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whats your mpg on your 4.7??

77K views 107 replies 62 participants last post by  RiverMonsterGold 
#1 ·
I started a thread about oil pressure and it turned into a gas mileage conversation. so i wanted to start a thread about MPG so that the other thread didnt get to far off topic. i currently am (in my opinion) getting pretty bad gas mileage on my truck. i have an 03 4x4 tundra access cab auto tranny with the 4.7 it is all stock except for a leveling kit which should in no way affect the MPG. i am getting in town around 11.5-12 MPG's and i baby my truck i might drive it hard once per fill up (just cause its fun, and i cant resist). what do yall get with your 4.7's am i doing horrible? or is it normal??
 
#2 ·
It says 15.4 right now.

That is about 60 percent in town 40 percent driving 75 to 80 on the turnpike.
 
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#4 ·
I get roughly 14 in the city and about 17 on the highway. But I have a lift and the wheels and tires so its safe to assume that's y mine is low.


Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app
 
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#8 ·
I checked the mileage on two tanks when I first got the truck 2 months ago. It averaged 16.8 mpg. I was hoping for better. I just replaced the 7 year old tires with new Michelins, Ill recheck the mileage to see if it changes. I also think it might need a tune up. It only has 32 thousand miles, but everything is 8 years old.
 
#9 ·
I have procrastinated and haven't done it yet but I picked up 2mpg on my Rodeo by putting synthetic oil in my transfer case and differentials on my Rodeo.

It was documented.
 
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#10 ·
2006 Tundra AC Stepside with 4.7L engine. Getting around 16.5 mpg in the city so far.
 
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#11 ·
Just finished a run to Evansville and back and on the way down the trip average was only 17.9 MPG, including two stops so my future brother-in-law could get out and smoke and the in-town driving here and in Evansville. I ran at 5 over the speed limit and 15 over in a few spots.

On the way back with no stops and same driving conditions we averaged 18.2 MPG. Not very pleased with those numbers. Also threw a P0430 CEL on the way home. Got some work to do this week and need to track down the source of my heat transfer to the air box. Insulated the air box last week and still have a temperature gain, albeit a very slow one.

With summer-blend fuel I was hitting low 20's and hope to get current on maintenance and then do headers and electric fans. Should see a couple more MPG's which would be nice.
 
#14 ·
14-16 around town.
17-19 highway.

i average 18 during my daily commute of backroads, one long stretch where i can open her up to about 95 every morning, and a little downtown-ish driving.

im very happy with averaging 17-18 and being able to drive anywhere and anyhow i prefer and having a bigger vehicle then most have while getting less mpg's.
 
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#15 ·
I get 17.5 very consistently right now on the winter blend b.s. In the summer I get between 21-22. The lowest I've seen is 14 which was on winter blend with lots of idle time and city driving. It probably helps that I'm only 2wd though, but I'd imagine yours should still be higher.
 
#18 ·
Taken (without permission) from a response by Remmy to a similar question:

"It doesn't have anything to do with concerns about gasoline "freezing". It's a function of vapor pressure, and is critically important to the function and operation of gasoline-powered, internal combustion engines.

High levels of vaporization are desirable for winter starting and operation and lower levels are desirable in avoiding vapor lock during summer heat. Fuel cannot be pumped when there is vapor in the fuel line (summer) and winter starting will be more difficult when liquid gasoline in the combustion chambers has not vaporized sufficient for proper combustion. Thus, oil refineries manipulate this vaporization threshhold, called the "Reid Vapor Pressure" (RVP), seasonally specifically to maintain gasoline engine reliability.

RVP is the vapor pressure of gasoline measured at 100 degrees F. Fuels with higher RVP evaporate more easily than those with lower RVP. Gasoline must have an RVP below 14.7 PSI (i.e. normal atmospheric pressure). If a fuel's RVP were greater than 14.7 PSI, excess pressure would build up in the gas tank, and the fuel could boil and evaporate. Depending on the part of the country, the EPA's standards mandate an RVP below 9.0 PSI or 7.8 PSI for summer-grade fuel. Some local regulations call for stricter standards. Because of these varying RVP standards, up to 20 different types of boutique fuel blends are sold throughout the U.S. during the summer.

Regulators worry about this evaporation because it contributes to ozone formation. Summer-grade fuel has a different RVP than winter-grade fuel, which contributes to its being (marginally) more eco-friendly. Because RVP standards are higher during the winter, winter-grade fuel uses more butane, with its high RVP of 52 PSI, as an additive. Butane is inexpensive and plentiful, contributing to lower prices. Summer-grade fuel might still use butane, but in lower quantities -- around 2 percent by volume."​

do the access cabs get better gas mileage than regular cabs? - Page 3
 
#19 ·
I have an 06 DC 4x4 . The very best that I have ever achieved is 17 on the highway. It averages around 14.5 overall. My driving is about 70% highway. I am sure that my right foot is part of the problem, but I have never approached some of the numbers that are being reported here. My 02 actually got beter mileage than the 06.
 
