Hello fellow yotatechers, I have a question regarding MPG and EGR Valve. Some background, I get around 80-90 miles per tank which equates to roughly 6mpg (OUCH), my 4runner has the 3.0l V6, auto trans, and is currently sitting on 33x10.5x15 tires.

Back to the MPG, if I drive the car for a long time in one sitting my gas mileage doubles but if I just drive to work and back each day (1 mile trip each way) I get about 80-90 miles per tank of gas.

At first I thought it was the cold start injector so I disabled that and no noticable improvement was made so yesterday I went to check on the EGR valve and I noticed it is not there.

The weird thing about all of this is that I have no check engine light on, and I had no check engine light on when I unplugged the cold start injector as well. Should I have one on?

I have a replacement fuel filter and o2 sensor that I still need to install but I was wondering if my bad MPG is due to not having an EGR valve?

CLIFFS:
-6mpg if I drive for short periods of time (EG 1 mile trips)
-13-15 mpg if I drive for extended period of time (2-3 hour trips)
-no EGR valve right now
-not cold start injector related (or at least I don't think)

 

Short trips and winter gas = BAD MILEAGE. 13-15 MPG's isn't too bad. I get about 17 with a 40 mile roundtrip commute.

On a short trip the engine never gets to operating temp, so the computer is sending extra fuel to get cats warmed up, etc.

You have an EGR block off plate???

 

So 5-6 mpg for short trips is normal? It seems that it should be better than that. I do not think there is an EGR block off plate, it seems the previous owner just unplugged it and unscrewed it. Should I have a check engine light on?

 

I have never used a full tank of gas, while never going further than a mile. However, if I had, I would expect terrible mileage. Lots of threads about this and the EGR issue. If the PO removed the EGR I would assume he blocked off the hole in the exhaust manifold with something. I'm not the most knowledgeable guy on these boards so maybe a quick search will get you the info you need.

Good Luck!

 

I will snap a couple of pictures when I get off work

 

Compression check!

 

Also, have you checked for stored ECU codes? you can have them with no CEL.

 

I just checked codes and all I got was constant flashing, pretty sure I did it right, I put the paper clip in the middle of te1 and e1 ports and pushed down between the metal. All I got was constant flashing of the check engine light. 25 miles down and a quarter of a tank gone

 

Another thought....do you have a fuel leak from the tank or lines??

 

From the FSM...(a) Normal System Operation (no malfunction)
• The light will alternately blink ON and OFF at
0.26 seconds intervals.