Mileage Dropped with PUP vs Mobil-1

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Have a 2015 Tacoma with about 30k miles on it. I've always run Mobil-1 5W-30. But this past winter I noticed it seemed noisy, and I switched to PUP 5W30. My mileage went from around 21 to 19 or so. The drop is pretty consistent. Doesn't seem any quieter, either.

Anyone else experience a drop? Does better mileage mean more "slippery", and hence, better lubrication?

I'll probably switch back to Mobil-1 this summer.
 
When i owned a ford escape 3.0 v-6. I tried many weights of oil. I ran 5w-20, 5w-30, 0w-30 and even rotella 5w 40. Each oci was about 5k. I nver saw any fuel mileage difference from 5w-20 all the way to the 5w 40. No difference.
 
If you changed grade, I would expect some change in MPG. I think you have some other contributing factor like winter gas blend and/or driving habit change.
 
I will preface this with the following... I am not trying to give you a hard time here. But the likelihood that there was that big of a difference in gas mileage between the two oils is very, very unlikely. I "test" my gas mileage on the exact same stretch of road. I have gotten numbers that are remarkably consistent over time 29.4 to 30.3 with brand new oil in my car. I have done this over 36 times in that exact same stretch of highway. Given that as it may well be an 0.9 difference is still a good sized spread. One has to take in to factor air temp, tire pressures and temperature in your tires, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed and direction, throttle control, any deviation in the travel lane. I know that my numbers are as "accuate" as they can be given so many variables are not truly controlled. Again, a 0.9 mpg difference is still statistically rather large. I believe that my numbers are "legitimate" (as best as it could be) to an extent in that they have been repeatable over the course of 36 times. But in no way would I present those numbers as being the "infallible gospel" either.

A 2 mpg difference is just far too big of a spread to believe that it is the oil at fault for such a difference. With variances in air temp, tire temp, tire pressure, wind directions, average humidity, barometric pressures, gasoline quality or lack thereof, traffic patterns, your own driving patterns etc it is very hard to draw any conclusive evidence to suggest that it was the oil's fault in drop in mpg.
 
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Very correct about the summer and winter blend gas having a impact on any results. Plus the ethanol percentage as well. But, good bad or indifferent the methodology of testing gas mileage does factor in greatly as well. It is impossible to stabilize every possible variable in real world checking on that. But a couple of factors could at least be consistent.
 
I also have a 2015 Tacoma. Mine has the V6, auto, 4x4, and it's a double cab short bed.

I've run PUP 5W30 every 5k since the factory fill and my mileage has yet to break 19, but my understanding is that this is about the upper limit of MPG for my particular truck configuration.

If yours is identically configured then maybe we can compare?
 
I had the opposite experience on noise (with meter) but no change in MPG - quit PUP over cost and hard to find.
...still using PG in one motor.
 
Back in 2003 I bought my Nissan, and decided to be all proper and scientific about it...was a lease with a fuel card so always same station and bowser (maybe a tank or two on an interstate run...here's where I got until I realised that it was a fool's errand to try to draw conclusions...

mileage.jpg


for reference, 1km/l is about 2.5 MPG US
 
Originally Posted By: JerryBob
Have a 2015 Tacoma with about 30k miles on it. I've always run Mobil-1 5W-30. But this past winter I noticed it seemed noisy, and I switched to PUP 5W30. My mileage went from around 21 to 19 or so. The drop is pretty consistent. Doesn't seem any quieter, either.

Anyone else experience a drop? Does better mileage mean more "slippery", and hence, better lubrication?

I'll probably switch back to Mobil-1 this summer.


I doubt very much your oil has anything to do with your perceived idea that the MPG changed because of the change in oil and would be impossible to document.
One thing you mention is you think something in the way the engine became more noisy so you switched oil, so the MPG change if in fact there is one, would be the engine, not the oil.

Just think, if any oil brand, car manufacturers could increase MPG by almost 10% as you think you are getting from Mobile 1 the car makers would be all over the world using the same oil.
Car makers try to increase MPG by fractions to meet government standards, if they could get 10% WOW, it would be the holy grail.
:eek:)
 
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I recently put 10w30 QSUD in the Nissan, it sports a shorter KV100 than the Dexos I, maybe somewhat higher HTHS, but its still "resource conserving". Engine felt "mired in Mud" so I to drained a 1/2 qt and amended with QSUD 5w20 to get the VVT into the correct range at low rpm.

LTFM mileage jumped 3 tenths of a MPG after that. For good low end torque you must get that VVT cam advance into its sweet spot. Big flaw of some/many hydraulic VVT. Also the Nissan doesn't use intake tumble or port valves

Wife's Subaru boxer with dual VVT doesn't appear to care.
 
That is beyond laughable. I linked an article a while back that detailed the pitfalls of measuring real-world fuel economy, and showed that the energy density of gasoline can vary as much as 4% even at the same gas station.

Measuring something is one thing, but attributing it to a specific variable is quite another. To measure a 0.3 MPG change in daily driving and then somehow claim it is due to one variable out of the many that would influence real-world driving is downright silly.
 
Originally Posted By: JoelB
3 tenths of an mpg? You have to be kidding...


If changing viscosity effectively changes the intake valve timing I'd give this a plausible.

Otherwise....bupkus!
 
Originally Posted By: Reddy45
I also have a 2015 Tacoma. Mine has the V6, auto, 4x4, and it's a double cab short bed.

I've run PUP 5W30 every 5k since the factory fill and my mileage has yet to break 19, but my understanding is that this is about the upper limit of MPG for my particular truck configuration.

If yours is identically configured then maybe we can compare?


Mine is identical, but I have the 6-speed manual. I switched the tranny and rear diff to RedLine synthetic, and that got me up to 21 (hwy). I also drive very gingerly and usually don't exceed 65 or 70.

I am aware of the oxygenated gas in winter, but I thought they switched over in April. Maybe I'm wrong.
 
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