2big4arunner

I see the difference in the weight cuts I do , but then again, I have real hills where a 22re just doesn't cut it
I am just stating that it might help in some situations where adding more weight for camping wouldnt bog the runner down as much and keep it nimble on back roads. Btw... Have you ever researched rotating mass effects?.... Just wondering.

Ps. For the individual that started this thread. These tires are good on and off road and will last you a long time

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....er+SilentArmor

ThatGuy1295

"Btw... Have you ever researched rotating mass effects?.... Just wondering."

Well hopfully the truck isnt going to be rotating . Just the tires

2big4arunner

LOL I knew someone was gonna say that.

vehicular gaper

I definitely drove it like I was a senior citizen, I'm used to cruising along in my hyundai at 80mph, this one had no balls in 4th or 5th gear and I don't like getting into high rpms, so rather than using 3rd gear on every hill, I just drove like a grandma and accelerated on the downhills to gain speed and only downshifted to 4th or 3rd at needed if it got under 50mph.
because of camping offroad and how just how much fun it is offroad, I'm thinking about a light weight sleeping platform in the back that won't bog down the ass end in terrain and will help keep things from getting bounced all over the place inside. definitely not going to lift it or try any crazy tires.

vehicular gaper

did an hour of annoyed residential city driving (got lost, lots of cultisacs and dead end roads) and ate through gas twice as fast as on the freeway, yikes! almost would be worth it to carry a bicycle and park it in town and proceed on 2 wheels

stillrunnin

manual hubs

KBJ

On ADD-equipped vehicles do manual hubs really save that much? With a combination of street/highway driving how much can one expect by switching over to manual. a few percent, 5%, more?

I just purchased a 1995 4 Runner and it's getting horrendously bad mileage, last tank was used at a rate of 9.97 mpg so I'm definitely looking for worthwhile methods to improve on that figure. That number is so bad I'm not entirely sure I'm even going to keep the truck, if I can get it close to 15 mpg or thereabouts I'd be happy though.

vehicular gaper

trade ya for mine

Dirt Driver

We can't even hazard a guess as to why your economy is so bad without knowing how the truck is driven or what condition it's in. It would probably warrant a separate (repair) thread anyway.

KBJ

Yes, I know it does seem abnormally poor to me. I plan to take it to Yodaman here in town and see what they say about it, I'm hoping that something in the EFI system is not set right causing the excessive fuel use.

I don't use a "lead-foot" while driving it and it hasn't even been in 4WD during the test tank run. The heads and valves were all redone about 45K ago so I have to assume all is good in that area. I'm hoping it's a fuel system issue, a correctable issue of course.

While I don't plan to do anything until I get a diagnostic done on it I have considered the manual hub option and going with an electric cooling fan over the belt-driven. Also been looking at air intake systems, as long as it's a system that will pass California smog requirements.

I guess what I'm looking for is, given the truck is in good condition, top end done recently, it's driven relatively easy to moderately hard, street/highway, no 4WD, it should be getting better mileage than that shouldn't it?

Dirt Driver

It would also be relevant to know how you're checking the mileage.

Yes, it should be getting a lot better economy than that.

KBJ

I'm checking by it by recording the odometer at fill up, running the tank of fuel down, filling it up again - logging the fuel amount put in the tank - and then subtracting the previous mileage from the current odometer reading and dividing that mileage by the amount of fuel put in.

195493 - Filled tank
195648 - Filled tank with 15.5 gals
Ran 155 miles on 15.5 gals for a figure of 9.97-mpg

I should have mentioned that the above tank of fuel was run with the ECT engaged, this current tank I'm logging is running without and I expect it will improve but given that very low number to begin with I'm not hopeful it will be a significant difference.

1995 4Runner 4WD/Auto Trans 31.5x10.50 Tires

Dirt Driver

At least you're checking the mileage correctly. You'd be surprised how often people think they're getting either awful or impossibly good economy simply because they can't do the arithmetic. Some don't even check the odometer and just go by the gauge. Others "forgot" that they installed huge tires and the odometer is wrong.

That's why I had to ask.

