Poor mileage-Is it time to retire

Never been a fan of cruise control for improved gas mileage. Unless maybe when I am on I80 through Nebraska which is flat as a pancake. Cruise control is always trying to maintain a certain speed. When it drops below that speed it kicks down and quickly powers back up to speed.....inefficient. Getting a feel for your gas pedal and feathering a little more or a little less pedal can net great results.

 

flat roads where there are no inclines/declines cruise control is fine.

 

Some of us 4 door poverty speccers don’t have luxury of cruise control or clock

 

I added mine, wasn't hard. The PO had some crappy aftermarket cc that didn't even work no more. I yanked it out.

4dr as well.

 

It's alittle flatter here than down south... makes sense.

 

If you do decide to sell,it will be hard to get another taco at a decent price.I think it’s CHEAPER TO KEEP HER!

 

16 mpg?? ha! I'd love to get that.

Older cars need TLC, even toyotas. You *at least* need a full tune up, and probably a timing belt (if it's a 6cyl). Fuel filter, MAF, clean the throttle body, plugs/wires, etc... The hole 9 here. Has any of that been done in the last 100k miles (or ever)??

Are you sure it's burning the oil, and not leaking it? Sounds stupid, but if you park on the street all the time, a small puddle on the asphalt might not be obvious.


Something to think about is that an engine rebuild will cost less than a new car. Even if you find a cheap commuter car, it'll likely be old and be needing similar TLC anyway.

Take it to a trusted mechanic, and there are a lot of things you can do before you tear it apart to see if it's worth rebuilding (it likely is). Leak down tests, etc... can help diagnose internal engine issues.

 

24MPG best and 20 average? Are you sure that's accurate. The best I've ever gotten with my 3.4 is just under 20 (19.9 iirc) and that was a long trip at 65-70MPH the entire time. I do have some extra weight now (rock sliders and a tube bumper) but even before those, I never got near your numbers.

 

Compression test and leakdown test. Could be rings valve components or both. And or it could be leaking.

If it's valve components, consider a full rebuilt head and just swap them instead of sending yours out.

A qt every 2k is manageable. Check it every fill up and keep it topped up. It will run a long time like that. Think how much oil you can buy for one payment on a new one.

As for mpg. Slow down. Inflate tires a bit more. Figure out your annual mileage, how much you'd save with an extra 5 mpg, and compare that to a payment. Your mpg might look pretty good.

 

I mean for full time highway driving at 60-70mph.

I had to try very hard to get 24mpg - 65mph cruise, flat roads, long drive, etc. I used to get 21 on similar drives. I wouldn't accelerate to pass, only pass when available. I wanted to see the best it could get - i can't drive like that all the time.

DD'ing (traffic and etc.) i used to average 19mpg summer, 14-15mpg winter. Warming the 3.4 up constantly really killed it's MPG. Best winter road trip MPG was 18-19. Auto 99' 4runner 4x4 limited (heaviest model) with michelin ltx m/s2's 265/70/16's.

 

Sounds like your overall average is still above mine, but not by a huge margin. Which means it may very well be possible to hit 24MPG if I should ever decide I want to!

 

Really not sure where the oil is going. No smoke that can see and no puddles underneath. There are a couple oil wet spots on the engine, but still no puddles or drips that I can see. I just left a dumb-ass garage at lunch time that was supposed to check a couple things for me. Even with an appt, they told me they could not work on it because of the miles. Arrgh, wanted to choke the fool. So I need to wait to get home this weekend and do it myself. But I will check the tire pressure and TRY to slow down on the trip home. I sure appreciate all the input here.

 

They just consider 200k+ miles a ticking time bomb and don't want to be held liable if it breaks down next week.
I have a 3.4L and I get about 16 mpg around town and 19 highway.
FYI, I ran into this post back when I had an XJ and thought it was interesting. I wonder how much of it could be applied to a Taco?
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/my-goal-get-25-mpg-my-99-xj-30-x-9-5-r15-ats-1551782/

 

I think the fact that your rear brakes would be on fire would be a good clue your e-brake is stuck on...

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. 200k is just getting broken in for these trucks. Find a new mechanic.

You probably won't see any smoke, that's not *a lot* of oil being consumed. Back in HS, my buddy had an old beat up Ford pickup. He topped off the oil every time he filled up. THAT thing smoked. He never actually had to change the oil, so there's that... lol

Clean it REAL good. Get all the oil off of where you see those wet spots. Then check every couple days to see how long it takes for the wet spots to form again.

 

OK guys, I'm back with some interesting things. 1. Aired up the tires to 38, slowed down a little, man that sucked. But, after a trip home and a couple tanks of gas, I'm up in the 21-22 mpg range. Not great by any means, but livable. 2. Checked compression, all plugs out, gas pedal to the floor. Got 170 on two holes, 180 on two holes. Surprising given the miles. But gives a good feeling on the engine health. 3. Checked the oil, didn't need to add any. In fact, the last 3-4 times I checked I didn't add any. No idea why it's not using oil now, maybe causing I'm shifting at lower rpm's for the gas mileage? 4. Did some overdue maintenance. Plugs were a bit on the whitish side instead of tan. Running too lean maybe? Overall, the truck is in great shape and I have decided to keep it. Shooting for 300K!

 

Great to hear it all! Sounds like good news overall. Definitely a nice jump in MPG, up to where you ought to be for the 4cyl.
The engine health is probably the best news here. That should give you some confidence for the long term of owning the truck. And if you're not burning oil or w/e it was doing now, even better!
300K here you come!

 

Change/check your pcv valve. I did the one on my wife's 98 4Runner, went from 17 to 21 mpgs.

 

Yup, I may even wash and wax it this week.

 

Having bigger tires is going to slow down the speedometer and odometer a little so account for that. But if you getting 20mpgs from a 20 year old truck with 250k miles your doing pretty good. Especially if it paid for.
Clean the maf, run some fuel injector cleaner with p.e.a. change the air filter, grease the u joints, change the oil in the rear end and transmission, change the plugs and plug wires if it has them and maybe put a new distributor cap. I think you can on the older trucks. It'll make it to 300k easy.
Maybe check the valve clearance but it's probably good if it has good compression.

 

I would love to get 16mpg!!

My average is 10 to 14 mpg I avoid interstates because I don`t care to drive at 75mph to run with traffic

My truck is for the most always loaded @1000 pounds give or take.

Weight and Speed and Crosswind or head wind impact mileage