I know the gas mileage sucks but seriously?

Poll

https://www.tundras.com/threads/1st-gen-whats-your-mpg.34785/

 

48 - drive like I'm 88

 

Could very well be original. I've never changed them

 

psst…it’s the 3” lift and 33” tires that are killing the mileage. Ditch the lift and toss on the original 245/70-16 and you’ll gain about 5 points on the MPG graph

 

But I won't be cool anymore!!!!!

I even live in flat Florida so can't blame it on hills. Gonna try some fuel system cleaner and go from there. Is ATS 505 what I should use?

 

19mpg highway in 2wd V8 - they left off the part where that is highway driving at 55mph. Drive 75, get 16mpg.

 

If you had cool in one hand and a medium sized morsel of bovine excrement in the other hand, which would be the heaviest?

 

Oh I never claim to get that. I very rarely see 14. Mostly high 13s. I’m also running close to 33s with a camper shell, roof rack, damage multiplier and a winch.

 

BG products are fantastic if you can find a supplier and get your hands on them

 

Start there

 

Our local LOVES and Murphys (walmart) both have 13% ethanol on my test gauge. This is enough to reduce your fuel mileage 1-2mpg over 10% ethanol and 5-6mpg over 100% gasoline.
These older trucks were tuned before ethanol blended gas was a thing. These older trucks respond VERY well to 100% gas. You wont see an immediate change on your first tank, the second tank is even better, the 3rd tank is when you will see the most mileage and from then on if you keep 100% gasoline you will retain that higher fuel mileage. On 100% fuel and easy driving i get as much as 19-21mpg. On 10% ethanol i struggle to get 16-17mpg. With 10% ethanol you lose about 18% of your fuel mileage. Doing the math on the 13% ethanol you will lose about 23.5% of your fuel mileage from what you would get on 100% gas.
With 33s and a heavy foot, you would likely get 16-17mpg on 100% gas, and [calculated] 11-12'ish mpg on 13% ethanol. This is assuming your Costco is at 13% blend.

 

Meh, thats just GM for you.
How many transmissions? On its second or third by now?

 

yeah, that’s downside to having a lifted truck. You gotta pay to play though. I’ve come to the conclusion that since pretty much everyone either installs oversized tires and or a lift kit, that a completely stock truck is actually more unique than a cookie cutter lifted truck that looks like everybody else’s.

 

There's a local gas station that sells ethanol-free gas. I use and store it for lawn my equipment. The price is significantly higher than E10. Have only used ethanol blended gas in my Tundra for the past quarter century, besting the 14-17mpg Toyota claimed. 25 years of blended fuel... never used any magic additives or cleaners in the fuel... still runs like new. Daily driver, no off-road recreational use or towing.

 

Well there's that.

Seriously though, a lot of guys here enjoy recreational off-road use with the Tundra. Got to use what works for ya. It's not like I was concerned with MPG on my dirt bikes.

 

…until you have to start pushing after the 2.5 gallon tank runs dry. And i’ve been on the pusher side waaaay too many times than i’d like to admit.

 

I think that’s mostly market hype.
New they had comparable gas mileage to other trucks of the time.
From what I read Research gas was premium.
If I fill my 2000 gmc with ethanol gas I’m lucky to get 11mpg. Straight gas about 13-14. Premium I can get 15-16mpg.

I've tried different ones.

I used Sea Foam more prevalantly until I tried the CRF 505. There may be better, but had most notable improvement; smoother idle, some improvement in gas mileage, and seemed to be more responsive but others experience may vary: after running that as a pour in.
https://www.atschemicals.com/505-pour-ins/

 

Actually still on first transmission, but it has had transmission fluid changed at about 90K miles.
Replacing those fuel pumps is about $2K a pop!
One of the other 2020 trucks with less mileage than mine did have rear end go out though. Had to replace everything.

 

This might work if you can find 100% gas every time you fill up, but if you drive all over the country and fill up wherever you can, meaning you sometimes have to use corn gas, then there is little benefit, right?

 

My mileage is pretty crappy but I’ll be putting in my new O2 sensors tomorrow.

Here’s an example of my short term fuel trim numbers which if I’m not mistaken should be between -10 to +10%. Instead, I’m seeing -98% to +30%. (I hope my injectors aren’t F’d up)



I’ll post a graph of them all with the O2 voltages once I get this uploaded to Windows XP and the new ones installed.

