Disappointing gas mileage?

I'm new to Taco's and 4 bangers. I have a 2010 Extended cab 2WD 2.7L auto transmission with 44K miles. The truck had been setting since April of this year until I bought it the first week of October. There was some gas in the tank which was at least 6 months old so I added some fuel cleaner and filled it with fresh gas. My first tank with mixed city/highway driving was 18.6. I just replaced all filters and Mobil One 00/30W and 235 75 15 Geolanders. Maybe the next tank of clean fresh fuel will be better, any suggestions?
Bill

 

18.6 mpg is not great for a 2TR-FE access cab automatic with 44k miles, but it's not horribly bad either. What are your driving habits? Do you let it warm up for a long time? Idle it a lot?

The old gas is probably not helping. And because it's been sitting so long and you don't know how the previous owner treated it, I suspect the mileage will get a little better over the next few months. Be patient. It's still breaking in, too

Assuming those new tires are larger than the previous ones, they are not going to help your gas mileage.

 

The question is, "What kind of MPG are you expecting". It's amazing if you look at the EPA ratings of many current vehicles produced that fuel mileage isn't that good unless you get into the compact category of vehicles or hybrids.

 

Mine gets better than EPA rating (19 to 21 with winter gas & 23 to 25 with summer gas) regardless of whether I have on the stock 245/75/16 Dungflops or 255/85/16 BFG KM2s (I lose around 1 with the 33" tires). If running a size other than stock you need to figure your MPGs based on actual miles instead of using odometer (I figure MPGs from GPS miles).

 

Stock tire size according to toyota.com is 15-in. styled steel wheels with P215/70R15 tires. You are running a taller tire so this will throw off your calculations. Use the calulator in the mods/tutorials section at the top of page to figure out your mileage adjustment.

You should be using 0W or 5W-20 weight oil in the 2TR. 30 weight is old spec and ok to run, but may not give the best fuel economy. Run a few more tanks through before you do more calculations and adjust the mileage with the tire calculator first. Nothing you do will get you above 20mpg if you go above 75-80 and punch it a lot to get up to speed.

Good luck and enjoy the truck.

Edit: you are 7% off your mileage with those new tires so you are actually going 7% more miles then your odo reads. They are larger/heavier/wider, so that will take a hit and may even out mileage gains.

 

I dont understand you bought a truck to hual stuff not to get excellent mpg.

 

Brilliant - I love these threads where guys show concern about their mileage and legitimately ask for advice on how to improve it and what they get is an answer like the one you provided.

Hell my old man used to have a 1970's era Chevy Impala that got 7 miles/gallon to haul his family around. Now the car I use to haul my family around is more comfortable,safer and gets 34 miles/gallon. Things change, technology improves and while other manufacturers are moving in that direction the Tacoma (as much as I love it) frankly has not been keeping up.

RANT OVER.

 

I wouldn't normally say anything but their are Crap load of thread's about ppl complaining about mpg's and what to do to improve it. Just ask whippersnapper02

 

Good luck with that he's banned.

 

but he is with us in spirit.

 

Guys, thank you for the responses both positive and stupid. I can fix my mileage but you can't fix stupid. I hadn't considered the difference in travel distance the tires would make. I'll use the calculator and see how it changes. While the tires will change the mileage believe me they are worth it. The stock tires rode bad and held the road bad, heck the hole truck just looked bad. What a difference the larger tires make in the handling and looks of the truck. I'll report back after another tank or two and I'll calculate with my GPS and see what difference it makes. I purposely didn't affix a name with the "stupid" tag, if the shoe fits wear it if it doesn't don't worry about. I've always found forums have some great members who try to provide good information and others who prefer to berate threads and act childish. What goes around comes around.
Bill

 

wow Really

 

That's a little harsh isn't it???

 

OP

Did your truck have the Firestone or the Dunlops. The Firestone LE will give the best mileage as they only weigh 23 lb. Right now my driving patterns have changed to where most of my trips are 3.3 miles and never top 45 MPH and lot of stop and go, my Ultragauge shows about 19 MPG under those conditions. When my trip were 25 miles of urban interstate at 65 to70 MPH i would get 25-27 depending on the season. Remember on any truck speed kills mileage. Which brand of 235-70-15's did you get? using xw-20 oil will give you about a full MPG increase.

Edit: you have geolanders.

 

My truck had the OE Firestones which were slick when I got the truck, they were so bad I couldn't drive it far without changing the tires. I went with 235 75 15's instead of 70's. I'll have an Ultragauge soon and that should show me some numbers and my driving habits. I might regret using 00-30W instead of 00-20W.
Bill

 

Better MPG report for today. 147 miles yielded 22.01 MPG which I'm happy with for the time being. The truck is running better from just getting used and fresh fuel. Once I learn more about it and how it drives and shifts I think the mileage will get better. The 22 MPG was about a 70% highway, 30% city driving. I'm hoping the Ultragauge will help the MPG's.
Bill

 

Just to clarify, you are multiplying your mileage by 1.07 to correct for 7% difference in tire circumference, correct?

For the record, I don't think his "you're stupid" post was harsh at all, one of the answers given was a stupid one, so he called it stupid, big whoop.

 

You buy a V6 (Taco) to haul stuff only, and a full size truck to haul real loads, you ever think mayhaps he bought a 4 banger pickup to haul some stuff whilst getting decent gas mileage as well

I love working to improve my gas mileage when I can, what about it?

 

'-'

That escalated quickly...

I got the truck for a truck.