16 mpg!

I drive normal and went on a 1700 mile trip too yellowstone last year in my 1996. 205k miles. Averaged 16.4 miles and thats including all town, park and highway driving. Fully loaded with 2 adults and 2 kids. Not bad actually.
 
It sounds pretty simply, and it makes me sound stupid....

But the one single thing I did to improve my fuel mileage was to quit driving around with the heater controls on mix defrost and floor. My assumption is because the defrost runs the AC, so the AC was on everywhere I drove. I could never figure out why my mileage went down all winter. Now it stays a consistent 17-18.
 
Seafoam first, then..

New/ clean air filter
New OEM fuel filter
New upstream O2 sensor (Here for part #)
New NGK or Denso spark plugs
Clean MAF and throttle body

.. and last but not least, reset the EFI relay. To do this, find the large EFI relay in the fuse block under the hood and pull it out for 30+ mins. do not disconnect the battery.


I manage 20+ constantly with 33" tires and S/C. Treat your machine well and she will return the favor.
 
to 95econobox you have to remember that the 3rd gen 4runner is like 15yo technolagy and the honda pilot is what half that? so of course its gonna get better mileage, but you should be getting better than that. im armored and have bigger tires and i still get 17-18 on the hwy and about 15-16 around town.

to woodsie, you also live on mt hood, im not sure where exsactly, but i have a friend who lives out in sandy and ever time o go out and see him, my mileage takes a hit, hwy26 is a climb most of the way out there and then you are in stop and go traffic once you hit gresham... and along 84 it can be pretty windy some that wont help either. the rich smell, with out smelling it i cant say, but mine is also rich smelling when i first start it up in the AM, its how these things "warm up", they computer runs them rich at first, its kind of like an electronic choke.
 
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@ The Kid... Yeah you're right and im trying to take that in account. Like i said i know it wont get 20 mpg like the pilot did but then again the Pilot was a large overgrown accord. its not a "real" truck so i expect a trade off.

But again if my math is right im coming in around 12-13 mpg at best and i drive it like a granny.

I think i will check into the upstream O2, cause 12 aint right. I should at least be getting like 250 miles to a tank. Ive got 150 miles on it and im at a 1/4th tank left now.

is over 250 to a tank unreasonable?
 
Ok then you guys must be right, has to be the o2. Like i said she runs like a top but if she were a tad rich then perhaps that would explain the slight under-powered feel i get from it.

I have 31's on it but that's only like what an inch bigger than stock, i cant see that draggin it down that much.
 
The fuel smell at start up could also be that your engine is cold, causing the motor to run in open loop and dumping more fuel into the motor...

Mine smells like fuel first thing in the morning as well...

My west tank of gas was on 26 last September. 21.6mpg cruising at 55z
 
95Econobox said:
I have 31's on it but that's only like what an inch bigger than stock, i cant see that draggin it down that much.
Click to expand...

If you have 31's on it then you are actually getting better MPG than you think you are.

Larger tires = more distance per revolution of the tire. The speedometer only "knows" how many revolutions the driveshaft is turning, not how far it's going on each revolution of the shaft.

So first, do this: Get a good GPS unit that has a tripmeter (most of them do.) Set one of the tripmeters on your 4runner to zero and set the tripmeter on the GPS to zero. Drive around normally (the farther you drive the better.) At the end of the drive, record the amount of miles shown on the GPS and the amount shown on the truck. If you are like most of us running larger tires, the amount shown on the GPS will be higher (that is the actual distance you traveled.) Divide that by the amound shown on the truck (for example, if the GPS shows 104.5, and the truck shows 101.1, it's 104.5 / 101.4 = 1.030.)

That last number is now your "multiplier." Every time you fill with gas, take the miles shown on the odometer and multiply it by the multiplier, and that will give you the actual miles driven. Divide that by the number of gallons and you will have your true MPG.

Another thing you can do is get a device that shows you real-time MPG. That way you can adjust your driving to maximize MPG. I use an ultra gauge, but a scangauge works, too, and there are others out there as well. You would be amazed at how much of a difference it makes to back off the throttle instead of steadily accellerating as you drive through traffic. The gauge will give you both an "instant" reading as well as an average.

