I just bought a 99 4runner sr5. I am getting MAYBE 200 miles to a tank. Is there a way to find out precisely how much you are getting per gallon? Perhaps a feature that on that truck I am not aware of in the control panel.

Anyhow, that seems like very low mileage for a truck to me...I used to have a Cherokee. What can I do to make that better?

I have read the extensive thread on Sea Foam and am highly considering doing that...but also have read threads here that say NEVER pour fluid into your engine...who is right?

All I know is that I cannot continue getting mileage in the low teens with this truck and I know better mileage is attainable, but not sure the best route to go.

Thank you for the help!!

 

That is quite low. I get about 260 per tank and 17.5 MPG on average.

Fill the tank up.
Reset the trip meter.
Drive till you need to fill up again.
When you fill up this next time, divide the total miles by the gallons used. That is your MPG.

Make sure you have the stock tire size on there too. That can affect the equation a bit.

 

also make sure you use the same pump.

 

i seafoamed, now my O2 sensor is fried, and my mileage went down.

 

same pump?? what do you mean?

Amir-what kind of mileage did you have before and now? I am in the low teens as mentioned...13.3-14...I dont know if I can get much lower than that.

 

I'm only getting about 225 a tank with my '99 automatic and even with a little agressive driving I would think it should be better than the 14.5mpg I'm calculating. Could it just need a tune up,plugs and maybe a fuel filter change? I'm also sure the MAF sensor needs a cleaning too.

With my '97 5 speed I always got just over 270 a tank and sometimes over 280 miles a tank.

 

use the same gas pump. just try to eliminate as many variables as possible.

 

Yeah, 14.5 is REALLY low. I drive pretty aggresively myself, and even with my past Auto 4Runners I never got that bad. When I go to the high country (7,000ft+) I regularly get above 20MPG.

The plugs, fuel filter, and MAFS cleaning is really easy on this motor. I say go for it. Total cost would be about $50 for all that (doing it yourself).

 

I guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend.

 

Hah! With the cooler weather I'm now getting 10.8 mp/usg.

 

Wouldn't the most accurate way to measure miles per gallon be by filling up the same number of gallons you filled up the previous time?

Say, the fuel guage is at the one quarter mark and you fill up. You drive so many miles and as you soon as the fuel guage hits the one quarter mark again, you fill it up with the same amount the previous fill. Would this method cuase you to get an accurate measure?

Correct me if I'm wrong. I've been wondering about this method for some time.

For whatever its worth, on my 3.0 automatic, I get worse gas mileage at higher elevations than I do at lower elevations.

 

You get the number of miles you drove from the trip meter on the odometer. You get the number of gallons used from the gas pump display. You have to "burp" the tank to make sure that it's full to the top both times to reduce the variables.

Miles Driven divided by Gallons Used = Miles PER Gallon.

 

No that will not work, the gas gauge is not accurate enough for calculating gas mileage, you must calculateby using the method detailed earlier, ie. fill up, reset tripmeter, drive, refill, then divide the miles driven by gallons to refill = mpg.

Example from my last fill up-
tripmeter: 228.7
gallons to fill: 14.217

228.7 miles/14.217 gallons = 16.086mpg

my tires are ~9% larger than stock, so: 16.086mpg x 109% = 17.53mpg actual

 

And, do take heed of 96 Runner's remark about TIRES... If you have non-stock tires you need to correct the mileage before doing the math.

Poor state of tune (shot plugs, malfunctioning 02 sensor, clogged up fuel or air filter) is the biggie, but also common is different tires throwing off the miles number. There is no conceivable justification for 10.8mpg - your math must be wrong or something is bad wrong with your truck (release the park brake? ;-) We used to get better than that with old carburated big block work trucks with worn out rings and shot carbs...

[[Is there a way to find out precisely how much you are getting per gallon? Perhaps a feature that on that truck I am not aware of in the control panel.]]

Before we had all these newfangled gadgets there was this thing called math. We used a pencil.

 

Sorry, but I couldnt' resist making that dig. I was just havin fun...sort of...

When I first read that I spewed beer all over my keyboard....

 

After changing my plugs, front and rear diff and t-case fluids, air filter, cleaned maf, cleaned tb, and seafoamed, I've noticed almost no difference in mpg. It runs alot smoother now, but my mileage still sucks. Gonna try to change the o2 sensor sometime and the fuel filter but I'm about to give up on this. Its a good thing I dont drive that much anymore otherwise I'd be broke.

edit: Is there a way to tell if one of ur o2 sensors are shot before I go out and spend money on a new one?

 

Yep: p1 of 3

 

p 2 of 3

 

p 3 of 3

 

Ben, I understand how the fuel guage is not accurate enough to indicate where to fill up to. This was not what I meant.

What I meant was that if it takes you 12.7 gallons to fill up and you manage to drive 200 miles with those 12.7 by the time its time to re-fill, put in another 12.7 gallons and calculate.

Blah, forget what I ever said.