Ok, I have a '95 4runner 3.0 v6. Im looking for some unexpensive ways to improve gas mileage and power. I have replaced the air filter and that helped a little but I am still getting around 190 to a tank. The only mods I have are different tires (which are only 30's) and wheels. Someone mentioned something about an intake silencer or something, how much is involved in that and how much would that help? Thanks in advance for replies.

 

keep your foot off the long skinny pedal. the biggest mod to improve milage is your driving style. generally any mod you do to the engine to increase power will also make your milage worse: it takes fuel to make power.

 

You don't mention what tranny you have, but I'll bet it's a automatic. You also might check the codes to see what rear end you have. Larger tires will eat gas if the ratio in your diff isn't matched to your tires.

Do the obvious first, plugs, rotor and distributor cap. And by all means replace the fuel filter...it's a PIA but it can make a big difference in power for you.

After that, try Mobil1 engine oil and gear lube. I gained about 1 mpg when I swapped out the fluids. You also might look at AutoRX engine & tranny treatment before you swap over to synthetics. It'll clean some crud out of the engine so maybe it'll seal better and run better.

 

This might not help, but my bad gas milage was attributed to two things. Bad cat and running rich. It was running rich because of a bad clod start egnition valve (injector) that would not shut off. In searching for one (because I did not want to pay the 120+ for a new one) it began working again. You would notice a high idle at that point, but the cat could be your problem. No error codes? (O2 sensor might fail if it was running rich...)

 

Cleaning the MAF will help as well and getting a tune-up.

 

mobil 1 in the rear end gave me about 1mpg. I was ave 16.5-17 mpg for the first month, my best reading was 18.3. 4runner, 5spd, factory 31's, no roof rack, unloaded. the 18.3 I was ave about 75 on the hwy with the cruise on. Add any weight or a roof rack and watch the mpg go down quick.

 

With 30" tires you should definately get better mileage than 190 per tank! When my truck was new, I got 325mi/tank with the 5-speed & 31s. Now with 32x11.5 BFG MTs, it still gets about 225mi/tank. Sounds like a tune up as others have suggested is in order.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I questioned it after seeing that a buddy of mine gets the same mileage I do in his '95 4-runner but he has a 3 inch body lift and 32 mud terrains.

 

On my THIRD tank of gas this week, hittin the wallet hard... I geuss it comes along with having a 4runner, but i will try to get that tune up soon, I noticed my idle is getting low so I do need a tune up pretty badly.

 

I get around 225 per tank with 4:10's and 31x10.50. I got bosch regular plugs and auto parts store wires and toyota cap. i cleaned my throttle body and pulled the intake plenum off for a thorough cleaning and indexed my plugs too. When I can afford it I fill up with premium. With regular gas I usually get maybe 200 to a tank. I also cleaned my IACV too that helped alot. New O2 sensor as well.

 

One cheap thing to try would be some sort of injector cleaner, many people on here like Seafoam... but if you're running stock injectors on a 95 they may be dirty or have a poor spray pattern... although I think many fuel additives are a joke, keeping those injectors spraying like they are supposed to; for around $20 or less, it may be a nice first try for improvement, but don't expect more than 1, maybe 2 mpg. On the same note, you'll want to make sure you've got a sufficient fuel filter... it's been known that dealers don't always have them on their maintenance schedules.... replacing that will be around $40.... I would start with something along these lines before trying anything too drastic/expensive..... from my experience the typical upgrades like cat, exhaust, air filter, etc didn't do anything; one last thing that worked for me was switching to synthetic oil/lube throughout the drive train, but this is actually fairly expensive and can lead to leaks on an older vehicle...

 

I adjusted the spring tension on the AFM flap, and gained ~3mpg. SEARCH: 2nd Gen - Adjust gas mileage

 

i olny get 200 to the tank with 32X11.50 and i just had a tune up about 3 weeks ago. just replaced the air filter that didnt help at all. i guess the bad gas milage comes along with older 4runners

 

definately second the fuel filter, its a pain to get at, mine was tucked nicely on the frame rail pretty much blocked by the transmission crossmember. once it came out all the fuel that pour out was nice and rusty, id run a fuel injector cleaner after the filter, just seems to make more sense to me. two tips if you do it yourself, teflon tape works miracles, just wrap the threads a couple of times, and dont over tighten, those lines twist nice and easy!