terrible gas mileage

Hi everyone I recently acquired my latest tacoma about 2month's ago. Its a 2012 tacoma trd OR 4x4 14k miles. Its got a fabtech 6" lift on 33s and also a cold air intake.


Now with the mods I know I obviously wont be making the type of miles stock trucks are making but I just drove from tx to Wyoming all hwy and my miles per tank averaged about 200 miles per tank. I'm looking at some threads talking about 350-400 miles to the tank which is double of what I get. I was driving about 75 the whole way and there were quite a few hills so I know thats all contributed to my diminished mpg but is this what I should expect?

Thanks for any help or advice guys!

 

with that setup and depending on what kind of 33s you have and how you drive (RPMS) I would say 14-16 is all your going to average per gallon...

 

tires are the thing you should look at, with my 2011 the E rated trail grapplers killed my mileage I went from 21 consistently to 16 no matter what. Just the price you pay for the lifted look.

 

Switching the rear diff oil to synthetic helps a bit and keep those tires aired up. Check or replace your air filter, too.

 

I get 200 ish miles / tank as well. I'm on 35s. These trucks just don't get great mileage.

 

^ This ^ and keep your rpms below 2k ( on his note I just switched to RP gear oil and it helped a little, also go ahead and change your spark plugs lol )

 

You are not going to get great gas mileage with 33s and a 6 inch lift. Also, depending on which CAI you have it may be causing worse gas mileage. Also, have you adjusted your mileage figure due to the bigger tires?

 

Even stock mpgs are not great. But it's a 4wheel drive truck with some balls.

 

Mods, speed, and winter gas are all part of the problem with poor MPG. Return it to original, and slow down if you want better MPG.

 

Thanks everyone for their input! As stated I was well aware that my mods wouldn't be helping my mileage any but I wanted to be sure mines wasn't doing way worse than other trucks with similar mods. I'm riding on toyo MTs too so I'm sure they arent helping either! But atleast everyone is in the same crummy boat im in lol

Again thanks everyone for their input! When I get back to TX ill give the gear oil a try too!

 

Your getting more than 200 miles, the tires offset the speedo so that is a factor.

 

I know what you are saying. If you are on the highway, stay as close to 65 as possible, and take it easy on acceleration in the city. That should help a ton. Good luck!

 

I get about the same mileage you do except I'm running E-85. The trick I've learned for consistent air pressure in the tyres is to use nitrogen whenever you aren't off road. Just about every Ford dealership I've been to has a nitrogen concentrator & a lifetime membership for unlimited purge & refills is $35.

A comment above that also helps your mpg, is keeping your speed down around 65. Because of possible tyre size/speedometer offset, I use the speedometer tracking function on my GPS. This is also a neat way to prove to a bored state patrol officer that you KNOW you weren't speeding. Getting an Ultra-gauge can be of help in monitoring your ODB2 output for related stats as well.

Another factor is streamlining the underside of your vehicle by total bumper to bumper armor plating. For me the extra weight was more than offset by the reduced air resistance. I haven't compared notes with other 5VZ-FE 4Runner owners with a roof top tent (RTT) but even though the added weight of 150# for RTT & rack I get 2 MPG better. The mechanical engineer that designed & fabricated the rack for me reduced the overall drag co-efficient. The only downside I have found is that much more dirt/snow/rain/etc. ends up on my back window so the rear wiper stays on during those events.

I'd also recommend getting a tune up from a reputable 4x4 shop that specializes in Toyota. I try to do what I can myself but being from the pre onboard computer generation, sometimes I just let the pros do it. I know when I need one when my mileage slides below my expected E-85 #s of 14city/16hwy.

Someone above suggested synthetic gear lube. Do yourself a huge favor with your low mileage engine/drive train & switch everything over to synthetic. I recommend the company who pioneered synthetics, Amsoil. If you're worried about the cost of converting, do it gradually &/or get a preferred customer membership for $20/yr that allows you to get dealership/wholesale prices. If you want to get mod crazy with Amsoil you can get their special $500, 2 stage filter bypass that filters out everything at & above 1.0 micron & never change your oil again. However, a $35 oil analysis is recommended every 60,000 miles.

I know there are a lot of links in this post but they are a good read & verifiable documentation rather than hearsay.

 

get a scangauge or ultragauge, it will help you learn how to drive better and i promise you will get better mileage. i had been getting around 15mpg mixed hwy and in town driving. since getting the ultragauge i have been able to get 18 mostly in town driving. speed and hills will kill your mpgs, but your driving habits can make a big difference.

 

These trucks aren't very aerodynamic and I'm willing to bet going 75 with a 6" lift is killing you. You should get decent mileage at 60, but anything above that and it goes straight down, rapidly. I would drive at most 65 if I were you. Also, M/Ts have bad tread life and kill the MPG, I would switch to an A/T, it will probably do you just as good offroad too if you know what you're doing. Like the others said, synthetic everything, and I strongly recommend buying an UltraGauge. It will tell you your true speed and you calibrate the odometer yourself, I used a GPS to calibrate mine. The ultragauge will help you figure out which driving habits are bad and which are good, and your own technique will be the biggest improvement.

 

There is something strange about these 'terrible mileage' threads, although they provide great entertainment. Not trying to break anyone's balls, but this just puzzles me every time I see it.

I'm averaging 20 mpg in a bone stock 2014 AC 4.0L manual, which I don't hesitate to drive over 70 mph (about 2500 rpm). If I stuck to the 2000 rpm dogma, I'd never exceed 56 mph, and life is just too short. At 20 mpg, I can go 400 miles between pit stops, and still have a gallon sloshing around in the bottom of the tank.

It's not just me. Here is Fuelly data on 301 2014 Tacos. Over 200 of them are reporting mileage between 16 and 21 mpg, with a little bump of four of them reporting 13 mpg. Even at 13 mpg, you could drive over 250 miles before getting too nervous about running dry.

What I'm saying is, given hard data on hundreds of trucks getting 19 +- 2 mpg, why do we see so many TWers asking about why they have to fill up every 200 miles? If you tell me 33" tires with a 3" lift cuts fuel mileage in half, I guess I have to take your word for it, but it seems pretty hard to believe.



Oh well, it's not a Prius.

 

mine is stock and I was getting 400mls a tank in the summer...right now I'm at 330. like everyone said, you can put it back to stock and with smart driving you'll get 300-400 mls per tank - but where's the fun in that

 

I'm right at 70 on 2k rpm. Why are yours so high? do you have different gears or is the 6spd that short of an overdrive? 56 is way too slow for 2k.

 

The 6 speed manual is that short. Which is why it has a rep for bad fuel economy. But I'm getting 20 mpg with about 70-75% interstate miles at 70 mph, so I'm not complaining.

ETA - Chopper, meet Chopper (my avatar).