I recently bought a 1996 Tacoma lx, 3.6 v6, 5spd manual and it has around 140k miles. I am noticing after this first tank of gas that my gas mileage seems to be terrible...it is getting close to Empty and it is saying that I only have gotten around 150 miles on this tank...I believe the Tacoma's have an 18gal tank so that would mean it is horrendous gas mileage. is this normal?? What are some ways of fixing this or what could be the problem? Any suggestions are appreciated!

 

This is a question as old as our trucks. Some people get awesome mileage, while others get on the crappy side. I used to get [easily] 20mpg+ (granted that was before I turned it into a heavy brick), and now I'm looking at about 13.5mpg. My first look was spark plugs and air filter, which helped a little, especially with lost power. Now I'm on to the upstream O2 sensor, which is where I'm putting my money. If that doesn't do it, I'll clean the throttle body, the MAF, and get my injectors cleaned. After that, it's replacing all of the vacuum lines, then it's on to a new motor

 

I also just bought a 96, 4wd, 5vz, extra cab, 5-speed, 165k. My first tank of gas and I am getting 20.5 mpg. Just seafoamed this afternoon and it made a noticeable difference in power so maybe I'll squeeze more out of it...

 

my experiances are as follows

1996 extendetd cab taco 4x4 2.7 manual trans electric engine fan. summer id get 22 mpg, even with 2 dirt bikes in the back.
winter that would drop to about 19-20.

2001 tacoma prerunner with the deck plate mod auto transmission. summer id get about 18-19 put bikes in the back it would get 18 (yes with ac on) put a trailer on and it would go down to 16 summer. trailering in the wind in late fall would take it down to 13-11 range. thats with a 5x8 utility trailer.

2000 4runner 3.4 manual transmission deck plate mod. summer 23-20mpg. ive got a bike dirt bike hitch rail i haul my bike on that have no affect on the mpg. even loading the truck to the gills i got 23 mpg. trailering depending on the wind ive gotten around 16-13. winter time i get right at 18 mpg.


on all of these ive tried premium and it makes no difference at all on my milage. tune ups havent made much difference either, aside from running smoother.

 

96 tacoma 3.4 in the last 4 years i say my fuel economy has slowly gotten worse no load and mostly hwy driving best i could do was 14 tops and don't put anything behind the truck u looking at about 10-11 mpg i just started blaming it on trucks old age and the gas we get nowadays done complete tuneup didnt do a thing then in last 6 months when i go to downshift i noticed the fan was turning faster then normal after i afew weeks of hearing that and belts squeal when a hard downshift was done i decided to put fan clutch on well ordered some cheap ebay fan for 24 bucks i went from 14 hwy back to 18 everytime in the last 6 fillups one time was 20 but i might have forgot to reset trip meter. electric fan is coming soon. cant believe the night and day difference. so DO NOT OVERLOOK THE FAN CLUTCH

 

Nice thread resurrection

My 98 3.4 TRD 4x4 gets 19 highway. Never any better, rarely any worse. Pulling a 17' camper trailer I get 12-14. Usually right at 14 but a headwind will drop it down to 12. For the size our trucks, with a little V6, I think this is pretty pathetic gas mileage. But when I hear what some other people get when they're towing or have slide-in campers in their trucks, my towing mileage is actually pretty good. 9mpg seems pretty common with a lot of other vehicles while towing. But it's pretty ridiculous that full size trucks get better gas mileage than us.