What fuel do you run?

[EDGE]

This has been discussed, all these smart Toyota owners and they can't even read an owners manual, when Toyota recommends 91 AKI it not 91 as in premium, check the pump cause 87 has an AKI (Anti Knock Index) of 91

It's on the freakin pumps now it all nice and dandy but the owners manual written by Toyota says regular and for increased performance run higher octane, so their you have it, those of you who like to save a few bucks every fill up continue to run 87 and those of you who don't mind putting the premium in go for it, unless someones gonna tackle you at the pump and fight you til the death cause they don't agree with what your putting in the tank then so be it, I doubt thats gonna happen.

Long as it a good quality gas thats all that matters, the engine life will not be reduced nothings gonna happen, for years cars have been compensating for higher or lower octane, gas is not consistent, the octane in a tank of 87 can range up to 89 or 90 or even lower then 87, same with premium.

Lets put this to rest, cause we have all seen cars pull up to the pump and the driver ask for premium and it's a 105hp Neon or Civic:bash: and the same goes for cars that require premium, yeah fill it up regular:bash:

Good day people:arrow: enjoy your trucks cause 1 day the last thing your gonna care about is octane:

 

[24runners]

This has been discussed, all these smart Toyota owners and they can't even read an owners manual, when Toyota recommends 91 AKI it not 91 as in premium, check the pump cause 87 has an AKI (Anti Knock Index) of 91

straight from the owner's manual:
"Octane Rating

Select Octane Rating 87 (Research Octane Number 91) or higher. For improved vehicle performance, the use of premium unleaded gasoline with an Octane Rating of 91 (Research Octane Number 96) or higher is recommended."

So...they ARE saying that 87 Octane (pump rating) has a "91 rating" as you say...but they still recommend 91 Octane (pump rating) with a 96 rating

 

[kimboy]

87 Hess Gas all the way - 5% with the Credit Card

I put in 89 or 93 on about every 6th fill up. Keeps things going strong...

 

[Hitman]

straight from the owner's manual:
"Octane Rating

Select Octane Rating 87 (Research Octane Number 91) or higher. For improved vehicle performance, the use of premium unleaded gasoline with an Octane Rating of 91 (Research Octane Number 96) or higher is recommended."

So...they ARE saying that 87 Octane (pump rating) has a "91 rating" as you say...but they still recommend 91 Octane (pump rating) with a 96 rating

Yeah, a lot of people confuse the RON with the octane rating typically found on the gas pump. Obviously, they are not the same. But the important thing to remember here is that the higher octane is only a recommendation, not a requirement.

Some high performance cars require the use of the higher octane fuels..... but even then you can get away with using lower octane stuff. This is because the engineers know that some people, regardless of the octane requirement, will still use the lower octane fuel, so they design the vehicle to run properly on it as well.

 

[RaysMD]

From what I gather, 87 (regular) octane for the 4Runner V8 is fine. Premium for higher compression engines, i.e., my M3.

 

[HiVel-JR]

93 octane!!!

only reason is because it cost more!!!

 

[iRCaDiKz]

I was using 91 but downgraded to 87 n 2007 V6 4WD.

 

[007Runner]

The 2007 owner's manual recommends 87 octane. Nothing is said about using premium or higher octane for improved performance.

 

[tedcool]

FWIW

My Grandfather was a Petroleum Engineer for Texaco. We discussed this in depth in the past.

87 Octane will make more power ( better MPG ) than 91 ( 87 has higher energy content). In order for an engine to take advantage of higher octane fuel, it has to have a higher effective compression ratio, which can be accomplished with more aggressive spark and/or valve timing (VVTi). The knock sensor is used by the computer to adjust the spark advance and timing to the degree sustainable by the fuel you are burning. I don't know how long it takes to 'try again' after backing off things to run 87 octane fuel. If I were the engineer, I would try to detect when the tank gets filled.

The result should be more power with 91, but it wouldn't be a huge difference. You would probably need to run it at the track, or use a dyno to see it.

