Bad fuel mpg sucks

Hey fellow Taco owners,

came on here to ask the experts to help me with an issue I have. I currently have a 2011 taco with a king shock lift running 285/17 with 1.5 spacers.
When I say I get bad mpg, I mean it sucks. From a full tank I’ll get 200ish miles that’s babying it, not recognize it over 2k rpm. If I give it gas close to 3k I’ll get 100-150mile out of a full tank!
It currently has 141,xxx mi. Over services the oil, change out the diff oil, check the psi on my tires. I can’t seem to find the problem.

help!!!

 

Lowering your truck is the number one mod to increase fuel efficiency (Actually reduce drag)

I get 21mpg day in and day out with a 2021 Sport with the front air dam left on. That's mountain roads, 70 miles per day (35 each way) 1800' elevation change.

 

Sorry to hear about your mpg problems. Here are the mpg readings from my 2006 Tacoma for the last year:

1/20/2025 27 mpg
11/19/2024 28.7 mpg
11/9/2024 28.5 mpg
10/19/2024 27.7 mpg
10/2/2024 28.7 mpg
9/20/2024 28.1 mpg
8/29/2024 27.9 mpg
8/9/2024 26.8 mpg
7/25/2024 27.4 mpg
7/10/2024 27.3 mpg
6/11/2024 27.0 mpg
6/1/2024 27.9 mpg
5/19/2024 27.1 mpg
5/10/2024 27.6 mpg
4/27/2024 27.7 mpg
4/18/2024 27.5 mpg
3/26/2024 27.3 mpg
2/26/2024 27.8 mpg
1/10/2024 27.8 mpg

 

You are complaining about mpg- miles per gallon, and then don’t say what your mpg is

 

Those tires look much larger than stock, if your not correcting your speedometer for that your not counting as many miles as actually traveled on top of the MPG loss from running larger, heavier tires and a lift.

 

@Dm93 my speedo is accurate. I’ve used other devices to measure my speed

 

@545 my taco doesn’t provide me that info. I’m guessing it’s 5-10mpg

 

@bananaboat what did you use to get these readings?

 

I think something is going on besides the lift and tires, I've got 35s and get 17mpg if I'm unloaded and not going 80 on the interstate. 200 mi a tank is like 10mpg.

Something I noticed is ironically I get better mileage if I drive "normal" as opposed to being a feather foot - when I really try to take it easy (below 2k rpms) my mileage is actually worse.

 

@ieizxxnsaeomeostfd yea if I go above 2k I significantly see my fuel gauge needle go down.
I’ve tried fuel additives as well. I’m thinking on replacing my fuel pump and filter.

I can easily go up to 80mph, I have power and all

 

Im about 14mph for interstate driving and city I’m pulling 16-16.5mpg. I noticed a slight decrease in mpg when I switched to larger heavier tires but it does all what I need to so I cannot complain

 

Reset your odometer each time you fill your gas tank. Divide the miles by the number of gallons to fill your tank. That gives you your most accurate mpg.

 

Lot of possible reasons for your poor mpg but first we need to know specifically what your mpg is. Miles per tank mean nothing and guessing what your mpg is useless. Go through 2 tanks of gas and let us know exactly what your mpg is. (Assuming you know how to determine mpg).

 

What are your driving cycles like? Frequent short trips, extended highway?

 

Ditch the lift and wheels.

Or accept that those come at a cost. (beyond what you paid to install them)

 

That’s old school, that’s going to give the most accurate results

1. Fill your tank and reset your trip A or B miles

2. Next time you fuel up, divide the miles driven by the amount of fuel it takes to fill the tank

example 200 Mile's
15.4 gallons
=12.98 miles per gallon

Being all stock I’ve always averaged around 22mpg

 

10-11mpg all day. its a truck with small v6 and heavy ass truck. its ok

 

How many mpg doesnt mean abything based on I can run out of fuel in X miles.

THE worse thing you can do to a little motor is add heavy big wheels. Adding lift is number two. If you want wheels and lift get an appropriate drivetrain. If you want mpg get a punny wheel Honda. If you want to actually know yout mpg get a pen and paper.

 

How far you drive on a tank of gas is unless information unless you drive it until it stops running every time. When you fill up you could have 1/2 gallon of gas still in it or 5 gallons. Figure your MPG's and get back with us.

The tires alone will cost you 2 mpg. Take the truck back to stock and you should be able to get 300-350 miles on a tank of gas and still have 2-3 gallons in it when you fill up.

With the modifications you've done I'd say the fuel consumption is about what I'd expect.

 

From the factory, your speedo was likely reading about 3mph fast, but your odometer was accurate. You don't mention the full dimensions of the tires, but generally, a 32" tire (265/70/17) is going to make the speedo read almost exact, the problem is, now your odometer is about 3% short. Meaning, for every 100mi on the odometer, you've actually gone 103mi. This is because the speedo/odometer readings come off of the wheel sensors. Changing the diameter of the tire changes the number of rotations per mile. You would need a speedohealer to correct this. Until you know how far you're off, all other calculations are worthless.

Also, a 285mm wide tire is going to have a lot worse rolling resistance than a 245mm width.