wingduck0331

My '96 T100 seems to work a lot to maintain speed . I'm afraid its wasting a ton of gas and wearing on the engine because of how much I have to hold down the pedal to keep the speed compared to other trucks including my dads tacoma. is this normal?

BamZipPow

Some specific numbers would be helpful...like speed and rpm and gear.
Is the transmission (auto) cycling a lot?
How many miles do you have on the truck now?
What's yer MPG now?
Is this a 4WD or a 2WD?
Are you carrying a bunch of stuff in the bed?
Flatland or a bunch of hills/mountainous areas?
Are you sure yer brakes aren't dragging?
When is the last time you had a tuneup?

wingduck0331

It's an automatic.
I dont know if it is cycling.
the mpg is like 12 on a 2wd.
not carrying anything.
it has 126,000 miles and im lookin in to It hasnt had a tuneup since i bought it a year ago, but im getting it done soon.
It seems to do it most at about 65 miles per hour running on 2500 rpms, which doesnt sound too bad to me if I werent holding down the gas so far and the engine didnt sound like it was haulin a trailer. I live in vegas so its mostly flat freeway driving that I do.I also have no evidence that theres anything wrong with the brakes besides just being old. I hope that helps a little bit. I'm just tryin to cover all bases as far as what it could be if it's not normal

Klierslc

I don't remember if the 4 cyl was available in 96, but if you have that engine, that could be part of it.

Also, How are you calculating MPG?

BamZipPow

Yes....the 4 cylinder was introduced in 1995 and I believe it was only available on the long bed.

Do you have a long bed or extended cab?

Cycling...that is changing gears alot while driving. Also could be known as slipping.

12mpg isn't that good at all.

65mph@2500 rpms isn't too bad. Do you know what yer differential gearing is? What's yer VIN?

Can you tell if yer overdrive is working? There should be a button on yer shifter. Pushed in..it should be "On" and no lights. Out and the light that says "OD off" should light on the dash panel.

Can you verify how open the throttle plate is when the gas pedal is depressed all the way? Yer cable might need adjustment or replacement.

Belize Off Road Team

i highly recommend a full sevice (preferablly do it yourself) like a Engine Flush, change all your fluids, check for any play on your drive shaft, what size tires do you have on it? i know that when the company i used to work for put really small tires on their 94 4Runner, it did the same thing, had a real problem keeping speed along with showing incorrect speed by 20km/h. then after you have do your work see how it works then if it still does it go ask a mechanic that you trust or one that a friend trusts to not lie to you.

Good Luck with your T100. hope you find the problem soon

Belize Off Road Team

i forgot to say, maybe your tranny fluid is really low and could be causing your vehicle to struggle. and like BamzipPow said, check your brakes, they could be locking on you. maybe your tranny is in need of a good tranny cooler or even an oil cooler.

wingduck0331

It is a V6 extra cab. The overdrive is on and turns out I had it serviced about four months ago and forgot about it. the tranny does however need to be considered so thanks for that opinion. The only time it really shifts a lot is on the freeway but that goes back to my original concern about it working hard because of the sound and a slight tendancy to down shift for minimal acceleration to maintain speed . A friend told me that it is a normal thing and that these trucks are just noisier than the other trucks, but my 98 4runner seemed to do fine. the tires are 31" regular truck tires. Finally, I don't know what the differential gearing is and I calculated "roughly" by dividing the miles to empty the tank by the capacity which is 25 gallons. thanks for the help I've recieved and any other ideas are very much appreciated

Jake97T

i believe the tank is 24 gallons, however ive never emptied it that low...

SEAIRESCUE

Unless I missed it, I bet the timing belt has not been changed and is streached. That retards the cam timing. Unless you are absolutely certain the timing belt has been changed, it is a grenade waiting to explode. Proof of that is retarded ignition timing and a sluggish engine. Berrymans fuel system cleaner is damn good at cleaning injectors which could be another problem. Has the fuel filter been replaced....probably not which would drop fuel pressure and lower flow. I would switch to synthetic oil to reduce engine friction. System should be checked for any codes indicating a hidden problem. Obviously a good tune up is in order. Air filter?

Some suggestions.

Froggy93

to get a more accurate MPG reading, fill up your tank and reset the trip meter. drive the truck and then watch how many gallons you put in when you fill up. take the milage reading on the trip meter and divide it by the amount of gallons you put in, not the capacity. will give you a more accurate MPG rating since you can never get all the fuel out of the tank.