 

The Wawa around the corner sells ethanol free that I use for lawn equipment, generators and such. I guess I could try a couple tanks of that as well and see what happens. If I do put my foot in it feels kinda “gurgly” like it’s super rich but maybe that’s crappy injectors?

 

The ECU is programmed to see a specific AFR, thats what the o2 sensors are doing
The ECU is programmed to spray xxx amount of fuel thru the injector to maintain xxx AFR
Ethanol blended fuel requires xxx% MORE fuel to maintain the same AFR as 100% gasoline
So yes, with Ethanol blended gas, you are actually having to spray more fuel thru the injectors to maintain the same AFR your ECU wants to see this is why you are burning more gasoline to produce the power needed to move the vehicle.

This is why switching to 100% gas doesnt get instant results on the first tank, it takes time for the ECU to "relearn" the fuel trims needed to maintain the AFR it wants, it takes at least two tanks, but by the third tank its normally settled down and you see the results of your switch. Typically going from ethanol to 100% gas is at least +18% better fuel mileage.
It takes 18% MORE volume of 10% ethanol blend, to produce the same BTU=AFR as 100% gasoline
So yes your injectors are forced to open longer, spray more, to generate the burn needed to produce the power required, to move the vehicle, and maintain the AFR the ECU is looking for the o2 sensors to read.

 

Sweet camper, did you build that?

 

https://www.tundras.com/threads/1st-gen-camper-shell-buying-info.94096/page-75#post-3939444

 

I just got 19 MPG on my last road trip driving through the passes from Nor Cal to Portland, OR. Did about 70-75, even passed a few RVs and semis, but I rarely stop while driving unless I'm gonna go to the bathroom at a rest stop. Stop and go traffic kills the gas mileage on these trucks more than anything else. I've since installed a steel front bumper and a camper shell so I don't expect to ever see that again.

Current era of ethanol gas started in '05, so these trucks were still being made when it got forced on us. We have a handful of stations around town with non ethanol gas, it's like a buck or two more a gallon. I have friends that fill up 5.5 gallon jugs of the stuff for their old two stroke motorcycles. Only problem I've ever had with ethanol gas was a couple old two strokes from the 70s that both decided to dump their tanks in the garage when the ethanol destroyed the old o-rings. With my newer bikes 80s-90s, the fuel lines don't last that long. They get hard and are a pain to take on and off, and that's with fuel lines that are supposedly rated for ethanol. I feel like if you do proper/regular maintenance and don't expect 30, 40, 50 year old motorcycle parts to hold up with ethanol sitting in the tank all winter, it's not that big of an issue. Mine run fine, same mileage, but they've also been jetted with ethanol gas and that's all they know now. I do wish I could keep corn out of my gas tanks, but I'm not going to pay the non ethanol price to keep it out.

 

Based on current 19MPG... What would be your break even point on MPG/non-ethanol fuel at $1-2 more per gallon, 25-30MPG?

 

i’ve been thinking about wash the ethanol out of gasoline 30 gallons at a time. Seems cheaper than buying the ethanol free. I’ll have to do the math when i get home.

drying the ethanol enough to use for a rowdy minibike engine seems like a PITA though.

 

I had A.R.E. build it for me.

It's the tallest commercial DCU high wedge they make.

 

Dang that's big boy

 

I tried ethanol free a few months ago based on badasstaco's recommendations. I only ran it for a few tanks but my findings are that most of you are on the right track. When you really add it up, it's kind of a wash financially, and more of a pain generally. Where I live, you can only find ethanol-free in premium. At that higher price, it's essentially the same amount of money as filling up slightly more often with 10% ethanol mid-grade. IF someone could point to a reason that running ethanol is actually bad for the engine long-term, that'd be the tie-breaker, but no one has, so far. The only thing anyone came up with is that if you're going to park the truck for more than a month, ethanol-free is the way to go.

So the cost is equal, but add to that the hassle of finding ethanol-free gas, and it didn't feel worth it to me. Not every gas station has it, and of course it varies from town to town. Where I live, it's very common to be in another town, at least 100 miles from home, multiple times a week. Just not worth the hassle. For me.