StinkyBoy

Hi everyone! Been reading the forums for a while. Just last week, purchased a used 2005 ES330 (with under 50 000km).

I am located in Ontario, Canada. Weather here is pretty cold now.

Been curious on the gas consumption of the car. Got the car and filled the tank up, and reset the trip odometer to zero to keep track of travel distance. I have driven for a few days now, and noticed that gas consumption is very, very high.

I went to the pump, and filled it up again. Took notice of the amount of gas that I had to fill and also made a note of the km traveled.

Travelled 186.4 km, and had to fill 30.816L into the tank for a full tank. Based on these numbers, the efficiency of the car is (30.816/186.4) x 100 = 16.53 L of gas per 100 km or 14.23 MPG. This is very, very high gas consumption.

The driving was 100% city, and not too much idling at red lights or in garage or parking lot.

The advertised gas efficiency of the car is about 11.5 L gas per 100 km. My car uses about 50% more gas than what it is advertised for city travel.

Any ideas why this is the case? Anything that I can do about this, other than sell the car!

I have used regular 87 gas (up here, there is some % of ethanol in gas). The air filter appears clean. The car runs great, like new. No issues with anything at all. No engine lights at all. I am very light on the acceleration, I let the car coast as much as possible.

brucelee1

iTrader: (2)

That is low. I would put this car on a code reader or diagnostic. You should be doing better.


PS-I use premium fuel.

I get about 23-24 in mixed driving, 29 straight highway.

285exp

I don't think you should freak out too much about it yet. The EPA rating is 18 mpg city, and very cold weather is going to impact that significantly. It's going to run rich every time you start it up and run rich until is warms up, will take longer to reach operating temperature in very cold weather, and the transmission fluid and bearing lubes are going to be more viscous and therefore have greater drag until they warm up too. The shorter the trips the greater the effect on fuel economy is going to be. Until you have a better baseline than a little over a half tank of purely city driving in extreme weather then you should conintue to monitor and see how representative that economy is.

Also, winter blend fuel has slightly less energy content than summer blend, so the combination of ethanol and winter blend fuel should decrease your fuel efficiency by 5% or so, about 1 mpg.

speedkar9

I too have been noticing bad fuel economy with my 05 ES330.

I'm getting 12L/100km on the highway. Last year I used to get 10L/100km for the same commute and cold weather...

Air filter is clean, spark plugs are fresh, tires are inflated, 87 octane gas, light right foot on the throttle, don't idle to warm up, no useless junk in the car, etc.

Maybe its bad Ontario gas? lol

rlx101

its normal! heavy car, 6cylinder + snow + probably grandma driving speeds = ultra high gas consumption.

what is your average speed per on-board computer? i bet it is ~25-30mph.

mitmaks

There's lots of variables. Cold air will not let your engine heat up to its full temp and your engine will burn more gas. Check and clean your IAT sensor, maybe do a tune up, new plugs, filter, fuel filter. Definitely check for codes.

StinkyBoy

Will be taking the car to the mechanic in a week to do a diagnostic.

Just yesterday, I removed the MAF (Mass Air Flow) sensor and cleaner it by spraying some CRC sensor cleaner. Before the cleaning, on a full tank, the computer would indicate a range of 430 km. After the MAF sensor cleaning, the computer now shows me a range of 510 km on a full tank. Tank is about 60L.

What other suggestions do you have for cleaning and checking?

new plugs - you mean, "spark plugs"? can I change these easily on my own? what is recommended? from where to purchase them (I am thinking Rock Auto)?

air filter - right now some chinese made filter sits - it is clean, but will be changing this to an American made air filter (FRAM)?

fuel filter - not sure where this is located

any other suggestions?

average speed is about 45 km/h - car is empty as I am not carrying anything at all

speedkar9

The tank is actually 70L, but reads empty when about 10L are remaining. Never trust the computer's calculation on range or fuel consumption, its based on past fuel economy and cannot predict your driving style one tank full ahead. You need to fill up, manually measure the km traveled and divide by the liters to get your actual fuel consumption.

