Gas Mileage Question

So today I drove my 2 week old used 16 Tacoma sport dclb with nearly 3000 miles on it 100 miles to and from to sell my tonneau to a guy who bought it from me.

I filled up with about 60 miles left in the trip up to meet and my tank average when I arrived was 17.2mpg. The guy who bought my tonneau has a 16 Tacoma sport eclb and he got 23.3mpg. We both drive nearly identical distance all highway.

His truck is stock 265/65/17 and mine has TRD pro wheels with 265/70/17 BFG KO's AT's. He didn't have a tonneau on the back and mine did. His had the air dam on and I took mine off.

The 100 miles on the way home I got 19.5mpg. On that ride I manually shifted it into 6th gear on the highway when I got it up to speed and put it into cruise control at 65-70mph. And every time I'd go to manual the truck was still in 4th gear till I shifted it up to 6th.

I've read a couple different times on here that there may be a tsb out for the "searching for gears" issue? Not sure if this may be the case?

I've had an 07 for 5 years with 134k miles on it before I upgraded to the 16 I found with 2400 miles on it. The 16 definitely is searching all the time to get into a gear compared to my 07. And going up a hill while in cruise control it HAMMERED down when downshifting to speed up.

This was the first time I've taken it on a long trip all highway in cruise control. And I never hammered it, I literally drove it like an ole timer a couple miles over the speed limit.

I guess my question is... is the above normal? Thoughts?
Thanks

 

There are a lot of factors that affect mileage. You may have driven the same distance but grade and wind could explain the difference. You should expect some drop with your tires and removing the air dam (though some people report no difference with the dam delete). Tonneau covers don't really improve mpg, and can hurt it.

These trucks seem to be kinda all over the place, lots of people here report crappy mileage but I get better than 20 on every tank and I've had as high as 24 on a long trip tank. Just today my trip estimate was 27.2 on a 10 mile trip.

 

I gained a few mpg by airing up the tires to 37psi. Factory seems to be set around 30psi from what I've seen.

 

Cold my tires are at 36. On the road 38

 

27.2! Wtf. I babied the shit out of it and put it in s6 every time it was fit too and I only got 19.5. Best I got around town everyday driving has been 16

 

Had it in D the whole way, cruise set at 60 (highway not interstate), AC off and windows down. It's the best mileage I've ever seen on a trip, but driving almost the exact same route daily I usually get about 23-24 so I suppose the wind was right and with the AC off it must have bumped it up a bit as well.

 

Your truck wasn't still in 4th gear. Start driving in manual or not at all. The sport mode doesn't tell the truck what gear to be in, just limits it. And sport defaults to 4th gear. So for example, say your doing 20km/h down the road and shift from drive to sport. The truck will show 4th gear even though your likely only in second. It will just not allow the truck to shift past 4th. Now if your doing 90km/h down a highway in 6th and switch to manual, the truck will default to 4th gear and drop you to there. So make up your mind. Drive in sport mode or don't. Switching at highway speed won't help your mileage at all, especially slamming into 4th all the time. Start in sport and leave it there.

 

Should have noted that I had the Windows partially down and AC off

 

I don't drive hard but don't baby it either. Best I've done is 23mpg (9.7 l/100km) on a 100 km trip. I average 11.7 l/100km, whatever that is in mpg for you American folk I don't know

 

Makes sense about the 4th gear in S. I understand what you're saying

 

Never even sniffed 23mpg. Best I've seen it on my truck was my first tank of gas and that was 17 something, right before I put on the new wheels and tires and took off the air dam.

 

Try it and see what happens. I use drive in town and sport on the highway so I can drop a gear to pass. When you move to sport push the shifter up and hold it for a second. It will go directly to 6th gear. Just a little trick for ya!

 

Thanks for the trick. Since you said it I think I remember reading that on here at some point. I haven't read so much in my 38 years as I've done on here since I got my truck three weeks ago.

Brand new truck though you'd think you could just put it in gear and expect it to work like it's supposed to. You shouldn't have to manually shift or push an ect button

 

Less than 2000 miles and my last 2 fill ups have averaged 25.6+mpg...that's combined interstate (70-80 mph) and in town driving. 2016 Limited with tonneau...I'm happy. Don't use cruise and leave in Drive...no sport mode usage.

 

Daily driving I stop at 2 stop signs and 2 stop lights during a 12 mile trip to work and average 16? I just don't get it. Yes, I put on slightly larger tires 265/70/17 vs 265/70/17 stock and took off the air dam, but that's quite a drastic difference. I thought for sure today driving 200 miles on pretty much all interstate roads I'd get over 20 but nope. I guess I just gotta stop looking at that tank average screen

 

I am in drove 90% of the time and don't use ect unless towing. Works fantastic for me

 

You'll have to go to the dealer and see if you can get the TSB done.

Also, it may have been a contributing factor as to why there was a low mileage used 2016 on the lot for you to buy....

Your auto should be getting better gas mileage than that. I can beat that no problem in my manual transmission version with a 4.3 ratio in the rear going 75-80 mph.

 

If you have the C loads, you need to put the cold psi to at least 40psi. The max for the C load is 50 psi. If you have the E load, the max psi is 80.

I have the BFG 265/70/17 C loads (46lbs), with the SEMA TRD rims (25lbs) @ 41psi. I used the chalk method to get that psi dialed in.

The OEM steelies 245/75/16 weighed 62lbs, so that's at least 9lbs+ more per wheel. If you have the E loads, add another 6lbs per wheel. Thats a lot of extra weight and is going to affect mileage and performance.

I have the SR5 DBCB and almost never drive on the highway and average 21.5 mpg according to the OBC. However, the BFGs have a 3.5% greater circumference and therefore, a 'mile' on the BFGs are 3.5% longer than the stock steelies mine came with. When I adjust for the size of the tire, I come out with an average of 22.25mpg.

Pump up those tires and you should see an increase in mileage. The TRD Sport is also probably heavier than the 4x2 SR5, so you might need to bump up the psi a little more than I did.

 

Slow down

 

My tires are load range C. I'll do the chalk test today.

Slow down? Speed limit on the roads I was traveling was 70 and 65. I had the CC set at 70 and 67.