As a plus, you can also punch in the fuel tank size (18.5 gallons on the 3rd gen 4runner) and it will show you the actual distance-to-empty (DTE) based on your current average MPG. You will find (if you haven't found already) that the fuel gauge on the 3rd gen is notoriously inaccurate (for example, showing you below empty when you still have 1/4 tank) so having a DTE is actually more accurate than the fuel gauge. My DTE has become my de facto fuel gauge, and I always double-check it to make sure it stays calibrated. It's pretty darn accurate, overall.
 
Thanks! Does the Sandy guy have a T4R?

I'm printing this tread, for my to do list. I know on another tread, mufflers and other mods helped, but cost analysis didn't make a lot of sense unless you needed to replace for other reasons


the kid said:
to 95econobox you have to remember that the 3rd gen 4runner is like 15yo technolagy and the honda pilot is what half that? so of course its gonna get better mileage, but you should be getting better than that. im armored and have bigger tires and i still get 17-18 on the hwy and about 15-16 around town.

to woodsie, you also live on mt hood, im not sure where exsactly, but i have a friend who lives out in sandy and ever time o go out and see him, my mileage takes a hit, hwy26 is a climb most of the way out there and then you are in stop and go traffic once you hit gresham... and along 84 it can be pretty windy some that wont help either. the rich smell, with out smelling it i cant say, but mine is also rich smelling when i first start it up in the AM, its how these things "warm up", they computer runs them rich at first, its kind of like an electronic choke.
Click to expand...
 
If you have 96-98, get ultra gauge
If you have 99-02, get scangauge or aeroforce gauge

Scangauge & Aeroforce can read transmission temps where ultragauge cannot. But only 99+ 4runners can display trans temps in the OBDII.
 
4-Ripcord said:
.. and last but not least, reset the EFI relay. To do this, find the large EFI relay in the fuse block under the hood and pull it out for 30+ mins. do not disconnect the battery.
Click to expand...

Could you please explain the reason for this procedure? How does this reset the computer?
 
I know this thread is very old but i found my issue.

yeah...

so im sharing so that everyone can laugh at me. So i learned its very important to read the manual on how your 4wd works....so that you don't drive the first 600 miles of your vehicle in 4wd mode......

....yeah....so there's that.....

I turned 4wd off and it runs great now lol...

So in other news my 4wd works awesome....even at like 75 mph on the interstate...

when we bought it and tested it out and all it was already engaged. when i clicked the button off the lights started flashing and because im mildly re****ed i figured "Oh that means now its locked in.."


TL;DR I caught a giraffe in my backyard and my truck gets great gas mileage when not in 4wd mode 24-7
 
t4r4life said:
$hit! i wish i was getting 16 mpg i would be so happy.
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how do you not get 16? im armored, oversized Erated tires, have a rack with a wall of lights, and the auto trans and im still pulling like 17 around town and like 20 on the hwy(thats with a crushed exhaust system) you need to seriously take a look at how your rig is working man, unless you live on top of a mountain or go full throttle everywhere you go something is wrong.
 
I am averaging about 13 right now. I only drive 2 miles one way to work so that could be part of the issue. When I ride my motorcycle I have the choke on for half the trip, so I'm sure I am running in open loop for most of the trip. My uncle used to always let his vehicles warm up fully before driving and still does. He gets over 20mpg out of his 2007 V8 Silverado driving around town. His buddy with a very similar truck gets only 15 on average.
 
shadow247 said:
I am averaging about 13 right now. I only drive 2 miles one way to work so that could be part of the issue. When I ride my motorcycle I have the choke on for half the trip, so I'm sure I am running in open loop for most of the trip. My uncle used to always let his vehicles warm up fully before driving and still does. He gets over 20mpg out of his 2007 V8 Silverado driving around town. His buddy with a very similar truck gets only 15 on average.
Click to expand...

thats not good on a motor to drive it such short distances and then just shut it down... i have had to replace several motors because people would do that. try telling a customer that their 2006 M5 needs a new motor when its only got 16k miles on it and its not going to be covered by warranty... yeah they drove the car about 5 miles a day every day and that was it. they did regular scheduled service but never allowed the motor to warm up... basically that motor was so full of sludge(yes they used synthetic fluids as pre recommendation by bmw) but that motor was toast. at $27k for a reman and almost $40k for a brand new s85 motor the owner was quite pissed, but we had been telling him for some time to "drive the car more..." ive also seen this in a honda and an audi motor, so its not just a bmw problem. start driving your vehicle more, and let it warm up for a good 5-10min every day before you drive to work. other wise you will run the risk of killing your motor.
 
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