My 4runner is so bad on MPG

I wanna say a fuel system cleaner is recommended at 5000mi intervals…so that might not be a bad idea. Doubt it would change anything though. You could disconnecting the battery for half hour…maybe it the ECU learned something wrong?

During your trip, it would be good to take a few samples of mileage (as calculated by computer), at one hour intervals, steady state. At least it might help to pick up on any trends.

 

@snyds has a relatively small sample size. And too many variables. So none of us know what's what. Thus all these good recommendations to take it on some long highway trips and record mileage for stretches of an hour or so, for a couple hundred miles, and for several hundred miles. OP said he is taking a 1500 mile trip soon that is a mix of both highway and city. If the highway portions are long enough, he'll get the sample size and conditions, including a variety of gas, needed to determine if there's a real problem with his truck.

Any stock 4Runner with anywhere around the recommended air pressure, and even barely reasonable maintenance, should get high teens to low 20s on the highway at speeds in the 60s. That's the bottom line. If it's mid or low teens over hundreds of routine highway miles, something is actually wrong.

The EPA highway number is a good approximation of real life. It might even be a hair pessimistic. But the EPA city number is optimistic. I don't see how anyone can average 16 mpg in typical city or suburban driving, with stop signs and traffic lights and a lot of 25 mph roads. I'm often getting 12-15. Only occasionally 16 or above. And that's stock with no weird driving habits or conditions.

 

Yeah, I agree that 16 would be a very optimistic number for purely city. I would say 16mpg better describes “mixed” driving. It’s about what I get on my morning commute, which is mostly 55mph country roads with about 40 percent suburban main roads.

If I’m driving with lots of stops, in more congested areas, it’s very easy for a trip to yield mPG numbers in the low teens.

 

Per the computer I’ve averaged 17.1 over my first 20k miles. I believe the EPA combined number is also 17. So again the EPA number looks accurate. But a lot of my miles have been highway, where I’ve typically gotten ~20 over extended periods. I’m sure my average would be in the 15 range if not for those highway trips.

Not that I much mind. I’d be happy with just a bigger tank. The range would be nice with another 4 gallons or so.

 

Midwest and flatlander mileage is much different than mileage those of us who live in hilly and mountainous areas experience.

I commute 15 miles each way to work in hilly farmland going about 62 mph in a 55 zone.

In drive, the transmission has to downshift around half a dozen times on hills to maintain speed.

I average 16.4 mpg commuting and around town. That's with a lift and 33's.

I just drove 320 miles across the state of Washington at 65 to 73 mph and averaged 17.5 mpg. I'm very happy with that number.

 

Another effective way to increase your MPG is to trade in the 4Runner for a Prius.

 

Don't feel bad I get 12.4 MPG city, 16.8 MPG highway with all the weight I added.

 

12.4 is really bad. Are you still on stock tires? Do you have a roof rack?

I have a few hundred lbs of constant weight, and 33.5" MT's and get better than that, usually.

 

I have 275s . Roof rack delete. Sliders. And around 400lbs of sound great including the deadening.
I have a pedal commander set to city 1.
I only drive 7 miles to work.
Like i mentioned on the freeway i get almost 17mpg.
Its just getting the beast off the line that sucks the gas i guess

 

That makes sense. Weight hurts more in the city. Things like roof racks hurt more on the highway.

Even my "city" driving is mixed, as I'm in a semi rural area.

 

Computer says I got 21.5 mpg on a 100 mile round trip today, and that was running on my AT tires, not the stock Duelers. But it was almost all at 40-60 mph, only a few stoplights, mostly flat and mild weather.

 

I wonder if the gas used regionally makes a difference. I just filled up the other day and hand calculated 18.6 mpg. I have my dash fuel display turned off, and have since probably 6 months into ownership, so mine has never been reset since new. I randomly turned it on a while back, and the running average says 19.1. I hand calculate every tankful just for information's sake, and I usually get 18.6 - 19.5 with an occasional 20.5. My 4R is used almost exclusively in the city with an occasional trip out of town.

I attribute the recent 18.6 to the inevitable switch to winter blend.

 

What is "city" for you? I don't see how this is possible with frequent stops at intersections and inconsistent speeds due to traffic. Which is what I think is meant by city. If it's 25/35/40 mph roads but they're country roads with few stops or slow downs, then definitely the MPG will be good. But again that's not city driving.

