Heres how you increase mileage...

[demoncleaner]

You floor it.

Now that its summer, mileage has been a consistent 18.5-19 when commuting. Generally drive smart to get good mileage. Mostly hilly, winding country roads, Only a few stops, Dropping, then climbing a 1000ft ft of elevation on a 25 mi r/t.

Last tank, decided to let her breathe. I really stepped on her at every stop, purposely driving harder, shifting at 3000 to 5000 accelerating, then normal crusing along. Plenty of 3rd to 6th shifts.

I got nearly 20 mpg. Trying to think why. Filled at same station, octane, and two clicks. Could be the TRD Exhaust operates more effiecently at higher rpms, stepping on it cleared something up, or most likely... a magic tank of gas?

Flame, doubt, or advise how this happen.

[07tacoARK]

Originally Posted by demoncleaner

You floor it.

Now that its summer, mileage has been a consistent 18.5-19 when commuting. Generally drive smart to get good mileage. Mostly hilly, winding country roads, Only a few stops, Dropping, then climbing a 1000ft ft of elevation on a 25 mi r/t.

Last tank, decided to let her breathe. I really stepped on her at every stop, purposely driving harder, shifting at 3000 to 5000 accelerating, then normal crusing along. Plenty of 3rd to 6th shifts.

I got nearly 20 mpg. Trying to think why. Filled at same station, octane, and two clicks. Could be the TRD Exhaust operates more effiecently at higher rpms, stepping on it cleared something up, or most likely... a magic tank of gas?

Flame, doubt, or advise how this happen.

lol! sounds like the TRD exhaust is one of the next things on my list now! although ill have 33s and a 3" suspension so i dont know if that will make a difference or not... do u?

[07 Red Taco]

Repeat this experiment with another tank of gas and let us know if you can duplicate your first results. I don't think you will.

[PiercedTiger]

My car used to get better mpg at higher speeds after I did a wire upgrade under the hood... I never noticed anything driving around the city in SC. Then I got on 95 coming up to NY, did 80 the whole way, and realized I was getting 40mpg! (normally 30-35 for this car, and it dropped a little after 65mph)

Sadly I didn't see a similar result after the same upgrade on my mom's 94 camry or this truck.

I tend to drive that way most of the time! lol I take it easy leaving lights usually (unless I need to merge), but I still out accelerate most people. lol And I'm almost always doing 10-20 over the limit if it's not a city/town street. I have stock intake and exhaust though, so maybe the TRD does something.

I would doubt it's the gas. Say you got 93 by mistake or the station ran out of 87 so they switched it to 93. Even after 1 tank I don't think you'd see a difference. I would think it would take more than 1 tank for the ECU to reprogram itself for the higher octane. Maybe I'm wrong, but I ran a tank of 89 one time and didn't see any difference. I probably should've done 2 or 3, but didn't feel like dropping the extra cash for a test.

[mhadden]

I thought there was a study done on this...it concluded that on higher weight vehicles, it is more fuel efficient to "gas it" then slow at the desired cruising speed than it is to slowly come up to speed. This was the case on my 4 cyl 4WD Tacoma I just got rid of...

[AWDios]

I think it might be possible that you're seeing the benefit from spending less time accelerating and more time cruising. There's a balance between having a light pedal, but spending so much time accelerating that it's not worth it.

[PiercedTiger]

^I've heard the same thing too before. Maybe not flooring it like a mad man, but getting up to cruising speed as quickly as possible and making shorter shifts.

[TTDC]

I love a reason to drive fast.

Don't really need one, but it feels good to hear someone else say that it's good for the truck.

[tim.powerbook]

shoot, i'll try it

[strubby]

Very, very interesting. I've never heard that before. I just got the truck a couple weeks ago and have been trying to baby it around town. Screw it, I'll try it too.

[TTDC]

I put on a Flowmaster series 50 SUV this weekend and have been shifting manually at higher rpm's just to hear the sound, but I was also wondering if I might get better gas mileage this way. Guess I'll find out. At least there's some fun factor this way.

[PiercedTiger]

Originally Posted by TTDC

I love a reason to drive fast.

Don't really need one, but it feels good to hear someone else say that it's good for the truck.

I used to tell my passengers "....need to blow the carbon outta the engine...."

[jdwilson]

sounds logical to me. i have all stock stuff. here lately, i've been doing normal driving(for me). 90% hwy and avg 60mph. i'm averaging around 24.5 mpg. a few weeks ago, i was hammer down every now and then at redlights just playing around or late for work. i got nearly 26 on that tank. shifts were around 4000 to 5000. doesn't make sense, but i can back you up. conservative equals less so far.

[Red Razor]

Originally Posted by PiercedTiger

I used to tell my passengers "....need to blow the carbon outta the engine...."

That's what I tell my wife

[worthywads]

I tried a similar experiment last fall with my I4 using my scangauge and my daily 9.8 mile morning commute. I tried 3/4 throttle trip and a WOT trip using only 1st, 2nd and 5th as I was already cruising fast enough after 2nd at 4000-5000rpm. My commute has a max of 55mph.

Gentle throttle 1-2-3-4-5 shifting 2500 or less 33.4 mpg.
3/4 throttle shifting at 4000 1-2-5 shifting. 28.8 mpg.
WOT shifting at 5000 1-2-5 shifting 27.8 mpg.

For me a heavy foot was significantly worse.

I never bothered trying lower shift points, might give 3/4 throttle and 3000rpm shifts a try, but I don't expect an improvement over light throttle.