Gas mileage!

I can get about 24mpg with my 99 prerunner. 31" m/t's, 4.10 gears. 1st gens like to do 60mph on the highway. At 70 I get 18-19

 

I run 265/70/16 general grabber at2 on my stock 2.7l and average 20.5mpgs. Driving conditions and habits are the main factors- I drive 70% highway and use a light foot. If I drive it like a sports car, it drops down to the 18mpg range. Give yourself 10 extra minutes on your commute, drive like there's an egg under the gas pedal and you'll see your mileage improve. Might even arrive at work less stressed too!

 

getting about 16mpg with 31x10.5's, 3.4L v6 w/ busted front wheel bearings...

 

Check the links in my signature for new ideas

 

I signed on to ecomodder.com (Thanks Mike) as they seem to have some pretty sound advice on saving fuel.

I really like the aero cap a Ford owner made up. Too bad one is not available for a Taco. I found a inexpensive cap locally, might buy it as a basis to build a similar aero cap for mine.

Len

 

Don't forget that larger tires are going to be less revolutions. Which would mean less miles on your odometer.

 

In my case, the taller gearing means less rpms at cruise and I will have to re-calibrate my speedo.

Somewhere there is a thread on this. Think it must be done at the dealers.

Len

 

The dealer will look at you confused when you ask them about recalibrating a
Speedo. I tried. You have to use an aftermarket signal interrupter and splice it in and tune it

 

Or you could just do it mentally, and factor it into your calculations. Taller tires may or may not help gas mileage. There are allot of other factors at play.

 

Could get a Scan Guage, Ultra Guage, or OBD link for your smart phone

 

Really would like to calibrate it once, so I don't have to do it mentally each time I fill up.

Can a scan gauge do this? If so a dealer should know how. Where is this procedure spelled out? In the shop manual perhaps?

Len

 

It won't calibrate your cluster but it can display your speed. I don't own a Scan Guage but I would imagine you would be able to calibrate the speed readout from the ecu. I know you can using the Torque app for smartphones. GPS can also tell your speed in the Torque app.

 

I own a scanguage. It can display speed and adjust for the tire size, but doesn't change your vehicles reading. I like my scanguage cause I can watch trans temp, that's what I got mine for

 

I noticed a definite difference in mileage with my 2.7 extended cab when I dropped in a K&N air filter and put on a Flowmaster Super44. I've done some other things to the exhaust and air intake as well, but I can consistently get mid 20s when air temps are between about 55-80*F. Cleaning the MAF sensor helps, as well as keeping tires at a good pressure and not driving around with unnecessary weight (like complaining passengers, grrr). And I really want a ScanGauge.

 

The Toyota company itself must allow for speedo calibration when different gear ratios are ordered when new.

We just have to find out how this is done. Time for a bit of detective work.

Anyone out there work at Toyota? Can you find out through your internal network?

Len

 

I was pulling the trigger on a customer order truck when I bought mine. And one of the selections on the order form was to choose your tire size,,and a sub paragraph to that explained what gear ratio became available then, along with transmission choices. There wasn't many per selection. they didn't want you to hotrod the truck like you would like to do.

This was back in 99,,so I am sure all that has changed now.

The add-on moneys got to high,,so I backed out of it. Very glad I did. Couldn't justify that much money for a truck that would get down and dirty.

 

1st gen 4wd can change the speedo gear in the transfer case with one that has different gears. Same can be done with Prerunners, but nobody seems to make gears for them. The best and most accurate is an adapter that can interrupt and change the signal

 

97 Tacoma 2.7L with 4.56 gears, and 285/75R16, I average around 20.7 MPG right now. Calibrated the Ultragauge and ran a couple of tests to verify. I reset and retest every 4 tanks of fuel.

 

I have exactly what you are getting for the gears and manual locking hubs. I also have 30x9.50r15 cooper at3s and cruising at 65-70 I can pull 22-23 easy that being said I cruise at 75 or so and it drops to 19-20 mpg. I actually dont mind the 3.91 gears because unless i go up in tire sizes my truck has more than enough power for city and cruises easy hwy.

 

4.10 FTMFW!