Improve MPG

When I put the 265s on my 2.7L I did notice a 1-2 MPG decrease in fuel economy.

When I sold the 2.7L and bought the 4.0L, I took those tires off the 2.7L to go on the 4.0L. I saw (maybe) a .5 MPG decrease on the 4.0L going from the same Dunflop AT20s 245s to the same Destination AT 265s that I had on the 2.7L (minus 8,000 miles). Gotta love low end torque.

Oh, BTW - I friggin LOVE these tires!

 

I know. I am ashamed.

I should be punished. No. Exiled to Germany where there is nothing but diesels and great beer. That way I have nothing to complain about ever again.

 

007 you forgot to mention the snitzel that goes with the beer or in about 90 days the gluhwein that warms you up all over...careful don't spill any of it while your driving your diesel....ARE YOUR READING THIS TOYOTA!!!

 

my bad.

 

2009 Toyota Tacoma 2WD Trucks

• 4 cyl, 2.7L, 5-speed manual: 20 city | 26 highway
• 4 cyl, 2.7L, 4-speed automatic: 19 city | 25 highway
• 6 cyl, 4L, 5-speed automatic: 17 city | 21 highway
• 6 cyl, 4L, 6-speed manual: 15 city | 19 highway

2009 Toyota Tacoma 4WD Trucks

• 4 cyl, 2.7: 5-speed manual: 17 city | 22 highway
• 6 cyl, 4L, 5-speed automatic: 16 city | 20 highway
• 6 cyl, 4L, 6-speed manual: 14 city | 19 highway

Explain me this, how does the automatic get metter mileage? is it because they have to pre-assume that some people are not as good of drivers as others?

 

My guess would be gear ratios. On most vehicles manuals get better mileage, but lock up torque converters have mitigated that a bit. JMO.

 

wow fast response your on your game lol

 

also I have seen chips online that claim to have two settings one for power and one for mileage, has anyone experienced one of these yet, they seem like a resistor mod to me, I would be worried that it will mess with my sensors and what not.

 

Yeah i always see them and want to buy it but do they even work?

 

on friday im going on a trip, im going to test it and record the gallosn and miles and the mileage... that way we have numbers

 

You have the chip?

 

no but i have an odometer a receipt and my brain, its easy to figure mpg

 

For better hiway mileage, I'd recommend 2-5 psi higher tire pressure and 2 or 3 higher octane gas.

 

Yesterday I finally got 20.7 mpg highway v6 auto DC 30k on the odo

 

The mythbusters test was valid and the conclusions will be consistent for the Tacoma. There was a link to a website posted on a thread in this forum that did wind tunnel testing of several makes and all showed a small but measurable decrease in drag with the tailgate UP, not down. The engineers also tried various bed covers and published results.

For the folks doing their testing with tailgates up and down, the results will not be valid. There's to many variables driving through a tank of gas, the results will not be consistent or repeatable.

Even the way you fill your gas tank makes a difference. If you fill up and stop pumping when the handle clicks you've shorted your tank anywhere from 1 to 3 gallons, inflating your MPG. It's not recommended to fill up right to the cap but how else do you know the tank it really full?

Testing on long trips from point A to point B with the tail gate up/down on different days will invalid the test. The testing conditions were not the same. The weather will be different, were the winds calm/headwind/tailwind, was temperature within a reasonable range, day versus night, what kind of payload is in the cab/bed, and were the same overall speeds used. All of these variables will effect your MPG numbers.

Here's an example of how weather can ruin your MPG:

30-Dec-03 71592 361.9 16.563 21.8 $23.83
30-Dec-03 71950 358.5 15.938 22.5 $22.78
30-Dec-03 72295 344.6 16.222 21.2 $22.37
30-Dec-03 72608 313.0 16.429 19.1 $23.31
31-Dec-03 72794 186.5 13.845 13.5 $21.45
2-Jan-04 73018 222.8 14.906 14.9 $23.24
22-Jan-04 73331 312.9 16.531 18.9 $28.09

These numbers are from my Ford Ranger 2wd, 4cly, 5spd, std cab. The EPA numbers are similar to a 4cyl Taco, 2wd. Notice the 13.5 MPG in column 5, ordinarily the truck should be no were that bad, however I was driving between 80-85mph against a +30 mph headwind, with an air temperature between 0-15 farhneheit. This is just one example of how weather and driving technique effects MPG.

Here are my most recent MPG numbers for the Taco during our trip from Grand Forks, ND to Kettering, OH a distance of 1030 miles one way.

30-May-09 2774 213.2 10.146 21.0 $27.38
31-May-09 3123 348.7 13.114 26.6 $37.49
1-Jun-09 3544 421.1 16.913 24.9 $50.72
6-Jun-09 3872 327.6 13.320 24.6 $39.68
7-Jun-09 4013 142.1 5.500 25.8 $17.04
7-Jun-09 4403 391.5 14.351 27.3 $41.60
7-Jun-09 4717 311.5 11.968 26.0 $32.54

The truck has a Truxedo Lo Pro cover, with 2 adults and 1 child in the cab, and luggage in the bed. All fill ups are to the fuel cap with premium. The first MPG is all city, the next two involved long hours at night with the headlights and windshield wipers on (this will effect MPG to a small extent due to the increased electrical load). The May 31st number had a consistent 15-20 mph tailwind, then the wind shifted resulting in a lower number. Speeds were between 55-75mph. The second June 7th number is the best, mostly due to excellent fuel in Ohio rated at 93 octane, the highest to be found in ND/MN is 91 octane.

Enjoy the examples, if you're going to conclusively test your theory wether or not the tailgate up/down effects mileage, build a solid test were the tailgate is the only variable, everything else is opinion.

Sorry for the crappy format of the numbers, tried twice to fix it.

 

This is NOT a good thing to do.

You have a filter at the top of the gas fill in the Tacoma That allows the tank to relieve pressure caused by the gas level in the tank going down. If you fill it up to the top of the cap you are immersing this filter in fluid (gas) and actually hurting your mileage. When the nozzle clicks off, stop filling.

 

In response to this part, your tank may not be full, but you know exactly how much you pumped in, and you can calculate you mpg by dividing the range of your last tank by how much you just put in

 

x2 I have keep the change on my debit account so the only time I do it is when it is just under a $.00 and I try to get it as close to $.01 over the dollar as possible

 

The tailgate thing, can be checked very easily. Find a hill near home that allows you to reach 70 MPH, landmark this point coast until you drop below 30 MPH, landmark this point. Now do the same thing with tailgate down, see if you travel farther and how far, this will answer some of your questions. Lets call it, the hillbilly wind tunnel test.

 

As you can see with my mileage numbers, filling to the top has not hurt my mileage. I understand your concerns and have had some interesting experiences with overfills. Keep in mind that just because I fill up to the cap the tank is completely full of fuel, there's still some air at the top of the tank. Within a couple of miles the couple of ounces of gas right at the top have been burned. I understand this is not the recommended practice, however I've had no problems with the Taco.

My Ranger as stated in the owner's manual has a 16 gallon fuel tank. I once filled up with 17.3 gallons, I should have been pushing the truck for the last 25 miles. The manufacturers could state usable vs unusable but I'm sure there'd be liability issues.