I run 87 octane from any of the vendors that have an additive package ( Techron, etc...). I haven't bothered to see if it would be cheaper to just put a bottle of fuel system cleaner in every couple of tanks, and run 'bargain basement' gas. I bet it's pretty close.

Everyone gets gas from the same refineries. It's really just the additive package that makes the difference. The truck driver just pours a big bottle of the stuff in when he fills up at the refinery....

 

[007Runner]

Re: FWIW

My Grandfather was a Petroleum Engineer for Texaco. We discussed this in depth in the past.

87 Octane will make more power ( better MPG ) than 91 ( 87 has higher energy content). In order for an engine to take advantage of higher octane fuel, it has to have a higher effective compression ratio, which can be accomplished with more aggressive spark and/or valve timing (VVTi). The knock sensor is used by the computer to adjust the spark advance and timing to the degree sustainable by the fuel you are burning. I don't know how long it takes to 'try again' after backing off things to run 87 octane fuel. If I were the engineer, I would try to detect when the tank gets filled.

The result should be more power with 91, but it wouldn't be a huge difference. You would probably need to run it at the track, or use a dyno to see it.

I run 87 octane from any of the vendors that have an additive package ( Techron, etc...). I haven't bothered to see if it would be cheaper to just put a bottle of fuel system cleaner in every couple of tanks, and run 'bargain basement' gas. I bet it's pretty close.

Everyone gets gas from the same refineries. It's really just the additive package that makes the difference. The truck driver just pours a big bottle of the stuff in when he fills up at the refinery....

All grades of gas contain roughly the same BTU energy per gallon. The higher the octane grade the greater the ability to resist detonation. Because of this cars requiring regular fuel may have hard starting on cold days. Perhaps grandpa is old and did not know all grades of gas contain roughly the same BTU content. Premium does not have more or less power then regular, just a higher detonation ability.
My information came from Mobil Exxon. They also mentioned that in long term storage of gasoline, even if treated with stabilizer the octane level decreases over time. Hot weather will cause it to deteriorate faster. In tests they have seen 87 octane drop an average of 3 octane points. so in conclusion premium is recommended for long term storage to prevent damage from low octane levels. They also recommended you store the winter blend of premium to aid starting of engines that would not require the high octane grade.

 

[Climb14er]

I read the whole thread so here's the question:

In Colorado, the 'regular' octane is 85 and this is similar to 87 (midrange here) in other lower level locations.

If a vehicle needs lower octane at altitude, is the 85 here in Colorado the 'same' as 87 elsewhere?

The local dealership recommends 87 midrange octane.

Can I use the local 'regular' 85?

Any experiences?

 

[007Runner]

I tried to research a answer for you but did not get much information. As you know at higher altitudes your engine requires less octane then at sea level. 85 octane may run fine for you. If you leave the high altitude area then pinging is going to be a serious problem. If 87 octane only has a small price difference over 85 octane go with the higher grade to be safe. This may be the reason your dealer told you to run 87 octane. Talk to a Toyota tech in service, they usually know more then the dummies on the sales floor.

 

[OUTRNNR]

I read the whole thread so here's the question:

In Colorado, the 'regular' octane is 85 and this is similar to 87 (midrange here) in other lower level locations.

If a vehicle needs lower octane at altitude, is the 85 here in Colorado the 'same' as 87 elsewhere?

The local dealership recommends 87 midrange octane.

Can I use the local 'regular' 85?

Any experiences?

I have to run premium fuel because of my tuned air-fuel ratio.

Here in CO the reason the octane is lower in all of the fuels is because there is less oxygen in the air and lower ambient air pressure than at sea level so the likelyhood of the air fuel mix to spontaneously combust (or knock/ping) is less. What this means is that our regular, mid-grade and premium fuel is 'calibrated' to what is needed at sea-level which means if you run regular at sea level then running regular at elevation should result in no more or no less pinging. That being said, I recommend you run mid-grade even up here at elevation due to the higher compression ratio in our engines. However, I don't think running regular (85) will hurt anything, especially since the ECU will adjust the timing of the engine to quell knocking or pinging at the sacrifice of engine performance.

