here goes the fun stuff-
well I'm the new owner of an old toy.
I have a 94 x-cab, 4x, auto, v-6. this is going to be my ski trip camper. The truck came to me in very good shape, a "94" with 77k and no dents or scratches. the motor has been through open head gasket surgery at the local Toyota dealer (56k) I have added a K & N to help with MPG ( not improved ) and I have added a second battery in the camper shell as a " house" battery.
here go the questions-
1)-when driving the 816 (gps approved)from San Diego to Mammoth Mnt. I went through 73.2 gal of super expensive gas (91 oct) for an average of 11.14 MPG or a cost of 15.9 cents per mile. the best was 14.4 and the worst right at 10 mpg. ( worst = uphill, 4wd, lots of wind. best= down hill cruise set at 70.) is this as good as it gets should I be pulling my O2 and checking that? does any one have a link as to what I'm checking?

 

Does this mean you drive in 4WD all the time? If so, that's your problem right there.

Otherwise, here's some other suggestions:
Advance your timing a little. It will give a bump in power and economy.
Clean your throttle body. I gained .6 mpg when I did it.
Change your spark plugs, wires, cap/rotor, etc.
Check your tire pressure.
Swap in an electric fan. You'll gain a small amount of power and economy. I gained .6 mpg.
Toyota O2 sensors are pretty hearty. I've heard some never have to be replaced, while others need to be replaced every 60K.
Headers might help. They'll give a slight bump in power and the lower back pressure/higher gas flow will improve economy somewhat.

 

2)- power..... or lack of. I have the v-6 its nice and it goes fast but not up hill.
I have what I can only guess are stock gears and 31x10.5 tires so I know that tire size hurts a little but stuck at 55.
Going from (another) a gas stop in bishop Ca. towards mammoth there is a hill, not a little hill, a pass, that goes from 3500' to 7200' in 23 miles it is quite the grade and I know its not the normal drive but my little v-6 would only get my feather a** ( could I have spelled that out?) up that hill at 55 not 1 more mph faster. is there help for this power problem short of 3.4 L or gear/tire swaps.
I'm sure if I had headers with a cat back like on the jeep it would help.
* New Ignition?? jacobs
* New M.A.S and O2 sensors?
* new computer w/ chip?

 

What year is it?

 

Alan- thanks for the response, I'll try cloeaning and dusting and mopping if it will help. my next trip is to whistler/blackholm B.C and I think it will be a whole lot o gas if these numbers don't improve.
thanks again
Repo

 

well I'm the new owner of an old toy.
I have a 94 x-cab, 4x, auto, v-6. this is going to be my ski trip camper. The truck came to me in very good shape, a "94" with 77k and no dents or scratches. the motor has been through open head gasket surgery at the local Toyota dealer (56k) I have added a K & N to help with MPG ( not improved ) and I have added a second battery in the camper shell as a " house" battery.

 

3.0 liter V6, right?

 

yes it's a 3.0.

 

About how much money is within your budget for making it more powerful?

 

- 3.4L swap??

No but really, theres not much from what I understand...I am the past owner of a '93 2gen 4runner...3.0 V6

 

I too have the ol' 3.0 V6. It's a little light on power in stock form. I've done the minor (cheap) stuff to improve the ponies. It goes pretty good, climbs any hill and keeps accelerating. But there are a few more steps that are more serious - kind of a stage II to get the most out of it. Here's what I've done and plan to do to the 3.0:

Stage I
K&N FIPK Intake system
Bosch Plat. +4
Borla cat Back
Magnecor Wires (not done yet)

Stage II (not done yet)
Bored out TB
Headers
Freeflow Cat
Chip

The 3.4 swap is something I'd like to do, but can't do yet since this is a daily driver and can't afford that kind of downtime. I plan on a 1" Roger Brown body lift that will help with the header install and possibly even a future 3.4 swap. I hear the 3.4 is taller - especially with the TRD S/C...

By the way, I had the Jacobs stuff on my 87 Celica GTS and saw NO IMPROVEMENT! I think their stuff is a waste of money.

 

Are you using a camper shell? If so, how big. You may also want to check your tire pressure. Low tire pressure will rob you of gas milage too.

 

What size tires are you running and what was the factory original tire size? What gearing do you have? Check the 4runner faq in the main page to figure out your gearing.

Steve

 

I just saw the second part of your post in the other thread (we'll see if we can combine the two). 10mpg is a little low if your truck came with 31s stock. Do a search for gas mileage or something, we were just talking about this a little while ago. But in short, also check your AFM.

By the way, I get stuck going 45mph up that pass. Going up tioga pass I get stuck going 35. I've always wanted to ride a bike down that bishop to mammoth grade.

Steve

 

How much would you advance the timing? I heard the 3.0 is very picky with timing and the FSM says 10 degrees.

Warren

 

for those of you that had some input for a fix to my low mpg and weee power problem I thank you. but wait I have more questions. I have put a yellow top in my camper ( I say camper but it is only a shell, level with the cab) as I've said this is my ski truck so I need heat, and dry ski stuff which involves power. the yellow top is grounded to the frame w/ 4ga. the hot goes to the engine bay via 12 feet 4 ga. to a constant duty solenoid,
the other post has a jumper to the red top under the hood. the solenoid is activated by a switch inside. I ran 12 ga from the red top to the switch(w/ 10 amp fuse, the solenoid only takes 3/4 amp to open) grounded the switch and ran the load to one opening post and grounded the other.
other than my leaving the switch on does anyone see problems with this battery issolator/charging system.??