Who has the worst mpg's out there??

T

Tommy854runner

New member
So I have a confession first that my horrible commute is 4.8 miles.....

I have a bone stock super well maintained 00 Limited 4x4 that is all stock with 215k. Stock tires etc. 90% of the time it's just me back and forth to work. Newer plugs, wires, intake and throttle cleaned, sea foam treatment etc etc. I drive fairly aggressively but never floor it and drive about 7-9mph over the posted speed limits on average. My commute is all back roads with 0 hwy miles on a average tank. So my 95 full size Bronco on 33's gets about 7mpgs on this commute, my wife's 2012 Denali Xl gets about 10.5, my 2014 LX570 got about 9.5 and now my 4runner is getting about 12.5. I was really hoping to at least get in the 15-16mpg range but maybe I'm dreaming. The only thing I haven't changed yet or the PO for that matter is the fuel filter but she has good power and runs like a top.

The first few months I blamed the MPG's on the horrible traffic in the outskirts of Atlanta but traffic has been non existent for the last 2 months and is just now starting to get a little worse. I've run 87, 89 and 93 octane gas and always seem to get about 190 miles and then I'm putting 15-16 gallons in.

So who out there has me beat with a stock 4runner at least... Obviously the super armored up rigs on 35's that are supercharged probably will compete!
 
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Eh, it is EPA rated 15 city / 18 highway, what were you expecting? If you have a city and/or short commute, that's not outrageously low.

Get on an open highway, set the cruise at 65 and you'll probably get 20mpg.

(I daily around 18.5mpg, but that's a nice easy 17 mile commute with flowing 50-65mph traffic on the freeway)

-Charlie
 
phattyduck said:
Eh, it is EPA rated 15 city / 18 highway, what were you expecting? If you have a city and/or short commute, that's not outrageously low.

Get on an open highway, set the cruise at 65 and you'll probably get 20mpg.

(I daily around 18.5mpg, but that's a nice easy 17 mile commute with flowing 50-65mph traffic on the freeway)

-Charlie
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I had a 2000 SR5 with 255/85 MT's years ago and averaged about 16-17(different commute though) and on long hwy trips would hit 22-23mpg's sometimes.

I don't really care but thought 12.5 was still pretty low
 
I get between 13 to 16 mpg in my 1998 v6. On Long trips it will go up. However, I live in the rolling foot hills of the Appalachian mountains that go through the middle of the state of PA. Tires sizes, elevation changes all play a factor in MPG. Keeping your foot through the radiator will kill it along with dragging brakes and even aggressive tires will knock it down. Lots of factors in this one. Was your mpg change sudden?



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brillo_76 said:
I get between 13 to 16 mpg in my 1998 v6. On Long trips it will go up. However, I live in the rolling foot hills of the Appalachian mountains that go through the middle of the state of PA. Tires sizes, elevation changes all play a factor in MPG. Keeping your foot through the radiator will kill it along with dragging brakes and even aggressive tires will knock it down. Lots of factors in this one. Was your mpg change sudden?



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No it's been pretty consistently bad. My litmus test was against my last 4runner on 33" all terrains that averaged around 16mpg in town. It was a 2000 Sport so it may have had the 4.30 gear ratio too.
 
Tommy854runner said:
No it's been pretty consistently bad. My litmus test was against my last 4runner on 33" all terrains that averaged around 16mpg in town. It was a 2000 Sport so it may have had the 4.30 gear ratio too.
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So basically newer to you rig and trying to find the cause. Man that may take some time. :(

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rideexileex said:
Change out your front O2 sensor if you haven't already - will lean / normalize the mixture back to 14.7 ish.
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Funny you mention that as that has been a thorn in my side the last several months...

First, I've been using an UltraGauge for a while now, and out-of-the-box (no calibration), I was getting around 15 mpg typically, up to 17 or so on longer trips. I saw about the same before the UG with the ScanGauge II...

To pass smog last year I replaced the rear O2 sensor. All was good. A few months back I decided to replace the front AFR sensor, to be proactive, and to simply know that both sensors were replaced about the same time, a couple months apart...

Since, the UG has displayed horrendously poor mileage. I initially saw like 5-8 mpg for my average. It's now up into the 11's... The truck drives great and I don't have reason to believe fuel efficiency plummeted. Most experience a decent improvement after such a swap, and I experienced the opposite.

I realize I can calibrate the UG of course to get an accurate reading, but I never did so before, and I was getting much different readings, ones in-line with what one would expect for our trucks...

