Poor gas mileage

[pokeyman]

I have a 98 4 runner with 3 inch lift and 285 75 16 tires and I am getting 17 mpg on the freeway going at 65 mph. Is there anything I can change or do to improve the mileage ?

 

[sandracer33]

Unfortunately, that seems pretty much the standard. I have the same combination on mine and have averaged 17 all the time on the freeway for the last 4 years.

 

[OrRunner]

That's pretty much average to good for 33's, going down 265/75/16 should pick you up about 2 mpg highway, maybe more.

Keep in mind you're going about 7% further than indicated by the odometer, so make sure you factor that into the calculation

 

[pokeyman]

With the 33 tires am I going fast than what the speedometer is reading

 

[sandracer33]

With 33's and 4.10 gearing my speedo reads 65 and my GPS is reading 69.

 

[utahman11]

Yeah 17 MPG is actually decent for 3" lift and 33s. I average 15.5 with split city/highway and I get about 18 on a good day of only highway driving.

 

[repo]

That sounds about right. What tire pressure are you using? E-rated tires presumably?

 

[phattyduck]

With the 33 tires am I going fast than what the speedometer is reading

Yes. You are actually getting ~18mpg at ~70mph. The increased tire size is changing your speedometer/odometer reading by 7.5%.

That's a reasonable number, considering you have a lift and larger/heavier tires. They were rated for 18mpg highway originally (well, that's the adjusted version of the old EPA ratings).

-Charlie

 

[gamefreakgc]

On the 2nd Gens, there were a lot of "inefficiencies" that you could improve on to increase gas mileage. I was able to increase gas mileage efficiency by almost 30% on the 3VZ-E. So far, none of the same modifications or improvements have made any significant change in mileage on my 5VZ-FE. Toyota picked up on all the air restrictions, exhaust bottlenecks and improved things quite a bit. I'm still pegged at that same number you are, in CA which adds ethanol to the fuel I can't surpass 19 MPG's of pure highway driving. Out of state in Oregon I've seen up to 21 MPG on 93 octane. Any yes, I have a good reason to run 93.