KBJ

Apparently this vehicle was originally sold with the larger tires so I'm assuming the speedo/odo is correct, seems to be correct when clocked with a friend running down the freeway at 60mph together.

So is 15mpg a pipe dream, or is it within the realm of possibility, given that everything is working as it should be?

2big4arunner

If everything is working properly 15mpg is not a pipe dream. My 4runner gets close to 20mpg now.
Couple things to check
1. Oxygen sensor
2. fuel injectors (might be stuck open LOL
3. Tps and intake (buildup in intake and bad tps settings are bad news)
4. Big one for emissions is if you have a plugged cat or exhaust not flowing (check out crossover elimination mod)
5. Change all oils to full synthetic (seen 3-5mpg from bad oil to synthetic) and I use a Lucas oil additive with all of it)

Do all this at once and get back to me on the change LOL. Its pretty significant

Ps. Even with the a.d.d system you are still turning gears so the locking hubs are closer to 5% gain

KBJ

Thanks for the ideas. Hard to imagine that much gain from synthetic oil, but I suppose it's worth a try, and although it's only 5% with the hub swap it all adds up so that is definitely something I'm going to look at very closely.

Just got a call back from Larry at Yodaman and he says it should be getting around 18-19 highway and about 13-14 around town. Got an appointment for next Wed to have it checked out, hopefully it's not too serious(expensive) to rectify. I'll post the results of that appt here.

Meanwhile, thanks for all the help and suggestions, and if there are any other ideas I'd love to hear them.

2big4arunner

The synthetic will do some thing for you no matter if you have brand new Reg gear oil but it is a major difference between really thick old oil and super thin synthetic oil.
I forgot to mention, make sure your brakes are not dragging and are well serviced.
My sister came home from work one day in my supra sand complained about a lack of power and wanted her civic back (I was doing rings on her motor) she had driven all day too and from her job with the e-brake half way on.... It happens sometimes LOL

I am gonna throw a guess that the timing is too far advanced to compensate for heat somewhere. Just my guess

2big4arunner

I don't know why but sometimes what I say doesn't come out on paper right.
if it didn't make sense, what I meant to say about the oil is it will help you either way. either a small gain if you have good clean oil. and a large gain if all your oil is crud and sludge and not making for a very efficient transmission, transfer case and/or differential

ThatGuy1295

A bout as much as sticking your hand out the window.

I keep seeing posts with claims that manual hubs are big MPG savers.
If you jack up the front end of your truck and spin the wheel by hand you'll see what I'm talking about. If your brakes are not dragging that is. My front tire on my 01 taco with A.D.D system actually spins the same as my 89 with manual hubs and solid axle. Now I've the test on both rigs without brakes installed. Theres probably .01% drag difference. Your just spinning a small shaft and a couple more bearings with no load on them. You have the resistance of the grease, and the unmeasurable resistance of the rubber boot which has to flex as the cv spins. And not mention the fact that the CV is not really spinning that fast at 60mph. The outside of your tire is spinning pretty fast, but the cv is not because its in the center of a large circumference.

And electric fans only help at low speed. At high speed the inbound air is more then enough to push the clutch fan to a higher speed then the clutch would have to propel it. In other words at 35mph and up the motor is not pushing the fan. The air coming through the radiator is. You could see a gain if your mostly off road or low speed. But you will not see a difference if its your DD. And if you did it would only be from a stop to about 15mph. Owwww... Impressive...
Everybody thinks our clutch fans are working all the time, truth is only on start up for a few seconds, and if the radiator is hot because theres not enough air passing through. Not to mention the energy to drive any fan has to come from somewhere. The alternator has to work harder to push an electric fan right?

2big4arunner

LOL... I would tend to agree with thatguy on two points....
Electric fans will help when the fans are actually used, good thing he pointed that out...
And that when the wheel is spinning at hand push speed.... God knows mine travels faster then that....you wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference... Might use physics to point out that the faster you turn it... The harder it is and more energy it takes to keep it turning. Less items to turn means a savings in power consumption and hence gas mileage gains. If this doesn't make sense to thatguy... Go back to physics grade9 books and do some gentle reading.

If you can't see, people putting down helpful ideas is a peave of mine