When the weather gets over 80F here i notice my MPG's are awesome... but when it gets too hot i gotta run the A/C... that brings them back down...
100F? had a few days like that this year... 20mpg even with A/C... lol...
Back down to 16-17mpg DDing because of the cold temps... hwy trips are still in the 19-20 range...

 

winter gas sucks too, last year I dropped 2mpg with winter fuel and went back up by march here in WA. I guess it's some additive.

Put 265/75 R16 (32's) Cragar soft 8's on my Taco, only lost about 1/2-1mpg at most, not too bad. new, my truck is 19/23 as listed but was only getting 17 pre-supercharger at about 4-5 years old; went up to 20mpg with SC and was slowly creeping down to 19 and change, now sitting at 18.5mpg average driving around town/backroads.

There was a study done on the east coast I believe, where an independent group went around gathering 1 gallon samples of gas from various gas stations which always claim "may contain up to 10% ethanol' and tested them. Most were at or above that 10% and the highest was 27%!!!!!!!!!! ethanol sucks (except in the 750ml size, ha!)

 

oh, and '93 runner still hitting 18mpg easily, sometimes almost 19, mostly stock, 169k on the clock.

 

ughh, recently i've been getting around 15mpg in town. I have stock 265/70/16's and a Yakima roof basket which gives some drag, but still. What are some standard maintenance tricks to increase gas mileage? I haven't spent much time searching for this, so just tell me to go fish if you don't want to answer. Here are a few I have heard...
-check air filter
-clean throttle body and MAF sensor?
-check spark plug spacing?

 

I hit between 17 and 19 mpg on my 2002 4Runner. Running 265/75 tires. Adjusting for tire size and it's about 17.5 to 19.5 mpg.

My numbers are in U.S. gallons. Note that an Canadian gallon (imperial gallon) is about 1.2 U.S. gallons. I'm not sure if the Canadian posts are converting to U.S. or Imperial gallons for the mpg comparison.

One U.S. gallon is about 3.8 liters
One imperial gallon is about 4.5 liters

MadCityRich
2002 4Runner Ltd.

 

yes, and replace o2 sensor(s)

All mine are US MPG

 

Some food for thought (actual 2007+ EPA ratings, not the old untouchable ratings)


EPA Fuel Economy
2001 Toyota Tacoma 4WD 3.4 L, 6 cyl, Manual 5-spd

Miles per Gallon Regular Gasoline
17
Combined
15
City
18
Highway
Regular Gasoline
1999 Toyota 4Runner 4WD 3.4 L, 6 cyl, Automatic 4-spd

16
Combined
15
City
18
Highway
Regular Gasoline

1993 Toyota 4Runner 4WD 3.0 L, 6 cyl, Manual 5-spd

14
Combined
13
City
17
Highway

 

That makes me feel better. I never see 18 on the highway, but my 4runner has lot's of armor and lot's of junk in the trunk.

 

sure I've mentioned this here or elsewhere on YT but I've been running 92 octane since the $3/gallon hit; it's still only 20 cents more than 87; it's cleaner and the $3 extra saves me about $5 in gas or more.

Wanna see HUGE gains in fuel economy? alcohol injection, trust me. don't be afraid of it, it will give you a good boost in power and lot's of extra mpg's!

Pretty interesting about the "new" fuel/mpg ratings, good old ethanol.

Here's another thing that erks me: why is there no diesel yotas available here? stupid, they are standard throughout the rest of the world but almost impossible to come by here. much more efficient engine.

 

'97 SR5 - 3.4 engine, auto, 4WD, 265/70X16 Geolanders run at 40 psi
New Cat/con, new air filter, injectors cleaned, new plugs, new fuel filter
Synthetic in both diffs and t'fer case, flushed & filled trans (synthetic) and Mobil 1 in the engine
15.1 miles to a US gallon, combined city/hiway in 2wd mode

(Sux big time! I thot 'yotas were supposed to be a bit more efficient than THAT! Even my old one-ton '92 GMC does way better than that)

 

Ouch! Change the o2 sensors?

