New member-- 2 questions

Hello Everyone.

I bought a 1999 Tacoma automatic tranni. 2.4 liter. The truck is the base unit truck.

It had a tune-up previous to my purchase and it has new wires, air filter, plugs, etc But I want to change the fuel filter and wonder where it is located and if any tricks or tips will help me replace it.

My other question is Interesting. The truck gets below 20mpg, maybe less than 15 mpg combination city and freeway with no load in the back

The Check Engine light is NOT on. The light does work. . I had reviewed all the usual suspects... tire pressure is perfect, no smoke or smell from the tailpipe. It seems to run good. No vacuum leak sounds. The exhaust is stock and has no damage. Water temp is fine. Don't believe the brakes are dragging. I pulled a plug which has far les than 10k on it and it just as the light grey ash look. Again, No Engine Check light. As noted in question 1 I am thinking of changing the fuel filter as I am at a loss.

Anyone has any suggestions that make sense when the vehicle gets bad gas mileage and the engine light is not on that I may have missed? I really appreciate it. It is a stock truck with 130k miles and just want it to get the expected gas mileage.

Regards,
Brian

 

Welcome to TW, Brian,

The EPA gas mileage ratings for your year, model, and transmission are

19 mpg City

20 mpg Combined

22 mpg Highway

For comparison, same year and model with a manual transmission:

19 mpg City

21 mpg Combined

25 mpg Highway

You said your mileage was less than 20 and "maybe less than 15 combined". The very first thing I would do is to find out exactly what my mileage was so as to eliminate the "maybe".

Do a couple of fillups first recording the elapsed mileage, so that you'll have an accurate base of information to work from. And then go from there. Also, are the wheels and tires the factory diameter. If it has big off road aggressive tread clown car tires, not only will their larger diameter throw off the accuracy of the odometer readings which will mess up your mileage results, the increased wheel weight and higher rolling resistance can also make the truck feel sluggish. And that makes you push on the gas pedal more which reduces your mileage.

I had a 1996 2.4 Tacoma 5 speed for 17 years, and they're great little trucks!



Greg

 

Check the valve clearances. If those are way off, then that could affect mpg. Expensive to adjust, though.

 

I'd check the resistance of the temp gauges, too.

 

Thanks guys-- I will have a new miles per gal calculation in the next day or two and compare it to the post you made.

OK-- I am still wondering where th fuel filter is located. I bet it was replaced with the tune up but I want to confirm visually.

ALSO, my only other Issue is with my Speedometer. The Odometer portion works but the Speedometer does not work. Well, one in a while, usually on a freeway it would suddenly work. Any thoughts on how I can fix the speedometer?

Bri

 

if its the same as the 2.7l then the fuel filter should be on the side of the block up under the intake manifold, wonderful place for it.

and being auto you should have a speed sensor down around the tail end of the tranny somewheres, Speedo problem may be as simple as changing that sensor but I don't know if that would keep the odo. Working. Might be the gauge itself