#20 ·
Don't feel bad - I have done a fair amount of work to get to where I am currently with my MPG numbers. For anyone who has ever considered improving their mileage I always have two recommendations right off the bat. First is to make sure that all of your maintenance is up to date and within spec. Here is a short list of what I consider to be maintenance items to be checked:

Basic Maintenance Items to Check

Second is to invest in and learn how to use a Scangauge as it will give you real time feedback on how your own particular driving behavior affects fuel economy. This does not mean you have to drive like a grandma - I still romp it every now and then just because I am too immature not to. It is amazing to me how a slight adjustment with the right foot can significantly improve the MPG's while running down the road without sacrificing speed.

After the above two there are plenty of other modifications that can be done to improve fuel economy but it takes money. A lot of people will argue against this saying the payback is too long. Fair enough, but these are usually the same people who throw thousands of dollars into lift kits, body lifts, bigger tires, tinted windows, louder stereos, new exhausts, headers, intakes, and a myriad of other mods that have no payback other than personal pride. Nothing really wrong with either scenario - to each his own.

At any rate those are my two coppers for what they are worth.
 
#22 ·
Upper 15's if I'm easy on it but usually 14's ...all city driving. Only upper 16's highway but that's usually at 70-75.
It dropped about 1 city and 2 highway with the bigger 20" wheels.

With these wheels my speedo reads one MPH high so not sure what the real numbers are because that's affecting the odo.. going with 305's on my next set of tires to get that back and drop the highway revs a little.
 
#24 · (Edited)
I have an Gen2 5.7 Crewmax with the mpg display including instantaneous readout. This is a tremendous tool for learning on a real time basis how what you're doing from one second to the next affects gas consumption. Observations based on my experimentation with it is that driving hard even once or twice per tank ABSOLUTELY DOES significantly affect the average for that tank. You may think it shouldn't be a big deal but it is a huge one. If I gun it and gun it hard I may sink down to 2-3 mpg while I'm lead footing it. This drags my running average down to the 11-12 mpg range and it's MUCH harder to drag it back up with gentle driving than it was to drag it down with heavy throttle. I could have been maintaing a 15-16 mpg average for most of the tank. As soon as I really dip into it this average drops like a rock, and I spend the rest of the tank driving like there's an egg under the pedal to get it anywhere close to what it was.

When you are sitting still you are getting zero mpg. When you accelerate normally you might be getting 5-7 mpg. When you accelerate hard you might be getting 1-3 mpg. You have to take every available opportunity to run with no or minimal throttle to compensate for this. This means using just the bare minimal throttle to maintain speed and using momentum, downgrades, and any other opportunities to get off the throttle completely so you can coast and get some free mpg.

If you are driving it hard once or twice per tank and driving like most people normally do the rest of the time, with decent amounts of heavy throttle to merge and get up to speed, 11.5-12 without any underlying mechanical defect is a real possibility.
 
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#25 ·
Very well said and I absolutely agree. Driving like a madman, horsing around, romping it even a few times per tank can have a significant negative impact on tank average. So does idling at warm-up. Even acceleration makes a huge difference especially in city driving. I can "keep up" with traffic light to light and get 5 MPG or I can accelerate smoothly and at a reasonable rate and still end up with the same "gotta get there before you do" crowd at the very next light and get 15 MPG. Don't get me wrong, I do not drive like a granny but I do not have to beat everyone to the next light so I can sit there and wait, idling, after I have burned out a stupid amount of fuel to arrive at the same destination as everyone else only to watch cross-traffic and admire the red light.

For overall driving MPG's Throttle Position makes all the difference. I can maintain 66 MPH at 20 or 21 TPS and get low 20's on flat ground or I can run at 25+ TPS at the same speed, same stretch of highway, and get 12 MPG. The Scangauge really opened my eyes to this.
 
#30 ·
Second is to invest in and learn how to use a Scangauge as it will give you real time feedback on how your own particular driving behavior affects fuel economy. This does not mean you have to drive like a grandma - I still romp it every now and then just because I am too immature not to. It is amazing to me how a slight adjustment with the right foot can significantly improve the MPG's while running down the road without sacrificing speed.

I checked out the Scangauge. Do you need to buy the more expensive one or will the entry model do the trick? How long of connector cable is needed for an 06 DC and where do you plug in? Looks interesting to me and I might give it a shot. Thanks
 
#32 ·
2004 double cab Limited, 4.7L. I get 12-14 in town, 15-17 highway. I drive pretty tamely. I always calculate my mileage at every fill up. I top off the tank and reset the trip odometers after each fill up, then at the next fill up I divide the miles from the trip odometer by the amount of gas I put in. I always ask other 1st gen Tundra owners what they get and I hear upwards of 20 mpg. I don't believe it. I have read that the double cabs got a lower gear ratio (4.10) so in addition to the heavier unloaded weight, could the lower gear ratio contribute to poorer mileage than other 4.7L Tundras?
 
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