Horrendous Gas Mileage

Yeah, it doesn't sound like there's anything wrong with your truck. I'm at 140,000 miles on my truck and I have to say my PM is impeccable. I recently got new tires and went from a Michelin Defender, P245/75-16, to a Falken Wildpeak AT3W in a 265/75-16, also a p-metric. I filled up today and got 17 from this last tank of mixed driving. I drive pretty old-man-ish most of the time and I lost about 1 mpg with the new tires, but damn if they don't look better than the Michelins. AND, it rides softer.

Again, don't diagnose a problem with your truck that isn't there. And as someone suggested a compression check earlier in this thread, for God's sake, do not perform a compression check on your truck unless you have other compression related symptoms.

Change back to copper plugs (preferrably Densos), put gas in it and drive it.

I do recommend an Italian tune up from time to time though!

 

3 mile commute. almost 17mpg.

Truck is perfectly fine.

Irridium plugs are really only spec'd for the supercharged trucks (as technically you have to take off the super to get to the driver side plugs) so Irridium's extend service interval but arent necessarily better for the NA'd motor (hence why they spec standard denso's). The plugs would be about the only thing id change but likely wouldnt do much for MPG.

 

Mine's been as low as 9.3 mpg in sub-zero cold snaps.
I've had both iridium and densos' in and found no difference in the way it ran.
Short trips will cause a creamy milky substance to appear under the oil fill cap. It's a sign the engine isn't getting warm enough to burn the condensation off from cycling from a cold start to a running engine. You need to get it up to operating temperature at least once a week and take a longer drive.

 

I've noticed a drop in gas mileage in winter when I use 4wd and/or with the rolling resistance of snow.

 

Any suggestions for low/ short mileage tacomas to keep them in decent shape? I'm in the work truck 5-6 days a week but try to take a decent drive on the day off but sometimes feel like it's not enough

 

10 miles + every two weeks at least. Batteries sulfate, caliper pistons sieze, acids accumulate in oil, but will burn off when you get up to full temp.

 

3 miles to work is your answer.

 

Imo the best thing you can do if you drive short trips is change the engine oil based on time rather than mileage as that's what will be most impacted due to the engine never getting hot enough to burn away mositure, fuel, and other contaminants that would normally not accumulate if the engine ran long enough to burn it off.
Another thing I would say is drive it 20 miles or so once or twice a month to get evything good and hot.

 

There it is. I'm surprised it is that good.

 

Seriously! I’m jealous of that commute.

 

You don't drive enough for the cats to get up to speed. They could be getting clogged up or rusting out. A good road trip here and there should help. Short little jaunts are bad for newer vehicles.

 

Yes, but it's not like I only go to work and never anywhere else. I do drive all over the place. Not with regularity, but frequency. 50- 100 miles at a time is not unusual.

 

Has your commute to work changed since you were getting low 20's?

As others are repeatedly telling you:

Heavy Foot + Short (no warmup) drive + Tacoma = mpg's in teens. At best.

Also an 8 year old truck.

 

Ride your bike to work!

 

Switch the rear diff oil to syn

 

Ride your bike or walk is nothing in a few miles.

 

I get usually around 12mpg, occasionally worse and better. My last fill up, i got 16.28, long drives to Thanksgiving twice, that's the best I've ever got in the 3 years I've owned it.

I try to drive like my age, next birthday is 60. I fail, and short trips, and don’t use it to commute.

 

that's good list. mine is worse, something like this since Oct2019

10/29 250.6 65276 15.629g 16.0mpg
11/8 87costco 224.9 65501 13.95g 16.1mpg
11/18 279.8 16.47mpg 16.988g 65781mo 87 chev
11/22 156.0 65937mi 87costco 8.92g 17.49 mpg
11/23 87chev 280.7 66218 13.280g 21.1mpg
11/27 gas chev87 305.2 66523 16.879g 18.08mpg
12/2 gas chev87 66763 239.7mi 14.097g 17.0 mpg