 

They were done in Feb when it flunked Air Care (Smog Check) That's when it got the new Cat/Can as well.

I have been told that these puppies are NOT real good on gas, but if it can't do better than that, it may not live at this address much longer.

15 mpg is a bit tuff to take after I retired my (rusted to death) '89 Suzuki Sidekick that never got less than 30 mpg in the 12 years I drove it as my commuter car.

I'm gonna try some new tires that are a tad more "car-like" to see if I can step up the time between visits to the gas station

 

Did you use denso / NGK sensors or bosch? If bosch, that is your problem.

 

No idea what brand of sensors. Previous Owner had to do O2 sensors and cat/con to get it through Air Care last Feb (I just bought it from him in Sept)

PO had the work done at some (no-name) shop - I have the paperwork, but it does not say what kind of sensors.

I'm gonna try a new set of plugs as well. Again, the paperwork just said new plugs, not what brand or type. For all I know they are single-electrode Champions (naw - can't be - it still runs - I can never get Champions to run in ANYTHING I've ever owned!)

When I bought it, I got all fluids flushed & filled, put in a new timing belt & waterpump, and a new fuel filter installed - same sorta stuff I do whenever I get a "new' ride.

 

It's cleaner? Most likely it's "older", since it is used less than the 87, and therefore doesn't get refreshed as often. The engine is designed for 87. Anything beyond that is a waste, and is actually harder for the engine to use. The higher the octane rating, the higher the fuel's resistance to ignition. That's why it's used in high-compression engines, which the 3.4 is not.

Now, if it's ethanol-free 92, you might be seeing the effect of not having the crap-tastic 10% ethanol that is in most 87's.

 

Yes, check the plugs and sensors... i buy my sensors from urdusa.com... good prices and fast shipping!

Not exactly... with higher octane your ignition timing will advance, giving you more power / cleaner burn... the 3.4 ECU is more efficient than the older OBD1 ECU's in this effect, as the ECU checks for knock and raises timing to just below knock at all times...
Higher octane is ALWAYS better, but it's not necessary. It may provide a 5hp gain (on a stock engine)....

 

If you're getting knock/pre-ignition on 87, then a slightly higher octane fuel is recommended. If not, I'd still recommend saving money and getting 87. It's arguably the freshest fuel at the pump. The best option is to find ethanol-free 87. Hard to come by, though.

 

I also have 8+ PSI of squeeze, TRD recommends only 92 octane to reduce detonation. Not a high risk with my cooler plugs and low boost not to mention alcohol/dH20 injection tho.

I wonder how long gas is 'good' for, I know without stabilizer, small engines won't take it much past a few months but will work fine in vehicle motors for quite a while. hmmmm...

There's a list of ethanol free stations on this thread somewhere I think, pulled up WA state and the nearest one to me is over an hour away. Sucks.

Alcohol/water injection should be scrubbing out my engine every time my magic green light comes on my meth/dH20 controller, hopefully this is enough to counter at least some of the negative ethanol effects.

 

I used to regularly get 16.5-17 mpg city and 20-21 mpg highway. For the past year that has dropped by 2 miles per gallon. Without getting into the politics of it, the ethanol in our fuels is killing us. Ethanol has less btu's, energy per unit volume, so you use more of it to do the same work.

There are some other fuel economy issues to consider. I do short 2 mile trips every day. For most of that 2 mile drive the engine is running in open loop and super rich to heat up the cats. In driving conditions like this, no car will get good mileage. Even my 2.3L Volvo gets the same 15.5 mpg as the 4Runner on that commute. A Prius wouldn't help either, they do the first part of trip with the engine running to heat it up so it's not constantly restarting a cold engine.

The only recourse I have is to complain about ethanol and save my money for an electric car. Regardless, I need the 4Runner to support my lifestyle, tow, haul and go 4wheeling, so it's here to stay.

 

I've only had my 99 4runner for 2 weeks and average 19.5 mpg combined. Just did the deck plate mod today and working on the ISR mod and installing my subs tomorrow