Why did my MPG go down

I can't say that I have ever encountered non-flammable gasoline; I should imagine that would quite adversely affect one's mileage...LOL

 

Thats what the mechanic said, my buddy was pissed. He preached about getting gas from costco but not after that

 

The quality of gas is def a thing though. I never used to pay attention to it until I had a tuned diesel, I had to really pay attention to where I got fuel or I'd end up with no power or a soot covered hatch. Now that I'm back in a gasser I still pay attention to where I get gas and I've noticed differences with certain station brands. Not nearly as apparent or as consistently crappy as with diesel, but some I see better mpgs (minimal, but better), some I notice slight hiccups here and there, some are just down on power all together. Cenex and Sinclair have always been solid for me. Not a fan of BP or Kum-n-Go. I never fill at Costco so can't speak there.

 

What exactly the issue was with you " buddy's" truck?
The fact is that costco buys the same fuel from your area distributors as your favorite gas station. The additives package is blended at the site or at distribution center.
Costco gas quality is high and consistent across US and Canada. I filled up at costco in WA, OR, CA, ID, MT, UT, BC Canada for past 25 years.

 

Maverick just bought kum & go & they've started to change every store. They just built a new kum and go near southlands to only change everything 2 months later

Not sure, but they did drop the tank and had to put other gas in it. I do agree its all the same refineries, but this was during covid so idk

 

Tundra's fuel fuel pump was on recall list, same as tacoma's. I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with Costco gas.

 

Not a damn thing.

 

Either way at this mileage you're going to want to clean the MAF and TB. Im going in monday to have a shop do the sparkies and the other 2. Been putting it off for too long..
Would attempt it myself but too damn cold out

 

I would like to get that...
My refills usually read around 320 range.

 

280 here, Stock. What am I doing wrong ?!

 

I've bought my 2007 new. It took about 2 months to get the cap. I've had E 53 lb rated and 38 lb P rated tires on it. It now has a 2" lift. It came with 265/70/16's but I upsized to 265/75/16's years ago. Through those changes and 252,000 miles my fuel mileage has largely been unchanged. I get 16-17 for normal everyday driving and 19-20 mpg highway but otherwise fuel mileage has remained consistent. That's typical for a 4wd 2nd gen. The 3rd gens should be a little better.

A cap won't negatively affect fuel mileage. Mine weighs 180 lbs. That's less than most adult males riding in the passenger seat and it makes the truck more aerodynamic. Going a little larger on tires doesn't hurt unless they are really wide and have aggressive mud tread. IME speed is the biggest factor. Keep it under 70 mph and they do pretty good. The difference between 68 and 75 mph can be 3-4 mpg.

I've had the occasional anomaly where fuel mileage was weird. I once got 22, 16, and 20 mpg on the same day on long road trip. It got 22 driving down the Rockies into Denver. 16 between Denver and Kansas City while driving into a strong headwind then 20 the rest of the way home after we got out of the wind.

Make sure your tires are properly inflated and check the other usual stuff then just live with where it falls. Don't overthink this. The difference between 20 mpg and 18 mpg will cost you about 5.5 gallons more in gas to drive 1000 miles.

 

Not missing the air dam or the engine covers are you? Those sheet metal covers, and the beefy skidplates do help a bit with streamlining the forward underside aerodynamics. Tires and their pressure also play a big role, even the stock one. The door jam plate is more of a guideline regarding tire pressure, within reason, you can go lower for better traction, or higher for less rolling resistance, each has pros and cons.

For me, what killed my mileage was between the the old owner taking the forward under engine TRD skid plate off, leaving a big airtrap open, and me putting a drawer in the bed and filling it with a bunch of tools which squatted the truck making the open underside of engine bay a bigger air trap and the truck as a whole more floaty.

The stock leafsprings where already looking like a frown before the drawer, not the greatest at keeping their sprung memory, but they do say the average lifespan is 3-5 years before needing to be re-arched, or replaced.

 

Curious, where did you get this info?

I know stock tacoma leafs come flat from factory. I have also never heard anyone needing their leafs "re-arched" or replaced under normal truck use.

 

Would love that... at 265 rn

 

That is just leafs in general in general, but depends on the leaf spring, but I do know our semi trailers need leafs every 4-5 years, not from sagging, but heavy wear, not they ever get changed until after they snap in half. But those are leaf packs, not mono or parabolic leafs like what we, Tacomas, use. Either way, I'm doubt most won't notice or care unless they have a leveling kit which would make saggy leafs noticeable (IE: factory 2" lift on the front). And without the leveling kit, the truck sags down to level overtime, which is far less noticeable.

Obviously you can use them for far longer, but I'm pretty sure the 3-5 years comes from if you want the vehicle to maintain its full suspension travel at >95-90%. And it does seem like a lot of people complain on tacomaworld about leaf spring sag, especially if truck is older than five years old.

 

2" lift in front of a 3rd gen taco will make the truck look squatted.


Anyways, I confirmed my thoughts that this is not an issue at all on tacomas.

 

i am at 280 too, just disconnect battery for 5 min and you will get better

 

who is they?

 

Multiple Toyota TSBs for three to five year old trucks for the 2nd gens. The multiple complaints about for infamous taco lean, and squat for 3rd gens. All the add-a-leaf or leaf pack replacement post and threads. My 2018. Take your pick. Tacomas have a rich history of way too soft leaf springs that have one to many perk points in driver comfort that just simply lose memory and sag after a few years.

Yeah leaf springs technically last forever, short of snapping in half, but they are not supposed to look like they were accidentally installed upside down however.

Either way, the more leaned back the truck is, the worse mileage you are going to get, its just worse with the TRD trims because the front end is already lifted compared the lower trims and feels the negative effects of old leaf springs starting to sag even more so, just by the nature of how air picks up on and drags on the underside, kinda like how a boat planes on water as an analogy.

 

My MPG's dropped and I found I had a brake caliper hanging up.