how to get your 4 banger over 30 mpg.

Well im new to TW and i have done counless hours of reading peoples mods and driving habbits to try and improve mpg. i have the 2.7 reg cab 4x4. and i am averaging about 32.4mpg. hwy. i have added an AFE pro dry cold air intake filter $240, doug thornley tri y header $407, a dynamax super turbo muffler, and have a Scan gauge II $200 mounted to my R/V mirror. all my fluids in my truck are full synthetic. (i like that phrase, think slippery) all u joints are lubed properly with that sweet and slippery moly grease. having such mods imporved my gas mileage from 25.6 hwy up to 28.7.. overall. about $1,250 worth of mods to increase horsepower significantly, (for better mpg while towing or carrying heavy loads) and up my mpg by 3.1mpg. worth the price? yeah, at about 90k miles it pays for itself at an average of $3.30 per gal.
the extra 3.7mpg i gain by a delicious thing i like to call high octane, ethanol free gas! there are few gas stations out there that offer such gasoline (here is a helpfull link http://pure-gas.org/) but really do the homework (may contain 10% ethanol) thats 2 gallons of ethanol in 20 gallons of fuel. leaving you with 18 true gallons of gasoline mixed with ethanol that honestly, your truck does not like. if you are running gas with ethanol the difference in high octane versus lower is minimal. but go for the ethanol free gas and the difference between low octane and 91 is quite noticeable. if you are skeptical, try it yourself.

4 cyl trucks dont run as smooth as 6 or 8's so being able to tell the difference with a 4 will be easier. your engine will run smoother and provide better horsepower with ethanol free gas. and most of all you are getting your extra 2 gallons of gas that you are paying for.

 

first, Welcome. secondly, I'm really impressed at your Mpg's. Especially since you are 4x4.
I've never heard of any 2.7l 4x4 even getting close to that. I average 25 mpg in my 2011 5 lug. Gotta love the new 2TRFE it's a great engine especially paired with the manual transmission!!

 

87 octane ethanol free would be even better.

 

this.


I stumbled across a stie a while back that listed ethanol free gas stations around the country.

Ethanol is destroying our vehicles and MPG's! Im not a big conspiracy guy...but the govt forces ethanol on us for many reasons...



anyways...


edit: lol, just realized that the OP posted the link to the page i was talking about

 

Every time I drive out to Norman OK to visit my dad I make sure and fill up at the ethanol free stations with 87 octane. I think that town has maybe 2 stations with ethanol gas

 

and that's the 1 thing I haven't compared 87 verses 91 ethanol free fuel. has anyone tested that out and have you seen results?

 

well since the tacoma engine is pretty low compression, high octane is not needed, and may actually be hurting your mileage.

Not sure how familiar you are with octane but the higher the number the higher temp/pressure required to ignite. In general, you want to run the lowest octane possible with out pre-igniting (or pinging). 87 is about perfect for the 2.7 as well as all non boosted tacoma engines.

High compression engines need higher octane because the high pressure pre-ignites low octane fuels causing damage to the head and piston.

 

Good to know.I will have to try it out and compare.I guess you learn something new every day

 

It would be cool to see real world results with though.

 

what can i do to improve my mpg i was thinking efan a dry high flow like the op and royal purple in the engine and trans and axle and some good plugs not those horrible E3 plugs but good ngks or densos

 

Follow that guide above and I guarantee your gas mileage will get better

 

Es very true.the flip side to getting better mpg is the mods increase hp as well.so when it comes time to play the power is there for more fun.I tow my little1400 lb burro camper with my 4 banger and load my yamaha grizzly 400 in the bed together.after all the mods, being able to tow that setup became much nicer.

 

And you had to post that here?

 

Wow, that's incredible fuel mileage.
What are the conditions when you're logging 32 MPG ?
Speed, RPM, highway conditions, etc ?

 

I get that mileage driving around 65 on the highways here in utah the highways are never flat.they go up and down at slight grades and I use that to my advantage.every time I am going down a grade on the highway I will slowly increase my speed making sure to keep my scangauge reading above 35 mpg. When going up a grade I go as easy as I can on the petal.my speed will slowly decrease while climbing but its usually decreasing from my speed gain on the down slope. So I will consistently stay above 65 and usually get up to about 75 on the down slopes

 

I forgot to add I add lucas gas treatment to every tank of gas.it helps lubricate the upper piston for less friction. It seems to help quite a bit.I have tested 3 full tanks with it, and 3 full tanks without it to get a well rounded average. keeping my fuel a constant at the same exact pump with the same octane reading every time. The average difference is about 2.1 mpg.with the additive and at 11 dollars for 100 gallons worth of treatment I would say its worth it.

 

damn that mileage is incredible. What tire size gear ratio and ride height are you at??
Did you shed any fat on the body/chasis?

 

Instantaneous readings on the scan gauge means nothing.

Real world mileage includes the time you're stuck at the traffic light getting zero em pee gees.

Sign up for fuelly as worthywads has done and track all your tank fillups and odometer readings.

 

But yeah - the best mileage is gonna be obtained by guys living in kinda rural areas driving a lot on two lane highways without much/any traffic - no need to stomp the gas to merge with the rush-hour-rat-race.

 

What tires/tire pressure you running?