Getting Better Highway MPGs?

My spark plugs were pretty worn at 40K. They were changed as soon as I got the truck used, so can't comment on MPG gain from just plugs. That blurb in the manual about emissions basically says that if you let the plugs go and one goes bad, your emissions warranty won't cover any damage caused by the plug failure. The front two CATs (pre CATs?) are part of the exhaust manifold and Toyota CATs seem to be expensive in general. If a plug goes bad and causes a miss fire, it can ruin one or more of the CATs. I had it happen on another truck. Might be reason enough for you and Pops to change those plugs.

My truck gets 17 MPG at 70MPH on a 50 mile loop I run regularly. It gets 18.25 at 58MPH. Keeping it at 60 with a light foot seems to be a good idea. If you can see a red light ahead, don't bother accelerating to higher speeds just to hit the breaks again, wait till it turns green before you use that gas. Just being aware of all those little habits can help a lot.

X2 on the tire pressure. I run mine at 38-40

Don't know what one of those Scangauges cost, but I am sure it will take awhile to pay you back in fuel costs. I'm sure it would be nice to have, but I won't buy one to SAVE money myself.

 

I doubt I'll be going with a Snorkel lol. I have practically no experience in any of that and I don't want to mess something up. All I really know how to do is identify all/most of the parts under our hoods, check/refill fluids, change oil/filters. thats about it.

Okay yeah, it's 150, probably the last expensive purchase I'll put on my card . I'll check by the local autozone after school and see if they have it.

Okay lol, I'll have to ge the plugs done soon.

I used the Trip A function on the Odometer from my house to school and it's about 50 miles going both ways. The speed limit here won't allow me to go anywhere near 70 anyways, highest I can go is 65MPH. As far as letting off the gas before I stop yeah that's a trick I've been using for a long time. I was watching Top Gear and they were being sarcastic, but they said something along the lines of "the more you use your brakes the more money you waste..." In the terms of gas. If that makes any sense lol...

 

How boring. Step on it and have fun. I don't understand it at all. If you want to save money on fuel, why would you buy those tires?
All stock, I get 20 mpg at 70-75 mph and 18 mpg at 85-90 mph. I slam the brakes for cops and slam the gas after they are out of sight. If I wanted to save gas, I would have bought a 4 cylinder.
P.s. I hope I never get behind you people because I'm the guy flashing his lights behind you to get the F out of the way with the horn on all the way by.

 

You do realize we have you on radar LONG before your reaction time tells you to hit the brakes. Plus, the nose dive that most vehicles make when decelerating is a great giveaway.

 

At 44,000 miles, mine were well out of spec. It's not just an emissions thing, spark plug gap is set for a reason. There are vehicles with 100,000 mile plug change intervals, and the V6 Tacoma is not one of them.

It's cheap and proper maintenance. Don't bother your Dad with it, do it yourself.

I don't have experience with the ultragauge. Scangauge fits neatly in several possible locations, and where I have mine you can't see it easily from outside the truck. It mounts with velcro, and has a removable plug so you can take it with you if you want.

 

I second this notion! It's not that much of a problem for the other person to pass me up, because most of the time i'm in the right lane, and if you're still tailgating there while the other lanes are open, well then that person is just an asshole.

Not saying that our trucks don't have the power to speed, for a truck i was surprised at how damn quick this thing was, but getting 15-17MPG while a lot of other V6 owners are getting 20+ isn't too great...

Very well sparkplugs are next to do lol, and where did you mount yours?

 

My 2cents as a profesional driver it has been proven that keeping up with scheduled maintance,keeping tire pressure at the correct pressure and driving a little more conservative you will increase mpg.
With that said I am averaging 21 to 22 mpg in a 09 SR5 4X4 V6 automatic with a 45 mile round trip commute.

 

And I'm the guy in that big rig that just doesn't care what your think you time is worth cause you will not push 80,000 pounds out of your way .And if your the guy that sees that it is a good idea to get in front of that big truck and slamm on your breaks just remember it takes 300 yards to stop a truck at 80,000 #s at 65 mph and if that driver is not paying attention you and others could in fact DIE.

 

You smell that... it's called bullshit


And Maticuno is right, you're kidding yourself if you think slamming on your brakes when you see a cop is going to save you. At that point you might as well roll down your window and wave on your way by, he's already got you clocked.

 

As far as mpg's go, might be a bit of overindugence there, but not too much. I've pulled 20mpg with straight highway driving at about 70 +/- a couple mph.

 

what a doucher post
I hope you do get behind me as I brake check your ass into the ditch

Learn some respect for other people.

 

WTF, I can't get near 20 mpg going 70 mph Best I've been able to pull at highway speed is low 18's. At 60 mph and under I can break 20. I guess I'm just a little bitter and the rest of his jackass post kinda set me off

 

Gonna take a looooong time to pay off a Scangauge with fuel savings.

Slow down a little, it's IMO the one thing you can do to noticeably increase your mileage.

 

sale and get a car?

 

I'm probably the exception and not the rule, but I drive about 22,000 miles a year, and the Scangauge helped me boost my work trip mileage from about 18 to about 20 overall. That's 2mpg, which means I saved about 120 gallons of gas per year the last two years, which at about 3.25 a gallon average means I saved about $400 per year.

Now, I would have saved it if I had just slowed down, but I wouldn't have known how much better I was doing, and I would probably have slacked off and gone back to high speed highway driving, ignorant of how much better I could be doing if I took a different route and slowed down.

Having the scangauge means I look at my fuel economy almost as often as I look at my speed. It makes me fully aware of my economy, where before I barely acknowledged it unless I was filling up with gas.

 

With just fuel savings, yes, but it has the ability to read codes also and the added convenience of being able to monitor various engine functions is great. I bought the Ultraguage for under $70, first engine code I need read and it's almost paid itself off

 

I mounted my sparkplugs in the sparkplug holes, of course.







The scangauge, I have a Prerunner, so I have the little cubby hole by my right knee instead of the emergency brake. I temporarily installed the Scangauge by running the wire through the dash to that cubby, and I coiled up the extra wire and stuck it behind the scangauge. It turned out to be the perfect spot, I could read it through the steering wheel from my driving position, so I used a couple of extra pieces of velcro to get the scangauge at the right angle sitting in the cubby hole and securely fastened down--it's been there ever since, except for when I take it out if I'm leaving it at the dealership or the airport.

 

I have the PreRunner too, but did you wire the Scangauge through the back? lol, I was going to use that same spot...

 

If you want to test the placement of the SG with the Blendmount, just get a couple of GOOD pieces of Velcro, not the ones SG sends you, and velcro the SG right at the front of the overhead console, in front of the garage bin/temp-compass.

I put mine there as a test, and it's still there. Much cheaper then the Blendmount. Only downside is that if you are a taller person, the SG does hang down a bit and can catch the top of the rear view mirror's view.

I want my SG within easy sight when I'm driving.

 

Understand, that's why I said as far as mpg's are concerned As far as my mpg's, it's definitely a YMMV thing. I see others getting higher mpg's on their commutes, my last one was 17, but I can pull 20-21 on the highway, so I know it's just my commute and driving habits. My best highway mpg was 21, that was at 65, and pretty sure I had a reasonable tailwind.

Funny thing about the SG though is that I can tell high much headwind I have by watch my mpg's when I am on a straight and level section of highway. I know what I can get and how low it is tells me how much wind is messing with me.