Here's the DIY for spark plugs on the 4ES:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es3...placement.html

FRAM is actually Chinese made, and is probably no better than Motomaster or other generic brands. K&N generally give better performance, but cost more and don't filter as well as the paper elements.

StinkyBoy

I have purchased FRAM (Extra Milage, or something like that), which is made in USA - it said on the box as well as on the filter itself. It appears to be a much better made filter vs. the chinese one I have now. The FRAM I purchased mentions that it is usable up to 20 000 km (or 12 000 miles).

Speaking of the K&N filter, is it worth it? Heard the oil in some cases may affect the MAF sensor.

Thank you for the info on how to change the spark plugs.

Mythotical

Let me put it to you this way... When I bought my 98 es it Had a brand new K&N in it. I drove to my local Napa, pulled it out, threw it in the trash and put in a Napa gold (WIX) filter. There is a reason Fram can be found in your local Walmart, they are also junk no matter where they are made. As for mileage I live in Montana and I drive quite spiritedly even in winter. I get about 14mpg in city when I drive it like I stole it, but when I take it easy I can only get 15 to 16 or so. Winter gas here has about 10% ethanol weather it's premium or regular. So I use 87 (regular) and have found no difference. I have a diagnostic tool and Torque software in my Android phone. In summer my intake temperature averaged about 130°F. Now in winter it is around ambient plus 10° the car makes a lot more power but there is just no free lunch in the world of physics now is there. IE greater air density + lower energy fuel = ****ty fuel economy but also = higher catalytic converter efficiency and cleaner exhaust per volume. Because the EPA said "let's wast more fuel so we can achieve cleaner air when measured by volume instead of density"... *******s! (That's another and much longer thread) but long story short... poor winter fuel economy is what it is. About all you can do is find a way to warm the intake air charge, hell I'm going to try it. Good luck!

StinkyBoy

Thanks Mythotical - I keep my car in the garage. Was thinking of covering the engine area (the hood of the car) with some thick, soft material while the car is parked.

What methods of warming it up are you thinking about?

Engine block heater, that would not do, I gather, eh? Eh?

I will be returning the FRAM filter back. Is the a good filter I should buy K&N?

PFB

The only good filters that you should get are the original Lexus/Toyota Filters.

Also, I'm not sure if your car calls for premium fuel or not, but If does, than use Shell premium, and nothing else. It's the only company that has 0% Ethanol in their premium grade. This is an advantage, and it's only available in Canada. The US is out of luck on this one.

Any other Company would have between 5% and 10% in their premium grades.


Enjoy our car

Phil

KLF

14.2 mpg is not right. Cold weather and slow driving in poor conditions will make a small difference, maybe 1-2 mpg. If my car only got that kind of mileage, I would never keep it, it would be gone. That's Land Cruiser/LX470 territory for mileage.

I get ~22 on average, no highway on my commute, and it's only 7 miles. Road trips on the highway I can easily get 25-27 mpg, and that's running 70-75 mph. Our Highlander is a lot bigger and heavier, AWD, same exact engine, and gets ~20 mpg. All we ever run is Regular (87 octane).

PFB

Sorry, but thats not correct at all. Such conditions can cut MPG consumption in half, and it will be considered totally normal.

285exp

Getting it checked out will be fine, but I doubt they're going to find much of anything wrong with it. Again, you can change all those things out if you want to, but they're unlikely to have much of an effect. Unless the air filter is nearly obstructing the airflow they have little effect on fuel economy, and the fuel filter should have none. Won't hurt anything to change the spark plugs, but it isn't likely to make much of a difference either. Spending money to chase a few mpg when there probably isn't anything wrong might make you feel better, but don't count on it being cost effective. Despite what some of the folks here say, a noticeable drop in fuel economy in cold weather is normal, and because you really don't have much of a baseline to go on, you don't have an accurate picture of your actual mileage, and purely city driving in cold weather is going to be a worse case in terms of fuel economy. Read up on the effects of cold weather on mileage before you start throwing away money.