Toyota Prado 90 Series Petrol Power Upgrade
Submitted: Thursday, Jan 08, 2015 at 13:22
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WackyRaces
Any thoughts,
feedback or ideas on how I can get better fuel efficiency and power from my V6 3400 Petrol Prado. The old girl has only 275Klm on her and laden with a host of extras is a wonderful travelling vehicle but she chews fuel like a demon and definitely doesnt like going up hills (on bitumen even) when fully laden.
My research leads me to either an ECU upgrade though given her age I am not sure how complex her ECU would be, an upgraded exhaust and not much else. I can't see the value in trying to supercharge or turbo charge the old girl.
Happy to receive any advice though suggesting I trade her in and get a new turbo diesel, whilst inviting, doesn't match budget constraints at this point in time.
Reply By: Member - mark D18 - Thursday, Jan 08, 2015 at 15:40
Thursday, Jan 08, 2015 at 15:40
Wackraces
Just keep it the way it is . Prado,s are a good car in standard form , I reckon any money spent on these type of modifications are a waste of money . Save your money and buy a turbo diesel, but in the mean time Drive it and enjoy it.
Cheers
AnswerID:
543929
Reply By: mudbro2 - Friday, Jan 09, 2015 at 00:51
Friday, Jan 09, 2015 at 00:51
A good high flow mandrel bent exhaust would be your best bet to improve power and economy and it will be your cheapest option. My mate did this to his petrol 105 series cruiser and was quite surprised with the result, and he runs big 35" tyres.
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Follow Up By: Bonz (Vic) - Friday, Jan 09, 2015 at 22:56
Friday, Jan 09, 2015 at 22:56
I second that motion!
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831120
Reply By: doug v - Friday, Jan 09, 2015 at 09:55
Friday, Jan 09, 2015 at 09:55
yeah wacky we have a 2001 3.4 prado an suffered fuel use of around 14 l / 100 not towing, an had to use 98 octane as well (
grey import). bit the bullet an went to bullet, tom put on a supercharger, chip with 2 maps(economy,power) an extractors. power has been like a mack truck , an surprisingly, economy improved to 8l/100 not towing normal hyway driving, but fuel use goes up the harder you push it towing our van it's around 16l/100. while $ fugures it may never pay for the installation,we have been very happy an can use 91 now. however instalation costs have come down since, you can pick up trd setups cheaper now ,an the $ figures may be better. have done about 270k since setup.
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Follow Up By: WackyRaces - Friday, Jan 09, 2015 at 10:02
Friday, Jan 09, 2015 at 10:02
Hi Doug, thanks for the info. Had a look at Bullet web site and have to say that cost of supercharger, chips, extractors as quoted with installation is more than I paid for vehicle....so whilst I do think that the idea would definitely benefit as outlined, it will take a huge number of klm's to go anywhere near recovering cost. I have been skimping on fuel using E10 so maybe an initial dip into pocket for 91/95 might provide some improvement....I will see.
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Follow Up By: Kumunara (NT) - Friday, Jan 09, 2015 at 12:03
Friday, Jan 09, 2015 at 12:03
I noticed that you are using E10. There was an article in the AANT magazine some time ago in relation to E10. Using E10 you lose power and increased fuel usage.
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Follow Up By: WackyRaces - Friday, Jan 09, 2015 at 13:36
Friday, Jan 09, 2015 at 13:36
Hi Kumanara, I hear you and will be changing to the higher octane fuel from next fill up (tomorrow)....hear is hoping that there is some improvement over time.
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Follow Up By: madfisher - Friday, Jan 09, 2015 at 21:18
Friday, Jan 09, 2015 at 21:18
I did some trials with my 3.5v6 Jack with various fuels. I used 91 unleaded as bench mark for fuel economy and performance.
On e 10 it become a complete dog and fuel economy dropped from 12l/100 to 14/100 performance was so bad it went up hills at the same speed as on 95 but with my 700kg boat behind.
Now it often takes three tanks before the ecu recalibrates and takes full advantage of higher oct fuels.
Best economy is on 95, but as often shell 98 is the same price as 95 I just stick 98 in the tank, which is normally in the low 11s, this is on ats pumped up to 40psi, my
young blokes older lighter Jack before b/bars and
driving lights etc would get down to 10.7 driven at 90 and his has free wheeling hubs as well.
Extractors and a free flowing exhaust are the best value for money add ons but will still cost you around $1000.
Cheers Pete
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Follow Up By: desray (WA - Saturday, Jan 10, 2015 at 12:51
Saturday, Jan 10, 2015 at 12:51
Dough yeah wacky we have a 2001 3.4 prado an suffered fuel use of around 14 l / 100. I had a Prado for 5 years and it did 14l---100 ks all the time I had it. I didnt think it was bad at the time.
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Follow Up By: snow - Saturday, Jan 10, 2015 at 17:15
Saturday, Jan 10, 2015 at 17:15
Re the E10, I did some experimenting with running E10 in our RAV4 on several circa 1200km highway runs and also found that performance was down as was economy.
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831153
Reply By: desray (WA - Saturday, Jan 10, 2015 at 12:53
Saturday, Jan 10, 2015 at 12:53
Selling it to get a Diesel wont save you much at the moment, Diesel is 20-30 cents a litre more than petrol, no saving there.
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Reply By: snow - Saturday, Jan 10, 2015 at 17:13
Saturday, Jan 10, 2015 at 17:13
What about fitting a hi Lone? They allegedly improve both performance and economy.
Stay cool guys I am just yanking ya chains hehe.
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Reply By: Member - DOZER - Wednesday, Jan 21, 2015 at 11:44
Wednesday, Jan 21, 2015 at 11:44
Best option is to use 95 or 98 fuel, and on the muffler in the prado, you will see a hatch bolted to the back end of the muffler, inside is a valve...take it out and seal it back up..you have now got a freer flowing exhaust for 30 minutes of labour.
Injected gas also helps with economy, a unichip if you do run a larger exhaust, but all these options cost heaps of money, starting with the basics can reward you with minimum outlay. I have had fuel pumps die due to e10 usage in a 95 cruiser, it may be worth throwing money at a new one just incase that is the underlying issue.....also....if you pull the efi fuse for 30 seconds, you dont need to use 3 tanks before the motor learns a new timing map, it does it instantly.
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