eric1bss

Hi to all,

I'm new to this site, and toyota 4x4s in general. I have an 89 4 runner, and it's my first 4x4. I really like it, but lately it's been giving me a little trouble. When I start the truck the power steering usually doesn't work right away. It gives me a some noises, like a motor kicking on or something. I know it had a leak, so I put some Lucas power steering leak stopper in it, and that seems to have worked, but it's still not completely right. Also, I'm only getting about 150 miles per tank, which is about 10-12 mpg (with the 3.0 and automatic tranny). This seems terrible compaired to the almost 300 miles I got back in April when I got the truck. It came with 235 r15 tires, whick I swapped to 31 10.5. Could the gearing in the speedometer cable be giving me incorrect mileage readings? Can this be corrected? My main concern is the poor gas mileage, as I use this truck for my daily driver.

Thanks

phorunninduke

Hey.
First the power steering, i would check the belts and their tightness.
The tire size will effect your speedometer reading and odometer AND it will decrease your gas mileage. The 3.0 is a gas hog and has no power combined with an automatic its pretty bad anyway.
You can correct the speed/odometer look for a ratio adaptor on this site . There are also some online calculators that can help you figure out actual milage, but I don't have those links.
You can help the gas milage out buy driving carefully, as some say like there is an egg under your gas peddel. I ran some of the stp gas treatment and fuel injector cleaner time to time and it would help some.