Why does my mpg suck so bad?

I don't know man. That sounds low to me. It is, afterall a 2wd.

For comparison, I have a 2010 V6 automatic access cab 4x4 (TRD Offroad). I'm on 265/70r16 BFG All Terrains, stock height, and have a cab height shell. I also drive a lot of short trips under 5 miles round trip, live in the mountains, and I average around 18-19 consistently. My worst was just over 17.

My last tank in December (winter blend) was probably 40% highway at 55-60 (but up and down 2000 feet of mountain pass) and 40% freeway between Denver and Colorado Springs (over Monument Hill which is a 1000-2000 foot rise depending on if you're coming or going) at 70-75 plus 20% short trips between 5-10 miles (and ambient air temps between 20-50F ... well below the Bay Area) and I got 20.2mpg for the tank.

 

I have a 2012 Double Cab with the 2.7 4 Cylinder. On the first tank, filled by the dealer, I averaged 20.4 with about 50/50 city/highway driving. I also purchased a ScanGuage II and installed it just before the second fillup. I have really been babying it, not going over the speed limit and slow starts. I warm it up about 60 seconds in the morning before leaving the driveway or work. On this second tank, really watching my RPM's and like someone said, pretending like the gas pedal has eggs under it, I am running at around 25.8 MPG on the first quarter tank acconding to the guage. Will see what happens after this next fillup.

I also increased tire pressure to 40 PSI in the front, and 43 PSI in the back.

 

I get better than that with my lifted 4x4. 18 city & 20 hwy with winter gas, and 22 city & 24 hwy with summer gas. We have a lot of hills & mountains here so I'm not talking flat driving. Stock tires at 38 psi and I never shift below 3000 to 3500 rpms. If you shift at 2000 rpms you drop to 1000 rpms where you have no power at all.

 

1. you and i are young and our right foot is 100x heavier then an elderly driver
2. you live in SF, stop try to go, then stop for 1hr, go traffic
3. you have a small engine that needs more shifts on an incline and thus more fuel. power to weight ratio
4. you have a short commute. engine doesnt get to cruise speed for long.
5. winter, the leprechauns put crap in the gas so that it doesnt freeze and makes fuel economy suck dick like 3 day dry crack hoe.
6.you have a truck that one a good day under "normal" conditions can see up to 27mpgs, but you dont live in a condusive area for that.
7. if you cant drive 55 its your fault. anything over like 60 i think starts decreasing your mpgs by a % of your speed above 60. i know my head hurts just trying to say that sentence the right way.

i do joke in the statement above by this is the info i was given last year when my mpgs went down to 11-13 when in the summer i was getting 16-18mpgs.

 

OP, i'm not sure what state of repair your truck is in or how you drive it or what mods are on it but, i see 19 mpg with my truck the way it sits now which is to say the least heavily modified from stock.

if i drive it with saving gas in mind which is what i do anyways 99% of the time. the 4cyl tacoma has been pretty great in this aspect for me at least but, i drive slowly usually never revving the engine above 2500 rpm's.

i also try never to come to a full stop i keep things rolling as much as possible. this is also better for your truck your brakes clutch and pretty much everything will last longer and the truck will give you fewer problems down the road if driven easily.

i don't see any reason to complain here christ i'm running 500 pounds of stuff or more on my regular cab and have 34 inch tires and stock gears and if driven smartly i can squeeze out 19 mpg.

in order to return better mpg i would try slowing down its a tacoma not a ferrari.

 

You all are lucky, I get 15.5 miles per gallon in my 99 4cyl...and since I got a scan gauge I was able to bring it up to 16.3mpg I do have a header crack but don't think that's the issue.

And I drive like a Grampa so don't even bring that up lol

 

I average 24mpg on my 06 4.0 v6

 

fixed it for you 4x4jeep
and your fuelly says you average 21.7 pinnocchio

 

When first started there is a lot of fuel that gets past the rings and gets into the oil, due to the enrichment circuit being fully active. A car warms much quicker driven gently. When a engine warms quicker, the ECU computer will lean out the mixture sooner. Therefore less fuel gets into the oil.

The OP makes very short trips. If he idles for 5 minutes with the computer in the full rich mode, and then drives for only 4 miles, that fuel will never burn off in the oil, not to mention the moisture that accumulates when a engine is rarely taken for a 1/2 hour drive. In severe cases, fuel can account for 2-4% of the contents of your crankcase.

 

Have you calibrated your Scanguage? If not your reading will be a about 10% too high. It will take 3 or 4 tanks, calibrating after each fillup to obtain an accurate reading.

 

Es true. When I first got mine it was reading way higher than what I was actually getting.

 

It is because the Tacoma does not have a fuel level sensor that is monitored by the OBDII connection under the dash. You have to do the calibration. And the more times you calibrate the more accurate it will become.

 

Yes, I have calibrated the Scan Guage; The second time I filled up I went to the same gas station, the same island, and faced the same direction and after fillup, adjusted the number of gallons as per the instructions with the unit. On the next two fillups, I had no varience, but these were at different gas stations. Also, since then I have been driving long-distance (about 200 miles each way) for a couple of days; all highway running at 65-75 MPH. The gas mileage realized here was 20.8 and 22.4 respectively. Around home, work is a 30 mile drive on a two-lane road with top speed of 55 MPH where I seem to see the best mileage performance of 24.2. Note that I JUST crossed the 1000 mile mark this week as well, so would expect things to improve over time, hopefully!

 

Mileage should slowly improve with time.you need to give that engine a little bit of wear tune

 

65 mph is key to the best mpg! at least thats what I heard! too bad i drive 80

 

your mpg should improve once it is broken in.