Decreased fuel mileage-2006 Tacoma

Hello all,

I am new to the forum and have a question about a 2006 Tacoma I purchased several months back. It is a 2006 Tacoma 4x4, manual transmission, 4-cylinder, regular cab. I bought it from a private seller. He said it typically got about 23 or 24mpg on average. I have never gotten more than 21 since I have owned it but the past month or two it has decreased to around 16. I was wondering if anyone has had this happen or has any info on troubleshooting this problem. We have had some fairly cold weather the past couple of months, as well as some snow. I have had to use the 4x4 but not for any more than a couple hours total. I didn't think the cold weather or the 4x4 would cause that much of a decrease. I appreciate any feedback you guys can provide.

Thanks,
Justin

 

Have you done any maintenance on it?

Changed the oil, air filter and plugs?

 

I've done all of the oil changes myself since I bought it. I haven't ran it over for any of the changes. I checked the air filter and it looks clean. I was holding off on changing the plugs until I got some more info. Would that be the way to go and see if that helps?

 

Yeah for sure! Maybe you got some bad gas?

MPGs are a funny thing, there's a multitude of things it could be

 

Also check your tire pressure.

 

might be the winter blend fuel.i have gone from 21mpg to 17 in the past few months.

 

I had the exact same truck. As much as I loved the 4 banger mileage, put any load on it, and it tanks. I never saw 23-24, but we have ethanol fuel and I drive mostly city. I did see consistent 20 ish. I would be looking into a brake hanging up. My B-I-L just had a rear caliper seize on his 06. Jack it up and make sure all 4 wheels spin free. Good luck.

 

I go from 19mpg in summer to 13mpg in winter every year (1GR-FE). Winter gas, cold drivetrain, and cold dense air are the causes. Letting your truck warm up for 15+ minutes also kills fuel. I let mine warm up for approx. 1 minute, no reason to warm up any longer imho with modern engines and modern synthetic oils.

You may benefit by switching to synthetic gear oil in your diffs, transfer case, and tranny. If they've never been changed, you will almost certainly see an improvement. Also new plugs would be a no brainer if they haven't been recently changed to your knowledge. I would also search this site for the MAF sensor cleaning write ups and throttle body cleaning write ups.