85 Octane in Colorado? Toyota says yes. What do you say?

[explore.runner]

Does anyone run 85 octane in Colorado? I have read that it is basically like running 87 at lower elevations. I asked the service department at Toyota and they said it is totally ok to run 85 octane in Colorado. Just curious about all of your thoughts??

**other threads don't call this out specifically and the polls don't include 85.

 

[Ryan1975]

I do. I drive back and forth between Monument & Denver.

I will say there is a notable improvement when I do splurge and drop a tank of 91. I often go back in my head to the supercharger thread when one of the original testers mentioned that during his baseline testing before the install the amount of timing that he was seeing pulled on 87 Octane.

If I wasn't running 70-80 miles or more a day, I'd definitely run 91 octane full time.

 

[druuu88]

Here is the response from Toyota Corporate:


"Thank you for contacting Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.

We appreciate the opportunity to address your inquiry.

We recommend the use of unleaded gasoline with a minimum octane rating of 87 (Research Octane Number 91) or higher for the 2018 4Runner. If you decide to use to gasoline with a higher octane rating, it may increase the fuel economy and performance of your vehicle, however any benefits may be so negligible that you may not notice any difference.

Please refer to the "Specifications" section in your owner’s manual for further information."


I would rather spend the extra few bucks per tank and not worry about any future warranty arguments. I'm sure 85 would probably be okay as I have talked to many people who use it without issue, but my preference is to be safe and use 87 and spend the extra $4 or so per fill up. NOTE- just because a Toyota dealer says it is okay, does not mean Toyota stands behind it. Dealers are independent companies... and good luck ever getting a dealer to put in writing that 85 is acceptable, they won't because they know Toyota disagrees.

 

[thennen]

I live in Ohio, but during the past decades have made numerous vacation trips to Glacier Park, Yellowstone, etc. I think the standard octane all the time I was in Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota, was 85.5, and my two 4Runners (1988 and 2001) always ran fine on it.

My last trip out there was in 2012 sad, and I decided to see if there was a difference between the cheaper 10% ethanol blend and straight gasoline (wasn't really paying attention to octane). While it may not have anything to do with your question, I noticed a significant improvement in MPG with straight gasoline. Like maybe 2-4 MPG if I recall correctly. Maybe the straight gas was also higher octane, which would agree with Ryan1975.

 

[MikeMike5280]

I've run 85 in mine without any issues, including drives up to the top of Mt Evans and Pikes Peak, multiple Trail Ridge Road trips, Loveland Pass, etc...

 

[The Waco Kid]

I've run 85 in Colorado without issue (Leadville if I recall)... it was however only one tank. I refilled with 87 once I made it down to Alamosa.

Side note: I had the best MPG I have ever documented coming from Alamosa down to Santa Fe. Even with 4 adult passengers and a weeks worth of luggage for each of us. 25+.

 

[comtn4x4]

I've lived in Colorado for the last 21 years and gone back and forth on this through multiple vehicles. I've never really had a problem with 85. But that being said, I have always run 87 in my 4runner when in Colorado. If I'm elsewhere I run 85. With all the extra weight I carry I have found through the use of my butt dyno that 87 gives me perceivably more power and better fuel economy.
In all seriousness though mt engine seems to run better on 87. And last time I checked I was getting about 1/2 a mpg better with 87. (Considering that brought me up to 15 mpg I figure that's pretty good!)Probably just me imagining it.
All that being said my wife and I do enough business with Kroger/King Sooper to ensure we always get a $1 off a gallon of gas so I'm probably not as concerned with the price.

 

[Louise]

Don't let 10-20$ a month keep you up at night. Health >>> $20.

 

[md-lucky]

If you figure premium is usually, what, 30 cents more per gallon?

So basically $7 per tank of gas more (obviously you don't put 23 gallons in every time... but for the point here...)

If you get a measly 15 miles per gallon, over 100,000 miles of driving, you are looking at 290 tanks of gas.

At $7 more per tank, spread over 100,000 miles and however many years... You're going to spend $2,000 more to have peace of mind with your $35,000 vehicle running premium.

