gas mileage WTF?

so today was the first time i figured up my mileage on my truck, i just got it a week or so ago

06 4x4 AC trd sport with a auto trans

15mpg!?!?!? i dont drive it hard and i'd say that 90% of my drive to work is in the country with very little city driving, truck is bone stock with 70k mi

i just changed the airfilter, removed the 2nd filter, cleaned the MAF and TB, my TB was pretty dirty, especially on the back side, and i put new ngk iridiums in it today, you guys think this stuff might help it some? anything else i can do lol?

 

try synthetic oil as well if you arnt already

 

that's next on the list, dealer i bought it from just changed the oil in it so i figured i'd just run it but i dont like knowing what kind of oil is in there, i'm sure it wont stay very long

 

also try this thread
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/4-cylinder/34594-mpg-mods.html#post547096

 

Type and size of tire, avg speed on highway seem to make the biggest difference. Your truck is rated 16/20, give it another tank and see how u do, maybe the first gas pump shut off early so it didn't fill up the tank all the way.

 

I know you said the truck was bone stock, so I'm just double checking on tire size.
With 70k miles I would expect better than that. Mine keeps improving, however I haul and push its limits on a regular basis which keeps my mpg pretty low. But on longer trips the improvements are noticeable.

 

i did the math today and im getting 14.8mpg on my 08 access cab with 285s, i get on the gas kinda hard when taking off but most of the time i try to ease on it, and still i dont seem to get much better, my truck has almost 70,000 miles on it and i always run fully synthetic oil, is there anything i need to clean or do since ive got 70,000 miles?

 

Maybe the MAF sensor, or throttle body. That is if your air filter is clean. Not a bad idea to get a can of seafoam either.

 

ok thanks, wheres the MAF sensor, lol sorry kinda new too it, and how do u clean that and the throttle body? like wat do u use, and yea i clean my air filter pretty much at every oil change, and seafoam? wow i feel like a noob haha

 

The throttle body is the valve for air you open when you press on the throttle. It should be a metal piece about 1 1/2 inches wide between your air filter and all the pipes that then feed into your engine. The MAF, mass air flow sensor, you should have a wire going to a plug very near your throttle body. You'll need a can of MAF cleaner for that. You don't want to touch the sensor as any oil, including body oil, can mess it up. You take the MAF out and spray it with the can of cleaner.

Seafoam is a product that helps remove engine deposits and unclog your injectors. I'm not sure where it's at on a second gen, but you would follow the directions here. http://www.seafoamsales.com/how-to-use-sea-foam-motor-treatment.html#nogo for fuel injection. Here's the thread on it. http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st-gen-tacomas/63790-seafoam.html There is probably one for second gen's but I haven't looked.

 

o ok cool thanks alot, how can i clean the throttle body?

 

I have a 2008 Tacoma 6cyl 4X4 DC off road with stock tires and the best I have ever achieved was 19mpg on the highway and I average 17mpg. I am located in California. When I achieved 19mpg I really watched how I was driving (light on the gas, 55mph on the highway).

 

I did the same thing when I first got mine. You'll learn how to drive it more efficient.

 

FYI, if you have larger tires you have to adjust for that, 285 tires means your odometer is ~7-8% off, so you actually are getting 7-8% better mpg. Still shitty, but better.

 

Check your tire pressures. I tenf to run mine towards the max pressure ,maybe at the risk of early uneven wear, but it is better for the mpg..

 

Give it time to break in. My '09 started at the same point you are at. Now I have 14k on it and I averaged 19-20mpg all summer in mixed driving.

 

He's right, don't forget to add that percentage to your miles driven before you divide by the gallons. For me I drove 268 miles, according to the Odom, I have to do as follows

268x1.0741=287.8588 Miles driven, divided by 15.835gal=18.178mpg

 

At best it will improve only 2-4 MPG

get used to it

 

take the iridium plugs out, thats probobly the biggest problem.

iridium plugs are for high compression motors as they burn hotter. with iridium plugs in your motor your fuel is acting like a diesel fuel where the pressure in the combustion chamber is preigniting your fuel and you are getting poor gas mileage because the computer thinks the motor is working the way its supposed to.

we get tons of complaints about the same thing at work, we always change the plugs back to a factory or factory equivelent plug, it works every time


try it and see what happens

 

15 mpg real-world city on EPA estimated 16/21 isn't unusual at all.

Where' the surprise?

The 6 in these things is way strong for a sixer, but it's also big and high-compression/fuel hungry.

A V8 probably would actually help fuel economy, but there's no way Toyota would do that and cannibalize Tundra sales.