Any useful MPG mods on 4.0L?

Supercharger

 

That's what I do already, right at 2k rpm

 

Tires understandable but I have a lift/bigger tires which I knew crap the mileage

But my max speed is like 35mph so the whole highway thing isn't an issue

 

That's understandable for a increase from like 18 to 19, but I get 13 cause of the town I live in, so 1 mpg is a bigger % increase

 

Thanks for the actually and not so long shot answer, but the modding is the fun part and that's why I was hoping there was some mod that'd help, but if not I'll just make sure I granny all around town

 

When I'm rolling on these


I know the weight and resistance is higher and I'd lose a little mpg, which is why I was hoping for some mods to help but if not till monitor my foot

 

Sorry for the late replies, and all at once but if the scan guard and foot monitoring I'll probably do that then. And the Prius jokes crack me up, I'd never be caught dead in a Prius, if I wanted better mpg and still fun id go back to my wrx but I love this tacoma

 

I'd say driving at low RPM at the highest gear. I think around 55-60mph is the way to go. That's the range I see the best MPG.

Also keep your acceleration low. Flooring it to pick up speed eats a lot of gas.

Coast to stops to maximize the gas you already burnt.

Keep your tires aired up properly. Not too high and not too low.

Minimize the weight in the vehicle.

Keep your windows up as much as possible to prevent drag. My general rule is if I'm going over 35mph, I'm running A/C. I haven't read any reports to prove this is actually a good idea though

 

Very good info here for a new tacoma owner like myself. Been using all the advice and it's been working pretty well! Especially the coasting into the stop. I've never really done that before.

Anyways does having it on cruise control constantly affect mpg at all? I go about 60 for 15 mins or so.

 

A light right foot. Y Pipes with no secondary cats also help get a couple more mpgs.

 

Back when mythbusters did a side by side test of an expedition at the same speed around a nascar track and the one with windows down went further but I don't remember speed! Haha

And I wish I could go that speed, like I've I live in a town full of hills and max speed 40mph

 

I have a custom made y-pipe and no secondary cats, not the best bends and a few flow reduction areas but it did help with mpg

 

Interesting I've always seen vehicles test their MPG with the windows up because of the drag issue, but oh well.

City driving really kills it for me. The constant stop and go and lower speeds are very noticeable. In city I'm usually getting in the 17mpg. With more highway driving at higher speeds I see at least 18 or 19mpg.

I have yet to break 21mpg.

 

Yeah I mean google the episode and I bet you can find it, and it makes sense though, not using the a/c or fans inside the car means all the air that flows into the engine is used for power not for a convenience

Yupp, and I also live at 7,000 feet above see level haha at one point of town I'll be at 6,500 and the other (10 minutes away) is back up at 7,000! And going to our mountain gets you up close to 9,600. So you can imagine stop and go with those kind of hills

 

Wow, that's some town. I live at 3,000 feet and I've always figured that's one of the reasons I didn't see a mpg decrease when I supercharged my Tacoma. The altitude I'm at favors supercharging I think.

One thing I forgot to mention, if you seriously need better mpg, is that you could always buy a small commuter car or share one with any significant other you have. It's not hard to find a 10 year old Civic/Corolla/etc that will get you 40 mpg for way cheaper than any massive mod. Just a thought, I know I'd rather rip around in my Taco over the future wife's Sonata any day but I've also thought about driving her car more to save for our wedding.

I think mythbusters did that test you are talking about at around 50 mph. That's the number that sticks in my head. They used the OBD II port and some dealership software to track the milage. They also used a V8 expedition/explorer which had pretty shitty milage and traveled at a constant speed with no stopping. I'd think with smaller engines you'd see numbers favor the window more, while larger high hp motors won't care as much about the parasitic draw of the a/c compressor. Also, in stop and go traffic, the window has to win hands down right? Except for the fact at 0 mph you'll be breathing hot smog.

 

Yeah it's a lovely town, not the normal "Arizona" that people think of, actually usually the exact opposite of what people think of when they think AZ. But yeah the higher the elevation the better the air density for performance. Kinda like how athletes train at higher levels, helps in the same way I'm assuming

I know, my SO is going to lease a MPG car and that'll help a ton on the savings end of things, just wish the 4.0 wasn't so stubborn

I would have to agree with you on the windows thing! But then again common thought process is sometimes completely wrong

 

Have played with windows up/windows down and with a/c on or off. On relatively flat interstate, about 68 mph with cruise control on I see no change in the instant mpg reading on my ScanGauge.

 

All the intake/exhaust mods that improve flow at full-throttle will not do anything for fuel economy,

If your tires are larger than stock dia., be sure to account for odometer error when calculating milage. For example, 13 mpg uncorrected with 33"s is actually 13 x 33/31 = 14 mpg.

 

those LT duratracs are what is killing mpg... those are HEAVY tires

 

When I fill up in Vail with 85 octane, and drive to Denver, I get 28mpg with my Wrangler MT's.
Of course, going from 9000 ft to 5000 ft might have had the biggest effect.
My question is why does the Tacoma 4.0L not do as well as other 4.0L engines on the market for HP and mpg?