So I was having the oil consumption issue that some of us are experiencing. Brought it to the dealer where they did an ECU reflash that adjusted the timing slightly to correct the oil issue...

Turns out that the reflash made me get better gas mileage!
I used to average out to about 32mpg... I am hitting 40mpg now with the reflash done, has anyone else experienced this?

BTW:

 

service bulletin # if available.

 

That's awesome! I'd like to have the 'flash' just for the increased fuel economy. As said above, post the service bulletin number if you have it.

 

I dont have the bulletin off hand, but its not something that you can just stop at a dealership to have done. It needs to be documented with Scion over a time span before it is approved. I had to have service check my oil every 500 miles for the amount of oil being consumed etc.

Might I also add that while I did gain MPG the xD feels a little sluggish now...

I am wondering what will happen when I start on engine mods... I am guessing that as long as I do nothing to change the timing it will not affect oil consumption, but who knows what will happen...

 

you just answered my next question about performance. for as much as i dip into the throttle to listen to the intake whistle, I still get 32 as an average. much better than that cold weather 25 i was gettin over the winter.

 

I dip into the throttle occationally as well, and before the flash I was averaging about 32 mpg... now even with some heavy driving I still am averaging above 38...

 

jim, i had the same problem over the winter as well. i was lucky to get over 30, and then as soon as spring hit, i was back to the mid 30s. dont gas stations do a summer/winter mix of gas with higher ethanol?

 

they do that here with the gas. we'll see what happenes this winter with the new intake. ..why am I talking about winter anyway? it's June and I'm still waiting for spring to return

 

That doesn't seem right - Try checking the MPG the old fashion way - Number of miles divided by the number of gallons you used. If I look at my MPG on the computer it is usually on average 2mpg more than the real math shows. I've logged every fill up since I've owned the car and I've proved this on every fill up, I don't have an oil problem like you have had.

 

You probably do have the oil issue and dont know it. I have had the car for 2 years and only now have I seen the issue taking affect because I have been driving much more mileage than normal...

and as for checking it the old fashioned way, if your consistently 2 mpg better than what it reads then when it read 40mpg, it was actually 42mpg...

 

ok i'm intrigued now and need to know more.

i have an 08 XD auto with TC 17" rims, actually let me rephrase that, my wife drives my 08 XD auto and we have never done better than 27mpg in mixed driving. best tank i ever got was on a 240 mile trip where i got 31.7 mpg driving almost the entire way on the interstate at between 70 and 75.

keep in mind that i live in south west florida so the AC is on pretty much all year round but no matter how much i baby the car i personally can never get anywhere near some of the fuel efficiency numbers that many get. it's not like we're short driving either since every trip always tends to be 10 miles one way.

our fuel efficiency gauge tends to be 1.5 to 2 mpg off what the car is actually getting when calculated ie. currently reads 29.2 but when i fill it up i will put right about 10 gals in it and if i'm lucky i **might** have got 280 miles on this tank.

 

What exactly is the issue? when does it start to creep up? ..and is there a thread about it already?
I'm approachin 15K mi , now only in my first year and about ready to change my oil for the first time (BY MYSELF OF COURSE , yes i've had my 5k and 10k maint already)... anything i need to be wary of?...

 

The issue is that the 2ZR-FE is burning excessive oil, the Corolla is having the same issue. with the ecu update, the timing is changed slightly to improve oil consumption.

 

^ 2ZR-FE

 

Good catch, I had a brain fart on that one...

 

You misread his post... he said his display is 2 MPG better than real-life (calculated at the pump: miles/gallons). I see the same thing. Actually, I think it is off by a common factor... display * 0.926 = real life fuel economy. That works out pretty well for most of my tanks.

Check out the MPG thread... I'm pretty active in there (annoyingly so), and you'll find lots of good info. There are three huge factors:

1) Cruising speed. 70-75 MPH will hurt. For me to get 40 MPG, I have to keep the top speed down to below 60 MPH. Yes, that includes on 65 MPH highways. No, people don't honk, glare, yell, or shoot... they just pass me.
2) Accelerating. Getting the car moving takes a lot of fuel. The more turns, red lights, stop signs, traffic, etc. that you encounter, the lower your fuel economy will be,

3) Length of commute. Short commutes kill your mileage, since your car isn't warmed up completely and you don't have much cruise time.

Sometimes there's just not much you can do because of the length of your commute or heavy traffic. Personally, I changed my route to work, which increased my drive from 29 to 31 miles, but avoids some heavy traffic, which adds a few MPG to my average. Overall, I am actually using less fuel, even though I'm traveling 4 more miles every day.

 

TSB 0145-08 ECM Update

 

Hmmmm so is this something that's becoming recommended on all xD's or do we have to monitor for it? I don't do my own oil changes currently so I haven't really monitored how much oil it consumes...

 

I know I only have 10k miles, but I have changed my own oil twice so far, and each time, 3.75 quarts came out....

Just throwing this out there...

 

This is not something recommended for all xD's... (all 2009 models already have the flash done to them, from the factory)
But just to toss out some info on my particular situation, my xD was running out of oil before it was time for an oil change, it was burning through over a quart every 800 miles or so... after the flash its burning less than half a quart every 1200 miles...

anyone with an 08 model who is afflicted with this issue should already know about it... cause your oil light would have come on... unless your dealership was kind enough to do the flash during an oil change or regular service... and not tell you...