PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

Wow, that's a huge drop off in mpg. May want to check tire pressure, change spark plugs, check air filter, run fuel cleaner through the system like sea foam.

I have a 2010 6cyl prerunner auto with 17 inch wheels and I have been getting 18-20mpg in mixed driving since I bought mine brand new back in 2010. I live in Texas and run A/C everytime I drive all summer since it reaches upwards of 110 degrees down here. I have about 50k on the truck and bought it when it had 26miles on it.

 

I have a 2.7 4wd auto. Below is my mileage since I bought the truck new.
This mileage is from driving local country roads. Rarely take it on the highway.

 

Double cab short bed lifted 3 inches. 265/70/17 BFG's. Always keep it under 2500 RPM unless I have to smoke a civic on the interstate

 

I usually get high 18's but my tire pressure has been low the past few fuel ups

 

I get about 18 highway and LOL city.

 

City driving for me really fucks up the MPG's.

 

My 2010 2.7l 5-sp, 4wd access cab has averaged over 21mpg for the 75,000 miles I've driven it. I have 16" wheels and tires.
You mentioned that you switched your wheels and tires in 2013. Be aware, be very aware the odometer on your truck measures miles based on OEM wheel circumference. If you increased the circumference (with bigger tires and wheels) your odometer is no longer giving you an accurate miles traveled between fill-ups. And if you are using the odometer miles for your calculation, you have introduced a significant error with your new tire size. In this case, each rotation of a real tire is delivering more miles than your odo is recording. Your mpg is likely better than you are calculating.

BTW, you do know that a good way to calculate MPG has absolutely nothing to do with the size of your tank, right?
Measure miles between fill-up, and divide by total gallons you pump in to fill. Right?

 

You can see my lifetime average on Fuelly in my signature.

I have a stock DCSB Tacoma TRD Sport 4x4 with the 6 speed. With the stock car tires(Dungflop Grandtrek AT20 in 265/65r17) I saw an all time high of 25.4 mph just cruising at 55 mph for several hours and this was loaded with 1000lbs of people and camping gear. My average for a nearly 3000 mile road trip was 21.8 crossing several mountain passes loaded with 1000lbs of people and camping gear. For the record the average since new has been 18.1 mpg. As soon as I throw any around town driving in the mix, even a couple of short trips, my mileage drops substantially.

The MPG trick on a Tacoma is simple. Long trips, lower speeds(60 to 65 mph max), and minimize stops.

That said I just put an E rated KO2 on my truck so I expect my fuel mileage to drop. I don't do much highway traveling in the winter so my average usually drops in the winter months as well(for example I saw 15 to 16 mpg in last winter, but it was all town with occasional highway trips).

 

Are you running a 6 speed or auto?

 

THIS !

 

5 speed auto

 

Mine has averaged 15.1mpg in mostly city driving with 285/75/16s and a 3" lift and fequently driving with a snowmachine, ATV or RTT mounted. That also includes a lot of idling after starting to warmup in -30° weather for 5 months of the year and driving in 4x4 50% of the miles tracked. My last ten fill ups combine summer trips and work for an average of 16.9mpg. My best was 20.2mpg cruising on the highway at 60mph with an ATV in the bed.

 

I love smoking compact cars on the interstate. Heck, one time I smoked 2006ish Altima that tried to pass me in the right turn lane.

 

15 MPG was just a VERY rough estimate. It probably is closer to 20. My dad and I drove it from Southeast Pennsylvania to the Northern Virginia/DC Metro area without a fill-up, back when it was less than a year old (I believe in the summer of 2010 and we bought the truck in September 2009).

 

The best part of the story is in the beginning:

Until a couple years ago I regularly locked my keys in my truck!

I have posted two stories that directly or indirectly installed my Tacoma recently that have been referred to by other members as "Drunk Grandpa Stores." This goes way back. It was a HOT day in 2012, and I forget exactly when in 2012 it was, but I'm guessing May or June. I had my Pioneer stereo installed in April 2013, and I remember for sure that my truck still had the crappy stock stereo in it. I stopped to take pictures of a cool old Chevy truck in the parking lot of a shopping center. I absentmindedly locked the door from the inside and shut it behind me when I got out of my truck, with the key in the ignition and the engine running! It was hot as hell, so of course I'd had the A/C going full throttle. My truck was just idling in the hot sun with the air-conditioner running, doing nothing but burning gas.

