Premium gasoline

Does anybody else use 92-93 premium fuel?

Any real advantages anybody has noticed?

 

I can't remember his name but one guy on here claimed he could correctly guess which fuel was put into his truck without knowing beforehand.

 

Completely unnecessary if you're not boosted or running a high performance engine.

 

I would use it, if it was available in my area. Unfortunately, the best we have here at ~7K feet is 91 octane.

The only reason to run premium in our trucks is if you've upgraded to forced induction (e.g., supercharger).

 

91 octane in altitude is the equivalent of 93 or so at sea level.

 

So I should stop wasting an extra 8 bucks a tank and stick with 87?

 

I've heard that, but I'd still prefer something better than 91.

Unless you have a supercharger, yes.

 

Yeah, with being boosted I'd imagine you want the highest octane possible. But I wouldn't worry about 91, it's high enough. I'd be more worried about running this shitty gas with ethanol in it.

I'm up in Winter Park a lot in winter and always try to fill up at the Conoco up there. Ethanol free. I can seriously tell a difference driving it and I'm usually up 2-3 mpgs in economy as well.

 

I run 91 just about all the time. I can't really put my finger on it but the truck just seems to run better with the 91. Right now it's been down around 10 degrees lately and I put 88 octane in it. Couldn't tell the difference. In the summer I do notice a difference but it is slight and the mpg does increase slightly from 20mpg to around 22mpg. I'll probably continue to run the 91 when it's warm and the 87/88 when it's really cold.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPPkPAbzwbU

 

I only ever use 87 unless the station has run out.

I think it is a waste of money

 

Your ECU contains fuel mapping tables which have for example air mass or manifold pressure on one side, and engine load or speed on the other. The nexus of two values on this table will be a fuel trim amount, the amount of fuel that should be injected given the demands on the engine. These tables assume you are using 87 octane. The fuel trim can adapt to use 91 without pre detonation or rich running issues, basically by adjusting ignition timing.

You will never get the full benefit from 91 in a Tacoma engine due to the compression rating. Unlike a BMW or Mercedes, which commonly have 11:1 or higher compression, there is enough air compressed to benefit form the higher detonation point of 91 octane. Like others have said, your engine cant make this happen without forced induction.

Your truck may feel like it is running better with 91 octane. This is from the higher energy contained within the 91 octane fuel resulting in a more efficient and quicker combustion. Less is needed as your engine, without FI can only pull in a finite amount of oxygen (the biggest factor to this being the elevation rom sea level you are at). This is where fuel mapping would come into play. Any increase in power or efficiency will not be more than what you paid for the upgrade in fuel.

Now you could flash some performance fuel mapping software to the ECU. Though again, this will result in a good amount of power in a AMG Mercedes that is already engineered for high octane and high compression (with variable valve timing as well). To a Tacoma engine, the benefit would be negligible.

 

I posted this in a different thread but this is what I found out about my completely stock 2nd gen... I used ethanol free 91 octane gas from upstate NY and increased my mpg's significantly. I was towing over the weekend for 3 days and the same load and trailer 1st day Shell 87 octane 18.4 @ 60 miles an hour 2nd day Shell 93 octane 19.2 @ 60 miles an hour and 3rd day Stewart's 91 octane ethanol free 20.7 @ 60 miles an hour. In my opinion the added cost is worth every penny. I can't physically can't prove that the truck ran better but I feel the ethanol free gas improved throttle response and just felt smoother...I don't know if the extra mileage out weights the cost but I believe premium gas is not BS.

 

REAL gas is your best bet-do not waste the extra expense on higher octane. From my experience--it is a waste of $$.
There is a NOTICEABLE increase in MPG with REAL GASOLINE

 

I got 87

 

I emailed Jet performance once and all they could get out of a 91oct tune was 3-5hp

 

People are confusing two different fuel features in this and other 'premium' threads.

Ethanol free and octane are not interchangeable terms.

Running a higher octane (historically, as in 60 years or more, called premium) than is required to prevent detonation for the given tune of an engine is a waste of effort and money. If a stock motor designed to run on regular runs better on premium, something is wrong with the motor. Carbon deposits on the pistons, which both can artificially raise compression and absorb fuel (creating a lean condition), is one example.

Running ethanol free gas will typically result in a 10% or so improvement in MPG. You have to do careful math to prove the extra cost is worth the benefit, but it may be. It's not impossible to have some performance improvement as well.

Also keep in mind that winter gas formulations change in colder climates of the country. Oxygenated fuels come to market, and your MPG will fall.

 

That's what I put in my truck. Mid grade.

 

I sometimes use higher octane to get my truck to stop pinging. But it only fixes it until the ECU recalibrates the timing.

 

So higher octane fuel doesn't burn hitter therefore cleaning your injectors out or anything like that on a stock Tacoma engine? Just wondering