Gas Mileage for 3rd Generation 4Runner V6

Wondering if anyone knows any methods in getting better mileage out of the 4runner without causing ant threat to the engine.
Heard that a cold intake might help in getting more mileage;
but I thought it would just increase the horsepower.
If anyone has any suggestions, I'm listening.

Well hell, since no one else is posting, I'll give it a shot.

Make sure you are using a fresh air filter. You may consider getting an oil-wetted filter from TRD or AMSOIL. They are very efficient, reusable after cleaning and re-oiling, and somewhat expensive. They are free-flowing compared with efficient paper filters and you can clean them as often as you like. I clean mine every 10k. The TRD filter is oil-wetted cotton and the AMSOIL filter is oil-wetted double layered plastic open cell foam. Don't put any more oil on the element than absolutely necessary.

Some people get additional mileage from opening up the air box (deckplate mod or removing the wheel well elbow from the airbox).

Tweak your AFM (on engines that have them instead of a MAF meter) as shown in:
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=3320951&postcount=8
There is probably an optimum setting for gas mileage.

Your engine may get better mileage with higher octane gas, particularly if you do alot of highway driving. Use higher octane gas for a few tankfuls when you are on a trip, keeping track of the mileage and gas used, and see if that makes any difference. If not, don't waste your money. Say the price of 87 octane is 30 cents cheaper than 89 octane and you get 20% better mileage (from 15 mpg to 18 mpg) with the 89 octane. If the price of gas for the 87 octane is $3.00/gal, then you are paying 10% more per gallon, while saving 20% in gasoline usage. This is a good bargain. If you break even, I would still use the higher octane gas. You have to do the math and the experiment on your truck. At some price, it will be worth it for some percent increase in mileage. In all honesty, you probably won't see a difference in mileage between the octanes, meaning you should use 87 octane. However, it doesn't cost much to try and you should know about it if your truck derives a benefit from the higher octane gas.

Keep an eye on your ignition timing, idle speed, and wheel alignment. A high idle speed will cost you, as well as retarded ignition timing or bad alignment.

Buy road tires. Mud stompers will cost you. I believe that the more noise the tires make on the road, the poorer gas mileage they will give you. Fill the tires with 4-6 more psi than that recommended in your door label. Low tire pressure will cost you. Don't fill the tires above the maximum psi labeled on the tire.

Lowering your truck a couple inches will give you better mileage on the highway.

Off-road driving will cost you. 4WD usage will also cost you, on- or off-road.

Installing manual hubs will make some difference. Each truck will be different in this regard. Manual hubs will keep you from having to rotate the half-shafts and a part of your front differential.

Keep your injectors clean with a fuel additive periodically.

Get any "Check Engine" light problem immediately. Many times you engine will default to a standard condition when a sensor goes bad. It gets you where you're going, but it is far from optimum as far as engine efficiency goes.

Exhaust headers and lower restriction cat converters and mufflers will help your mileage to varying degrees. Buy stuff that you find has helped other 4Runner owners.

I don't believe in cold air intakes. They are a waste of money IMO. Maybe some vehicles have poorly-designed intake systems and are helped by almost any mod. Yours is not one of them.

Fill your transfer case and differentials with 75W90 synthetic gear oil. Leave it in longer to partially offset the additional cost. The thicker the gear oil, the more drag on the truck. Lube your propellor shafts often for the same reason with Moly grease.

Use 5W30 oil in your engine - possibly 0W30 or 5W20. I have heard they work fine, but I have not tried them myself. Those lower viscosity oils will certainly make a difference in your gas mileage.

Maybe I'll make this a sticky - seeing how gas is getting precious. I'll also spread this around to the other truck forums once it gets more mature.

