interesting experience...now better mileage??

so i was on my way to work, long drive and the taco was definitely warm (even let it warm up before i left home). just straight hwy driving, not aggressive at all and pretty slow (90 km/h). well about an hour in to my drive, the truck suddenly starts to make a lot of noise and feels like the exhaust has fallen off (no backpressure on the engine, bogging down kinda thing). scares the crap out of me. to top it all off i am way the hell in the middle of absolute nowhere. so i call toyota, they tell me to bring it asap so i'm now freakin out at this point. end up working a full day and try to forget about it all day. jump in the truck to head home and start really slowly to make sure i dont f' anything up. no warning lights show up and to top it all off no problems appear. the truck is fine now, so i continue home without getting it towed and take it to toyota the next day. the head tech takes me and my truck for a ride, starts it up and tells me to point out all my issues i had. well nothing shows up and the tech says he cant find anything, nor did any codes come up with the scanner, tells me my truck is in perfect condition still (since my maintenance inspection like 3 weeks ago).
well now the weird thing is, i am getting 100 kms more per tank of fuel...i'm not doing anything different nor any different fuel, exact same fuel exact same pump etc. any ideas what would suddenly cause this big of an increase in mileage even though nothing showed up at the dealership? like i said, this is weird and new to me!

 

Hope someone answers, my Taco is getting crap for mileage. I use to average about 330 miles per tank and not I am getting 260 miles per tank. It works out something like 13 to 15 miles per gallon right now. I was getting 17 mpg like clock work. Horrible, horrible mileage now.

 

that sucks.... i'm interested in the answer too

 

You're getting better gas mileage because you're being so careful with the truck now that you think it's gonna fall apart...

 

see i thought about that too, and i have not changed how i been driving. but i did notice that at crusing speed i am running ~200-250 rpms less than before this incident

oh and hey del!

 

I think they refilled your blinker fluid for you thus, better mileage.

 

how long did this loud noise last? its weird that your rpm's would be lower. thats a gear thing.
the only thing i can think of is maybe something happened to the 4wd or rear lsd. if its something internal the mechanic wouldn't see it.
you should test your 4wd and your lsd

 

Hi

 

did that, had to use 4wd to get out of the jobsite and had no issue, and seems to be no issue with the lsd.

the tech took the truck out by himself and then had me go out with him and nothing showed up.

 

Not trying to derail this post, but.... Speaking of blinker fluid, mine is overdue for a change but I haven't been able to locate the reservoir tank. Every time I take it to the dealership they tell me the fluid level is fine, but my blinkers make this horrible clicking noise every time I use them so I know the fluid is low.

Can anyone point me in the right direction, maybe photos of the reservoir tank so I don't have to end up buying new rotatory girders.

 

well your just silly looking in the right direction! its in the left direction!

 

Maybe the truck ate a huge bug, and it burned off some carbon in the engine

 

haha could be

 

Obstruction in your air box?

 

i might have to check that

 

PCM problems can be intermittent like that, but it would most likely be accompanied by trouble codes.

 

hmm ya no codes showed up at all, said that nothing showed any issues

 

Did the mechanic check your muffler bearing? I have had those go out before, and I can imagine that your MPG would go up once it got loose again. It runs on the same circuit as the blinker fluid so I would make sure and get them both checked out by a professional.

Do you normally drive it on real short trips and then this was one of the first long ones? or do you drive it that far every day. Sometimes the computer will recalibrate but only if it has enough time to get to a steady state for extended periods of time, might explain the MPG gain... but I'm just throwing that out there.

 

I wonder if you were somehow still in 4wd beforehand and violently came out of 4wd while on the highway. That would explain the better fuel economy too. Still bazaar.