Crappy Fuel Economy Help

Hey guys,

I got a fuel economy question....

I have a 2016 tundra limited 5.8 liter 4x4 crew cab and currently it's lifted on a 3" leveling kit, 18" wheels on 35s, mid rise ARE camper shell with two Prinsu Racks, ROAM awning and a 10' long rod holder tube I made. The inside of my truck bed has about 200lbs of material I built for storage and sleeping.

I'm currently getting 8mph average fuel economy which other Tundra owners that overland say that's oddly low for what I have. I have a buddy with a similar setup that's averaging about 10.5mph fuel economy.

Other than regear...is there any other solution(s) I can do to increase my fuel economy or possibly fix an issue that may be causing this?

Btw I also tow a bass boat so just imagine when that's hooked up what my fuel economy is then...

Thanks guys!!

 

LOL! no...

all i know is 37s would help.

 

What’s your mileage, OP? OEM wheels? Weight of tires? Hand calculated or just reading the dash? Lots of idle time when overlanding?

could be something as simple as a tuneup (plugs etc).

But you’ve added weight and wind resistance to a vehicle already infamous for poor mpgs.
For example, “a 35” tire” could vary in weight by as much as 10lbs per tire. That’s good enough to lose 1 mpg vs your buddy’s rig.

anyway, i don’t mean to be a jerk, but a little less laziness in your inquiry would give people on this forum who are far more knowledgeable than I some more info to better help you.

 

There is a lot of factors for this. I think for your payload it sounds like you've added about 400lbs of weight. Rotational weight is also another thing. Wheels are heavy and tires can vary in weight. Driving is another factor too. Maybe just ease up on the pedal and cruise in the far right lane and enjoy the ride to wherever you go.

The higher the lift, the bigger the wheels and heavier haul you carry plus how you drive will adversely change your mpg's. Hopefully you'd stop thinking about MPG and join us folks that think smiles per gallon lol

 

Don't compare yourself to what others get unless you do a direct side-by-side comparison of MPGs after driving 50-100 miles of the exact same road. Driving styles, location, time of day, time of year, weather, hills and even fuel type all play a factor. Plus, people flat out lie or don't give you realistic figures. Unless you and someone else fill up together and drive the same road for 50-100 miles there's no point in comparing to anyone else. Especially if you tow and they don't.

If you haven't adjusted your truck or calculations for the larger tires, then any comparison whatsoever is pointless. Your numbers are false. Start there. And to be honest, this forum is full of people with the same question and I've never seen anyone do anything that "fixes" it. The truck drinks; feed it.

 

I didn’t know they made a 5.8

 

you don’t want one. Gas mileage is terrible.

 

Thanks guys for all your responses and all of your replies makes sense. I appreciate yall and yes "smiles per gallon"

 

The truck probably never locks torque converter, thus the crappy MPG.

I get 15-16 MPG on highway and 11.5-12 on the log roads. 33" LT AT tires, 1.5" lift, steel semi-hidden bumper w/ winch, 10 GA skid plates up to the rear cats, LEER cap, bedliner, more than 200 lbs of gear and camping stuff. Driving steady like a granny helps MPG tremendously, but only if torque converter is able to lock up.

 

Welcome from NY.

 

Go back to stock. I have the same 2016 Tundra but without a lift and stock tires and see 19-20mpg on the highway.

 

I have my cbi high clearance bumper and a custom high clearance rear coming in. I figure that's going to add a lot of weight...Here's some pics I wanted to share of my Tundra and Sequoia

 

I can tell you that wheel is heavy and isn’t helping you. My current wheel setup 37s* was lighter than that wheel tire combo. I had that same wheel.

 

Yea I plan on getting some TE37s in the near future when I go up to 37s.

 

31lbs per. plus roughly 65'ish lbs for a 35" tire...

 

Are the end caps on your front bumper covers? or painted?

 

Painted. I wasn't going to pay that much for caps. I bought HyperDip and just sprayed it over.

 

Did you compensate for speedometer error in some way? On 35s if not recalibrated if you want to drive 70 mph the needle needs to point at maybe 64. The truck chugs like a drunken pirate at high speeds even stock.

Then add in needing to multiply miles on the tripmeter by 1.093 before dividing by gallons burned and those low numbers are expected before even considering all the weight added to the truck.

 

Were they chrome?

 

Tundras were never noted for good gas mileage and start modding them it drops even more. Our '19 with mild lift and 1 size over stock tires gets 12.9 MPG all day every day around town to/from work. We new that going into buying the Tundra and live with it.

 

I'm not sure why everyone gages their mpg on around town. There are so many variables that the number is meaningless. Get out on the highway and on flat terrain with no wind and run the truck at a constant speed and see what the best mpg you can obtain. For myself if I run 55mph I can achieve 21mpg. 65mph and the best I can achieve is 19mpg.

 

haha finally someone caught that besides me

 

I use S mode before the tune and now with the tune. Helps. I'm tuned for 91 octane. I usually put it on 3rd gear and let it autoshift, then I manually shift it to higher gear when I see fit. So, if the traffic is slow, I'll keep it on 3, watch the tach. When rpm goes to 2400-2500, upshift to 4th. IMO it's easier for the truck to accelerate in lower gear. And of course, the quicker you want to accelerate the more gas you use. I have some weights on the back of the bed for experiment. Probably weights 1100-1200 lbs. They are broken concrete, some sand bags, floor jack, some tools. I have a bed cover. The best mpg I got was 19 mpg. Speed 65-55 and some stop and go. CA 91 freeway from Riverside to Long Beach. Some uphill there. The worst mileage on that same route was 17 mpg. Summer with the ac on. I have stock size AT tires though. But, imo good quality gas helps a lot. I tried going to lower octane before and after the tune, but nah. No power. even on S mode. The rpm will go up but the truck is not neccessarily accelerating quicker. Shell 91 SoCal blend. Oil is 5w-30 Liqui Moly. I got used to using S mode. On my 07 RCSB 4x2, now with 2010 Crewmax 4x4.

 

The Tundra has been from Pa to Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky and New York multiple times and at 70--80mph to keep up some what with traffic it is NOT a fuel efficient truck so I don't use local trips to judge mileage.

 

OK

 

May be time for a tune up? I get 8-9mpg when towing travel trailer at 75mph, 8mpg empty sounds like something ain't right.

 

Hey this may sound a little strange but I gained half a mile per gallon after switching to Vavaline High Mileage Full Synthetic.
2011 5.7 80k miles towing a 12 foot enclosed trailer around 3k lbs. I haven’t driven without the trailer yet since the oil change but plan to in the near future. I initially tried the Valvaline in the Tacoma and noticed the mpg increase esp at highway miles, gained between 1-2 miles a gallon. Tacoma has 140k miles on it now and have never seen as good of mileage until now. This is after trying Pennzoil, Mobil one, Amsoil, Super Tech…all full synthetic. Maybe give it a try if you’d like, I’m running 5w30 btw

 

Need to factor in wind direction and strength. I just made the same 200 mile drive 2 weekends in a row. Big headwind and much cooler temps dropped MPGs by almost 4 versus warmer weather and a slight tailwind.

 

I agree - 37s" with 5.29 would def do better than 35s on stock gearing. no bs