 

[Climb14er]

Mid range 87 is only ten cents higher than the 85 regular so I'll stick with the 87. :

 

[keylay31]

Haha I'm glad there are some SMART people out there. I run 85. Runs fine I get 20+ mpg (my own calculations). There is absolutely no need for 93. It runs too rich and if anything, it just pollutes more. Pay less and get more.

 

[Uneek]

87

 

[Bobbyg123]

Try looking at it this way....

I'm a new 4runner owner, but I'm certainly not new to this debate. Prior to purchasing my 4runner I drove an Infiniti G35 and we had the same tiring debates on their message board. Using 87 or 89 octane fuel is NOT going to cause damage to your 4runner. Toyo advises 91 octane for maximum performance, but this is not a track vehicle we're talking about here. If you suffer a decrease of 2-3 HP, you're not going to notice it. You will be much more likely to notice the savings of either .10 or .20c per gallon each time you fill up.

Here's another way to look at it. By switching to 87 octane fuel, you'll save approximately $1000 for every 100,000 miles you drive. That savings will pay for a 100K mile extended warranty with money to spare. Any knock or ping damage that you "may" experience will be paid for with said warranty, and you may also get to take advantage of the warranty for other issues along the way.

I'm sorry, but I cannot see putting premium fuel into a truck; particularly one as bullet proof as the 4runner. I don't need the experts to chime in on this either. I'll run my own performance tests and make my decision accordingly.

 

[007Runner]

Re: Try looking at it this way....

Toyo advises 91 octane for maximum performance, but this is not a track vehicle we're talking about here. If you suffer a decrease of 2-3 HP, you're not going to notice it. .

Please refer to your 2007 Toyota owner's manual page 330.
Octane grade 87 is recommended. Toyota does not recommend premium for increased performance.

In the 2006 owner's manual they did recommend premium for increased performance. This recommendation has been removed from the 2007 manual. No engine change took place in the 2007 model year if you are wondering.

 

[Casper]

Under most circumstances

Shell or Chevron 87Oct

I have run both 93 and Non-leaded 100 in the 4runner. While the Compression ratio of the 2uz isnt exactly high enough to take full advantage of the 100octane you can certainly tell that its in there as the off idle throttle response, as well as power and throttle response through out the range is AMAZING.

 

[OUTRNNR]

Re: Try looking at it this way....

I'm a new 4runner owner, but I'm certainly not new to this debate. Prior to purchasing my 4runner I drove an Infiniti G35 and we had the same tiring debates on their message board. Using 87 or 89 octane fuel is NOT going to cause damage to your 4runner. Toyo advises 91 octane for maximum performance, but this is not a track vehicle we're talking about here. If you suffer a decrease of 2-3 HP, you're not going to notice it. You will be much more likely to notice the savings of either .10 or .20c per gallon each time you fill up.

Here's another way to look at it. By switching to 87 octane fuel, you'll save approximately $1000 for every 100,000 miles you drive. That savings will pay for a 100K mile extended warranty with money to spare. Any knock or ping damage that you "may" experience will be paid for with said warranty, and you may also get to take advantage of the warranty for other issues along the way.

I'm sorry, but I cannot see putting premium fuel into a truck; particularly one as bullet proof as the 4runner. I don't need the experts to chime in on this either. I'll run my own performance tests and make my decision accordingly.

You make some good points. I'm just clarifying that my explanation wasn't to scare anyone or that running lower octane would hurt the engine (the ECU will retard timing to eliminate any knocking that may occur), my point is that running lower octane could result in worse engine performance if the timing had to be cut back. And I promise its more than 1-2 horsepower if you truly are using the wrong fuel. Not just for the 4Runner, but for every engine in general.