Very through response Brian. The only things I can add are: remove the cross bars on the roof rack (aerodynamics), remove the trailer hitch and other extra weight when you don't need it. I left my trailer hitch on because I park on the street and it acts like an extra bumper. If you have rear drum brakes make sure they are adjusted properly. With the tires off the ground you should be able spin it and it should rotate a half or full turn before the drag of the drum stops it. If it stops immediately then the drum is adjusted to tightly. If their are high spots on the drum then it needs to be turned so that it has an even contact patch with the brake shoes and it drags evenly.

Don't use your Air Conditioner unless you absolutely have to. Your best mileage is when you drive with it off and all windows shut. Your worst mileage is driving high speeds with only your front widows open. When shutting your windows and turning on your A/C is better for mileage than having the windows open depends on the speed and which windows you have open. I like driving with my front windows open and the rear hatch window open.

If you are on fast roads, try to drive 50-55 mph. This is the speed your torque converter locks up and you get better efficiency out of your drive train. Slower than that and your torque converter unlocks (45 mph) and above that, you get higher wind resistance and cuts into your gas. 4Runners are not considered the last word in aerodynamic styling...

Your engine may get better mileage with higher octane gas, particularly if you do alot of highway driving. Use higher octane gas for a few tankfuls when you are on a trip, keeping track of the mileage and gas used, and see if that makes any difference. If not, don't waste your money. Say the price of 87 octane is 30 cents cheaper than 89 octane and you get 20% better mileage (from 15 mpg to 18 mpg) with the 89 octane. If the price of gas for the 87 octane is $3.00/gal, then you are paying 10% more per gallon, while saving 20% in gasoline usage. This is a good bargain. If you break even, I would still use the higher octane gas. You have to do the math and the experiment on your truck. At some price, it will be worth it for some percent increase in mileage. In all honesty, you probably won't see a difference in mileage between the octanes, meaning you should use 87 octane. However, it doesn't cost much to try and you should know about it if your truck derives a benefit from the higher octane gas.


I could be wrong on this, but I don't see how higher octane would actually help mileage (or performance) at all in this case. The compression on the 3.4 is 9.6:1, if I remember correctly, which is barely over the cusp of where higher octane would help (I believe that 87 is good at 9.3). If you are getting knocking, then of course you should up your octane, but just using higher quality gas won't, as far as I know, help you out.

If I am wrong here, somone please correct me, though.

You will not necessarily get knocking if you are running insufficient octane gas. The ECM will retard the ignition timing to compensate - hurting your mileage.

Each vehicle is a little different on the octane requirement.

Understood. However, a well running 3.4 should be running fine/optimum on regular grade gas, as far as I understand.

And using higher grade octane to fix a knock is really just a bandage anyways.

I guess what I am saying, is if youre needing to run a higher octane to get optimum fuel efficiency, there is a good chance that you should get your rigged checked out.

Toyota recommends 91 octane or better for alot of 3.4L V6s. Mine has never liked 89 octane.

Here's some information from Scholzee on the Blazer forum:

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Common gas-saving tips were put to the test recently by Edmunds.com, CNN.com's automotive content partner.

While most, it turned out, actually did save gas, some of the fuel-saving advice you commonly hear didn't make much difference at all.

Drivers took two different vehicles on the same 56-mile route eight times under various conditions. The vehicles, both Ford Motor Co. products, were a 2005 Ford Mustang GT and a Land Rover LR3 SE. Both have V-8 engines. The Mustang's EPA-estimated mileage is 15 in the city and 25 on the highway while the Land Rover's is 14 in the city and 18 on the highway. In ordinary driving, most vehicles usually get about 15 percent lower gas mileage than EPA estimates indicate.

Using cruise control
Drivers are often advised to use cruise control during long highway drives on level roads. The idea is that it prevents "speed creep" -- the tendency to gradually start going faster the longer you drive -- and cuts down on other unnecessary speed changes which can eat up gas.

In Edmunds.com's test, the Land Rover got almost 14 percent better mileage using cruise control set at 70 miles per hour rather than cruising at driver-controlled speeds between 65 and 75 miles per hour.

The Mustang got 4.5 percent better mileage with cruise control.