 

I'm not sure about regional fuel quality, aside from winter blend as you mentioned. But, I'll say that the environment (Elevation, climate, etc..) seems to have a big impact.

I also think it plays a part in how much people like the 1GR. Today I was reminded that when the temperature drops to freezing, it seems to lose a significant amount of power. I was driving on backroads at 60, and in D it couldn't stop downshifting. I ended up in S4.

 

I also wonder about regional variations in gasoline when driving from CA to AZ and UT. I always get around 20-21 MPG on UT and AZ highways even at 70-80 MPH. Getting back to CA I get 17-18 MPG.
Maybe the clean air formulation, winter blend, more ethanol. Also could be temperature, elevation effects.

 

City is where I live. Mostly trips to work & back, about 3 miles each way, with 9 traffic lights between home and there, with average speed limit of 35 mph. Then around the city after work to various destinations, with some interstate driving to reach the other side of town quicker, but rarely. I don't see country roads with few stops unless I take an out of town trip.

It's usually me alone or with my wife. I don't haul a lot of stuff around.

Albuquerque is at an elevation of 5000 ft, so our regular gas is 86 octane. I get it at Costco. Factor? IDK...

I also have a Sprint Booster, but don't think that plays any role in mpg. I set mine at one setting and left it. I did do several tankfuls when the SB was new with it on, then several with it off, then back on again, over a couple of months, with little difference in mpg, so I left it on. I did a thread on that some time ago.

 

I got an exceptional 17.4 mpg on my 308 mile drive across Washington state to visit my kids in Seattle. And that was with the last two hours and 20 miles in 1st gear on the 405 barely inching along.

For the trip back, I filled up on the Air Force/Army base at $4.49 a gallon, then tried inflating the tires from 38 psi to 45 psi.

No stop and go traffic, no wind, but the temps dropped to freezing. My mileage plummeted to 15.5 mpg on the trip back.

Going down a long 4% grade, with the cruise set at 73 mph, I was struggling to get over 20 mpg.



That dramatic of a drop had to be crap gas bought on base.

 

I typically get 18-19 around home. After my recent cross country road trip. I averaged 14 mpg. Crossing the Rockies and battling a 20+ crosswind and headwind made the cruise control worthless.

It seemed to me that wind is the biggest affecting factor.

 

I did something similar. Traded my 4R for a CRV. I will own a 4R again someday.

 

You get really surprising mpg for those conditions. It’s very close to the EPA highway number. I can’t even imagine how you manage 18.6 with short trips and multiple stoplights etc. It’s unfathomable for me. I might equal that once in a blue moon, when everything lines up right, but typically I’m around 15 — and often lower. Amazing!

 

I am right there with you. I average 13.5 MPG with mixed driving and living in the foothills.

 

It is that, I agree. I used to have a Fuelly account for my 2013 Tacoma, but let it lapse after I sold the truck. I may revive it so I can graphically see the progress, or lack thereof, of mpg readings over the 3 years since new. That is also an easy way to track fuel expenses. The one thing I remember with Fuelly is it was easy to see the drop in fuel mileage during the winter when the 'winter blend' hit the pumps...

 

I really baby my 4Runner and average around 17-19 MPG mixed driving. Try make sure that Eco light is on.

 

I had a friend on FB comment on a photo of my dash showing the Eco light on. He also has a 5th gen and said that the first mod he did was disable that setting.

I never did ask him what that was about. Reminds me to search for it on here since I have never seen it come up in the threads.

 

You can disable it by driving in S mode. Or, just drive super aggressively all of the time.

 

Turns out you can just turn the light off by going into the display setting menu. I guess it's never bothered me enough to do so. Now I will probably notice it all the time and get annoyed, lol.

 

I just bought the "Fuel Save Pro", people seem to rave about it. I'll post results when I get mine.

 

You should consider getting your 4Runner tuned. The new KDMAX Pro-9.0 tune increases mpg as well as HP and torque.

 

As a longtime tech at a new car & truck dealership I've learned to only used what fuel is recommended by the manufacturer, it will be shown on the instrument cluster or in owners manual, the engine control module is calibrated for a particular octane rating for that vehicle, high performance vehicles are calibrated for premium fuel, in most cases you're wasting your money running a higher octane fuel and in some cases it can cause driveability issues

 

Haha! I always forget about it, because I use S4 pretty much all summer. It doesn't bug me, as I'm already accustomed to ignoring the TPMS warning on the dash.