Is putting premium gas in the 4runner occasionally beneficial?
- Thread starter flnycus
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SkylineGTRracer
New member
It only helps if your engine is tuned to run on it. I would just stay with 87 if I were you. I spend to much on 93 and race gas, but it good fun.
Aquabear
New member
I agree with Sky. I put in Super maybe more than I care to say and I like the way my engines run.
Other car/wifes main car is the family thoroughbred A4 convert she neeeeds super.
Does this also hold for those of us who have the V6, which supposedly requires premium gas as per Toyota's instructions?
SkylineGTRracer
New member
Yes, I have the 1GRFE also, same goes for any factory tuned engine. now when your going into boosted territory thats when you deal with knock and detonation and compensate for that with some changes to the timing and need for more fuel, or when you tune a N/A engine (me) is when you deal with spark control , timing, and fuel control, etc. The factory tune on the 1GRFE if you run 91/93 is 239 bhp vs 87 and you achieve 236 BHP, you will not feel any real change. Of course there are other variables such as ambient air temps, quality of the fuel, and atmospheric conditions, but the ECU does small compensations for that. However things I have learned from lots of experiments is that if you run a higher octane without doing anything to the timing and fuel control you make LESS power.
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CookieRoe
Senior Member
100% agree
Benefits? In theory, but in short, no. Affects Longevity? No.
Run 87 and keep her tuned up. Run 93 if you are a sheik.
Sounds good, thanks for informative reply. I wonder why Toyota advises premium gas for the v6 then, and not the v8. Seems like a strange thing to do.
One thought is that they wanted to make the v6 and v8 seem like comparable or equivalent options when it comes to the cost of gas for each option, to encourage people to step it up to the v8. Conspiracy theory anyone??? LOL
SkylineGTRracer
New member
Depends. You want premium on a boosted engine to avoid any bad compression or knocking and detonation. On a N/A engine it is only beneficial if you have made changes to the timing and spark control. Last time I checked premium is only needed on any TRD boosted trucks running the TRD 425 injector flash and recommend on the FJ with a N/A tune.
How would this apply to the v6 4runners? It's obviously not boosted, so are you saying that Toyota tuned the v6 with more advanced timing, hence the recommendation that we use premium fuel? ... Or am I mistakenly assuming you were responding to my most recent post?
SkylineGTRracer
New member
The factory tune for all 1GRFE's are the same. Toyota only recommends 91/93 on N/A FJs for some weird reason I don't know why. 4Runners, tacos, tundras, any vehicle with the 1GRFE with 91/93 will make 239 BHP and with 87 will make 236 BHP. There is no difference in the factory tune. Toyota doesn't recommend 91/93 for 4Runners only FJs when they are N/A.
SkylineGTRracer
New member
Glad I can be of some help. Yeah that article isn't well written. This might be a better one. Top4Runners.com - Toyota 4Runner Informational Website
Now this: http://www.top4runners.com/runhist/4thgen/2005specs.pdf says premium (91 octane unleaded) is recommended for both v6 and v8 - what's up with that?
SkylineGTRracer
New member
Hmmm....Not 100% sure but that seems to be written before the SAE changes. 245 BHP (05) vs 236 BHP (06). I might just look into this just for fun. Thing to remember here is there are no internal or external changes to either engine.
Sounds good! It's a bit confusing, but I'm not too worried about it. I'll continue to put in regular, 87 octane, regardless.
Anyway, sorry to the OP for quasi-hijacking the thread. What I would do, which may be comparable to (or even better than) using premium once in a while, is put some fuel injector cleaner in your tank once every month or two. May not even need to be that often.
