Getting Better Highway MPGs?

So I'm starting my first day of College tomorrow,and I will be commuting about 30 mins on a straight flat road that has a speed limit of 60-65MPH every day (well except the weekend of course). What i've noticed the first few times I drove down there my truck did use quite a bit of gas, but I was wondering how on earth some of you guys get 20MPG, if even more. Could I need a new Air Filter or maybe a better one than the OEM? I've already got an aftermarket muffler, and I'm on BFG Long Trail T/A tires. Suspension is still stock.

My last few fill ups have been under 17MPG

 

Up hill both ways?

Check your tire air pressure. Don't necessarily go for "max sidewall" pressure, but you can boost it a bit without doing much harm to the tread wear pattern. I commute 50+ miles each way, and I usually run about 34-36 psi on my stock Dunlops.

Second, make sure you have a good clean air filter in there. If it's over 20,000 miles old, or if you live in a really dusty area or off road much, it could probably stand replacing.

Third, have the plugs been replaced on schedule (every 30,000 miles)? If not, do that.

Fourth, are you carrying a lot of extra weight? If so, stop it.

Fifth...well, try the first four, and get back to me.

 

BTW, if I take the back highway that lets me drive 55-60 mph, I can get 22-26 mpg each way. If I take the interstate and go 70+, I only get 17-19 mpg. I try really hard to leave early enough to go the back highway...

 

I get 20-23mpg at 60-65mph on flat roads with no wind.
Running fully synthetic oil everywhere and a K&N (stock replacement), 2010 D-cab manual.

 

Speed kills MPGs.

 

JKD pretty much nailed it....
For what it's worth, I swapped out the stock filter for for the AFE Pro Dry filter and noticed a gain of about 1.5-2 MPG. You also burn a good deal of gas when you accelerate from a stop, so watch how fast you take off.

 

Not according to my Scanguage. I usually take off with traffic I just let the toque of the motor do it's thing and shift at 2500rpm.

 

x2, I notice a pretty harsh drop off in MPG's once I'm over 70 mph. I can consistently push 20 mpg when cruising back roads though.

I tried the whole, baby it off the line thing and noticed that if I drive normal, like you mentioned and take off with traffic, I'll get better overall mpg. Accelerating my ultragauge will show very low mpg's but it's for a short period of time and once you're back to cruising speed, you're back in the good mpg's. Racing off the line everytime will kill fuel economy though, so you have to be smarter than the skinny pedal.

 

To a certain point, unless there are a lot of stop signs.

The best thing I could tell the OP is to keep up on your maintenance, and go 60-65 MPH. Or even slower if there isn't a lot of traffic behind you and is safe to do so, but move to the slow lane.
Other than that, there isn't a lot you can do or some magical item you can bolt on to give you awesome MPG's.
You bought a truck, not a prius, this is just how it is.

It all really comes down to how you drive, that will make the biggest difference.

 

I usally get my best mpg at 60 mph

 

How about investing in a Scangauge or Ultragauge? Since you'll be making the same trip every day, you can alter your driving to find out what gives you the best results.

 

Don't know the difference between the two but my Scangauge helped my driving habits!
You can do it without the gauges but will take longer.

 

Scangauge set up with instant and trip-average MPG helped me to modify my driving a lot. I'm not an obnoxious hyper-miler, but I do better than I did.

If you're really trying to eke more mileage out of the truck, you could also run narrower tires. They're lighter weight and create less drag. I haven't gone there--the stock 245s on my SR5 seem fine. If you have larger 265 TRD tires, you could switch down to the 245 size.

 

-keep at 65 or under
-coast as much as possible.
-if coming to a stop sign let off the gas really early and use the brakes as little as you can.
-same goes for taking a turn try to coast down to a speed to take the turn, not using the brakes.

 

Okay I really like everyone's ideas here, and well there's over passes in certain parts I'd say at the most 3 and they're not too steep anyways.

Discount Tire seems to inflate tires to 35PSI usually for light trucks/SUVs so that's where I'm sitting on that.

The Air Filter was changed maybe a month or two ago, and I looked this weekend and it still looks pretty clean, although should I get one of the K&N drop ins? or just stick to OEM ones?

And nooo, lol my dad had told me as long as it's running and not having any trouble the spark plugs should be fine, I'm about to hit 53K on original plugs

Extra weight. Eh I don't think so? I mean I do have a double cab so that'll be a bit heavier, and everything else i have is a pair a sandals and a jacket in the back seat, then my backpack.

I don't normally reach 70MPH on these roads anyway, it would be already speeding and funny enough I saw a BUNCH of police out today...

Nooowww, about this Scanguage/Ultraguage...where can I purchase one of these things? And which one is cheaper...lol college student here and personal items I have to pay for my self.

 

Ultra-gauge.com
They're basically the same thing, Ultragauge is much cheaper. I think the Scangauge has more features but both will give you read outs for fuel economy as well as monitor other engine functions.

Don't waste your money on K&N filters. Either keep your stock one clean, or replace it, or you could get a TRD filter or AFE but the stock ones work fine.

The V6's have a recommended spark plug replacement at 30,000 miles. I waited until 40,000 miles to do mine but only because I got busy and didn't have the time to do it. I didn't notice any changes in MPG or how it drove but a few of the plugs looked like they could have used replacing. They weren't horrible and probably would have gone another 20,000 miles and not given me any trouble but I see it as cheap insurance for the engine.

 

What he said ^^^
Go with Ultra if it's cheaper (I don't use the extra functions).
Unless you have Platinum plugs I'd think about changing them.

 

Honestly, with a MAF equipped vehicle, I would stick with the stock type filter. Just get a high quality one; the Toyota brand is probably good, I tend to favor Napa Gold.

Stop that. Go buy new plugs, and follow the instructions in the excellent spark plugs tutorial here.

Ultragauge is cheaper, but I bought the Scangauge II...it just seems like a better unit to me. Still, Ultragauge will probably do what you need it to do--it's just not quite as user friendly. (For example, if you take it out of the truck and then put it back, apparently it forgets all of the settings.)

 

OEM air filter it is...and the spark plugs lol, i found another thread with some people having plugs lasting till almost 100K, I read in the manual that the 30K change was just for emissions control? Imo, the truck has no problem running so I doubt my dad will be willing to change em.

What does the Ultraguage not have? and how easy is it to mount and stow away? I don't want people breaking into my truck because they see some sort of electronics accessory in there.

 

Are you being sarcastic? lol