Fuel economy & sticks in third all the time

[Bomber]

I spend large amounts of time with the car stuck in third gear, as it won't change up until I get to at least 2500RPM or 65kmh. Around the city both of those are kinda hard to do, especially in peak hour.

Fuel economy is awful, getting 14+ around town. I suspect the two issues are linked.

Dealer keeps telling me they have checked the computer and found nothing wrong, maybe it's just me and my driving style, "you're meant to rev diesels :wall: " (not any other diesel I've ever driven). Always the same answer "we checked the computer" (what happened to real mechanics?) and so no work was done. I've even tried revving the diesel and the economy gets even worse - as you'd expect when you rev it all the time.

Is there anyone else who's had this issue of third gear lagging all the time?

What kind of around town economy are you getting? 14l/100km is 40% more than the WG used to get and it's killing me - it would be cheaper to take a trade in hit and go to a new D4D Prado.

[Tasar]

go and see the boys at northern

they'll fix it

[jammy jeep]

Bomber, depending on how much real stop/start city driving you are doing, those figures don't surprise me at all. Until we put the DP chip in, we were averaging between 12.5 to 13 around town and Canberra traffic is nowhere near as bad as what you would have in Melbourne. Its amazing how quickly the figures will drop when you can get it up to 80 for a while.
I also agree that there is a big jump between some of the gears, especially 2nd to 3rd and 3rd to 4th and the auto box has a mind of its own. Sometimes, even when you hit the gear lever to get it to change, it still wont until its good and ready.
So, if you're in real heavy traffic, judging how our car goes, what you are saying doesn't really surprise me. I kept waiting for the engine to 'free-up', as the demonstrator at the dealer did way better economy when we were test driving it. But have got to 45000kms now and no sign of better. Let me know if you find something that works. I just console myself with the fact that it still uses less fuel than the TJ and it really goes well on the highway with the van behind it.
By the way, the DP chip does make a bit of a difference to how the car runs with less lag and slightly better economy (11.8-12.0 around town now).

[LiveToSki]

I have been looking at how my car goes since I read this from you.

At 60 I sit on 1500 RPM (dont know what gear) and the fuel economy is 12.5 as we speak. Reset it about 2 weeks ago. 1 trip to Buller but the rest is city driving.

Good luck with your Prado - I know what I am keeping! :)