps mileage anyways

 

Lightweight campershell.

 

1. Deck Plate Mod - Nope, intakes have no effect.
2. Synthetic or High Mileage Oil - Minimally, only lighter weight oil will help, high mileage is usually heavier.
3. Special Air and/or Oil Filters - Nope
4. Better Gas and/or Oil and Gas Supplements? - Ethanol free if you can find it, 6%+ better mpg.
5. Cleaning Engine parts that the dealer usually doesn't with regular maintenance? - Nope

 

Use the money for gas? It's a truck... You can't expect to get good MPG's....

 

hah says the guys with the second gen.
Its debatable to some but I think it has been shown to have a slight increase.
(didnt Chris do an actual dyno study?)

 

Smaller tires