Seems like easy spend to me. I only run premium.

 

[Toffees]

Does anyone run 85 octane in Colorado? I have read that it is basically like running 87 at lower elevations. I asked the service department at Toyota and they said it is totally ok to run 85 octane in Colorado. Just curious about all of your thoughts??

**other threads don't call this out specifically and the polls don't include 85.

I'm no engineer, although apparently we have one or two here at T4r, but it's a simple matter of chemistry (or physics). You need higher octane for higher engine compression (?), but you don't get higher compression at altitude where you have less oxygen (something something air/fuel ratio something something). If you routinely buy 85 octane and ran it at sea level, you'd probably end up with engine knocking, but you're not going to have any trouble running 85 at altitude.

 

[Toffees]

I've run 85 in Colorado without issue (Leadville if I recall)... it was however only one tank. I refilled with 87 once I made it down to Alamosa.

Side note: I had the best MPG I have ever documented coming from Alamosa down to Santa Fe. Even with 4 adult passengers and a weeks worth of luggage for each of us. 25+.

always better fuel economy at altitude, although driving slower helps quite a bit too

 

[The Waco Kid]

always better fuel economy at altitude, although driving slower helps quite a bit too

That's what I noticed... and I was not the most fun person to be stuck behind (but it was pretty much deserted so it's not like I was holding anyone up either). I may have made a game out of how many miles we could get out of that tank. Well over 400 was the answer, but I don't remember the exact amount. Made me jealous though.

That said, I'm still in the 18-20's, lifted with a large tent on top.

 

[Hydguy]

The EPA needs to ditch the ethanol mandate.

 

[nevada]

If you figure premium is usually, what, 30 cents more per gallon?

So basically $7 per tank of gas more (obviously you don't put 23 gallons in every time... but for the point here...)

If you get a measly 15 miles per gallon, over 100,000 miles of driving, you are looking at 290 tanks of gas.

At $7 more per tank, spread over 100,000 miles and however many years... You're going to spend $2,000 more to have peace of mind with your $35,000 vehicle running premium.

Seems like easy spend to me. I only run premium.

its wasted money though. has zero gain. in fact it may even be a net negative.

 

[sag19]

85 vote here. Work at a high performance and race car shop, I wont knock anyone for running premium because its not my money and they dont need to defend their fuel choices but theres no actual benefit or legitimate argument for it unless your truck is in poor health and pulling timing for another reason already. Its a good placebo.:car:

 

[explore.runner]

Makes sense but a majority of places in the US are at a lower elevation were 87 is the lowest option so it makes sense that all the manuals and responses say to use 87 because most everyone should. Colorado at the much higher elevation should have a different response.

 

[explore.runner]

85 vote here. Work at a high performance and race car shop, I wont knock anyone for running premium because its not my money and they dont need to defend their fuel choices but theres no actual benefit or legitimate argument for it unless your truck is in poor health and pulling timing for another reason already. Its a good placebo.:car:

85 from any gas station? I filled up at a Sinclair last night and it said "may contain up to 10% ethanol"... is that ok??

 

[sag19]

85 from any gas station? I filled up at a Sinclair last night and it said "may contain up to 10% ethanol"... is that ok??

Ethanol free is difficult to find in Colorado. Its okay but far from ideal. My only recommendation is filling up at nice, newer stations. Twice in the last like 5 yrs in Fort Collins we have had two crummy, old, popular gas stations have water leaking into the tanks that destroyed many peoples engines. Always good to keep your latest gas receipt in case that happens.

 

[Agent_Outside]

85 octane shell for every single tank (save for road trips where whatever is on the highway is what’s available) for 100K without a single hiccup. That’s with off-roading, towing, lots of mountain driving.

 

[hamburglar210]

I use 91... I know people are going to hate on me for it but I swear I read somewhere that the same engine in a Lexus calls for premium and that the ecu can retune itself to get a tiny bit more power with the higher grade. No idea if it's true but I don't really care, it seems to run a little better and I'd rather have cleaner fuel in the car.