Improving gas mileage?

It is possible to get decent mileage. It helps driving at 6000ft+, the highways are only 60mph. TRD exhaust, panel filter and bed cover. 15mpg around our little town here.

 

That may be part of the problem. My tires are at 32 to 34 cold. Im running Goodyear Wrangler Duratracks Ill try adjusting the cold pressure to 44 PSI and see if that helps and report back.

 

Read the MAX Load, MAX Pressure on the sidewall. My max pressure is 51, so I run 44 and they warm up to 48 in summer. This will cause the truck to roll much more freely, resulting in better fuel economy. But I guess it's all a crap shoot.

 

I thought I remember reading or hearing that it can also cause uneven tire wear so the tires bulge in the middle the more you fill them. That may have been some BS but I remember it from somewhere.

 

Read the sidewall of the tire. Don't run your pressure to MAX. When the tire warms up the pressure will rise. You would have to run them pretty high to cause them wear in the middle, but yes that is possible. But you will probably see results from going up in pressure.

 

OMG another MPG thread

 

Awesome, Thanks bud Ill get them aired up today and report back tomorrow and let you know what it goes.

 

Rolling resistance is part of it. These trucks Tach up a little more than most with the 4.30 axle ratio. I'd say anything you average above 17 mpg is a gift from heaven in real world driving with as much wind as they catch

 

You go big buddy, that's awesome mileage right there. I love my truck, no complaints about mileage. Right up to the point where I hook up my boat, then it goes to hell. But that's okay with me, I didn't buy this truck for fuel economy anyway. I just love it.

 

Doesn't matter if the EPA says you get 13 mpg or 25 mpg. Everyone will still say how to get better mpg. Even with a Prius, the owners be like how I get better mpg on a Prius?

 

SO TRUE.

 

I loved how my window sticker had an Environmental rating of 1 out of 10. 10 bring the best.

 

@Bad Cow so I had the dealership set all my tires to 44psi yesterday afternoon during my 10k service and here was the result for the drive home. It may be a little better than before but now to much better. The only other difference I can think of is the weight of my wheels vs your wheels.

 

Okay, well that's not much improvement, but give it a week and see how it goes. The wheels on my PRO are forged aluminum, not sure what you have, but don't think that would make the difference. You got me dude.

 

So what you're saying is Tundra is #1!

 

Mine are the TSS Package 20 inch wheels, I'm trying to find a weight on them

 

You need to account for the tires as well. I believe, but could be wrong here, less sidewall = more steel reinforcing which = more weight.

 

From what I've seen, it pretty much down to the individual wheels and tires. Some wheels weigh more than others, with the same size, based on Tire Rack choices. Not much scientific data here but easiest data I could get my hands on. Wheels have different weights too even if it's the same size. Typically off road tires weigh more than highway tires. Name brand ones weigh less than off brand tires. The OEM 18" and 20" wheels+tires combo are generally the same weight because the 18" wheels would have more rubber so therefore weigh more, but less wheel so less weight but overall, it's pretty similar.

 

Nah. You gotta look at those numbers like a race. Tundra has 1st place.

Edit: @JimboSlice413 beat me to it. Should have read more lol

 

You bought a Tundra, it will never get good gas milage, in fact milage sucks. Enjoy the truck and how bullet proof it is. I wanted better gas milage for my commute I bought a TDI Audi and get 40 mpg. I mash the tundra on the weekends. Moral of the story drive the shit out of it get terrible milage and enjoy truck, and cheap gas while we have it.

 

I didn't buy it for good gas mileage just trying to figure out why there is such a difference between two trucks.

 

So I am not sure if setting my tires to 44 PSI has done much but this morning on the way to work I got 15 mpg. That was what I was getting pre-lift on my drive to work. Going to start experimenting with non-ethanol gas see if that makes a big difference or not. Probably invest in a K&N drop in filter as well.

 

Those will get swapped out when I get 35s on.

 

I haven't heard anyone else complain about a substantial loss in torque one 35s with 4.88 gears.

 

I've been seeing slightly better results on the ultragauge if I keep it in S5 if I'm going 60 mph or less. When in 6th it doesn't take much increase in throttle to send the instant mpg deep into the single digits. The low throttle, low load conditions like when coming down a hill don't raise instantaneous mpg as high, i.e. it may top out at reading 35 mpg instead of 45, but any time there's headwind or going uphill it doesn't drop near as far, when the fuel usage rate is much higher and any difference would matter more. There's a hill I've driven for years where the cruise would go to 9-10 mpg every time holding 6th going up. In S5 it hasn't been dropping below 12 mpg.

It's purely conjecture, but I'd guess either the PCM is bringing the intake cams to full advance with the high load in 6th to boost torque at the expense of pumping loss, or it has so much valve lift the intake charge doesn't have enough velocity at low rpm to keep good atomization once it loses the benefit of the partial vacuum at lower loads. Or both. I can't think of any other reasons why I'd get roughly the same average taking a 55 mph road as a 70 mph highway. Generally a vehicle should gain 20%+ going on the slower road

If only Toyota had put a valve disabling system like in Honda's JDM D15B or L15A1 that reduces one intake valve's lift to about 10% of normal at low speeds and loads to keep intake velocity up. I can dream right?

FWIW my first full tank where the truck never once went into 6th gear was 14.7 mpg (pump/odo). I'll keep the experiment going. The truck's lifetime average is 14.2

update: looks like it must have been a fluke. Oh well. It was worth a shot. I still force S5 under 50 mph to prevent that occasional knock at 45 mph

update2: running E85 cleaned the carbon out, cured the knock when switching back to regular gas, and it gets 11 mpg when on the go-fast juice so I don't care anymore

 

I have found on my 2020 SR that 2000 rpm is kind of a cutoff. When I keep it below 2000 the mileage improves, which is 75 mph or below.

 

@Lovetrucks --Tow at the max and see what happens. Let us know when that Hemi starts ticking.

 

I thought this thread was for improving fuel mileage , how would we do that towing the max ??

 

I get the best mpgs when i cruise at 55mph, only bad thing is truckers seems to drive aggressively to past me.