Gas Octane

That's the extra 13 ft/lbs of torque. Worth paying for when you're towing, no matter how frugal you might otherwise be.

 

I believe most premium in Canada is ethonal free, so maybe that is the difference. I have a mileage tracking app, and I've done four or five tanks of premium. I'm going to do a couple more, than average it out, then compare the average with the same tanks previous. If I can find ethanol free gas, I'll do the same for regular.

 

I'll have to pay more attention then. After a bad experience at a smaller place with my last car, I only go to the big name guys, mostly Esso and Petro-Can, the two I pass every day. Might try sticking with one brand for a while, see what that does.

 

Apparently it depends on what province you are in as to Ethanol content in premium. In Alberta Esso says their 91 has 0% ethanol. The same as Shell's V-Power.

I also found superstore runs 0% 91 octane.

I have noticed a huge difference without Ethanol in my 12 Supercharged unit.. I kind of want to try 94 Octane with ethanol now that I supercharged it to see if the extra octane rating helps or not..

 

when my truck runs on gas its 85 octane ,at 5000 elev in Utah thats like your guys 87
but for the most part I'm at 130 octane running on CNG
i do get about 4 miles per gallon better on the 130 /CNG,compressed natural gas,then the 85 regular gas

 

btw, octane does not apply anymore in current conventional fuel ( pumped)

and CNG in a taco?

 

Switched to regular 87 octane and now switching back to premium 92 octane. With the regular gas my truck feels like it struggles to start. With the premium gas it starts quick. Anybody elses truck does this?

 

If the engine management system has to retard timing in order to keep the engine from knocking, the engine will not perform as well. It's not the fuel itself, it's how the engine burns it.

I feel that I get better performance with high-octane and feel the cost is a wash.

 

yep CNG in a taco,works great

 

Several members claim our Tacoma engines need 92 octane gasoline to make the rated horsepower. Has anybody taken their Tacoma to a shop & put it on a dynamometer to test this?

 

The data comes from Toyota. If they're like other manufacturers, those numbers may even be conservative, not that it matters. I can't imagine anyone spending money on dyno time to prove otherwise.

To be clear, the engine makes its rated horsepower and torque on regular fuel. That's in keeping with the non-binding SAE standard that horsepower claims have to be made for the minimum recommended octane level. However, on premium, this engine adds 3hp (nothing, really) and 13 ft/lbs of torque (meaningful if you're towing, for example).

 

Does anybody have a Toyota Motor Corporation web address that shows increased horsepower & higher torque by using premium gasoline in the 2TR-FE or 1GR-FE engines, as used in the Tacoma?

 

If you're determined to doubt this, I don't think you'll find anything that will change your mind. Toyota will never publish these numbers in a marketing context. It's mentioned in the Wikipedia article on the 1GR-FE engine, but since Toyota decided to participate in the SAE J1349 standard, they're reporting output on the minimum acceptable octane level only, which is 87. The SAE J1349 protocol prohibits the use of premium fuel (exempt only if the engine won't run on anything else, I believe). If you do a bit of research, you'll see that several Toyota engines were re-rated downward when they adopted this protocol.

The reason the SAE J1349 standard was created is that, despite what bench racers and trolls on internet forums say, all kinds of things can cause dyno results to shift around, even including things like how much oil is in the crankcase and whether the ECU was using its default map or had adapted/been tinkered with. The industry agreed to a common method because without it, manufacturers can manipulate and "prove" almost any number they want. Asian manufacturers were among the worst offenders, which is why Toyota was so keen to be a boy scout about it. It's useful for fair comparison purposes, but that's about it.

So the issue will never be resolved to the satisfaction of someone who wants absolute "proof". Even doing your own dyno test won't solve the problem, since you won't be able to replicate the conditions under which the engine was originally tested. Me, I'm totally satisfied that it's plausible based on what I've read, what I know about adaptive ECUs, and the fact that the engine was designed with a 10:1 compression ratio. That and the fact that nobody making a horsepower claim for this engine is in a position to profit from lying about it.

I wouldn't lose any more sleep if I were you. You're fine on 87.

 

so i shouldnt be running 110 octane in my 4 cyl haha just messing around. I do run 93 every once and a while and my gas mileage does seem to increase

 

Can anyone be more helpful than Creemore? I'm not trolling, I'm asking a serious question (mostly concerning the 2TR-FE engine). Are our engines being "de-tuned" by the ECU to allow the use regular gasoline? Does anyone have REAL data to prove premium gasoline will increase horsepower & torque in the 2TR-FE or 1GR-FE engines? Butt dynos and posts on other sites don't count as proof. Thank you in advance for some real answers.

 

this

 

Sorry, but you are being a bit of a troll, and that's kind of insulting. I did give you a "real answer", which I took some time to write, and did so based on some car industry experience (including with Toyota). I think it's time you stopped asking other people to do your Googling for you, and perhaps provided some "proof" that we are wrong. I don't think you're going to have much luck, though, for three reasons:

First, dyno results won't ever be completely persuasive. They're too situational. I could spend the money like a moron testing my truck and posting up the charts, and someone will just dismiss it as being irrelevant because of how the truck was being cooled on the dyno, or the altitude we were at, or whether the ECU was reset after each run, or whether it SHOULD have been, or what the viscosity of my oil was, or whether the fuel had ethanol in it, and on and on.

Second, Toyota will never publicly stand behind the numbers on 91 octane, for reasons I have already explained. You have to dig around, or know somebody.

Third, you can't persuade someone of something like this when that someone doesn't know what an ECU does. An ECU is tuning and "detuning" an engine all the time. That's its job. Just this month Chrysler recalled my Abarth because it wasn't making its rated horsepower. The fix? An ECU reflash. Within ranges that differ from one car to another, using assumptions that differ from one manufacturer to another, an ECU is constantly managing mixture and timing at different throttle positions, which affect output. Where power is concerned, the idea is to run the engine on the edge of knock, because that's where it's most efficient. Higher compression engines tend to be more susceptible to knocking, so they're best run on premium. Toyota needs this engine to run safely on regular fuel, so yes, the ECU does "detune" it slightly for its own protection. This is far from unique. If you don't believe it, it's because you don't understand it.

I'm sorry if you don't think that's a "real answer", but it's a far better answer than the one you're not giving us to support your point of view. "Show me proof" is just a way of putting others on the defensive when you don't want to change your own mind, but have no idea why.

 

makes sense,

 

Creemore, you think I'm being a bit of a troll? Well I think you're being a real dick. You answered the "are we getting our rated HP on regular gasoline" question in your first post, so thanks.
I thought this forum was where Tacoma owners could get information from each other. I was a mechanic for 22 years so I know what an ECU does, what an octane rating means and what a dynamometer measures. All the Horsepower TV shows put their cars & trucks on a dyno to measure any performance increases. So I don't know why Creemore thinks it wouldn't prove anything?
I'm just asking have any of the members put their Tacoma on the dyno to measure a real horsepower gain with premium gasoline over regular? Or does anybody know of a site where it has been done? I'm just asking a fucking question.
I want to get the most performance I can out of my engine, but I live on my salary and can't afford to throw money away.
I thought the TW members could help, I'm sorry I inconvenienced anyone.