Not sure if it was the timing belt job, going to C rated mud terrain tires instead of E, or the addition of some more belly armor with less drag, or a combo of all the above. But, my 99 did 22.4 mpg on Saturday running 65-70 mph from Spanish fork UT to Burley ID. Last year it did 19mpg. Obviously that’s a highway run for the best mpg possible, but still, cracking 20 on M/T’s….. I’ll take it.

Equipment health, tire selection/inflation, and driving habits are the main deciding factors in economy in my opinion.

Consolidating and planning errands better and microdosing edibles (joking).

Edit: discovered that screwing around with that kickdown cable too much can wreck your mpg BTW.

Best mpg I get is the trip back from CO, basically all down hill and guessing it probably runs a lean for a while after being up so high?

Been playing that 2000 rpm game myself lately too (when traffic allows).

There are some good tips on here, but wanted to add. Take another 1/8 to 1/4 mile to speed up and slow down. So many people race up to the stop sign, stoplight, etc, and then it's hammer down till they get back up to speed. And your best mileage happens at around 60 mph give or take. As a benefit, if you happen to have a wreck, it seems injuries are much more extensive when you are traveling faster than 60. With that said, I do drive over 60 on interstate or 4 lane. Just a few of my observations.

On top of this it should presumably make your transmission live longer. And there is that saying about avoiding t-bone wrecks... "never be the first or last through an intersection".

Ok some one went to there safe space to have one of my replies deleted don’t know who. i guess its the 2 percent that get offended by any thing and everything that they don’t agree with. Like i said before the truth hurts. (the emotional ones)


EMOTIONAL DAMAGE - YouTube

The 'another car' isn't such a bad idea in some cases.

If you do your own maintenance and your insurance rates are reasonable it can be a win-win situation. I have a cheap, old echo which serves as DD commuter. It saves me a lot on fuel and also serves as a winter beater so my 4runner stays safe and dry in storage. I paid a whole $250 for the echo and repairs brought it up in the $750 range.

Not saying this is a good solution for everyone but it is worth considering. At least run the numbers.

Ok, here's my observations and data so far from owning a 91 Pickup (3VZ-E engine found in 2nd Gen 4Runners) and a 98 4Runner (5VZ-FE).

• Larger Cat-back exhaust and straight-through muffler: gained 1.5 MPG on the Pickup. No change on the 4Runner.
• Upgraded injectors to 12-hole fine spray: gained 0.5 MPG on the Pickup. Haven't done it on the 4Runner.
• Synthetic oil: No change on the Pickup. No change on the 4Runner.
• Synthetic transmission fluid: Manual Pickup. No change on the 4Runner but does shift smoother.
• Replacing front oxygen sensor: Helped regain lost mileage on the Pickup. Helped gain lost mileage on the 4Runner.
• High flow air filter: No change that I have recorded on the Pickup. Gained a small amount <0.5 MPG on the 4Runner.
• Larger intake: No change on the Pickup. Lost a small amount <0.5 on the 4Runner (doh).

The 3VZ-E had a lot of inefficiencies on the exhaust and fuel delivery that could be improved. The 5VZ-FE on my 4Runner does not and as a result most changes made little impact. However, all that being said I have a custom tuned 4Runner that makes over 300HP to the wheels and I still get a combined 16 MPG and up to 21 MPG on pure highway over 60+ MPH. That's nothing to cry about.

A few other notes:

• Not all injector cleaners are made the same. I've tried pretty much all of them, Gumout, Lucas, Royal Purple, Chevron, and AMSOIL. The cheap ones I noticed no change. Royal Purple smooths my idle out. AMSOIL did actually make a different in my Nissan Altima. It was at 34 MPG for years and I put one in earlier this year and it's now at 37.3 MPH. That's a 9.7% increase in fuel economy for a $8 bottle of cleaner. Not bad at all. Have not measured the 4Runner yet as it's been garaged more due to gas prices.
• About when I bought my 98 4Runner CA added 10% ethanol to all fuel. That really killed MPG's of these older vehicles as they don't run well on ethanol blends and was an instant ~1 MPG loss on my 4Runner. You can see the whole chart shift lower between 2016 and 2018 when ethanol was added: https://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/4r...0715/fuelchart
• I don't really notice a huge difference on whether I'm driving quickly or slowly in a pure gas vehicle. Driving style is more of a detriment than a way to add MPG if that makes sense. Driving like an old lady on the road isn't going to net you 30 MPG in a 3rd gen 4Runner. I drive my 4Runner hard at times but not for miles and miles on end. Plus it's not any fun to drive slow.
• Considering a 4-cylinder commuter car really is the best solution. You can pick one up for cheap under $5000 and can get 30-40 MPG. Hybrids are even better. Mine is rated 33 city/33 highway but can get more if you drive slow since it's a hybrid. Here's an example of the low end of pricing:2009 Nissan Altima Hybrid - cars & trucks - by owner - vehicle.... Owning a hybrid as a 2nd car allows me to use the 4Runner for short drives and snow conditions and a hybrid for the daily errands and commutes. Really makes a big difference.

Very much this. If you do any real amount of miles, a commuter is the cheapest money ever. I made more money on an old $3k Subaru than anything. I liked it so much I went to the next level and now have a company rig and fuel card. Now that’s the ultimate fuel savings right there.

In all seriousness though, the 3rd gens are pretty reasonable per mile vehicles compared to many. I vote cheap commuter though if costs are important and lots of miles get ran. No don’t go to the dealership an buy new if your trying to save. That’s literally the opposite of saving in my mind.

Not to mention the possibilities for how you wanna build your 4Runner really open up once you're able to leave it on jacks for a little while and aren't 100% dependent on it running and rolling every day
Really, having two cars sounds like a luxury - and it definitely is - but it's an extremely handy one to have around. Repair on the 4Runner go south and now waiting on parts? No big deal, take the other car to work. Want to tackle a big project like an engine swap, but don't wanna be pressed for time? Have at it
There was about a 1-2 month period after I bought my 4Runner that I still had my old truck, and I was really struggling to put it up on the market because it was so damn handy having a second vehicle

I absolutely LOATH ethanol gas (e10). The very idea of it is flawed, it using up a resource that takes more energy to create than you end up saving (and its poor use of a resource that is needed elsewhere). Its just a great example of political pandering and virtue signaling than makes my blood boil.

But I digress, I observe about 1-2 mpg less with e10. There is no where around me that sells the un-diluted gasoline. So I just got to take the loss.

Keep your tires inflated. Remove un-necessary weight, I'm guilty of carrying around heavy recovery gear that I wont need on a grocery run.

If you have roof bins or roof racks, remove them when not in use. The wind rushing around them can actually decrease economy.

Keep the RPMs low. I find that engine braking helps since I have to react earlier, often by the time I coast to where I need to stop the light might of already changed and I maintained more momentum.

Use cruise control if you have it

Clean MAF sensor, change dirty air filter, adjust valves (in theory those should help but in my case I observed negligible change, if any it worsened for unrelated reasons)

With practically no mods, I get exactly what my cars window sticker says. The 3rz is not the god send I hoped for fuel economy, but its definitely better by an insignificant amount.

Just chill out so they don't have to.

Throw a vacuum gauge in the cab, you'll be surprised how much you can save driving "in the green"

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Great idea.

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