87, 89, 91 ???

Well all I have evered used was 87 in my taco 06 with 220,000 miles
So far so good. I guess that blows holes in your story. People just need to do what the toyota manual tells them to do.

 

If I can get away with 87 on my new taco, then even better. I just don't know what to expect yet.

 

Why would you run anything higher than 87 if you're not experiencing detonation? Is the Tacoma capable of adjustments necessary to make good use of higher octane fuel?

 

So what will tell you? Knocking? Spark plug condition? MPG? 0-60?

 

I look for knocking, mpg, and acceleration. What I do is I run 91 octane for 2 tank full, then 89, then 87, then back to 91. If they are any issues, you will notice them disappear when you switch back to 91 in the end. Most people can't tell the difference, but I have allot of experience with tuning cars and motorcycles and know what to listen and feel for.

Spark plugs mainly tell you if the motor is running rich or lean, if that is happening then there are problems else where such as the O2 sensor.

 

Don't you already have enough?

 

The altitude. Thinner air produces lower cylinder pressure which reduces octane requirement.

We get 20% lower horsepower at a mile high also.

 

Hmm...here I felt like a hero when I joined the mile high club.

 

YOU can't have enough...now kill it! Put it out of our misery!

 

Makes sense, I have a special tuner in my Moto that constantly adjust A/F based on environment. In theory I could run a lower octane on it, but I have the fuel maps dialed in with the premium.

 

Will the Tacoma's ECU even recognize higher octane fuel and adjust timing, AFR, etc in response? My previous vehicle (2013 Ford SHO w/ 3.5L EcoBoost) would do this with 87/91 and you could tell the difference, about 25-30 HP...no, "I think it might have more power".

I ran an aftermarket 93 octane tune and even stepping down to 91 octane fuel with that had a huge impact on performance, with the ECU stepping in to prevent detonation. I learned this after my wife was kind enough to fill the tank, with 91 octane, and I decided to do some spirited driving. I immediately knew something was up when the ECU stepped in to keep the engine from eating itself.

The only way I can see fuel octane even being a topic worth discussing, when it comes to the Tacoma, is those runing FI setups. No?

 

The manual says use 87 octane so use 87 octane. It isn't rocket science. I had a corvette and filled up on 91 and/or 93 (varies here in Texas, mainly 93 though) because that's what was needed to prevent detonation per the manual. Dumping any more than what is specified in the manual is a complete waste of money.

 

I'm trying...

 

Pretty sure I'm gonna have to remove & replace...efforts aborted!

 

Of course there is a difference - if you need it. More cylinder pressure (compression or boost) typically needs more octane. This engine does not.

 

If I had something better to do right now I wouldn't be here... haha

 

Will it recognize it, yes, will it adjust for it.. probably not. Most ECU's rely heavily on the O2 sensors to figure out how the engine is running. Based on those readings it will make adjustments to the A/F. But I don't know enough about the Toyota ECU to know what its doing with the readings. Its very well possible that it could be doing nothing on purpose.

FI or fuel remapping would be a part of the octane conversation.

 

Different engines have different requirements. Anybody buying 91 because their other car liked it, is just throwing money away out of ignorance. In some cases, your car will run better with lower octane. My 91 Mustang did, and our old mazda race cars ran the best with the shittiest gas we could find. If the stock engine would run any better or get better mileage with more octane, then Toyota would recommend it. Once you start modifying the engine, things change, but Toyota doesn't care about it then.

Just save yourselves the money and the head scratching and run 87 on a stock engine.

 

Some ECU's will adjust for octane. Many performance cars will do this. The Ecoboost engine cited wants premium, but will detune the engine to save itself if someone puts the wrong gas in. a new 5L Mustang will do the same because it can run 87 octane with 11:1 compression. It usually reduces ignition timing and sometimes alters cam timing as well. It isn't done with the O2 sensor, it is normally done with knock detection. A single knock event will trigger an immediate timing retard - which shows up as the lost power.

 

93 Octane, 104 Octane Boost, A Hyper-Tech chip, K&N Air filter, and a Flowmaster muffler will guarantee an additional 50hp!

Seriously, I use 89 for everyday driving, if I`m towing I will use 91+.