using a lot of gas

D

daveinbuffalo

New member
Hi,
I have a 2005 4 runner. It has ben great! Suddenly, my maintenance light came on and I am using a lot of gas......Nothing is leaking and I don't smell anything. I filled up yesterday, and I drove about 30 miles...I am on 1/4 tank already....my dash says 40 miles to empty...can someone please help?
 
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Refill and do a manual calc to see your actual milage.

Lift each end of the vehicle to see if the wheels spin freely, you might have stuck calipers.
 
daveinbuffalo said:
Hi,
I have a 2005 4 runner. It has ben great! Suddenly, my maintenance light came on and I am using a lot of gas......Nothing is leaking and I don't smell anything. I filled up yesterday, and I drove about 30 miles...I am on 1/4 tank already....my dash says 40 miles to empty...can someone please help?
Click to expand...

If the maintainence light is on, that just means it's been 5000 miles since it was last reset. It's meant to keep you on schedule for your oil changes.
 
daveinbuffalo said:
Hi,
I have a 2005 4 runner. It has ben great! Suddenly, my maintenance light came on and I am using a lot of gas......Nothing is leaking and I don't smell anything. I filled up yesterday, and I drove about 30 miles...I am on 1/4 tank already....my dash says 40 miles to empty...can someone please help?
Click to expand...

Two separate things. If your car really used that much gas, your dragging a couple brakes. That much gas use via crappy combustion error would throw a ton of codes.
 
Is it the check engine light or maint light. Try refilling and pay attention to how much it takes. Does the engine run rough lack power stumble or black smoke?
 
Thanks for all the replys....car runs great......car rolls freely and doesn't seem like anything is hanging up.....I will gas up and see how much it takes...any other ideas??
 
Car runs great, yet full to 3/4 empty is 30 miles? That doesn't add up, not even if you were towing a house to the moon. That car should get around 330-380 per tank.

Your telling us you got....70. I mean, wow. You getting like 1.5 miles to the gallon. If your engine isn't spewing smoke, gushing oil or coolant.....then your dragging. How did you test the roll? It has a ton of torque...a ton. All 4 wheels could be practically seized and 1st gear would move you......with crappy gas mileage. I mean, you are beyond bad mpg....your at "oh $%&+# something is seriously wrong". 9 mpg is, hmmm.. At 70 miles on a 23 gallon tank, of which you access around 20 easily...that is really around 3 to 3.5 mpg.

Something is seriously off.


Unless your wrong? The tank gauge is busted?
 
I think the likely answer will be that the fueltank sending unit is bad, I believe they are replaceable as a separate part (like GM trucks) but require removal of the Fuel Pump.
 
I just thought of something. I had a 1992 BMW 525 iX that did this same thing for a tank of gas and I could not figure it out. I finally checked the dip stick for the oil and it was bone dry??? Added 4 quarts to the engine and all of a sudden things started to get back to normal on the next tank of gas. Although it was not as bad as the situation you are describing here, but my miles per gallon was down.

Eventually as the car aged, every time I filled the tank in that POS I had to add a half quart... or at least check the oil. (it was my beater car)

Curious to know what the issue is.

Cheers.
 
HiVel-JR said:
I just thought of something. I had a 1992 BMW 525 iX that did this same thing for a tank of gas and I could not figure it out. I finally checked the dip stick for the oil and it was bone dry??? Added 4 quarts to the engine and all of a sudden things started to get back to normal on the next tank of gas. Although it was not as bad as the situation you are describing here, but my miles per gallon was down.

Eventually as the car aged, every time I filled the tank in that POS I had to add a half quart... or at least check the oil. (it was my beater car)

Curious to know what the issue is.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

It was a BMW? The most likely think was the Oil Separator failing and having the engine ingest oil... or the oil filter pedestal started leaking, or the engine started consuming more oil than it already does from the factory, or the gaskets started going out on it, or the oil level sensor was leaking, or the VANOS was leaking, or any of the above to be honest with you... lol

Garbage cars in terms of owning one, fun to drive though...
 
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