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Hey all, I'm a first time poster to this forum. Pretty active on customtacos.com with my tacoma. Joined this forum because I have a question about my wife's car.
Wife has a 2001 Toyota Highlander. Its the 4cyl with an auto tranny, I think its got around 95000 miles on it.
With fuel prices the way they are, of course my question is concerning fuel mileage. I've read through around 9 pages of this forum reading that many V6 highlanders are getting around 23-26 MPG's. My 4cyl has a HIGHWAY BEST of 21.4 MPG. Anyone know why? KBB.com says I should be getting around 27MPG on highway and 22city. Average city driving is around 17mpg, average highway driving is around 19.5mpg. We recently went on a 900 mile round trip from souther cali to arizona. Mostly flat grounds, cruise control set around 70mph, we averaged 21.4.
I purchased the vehicle used with around 80K miles on it, its never gotten more than about 20mpg on the highway. Before the trip, i checked tire pressure and changed the spark plugs and air filter...i was happy to boost the mpg's up 1.5. after reading through these forums i'm not so happy anymore.
Any suggestions as to why my 4cyl is getting less mpg's than most v6's?
wouldn't an o2 sensor throw a code at me? i just cleaned the maf on my tacoma, guess i'll hit the HL tomorrow morning. o2 sensor is going to break the bank isn't it?
If its running rough then I would say the O2's.If its running good and the milege is a few miles off then I would lean towards a motor thats getting old,if everything else checks out.You don't know how well it was taken care of before you bought it.Make sure your brakes are not dragging and no excess weight in car.Thermostat good?Did you change the wires?
Normal MPG for the 4 cylinder is 25-28 MPG on the highway. If yours is only getting 21 MPG then I'm surprized it could even pass a California smog test because gas guzzlers put out high concentrations of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide. How many parts per million HC and CO did the engine generate on it's most recent Calif. smog test?
Does the engine or chassis have any mods like a K&N air filter, Bosch spark plugs, oversize wheels and tires?
i bought it used from a dealership so they had to do the smog test, not me. so i've got no clue what its readings were. as far as modifications, its got nothing. completely stock as far as i know. the tires on it now are the one's that were on it from the dealership, not sure on size.
its not running rough at all. drives fine without any sputtering or anything at all. doesn't put out any smoke on startup either. oh and as far as a motor getting old, its a toyota right...old is 200k plus. this only has 95k ish...everyone has always said a toyota or honda motor isn't even broke in until after 100k miles.
Last edited by BrianKeith01; 05-05-2008 at 12:43 PM.
For about $40 any smog shop will test your HC and CO emissions at idle and at 2500 RPM. Ideally, HC readings should be in the single digits ( 1 - 9 ppm) and the carbon monoxide reading barely detectable. But if HC readings are around 50 ppm or higher then your engine is burning excess gasoline or one or more of your emission system components is degraded.
Or you can simply start spending money on normal tune up items for a 95,000 mile Toyota that could improve fuel economy: spark plugs, pre-cat oxygen sensor, air filter, manually scrub throttle plate clean. Look at the old spark plugs. One or more spark plugs should look blackish if the engine has been burning an excessive amount of gas.
Is there even the slightest chance you havn't been calculating the fuel MPG correctly?
The usual procedure is to fill the tank until the "first automatic click" of the pump shuts down the pump. Then drive about 300 miles and refill the tank again until the "first click." If the tank took 12 gallons to refill then 300 miles divided by 12 galllon = 25 miles per gallon.
I have found some HL owners with the I-4 complaining of poor fuel economy. To what extent ...Not sure.
But if it is true that if yu are doing as bad as yu say...yu simply would not pass a smog test.
I don't feel yu are alone.
My V6 does way better than your I-4.
As Kathyricks said, first check your math again.
i'm ASSUMING that it passes smog just fine. i've had it for a year at the end of the month and just received my renewal paper from the dmv. it does NOT require a smog check, which means the dealership i purchased it from must have had it smogged (cali smog is every 2 years).
as far as mileage calculations: i've always filled the tank up until the pump turns it off. cleared the odo meter, ran the tank down to about 1/4 left, refilled, and then divided miles on the odo by amount of gas refilled.
i mean, its a little ridiculous, my stock 4cyl HL is as bad as my v6 tacoma with intake, exhaust, thicker/taller rims and tires. i don't get it.
today i cleaned the MAF sensor with electric parts cleaner and then used seafoam deep creap to clean the throttle body and blades. when i changed the plugs, i did NOT change the wires, so i'll go ahead and do that. after that stuff, i guess all thats left is the sensors.
is there any way to test an o2 sensor? and could it possibly be the cat. converter without all the typical signs (sluggish acceleration, egg odor, etc.)?
i talked to a toyota tech while i was getting a recall fixed, he says that an o2 sensor or cat problem would throw a code. ignition coil won't affect gas mileage, and i shouldn't have to replace my fuel filter because its in the tank...
i'm going to check the timing next time i'm at my old man's house and see if maybe thats off...
It sounds like you have the same exact vehicle, an 01 4-cyl highlander with around 100K. We typically drive it around because it gets better mileage than the Tundra. The HL usually gets the advertised mileage, around 24 in town. I can get around 350mi in town and around 400miles on the highway on a tank of gas.
When we go camping, we take the Tundra because it gets 18MPG without the trailer and 17 with the trailer. The HL gets 25 without the trailer and 19 with the trailer. In that case fuel economy is a wash, so the extra room in the Tundra wins out.
The mileage has been the same since we bought it. All of the O2 sensors have been changed because a faulty ECU kept throwing codes saying that the O2 sensor was bad. In the end the ECU was replaced.
HL is 1900 miles into a 3000 miles oil interval, i checked yesterday and it has burned ZERO oil. i am however going to switch from my current 10w30 DOWN to 5w30 which was advised by the service tech i spoke with yesterday.
at a whopping 15 bucks, i'll go ahead and change out the pcv valve just for the hell of it.
with coils running at 83 bucks each (cheapest online price i could find), i'm going to buy one each pay period and then install all 4 at the same time. wife just had a baby so we can't afford one $400 hit.
trans is going to get serviced probably on monday or tuesday. i've only had it for about a year so i don't know how the previous owner handled it, but its time regardless.
outside of taking it to the stealership, is there any way to check for "Stored" codes? will the average autoparts store OBDII scanner pick it up?
01 Highlander fuel issues
Linear Mode