LUCKILY, there happened to be a garage/gas station/PA inspection station right next door. They had to have the tools for breaking into a locked vehicle without damaging it! I ran to the garage, found one of the mechanics who worked there, and explained the situation. It turns out my assumption was correct. The guy had a slimjim and one of those inflator thingies, and he gained entry to my truck in a matter of seconds. I thanked him heavily and I'm pretty sure I tried to pay him, but he turned down the money.

Sadly, that was not the first or last time I locked my keys in my Tacoma. My Tacomam being a base model, came with three regular keys (as opposed to 2 transponder keys with remotes and a valet key). I am a recent college grad who still lives with his parents, and to make things easier, my dad has a key and my mom has a key.(if the parental units need to move the truck while I'm away or need to use the truck to haul stuff, for example). Since my truck does not have a chipped key, all I had to do was go to the local Home Depot and get a copy made. It cost just $1.87, and I keep it in a safe place at all times. I still lock myself out of my truck from time to time, but since I always have the spare key, I have not had to call AAA to break into my truck or my parents to bring me one of their keys.

Moral of the story: Just keep a spare key at all times!

 

Base models will lock with the key in the ignition? My 08 Off-Road won't do it, thankfully.

 

I used to lock my keys in my truck with alarming regularity, so I had a copy made. Now, I have 4 keys to my truck. I have my original key, plus the copy I keep in a safe place, my mom has one of the original keys, and my dad has one of the original keys.

Recently, I noticed that my original key would unlock the driver's door from the outside, but not lock it. It worked fine both locking and unlocking the passenger door. I just ignored the problem and locked the driver's door from the inside.


We moved recently. One day a few months ago, I had to move my truck out of the driveway so my parents could unload boxes from my dad's Pilot. I couldn't find my set of keys. I used my mom's key, and discovered that my mom's key locked and unlocked the driver's door. I explained the problem to my mom and she let me swap keys with her. As of September 2016, my mom's key still works.

I used the same factory Toyota key from October 2009 (we bought the truck new on September 30, 2009) until about May 2016. I had the first copy cut from that key in 2015 and lost it a few months later, then had a second one made from my original key. That is the copy I have today. I am thinking that having the same key copied twice did something to it that made it not work properly. It still started and unlocked the truck, and locks the passenger door, but won't lock the passenger door.

Problem #2:
I don't if this counts as a problem, but it is bizarre. I don't know remember when I first noticed this, but I think it was in the summer of 2015. It's more noticeable when the A/C is on. If I hold my hand up to the keyhole while the truck is running and the A/C is on, I can feel cool air coming out of the keyhole. When I open the door, it stops. Don't know what to make of it.

 

I got one ...
I work in Roadside assistance.
On a holiday like LaborDay, a nice lady called me from "Parking lot Next to the River"
This was a company fleet vehicle.
I asked what she needed assistance with.
"Please send someone to unlock my car?" Yes m'am.

"Are the keys locked inside of the vehicle?"

"Well I went rafting on the river and the keys are at the bottom of the river..."
"But if you can send a tech to unlock my car there is a spare key inside the car!"

That was a lucky day!

 

My truck automatically shuts off the headlights if you take the key out of the ignition with the lights on. You can manually turn them on with or WITHOUT the key in the ignition, but they shut off automatically when the key is removed after the truck has been running. I can proudly say that I've never had a dead battery.


i did, however, leave the dome light on overnight numerous times in the dead of winter in December 2014-February 2015. My battery never died and the truck never failed to start right up. My truck had the original Toyota battery that it left the factory with in 2009 until my mechanic replaced it with an Interstate Mega-Tron battery in March 2015. Since getting the new battery, to jumpstart a Silverado 1500, a Mazda6, and an old Nissan Maxima.

 

Why not just have the dealer cut you a credit card key? Mine will open the door but won't start the truck.