Verdict: It works

Roll up windows, use A/C
When driving on the highway, most of a vehicle's power is used simply to overcome aerodynamic drag. On the other hand, air conditioning also uses a lot of power.

Drivers are often told that keeping the windows rolled up, which significantly reduces drag, and using air conditioning actually results in better fuel economy than driving at high speeds with the windows open. In fact, CNN/Money has offered the same advice in a story we've run on our site.

In Edmunds.com's test, conducted at a steady 65 miles per hour, "windows down" or "A/C on" made virtually no difference in mileage.

The Mustang got 4.1 percent better mileage -- 30.7 mpg vs. 29.5 mpg -- with the windows down. The Land Rover got 1.6 percent better mileage with the windows down, a difference of just 0.3 miles per gallon.

Basically, the extra fuel used by the air conditioner is made up for in improved aerodynamics at high speeds. Your not really saving any fuel but, at least on the highway, the A/C isn't costing you appreciably either.

Verdict: No difference

Avoid hard acceleration
You've probably been told before that rushing up to stop lights and racing away from them wastes gas. Turns out it wastes a whole lot of gas, according to Edmunds.com's test.

Slowing zero-to-sixty times to 20 seconds instead of 10 to 15 seconds makes a big difference in mileage over the long term. Braking slowly and gently helps, too.

Driving the Land Rover gently resulted in a 35.4 percent increase in gas mileage while feather-footing the Mustang garnered a 27.1 percent mileage increase.

Verdict: Big difference

Properly inflate tires
Not having enough air in the tires can cause a number of problems, including a potentially dangerous blow-out. But it also reduces gas mileage.

In Edmunds.com's test, the mileage improvement with properly inflated tires, compared to slightly under-inflated ones, was slight but noticeable in the Land Rover but non-existent in the Mustang. Still, for safety's sake, keep enough air in your tires.

Verdict: Small impact on mileage

Hmmmmmmmmmmm

DARE I mention my fuel consumption rate ?:dunno:


Don't want to get this:nutkick:


Trev

My 2000 5VZ-FE SR5 4wd gets 18 mpg with a 75:25 mix of highway:in-town. Gets 20 on a hilly highway.

Well as our two countries cannot agree on a common measurement for a gallon I will give you my figures in the metric measurement.

Over the last 16936km (10585 miles) Hippo has used 1854 litres, averaging 9.13 km per Litre :)

That's not bad since mid March :)



Trev

For the metric-challenged, that converts to 21.5 mpg.

That's either really good or only pretty good depending on how much mud she has wallowed in... :)

I'm happy with it :)

But here's the real surprise - ALL of those 1854 Litres are NOT fossil fuels !!

Yep she has done 10585 miles on Vegetable Oil

Why ?

a) It's greener
b) Seen our fuel prices ? $1.78 per litre for deisel !!!!!

So who say's 4x4s and SUVs cannot be green ?


Trev

Good idea.

Did you have to modify the engine to run veg oil?

Nope, but I have to be careful and mix in some diesel come winter - as it gels at a higher temp than diesel.

As an aside I also have had to register with the customs, and pay duty for the oil.


Trev

Guys here go salvage used cooking oil from restaurants, filter it, and then use it for fuel.

The trouble with using WVO (used) is that you have to watch for fats in the oil, I know of at least one gummed up truck through it - ideally you should treat it to remove fats and glycerine.

Alot of the restaurants over here are tied into commercial oil collectors due to regulationsabout it's disposal :banghead:


Trev

I have replaced all my transmission fluid with Mobil 1 ATF and I have increased my gas mileage by 1.5-2 mpg. Used a total of 14 quarts with some spillage.

Note that the FSM says that the drain and fill capacity is 2.1 quarts. I found mine was a lot more than that. More like 4 quarts. Be careful.

I currently drive 75% highway and 25% city and get around 19-20 mpg.

Another change is long ago, I removed my trailor hitch (40 lbs or so...).