I opened a case with UG, and while responsive, no solution was provided. Any ideas, do share...
 
TonyB66 said:
Funny you mention that as that has been a thorn in my side the last several months...

First, I've been using an UltraGauge for a while now, and out-of-the-box (no calibration), I was getting around 15 mpg typically, up to 17 or so on longer trips. I saw about the same before the UG with the ScanGauge II...

To pass smog last year I replaced the rear O2 sensor. All was good. A few months back I decided to replace the front AFR sensor, to be proactive, and to simply know that both sensors were replaced about the same time, a couple months apart...

Since, the UG has displayed horrendously poor mileage. I initially saw like 5-8 mpg for my average. It's now up into the 11's... The truck drives great and I don't have reason to believe fuel efficiency plummeted. Most experience a decent improvement after such a swap, and I experienced the opposite.

I realize I can calibrate the UG of course to get an accurate reading, but I never did so before, and I was getting much different readings, ones in-line with what one would expect for our trucks...

I opened a case with UG, and while responsive, no solution was provided. Any ideas, do share...
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Have you done a hand calculation of your mpg's and compared that with what the UG is saying? You would need to reset your UG average mpgs after you fill up to get an accurate comparison. (So the UG and you are only calculating for one tank of gas, and not the x amount of fill ups for the UG and only 1 tank for by hand.)
 
My worst tank was 13.50 on stock sized tires. I just couldn't lay off the skinny pedal...

For how much I push this engine, I actually have decent MPG's.

 
Probably the three things that have helped most with me getting 17 to 20 these days is having fairly new 02 sensors, new knock sensors and identifying and fixing all the vacuum leaks.

Also a new fuel filter, new plugs/wires/coils, clean MAF/air filter and correctly metering injectors all help the cause.
 
If you pull the spark plugs out and look at how the cylinders are burning the fuel to rich to lean or just right. I can also give you an idea if you have a problem cylinder. If the plugs look good the engine is doing what it's supposed to and the issue maybe gear ratio or a heavy foot. It's a place to start:reddance:
 
Bad Luck said:
Have you done a hand calculation of your mpg's and compared that with what the UG is saying? You would need to reset your UG average mpgs after you fill up to get an accurate comparison. (So the UG and you are only calculating for one tank of gas, and not the x amount of fill ups for the UG and only 1 tank for by hand.)
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Patrick, thanks for chiming-in. I did no hand calculations or as noted above, I never configured the UG beyond the initial set-up... I never did so before the AFR sensor replacement too, or after. I wouldn't think I'd need to do so now when I didn't before, but I might be mistaken; and why I ask here... Thanks again.
 
TonyB66 said:
Patrick, thanks for chiming-in. I did no hand calculations or as noted above, I never configured the UG beyond the initial set-up... I never did so before the AFR sensor replacement too, or after. I wouldn't think I'd need to do so now when I didn't before, but I might be mistaken; and why I ask here... Thanks again.
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You definitely need to adjust it with hand-calculated data. My scangauge has a 7-8% correction factor, even with near 0 long term fuel trims.

-Charlie
 
phattyduck said:
You definitely need to adjust it with hand-calculated data. My scangauge has a 7-8% correction factor, even with near 0 long term fuel trims.

-Charlie
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Will read-up on the procedure, thanks Charlie. I guess changing the AFR sensor screws it up to this degree... As I recall with my SC2, on my MINI Cooper S, I was able to tweak or fudge some settings like vehicle weight, displacement, something else, such that on fill-ups, adjustments were really not needed. It took some playing, but I was able to get it very close to where it became set it and forget it... Hoping to refine the UG to the 4Runner like that, at some point.
 
I get 15.7 in mixed driving, less now that I don't drive to work 12 highway miles away..


Even the little lady's 5.7L sequoia beats it! It gets 16.5 in mixed driving, plus 200 more HPs and torque, arrrrrrr.....
 
I have a 98 T4R with just shy of 500,000kms original everything, and I seem to get around 550km to a full tank with about 75% highway and 25% city driving. Pretty happy with it so far im sure lift and tires will change that drastically haha
 
Watch your tire pressures too. My mileage had gone from bad to worse (~14 down to ~11/12ish) and finally realized I had only aired back up to around 25lbs last time.

Did ~120 miles of forest and logging roads this past weekend, mix of 4hi and 4lo, running `17lbs, carrying way more crap than needed. Got just over 9mpg.
 
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