Gas Mileage after Lift

Hi all, I just put in a leveling kit on my tacoma 3rd gen 8 weeks ago. I drove it for 3 weeks before getting an alignment done and my MPG's didn't suffer much. After the alignment I experienced lower MPG's. I was averaging around 19 & 20 and now I'm at 17 & 18. I'm still using the same tires as before and I got a 2/1 leveling kit. Does anyone know if this is common after leveling truck?

 

Sounds about right if you had a front chin spoiler, and now you don't.

 

It’s normal to lose some mpg when adding a lift and/or bigger tires.

It is odd though that you experienced the loss only after you aligned the truck. Not sure what’s happening there.

 

To me that does not sound right. I have a couple inches of lift on my truck and no change in MPG with stock tires which I still run. I would suspect more it has to do with the weather and possibly gas. Not sure where you are at, but if it turns colder your engine is going to get worse MPGs due to running richer when it is cold. My truck does a couple worse here in Colorado in the winter mainly because it takes so long to warm up. Gas blends change seasonally in a lot of areas and that can also have an impact. If your alignment is correct, I think it is just coincidence that MPG dropped around that time.

 

Physics. Trucks aerodynamics gets worse after a lift, can’t change that.

Im lifted and carry bunch of extra weight. Can still get advertised MPGs, if I take it easy. I’m actually glad I’ve added all this weight, tires and lift, I just hang out in the right lane and watch drivers rush and stress out.

 

I didn't notice a change with a 2.5 lift but I have 4.88 gears and 33s. The tires and gears dropped me from 19.5 to 17. I lost maybe .5 mpg from the chin spoiler but that may have been weather etc. Wasn't enough to notice with any certainty and I drive almost all highway at 70+

 

This right here would most likely be it. A 2mpg difference is quite big in my opinion though.

I usually experience <1mpg loss during the winter here in Texas but I also am not driving a stock truck so there may be more variables there.

 

Guys, just lift your truck and enjoy life. We talking about what, $200-400$ a year? Maybe.

 

I agree. I do monitor mileage just to keep tabs on anything going wrong

 

Exactly. That’s the only reason why I monitor it.

Life is too short to worry about 20-30$ a month haha.

 

All I know when I did 70 mph trying my truck a month without the spoiler, I noticed an immediate 1 mpg drop in fuel economy, and it never got better after 2 fill-ups.

 

2nd gen here, but my big mpg hit was moving to bigger tires. The lift alone will cause you to lose a couple mpgs, but it helps that you're sticking with stock tires (if you are in fact worried about mpgs).

 

Thanks everyone. I was more curious if anyone else experienced the same thing with just a lift. Eventually I will upgrade to bigger tires anyways and get even lower MPG's, lol. Just going to enjoy it

 

My guess you were driving more cautiously, after lift and before alignment. Now you driving a bit harder/aggressively, that your alignment is done. So now your noticing the effects of lift.

 

I don’t even have a lift and mine is always horrible. I usually don’t look at it, but this has me wondering what mine actually is……This is why I never look at it, and just fill it up when close to empty.

 

17-18 with a lift and larger tires is normal.
You mentioned "I'm still using the same tires as before" but did not state the actual size.

 

Yes, its common. Others may go around claiming it made no difference for them, but ultimately, its extremely common. Lifting changes aero, resulting in less mpg. Changing driving habits can sometimes mitigate the negative effect, yielding similar to before.

For others who had to change driving habits to account for a modification that decreased mpg and you claim your mpg stayed the same, thats not exactly true. If your mpg did in fact remain the same, there are other factors at play (ex: only making certain types of commutes, driving at certain speeds that aero doesn't come in to play, having other mods that already destroyed mpg, etc)

 

welcome aboard tacos_4_LIFE

I just run em' stock...