Poor mileage-Is it time to retire

So, 99 Tacoma, 241K+ miles and climbing everyday. The poor mileage didn't bother so much until I took a job out of town. Commuting home on weekends, about 200 miles each way. Burning a LOT of gas. Also, noticed recently, using about a quart of oil every couple thousand miles.

I've had this truck for 17 years, put almost all of the miles on it. Been everywhere in it, do all my own maintenance and repairs. Runs strong, hauls butt up I81 at 75-80 mph. Needless to say, I'm attached and really don't want to part with it. But.... the mileage is down around 16 mpg. The oil I not sure what's going on there. So, dump it while it's still in decent shape and move on? Looking for moral support on that. I would suppose an engine rebuild would be too $$ to consider.

 

I would start on tune up,make sure tire pressure is ok.I think that about average mpg on a truck at least a 3.4!
Is your truck 4-6 cyl,4x4,oversized tires?”Need more info!

 

Get a commuter car?

 

Yup hybrid,motorcycle,park the truck and drive it when not commuting.

 

For the oil issue. Check your valve covers and see if they are seeping

 

75-80 mph will definitely kill your MPG...

 

Time to really check your options. First question is, do you really just want a new truck? If this is no, then go find something great on gas for your 400 mile commute. Then work on the truck. Best of both worlds.

 

Keep that old girl on the road... with you! We wanna see 300K!

Get a clean honda for the commute!

 

It's 4 cylinder (2.7) 4x4, not huge oversized tires but bigger than stock. Tuneup is pretty recent, at least plugs and air cleaner.

New truck would be great, but not in the budget for now. So if I were to sell it, what could I realistically get? Seems like prices are all over the place on these.

 

Slow down. Back when gas was approaching $5 a gallon in 2008ish I had a 100mile round trip daily commute, and slowing down to 55mph and using the cruise control religiously greatly cut down on fuel usage.

 

I would definitely listen to these guys and start here. While the time cut on a long distance is nice, anything over 70 really kills the MPG. I lose 1-2 MPG easily. So I either slow down and save fuel if I have the time or sacrifice it if I need to make good time.

 

get a commuter car, eventually when you change jobs again or work locations you can sell the car for what you paid for it and still have your truck

 

Check your emergency brake cables arent broken and the rear brakes are on

 

Not a bad idea.

 

just do a good tune up and slow down. my old 99 was a 3.4 with over 250k, should've never sold it honestly. got decent mileage and i was driving 124 miles a day.

 

16mpg is pretty low on the freeway... even at 80. Although you could slow down and certainly save gas. I have a 2.7 and get over 20mpg on the freeway. I never go above 75 and usually stick around 70.

When was the last fuel filter change? Compression? How did the spark plugs look when you took them out?

Keep it for sure though.

 

I found the sweet spot on my old 3.4 was 65mph for mpg on the highway. Best i ever returned was 24mpg but usually around 20. Cruise control on, no abrupt passing just smooth passing.

 

Not sure about the fuel filter. Plugs were done about 4 months ago. The old ones were pretty used, they were several years old. Not sure about compression, I hope to do that this weekend.

 

I noticed after replacing wheel bearings on an acura integra mpg did increase, not by much but it helps.

Also maintenance helps. Compression check to see if the engine is healthy. If its low, and not in the recommended psi as a healthy engine, then the engine needs to be replaced.

 

2.7L 4 door
210k miles
Routinely do 75-85mph
Getting 19-21mpg

Still thinking of retiring her